Dogme has been discussed in ELT for years. Most teachers have heard the core idea: lessons built around conversation, language emerging from communication and materials supporting the lesson rather than driving everything that happens in the classroom.
For many teachers those principles make immediate sense.
Language is learnt through interaction. Learners need space to express ideas that matter to them. Teaching should respond to what is happening in the room rather than follow a script written somewhere else.
Then the practical question appears, and teachers usually ask something very direct.
How does this actually work in a real classroom?
This course is my answer to that question.
Dogme in Action is an 8-hour live course where I share the practical framework I use to design conversation-driven lessons that stay clear, focused and hold together from start to finish.
The focus of the course isn’t ideology, it’s classroom judgement.
If conversation becomes the centre of the lesson, how does the lesson actually unfold?
How do teachers guide interaction without taking over the whole conversation?
How does language emerge and become teachable in the moment?
These are the questions we explore together.
Most teachers have experienced a moment like this: A student begins to say something interesting. They hesitate, search for a word, reformulate a sentence and another learner leans forward because the conversation is finally becoming real.
For a brief moment the classroom feels alive…then the lesson moves on.
The next stage of the plan is waiting, the activity continues and the conversation disappears before it had time to grow.
Nothing “went wrong” in the lesson. The plan worked, the tasks were completed and the timing was fine. Yet the most meaningful learning opportunity of the class slipped through your fingers.
This happens in classrooms every day. As a CELTA trainer, I see it a lot (probably more than teachers would like to admit).
When conversation never becomes the centre of the lesson, several patterns start appearing that many teachers recognise immediately:
Students answer discussion questions with short, predictable responses and then wait for the next instruction.
Activities run smoothly, but the interaction rarely becomes spontaneous.
Teachers often find themselves carrying the conversation because learners are responding to prompts rather than developing ideas together.
Over time lessons can start to feel polished and professional, yet super flat. Everything works, but the classroom energy never quite lifts in the way it does during a genuinely meaningful conversation.
Many teachers try to solve this by planning more carefully or by searching for better materials.
But the paradox is that the more tightly a lesson is organised around materials, the harder it becomes for real conversation to take the lead.
The shift happens when the lesson begins somewhere different.
When conversation becomes the starting point, learners speak differently. They ask questions, negotiate meaning with each other and search for language they genuinely need in order to express something that matters to them.
This is the shift we explore together in Dogme in Action.
For years I have been having conversations with teachers who are curious about Dogme but unsure how to translate the ideas into real classroom practice.
The pattern is almost always the same.
The principles resonate quickly, but teachers are left wondering how to start a lesson without relying on a sequence of materials to structure the interaction.
Dogme in Action was designed to answer that question.
The course focuses on the practical decisions teachers make when a lesson grows from conversation rather than from a coursebook page. It shows how a lesson can remain clear and purposeful even when the interaction develops in unexpected directions. It also gives teachers a framework that allows them to trust the learning potential of the conversations already happening in their classrooms.
The course consists of 4 live sessions delivered across 4 Sundays in June, with each session lasting 2 hours. Across the sessions we move between principles, classroom examples and discussion so teachers can connect the ideas directly to their own teaching contexts.
We begin by clarifying what Dogme actually is and where it is often misunderstood.
Many teachers associate Dogme with improvisation, free chat or even teaching without structure.
In reality the approach involves a different kind of structure, one that grows from interaction rather than from predetermined materials.During this session we explore the core principles behind conversation-driven teaching and examine how lessons can remain coherent even when they begin with open interaction.
This session focuses on lesson design.
You will see how conversations can become the starting point of a lesson, how teachers can guide discussion without dominating it, and how topics can develop naturally through interaction.
We also explore how coursebooks can still be used when helpful, without allowing them to dictate the entire rhythm of the lesson. The coursebook becomes a resource, not the boss of the lesson.
Once conversation begins to drive the lesson, language opportunities start appearing naturally.
Learners search for words, experiment with structures and negotiate meaning with each other. These moments create powerful opportunities for teaching language that is immediately meaningful.
In this session we explore how teachers can recognise those opportunities and respond to them in ways that support both communication and language development.
In the final session participants bring lesson ideas or classroom situations they would like to explore.
Together we examine those lessons through a Dogme lens and discuss where conversation might emerge, where language opportunities are hiding and how the lesson can grow around what students are actually saying.
Think of it as a mini lesson audit, but a friendly one.
From the moment you enrol until 1 month after the final session, you will have access to a Slack space where teachers can ask questions, share classroom experiences and continue the discussion beyond the live sessions.
Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate confirming 8 hours of professional development focused on conversation-driven teaching.
Over the years I have had many conversations with teachers about Dogme, and those conversations usually follow a familiar pattern.
First comes the nodding.
The principles make immediate sense. Lessons should respond to learners. Language becomes meaningful when it grows from communication. Materials should support the lesson rather than quietly taking control of everything that happens in the classroom.
Most teachers agree with that within about 30 seconds.
Then the real question appears, someone pauses and asks something very practical.
“But how does this actually work in a real classroom?”
That question has shaped my work for many years.
I’ve been teaching English for over two decades, training teachers on CELTA courses, and researching classroom interaction as part of my PhD in Applied Linguistics. Those 3 perspectives constantly inform each other and shape how I approach Dogme.
As a classroom teacher, I’ve been using conversation-driven teaching in my own lessons for more than 10 years, long before the idea became fashionable. As a CELTA trainer, I watch teachers trying to balance lesson planning with real classroom interaction every day. I see where lessons become mechanical, where conversations suddenly come alive and where small decisions from the teacher change the direction of the lesson. And as a researcher, I spend a lot of time thinking about what actually supports learning when people interact through language, not just what looks tidy in a lesson plan.
Dogme in Action is now running in its 3rd edition. The previous edition took place 2 years ago and several teachers who missed it later asked when the course would run again.
Across the 4 sessions I share how I approach conversation-driven teaching both in my own classroom and in teacher training programmes.
The goal is not to turn anyone into a Dogme purist. The goal is to help teachers develop the judgement needed to let lessons grow from real interaction while still keeping structure and direction.
4 live Zoom sessions: Sundays — June 7, 14, 21 and 28
Time: 14:00–16:00 (UK time)
Access to Slack community: until 1 month after the final session
Certificate: 8 hours of professional development
Fee: £79 (option to pay in 2 instalments)
What past participants said