There are compelling reasons why nurses should be engaged in teaching patients who have cancer. Coping with cancer is an emotional journey, an individual one, but arguably one aided by learning. Patients learn self-care techniques necessary for their illness and, with help, they can learn how to examine the emotional challenges that cancer and its treatment may pose. To teach patients, however, requires strategy and reflection, and teaching techniques may or may not have been taught in the nurse education syllabus. It is tempting to hope that patient education will be delivered by specialist practitioners, when in fact nurses in a range of hospital and community settings may be asked for help with learning by patients. This article sets out steps in the teaching of patients, which can be argued as a coherent approach and which work with nurses’ philosophy of care to support patients under difficult circumstances. Six steps are suggested to enable nurses to approach teaching in a way that is effective, seems helpful to patients and is meaningful to nurses as part of the care strategy.