I’ve been working in English language teaching since 1994 and like many of us, I could not do a different job. There is nothing like the excitement of entering a classroom and seeing my students’ faces light up. Being part of a lesson with them and learning something new about, from and with them, as they work on what I have planned for them.
I’m not using the term ‘Teaching them’ deliberately! I don’t see myself as their ‘Teacher – the one holder of knowledge’. I like to look at my work, maybe naively, as being a facilitator who is there to go along with them, guiding and supporting them. The foundation of what we do and the pedagogical principles are basically the same in an online environment. With this in mind, I have a few tips which you may find useful.
Disclaimer: we are all different. We do things differently, we have different perspectives, experiences and contexts. This is by no means a list of things that will work for absolutely everyone. Rather, opportunities for exploration and reflection which may need tweaking in your context. I hope these opportunities can bring some joy to your students, you and your lessons.
Establish routines
Consistency is also key through an online medium. How is your lesson usually structured? For instance, where I work we have some set routines:
- Have the date of the lesson on the whiteboard. Include the aim for the lesson and ensure that students are aware of it;
- Check homework (HW) in as varied a way as possible to fight monotony and set a good pace;
- Have a speaking warmer which includes revision and activation of prior knowledge;
- A main stage of the lesson where there is a clear focus e.g. language and/or skills;
- HW setting and preparation to finish the lesson.
With all your lessons now being online under the current circumstances, what routines do you think would be easily translatable into an online medium? Why do you think so? I do not have all the answers. They will change according to your students, your context, your bandwidth and the length of your lessons! Establishing the same, or very similar routines in our online classrooms will help students to transition more easily into their new medium.
Build, nurture and maintain rapport
Rapport is vital to successful classroom management in any medium. Build it, nurture it, maintain it and keep it alive. In an online classroom, we really must be fully aware of faces and body language (on video screens, which may be smaller for those on mobile devices). We need to -reasonably- exaggerate our responses to them.
Our goal should be that of helping students learn in a joyful environment. To ensure that they are even more engaged with us, and us with them. We can do this by constantly asking simple questions and checking they are listening and not just staring at the screen during a lecture. We can use the chat box and the participants box to ask them what page we are on and for them to type it in. Or ask for answers (very short ones) to different exercises. Or ask them every now and then to give you a thumbs up using the reactions button if ‘exercise 2 on the page includes a picture’, etc. And above all, smile, smile, smile!
Simplicity
Keep things simple! Remember, it is a new medium. Just as we have to ensure our classes are friendly environments where students feel safe, we need to ensure this is also done on an online course where they are on their own at home in front of the computer most of the time. Start with simple activities which reflect the daily routines you had in your face-to-face classroom. This will give your students a sense of security in the new environment.
Ensure you provide the necessary training that will allow them to interact with you. My initial online lessons cover only 5 main buttons in the virtual classroom – participants, chat, reactions, microphone and video camera. This is because I need to use the first 3 as an immediate communication channel to check they are following me. I use the remaining 2 to be able to hear and see them. The participants box is great. I use the tick and cross a lot for Yes/No, True/False questions throughout the lesson to check they understand and are onboard and following. For example, “if you are on page 34 of the book and can see exercise 2, give me a tick.” Don’t forget that all of this is great listening practice for them.
Classroom management
Just as you may have students line up outside your classroom and use an entry ticket technique, basic classroom management rules need to be reinforced. We have a couple of groups of teens who are motormouths on a sugar high! So, one of the important features of most virtual classrooms is being able to mute everybody. This week I had a lesson with one of these groups and when I muted them (we had already covered this with them and they were aware) they/we had a big laugh so the result was not negative at all! I unmuted them a few seconds later and they had lots to say, so I exploited that opportunity for some speaking.
Technology
Being thrown into a new medium is already challenging enough for most people, so start small. Make sure you exploit every opportunity you have to get acquainted with your platform, whether it be Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Adobe Connect, etc. At Lacunza IH, where I work, we are offering continued training of 2 types:
1 – Initial intensive training sessions in a cascade style. Directors of Studies (DoSes) completes this first so that they can then go and do it with their teams (we are 11 DoSes and over 100 teachers).
2 – Shorter Q&A clinics. Our Director of Education is looking after these while I look after the other sessions.
One last thought regarding technology: keep it simple. Remember that bringing in other web-tools to your virtual classroom may sound very attractive, but the initial stages of implementation may not be the best. Allow yourself and your students to settle into their new environments before you start adding tools which may unnecessarily complicate things, both for you and your students.
‘Everything is going to be okay’
I think that as long as I keep chanting my mantra ‘everything is going to be ok’, to help me focus on what lies ahead then I’m likely to succeed. If not, I’m definitely ready to learn along the way!
I would conclude by inviting you to continue to be yourself. Keep it simple and keep on learning. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity we now have to expand our core set of skills by learning, experimenting, sharing, and acquiring a new set of online teaching skills. Together we can turn this virus around and gain more from it than what it is taking away from us.
Robert Martínez has been working in English Language Teaching since 1994. He has lived and worked in 9 different countries, currently based in Northern Spain. He is a teacher trainer, assessor and online moderator for Cambridge. He’s an online tutor for The Consultants-E and a face-to-face and online tutor for IHWO Online Teacher Training Institute.
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If you would like to find product or read articles to help you teach online from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.