Speaking through a video camera is not always straightforward, and it needs the imagination to keep kids’ minds active! Teaching online necessitates the application of entirely distinct skill sets than teaching in person! With so many possible distractions in the home setting, keeping students engaged, motivated, and interested in their ESL topics in classes can be one of the most challenging problems for online teachers.
“How can I make the online classroom atmosphere more fascinating for my students?” is a question that most online class teaching teachers ask themselves at least once.
Fortunately, there are several strategies for increasing classroom involvement while teaching ESL.
So let’s get started.
ESL Activities and Teaching Ideas
Flashcards
Foreign language teachers are well-versed in the use of flashcards. They are ideal for teaching ESL vocabulary. They look nice, are simple to find, and encourage students to work hard. One can even put audio in the flashcards to help kids learn how to pronounce the words.
Mind Mapping Helps In Teaching ESL
When we notice that the students already know specific terminology, one may select to evoke it rather than introduce it. Mind maps come extremely handy in this situation.
Ask the students what vocabulary they already know about a certain topic, and then use it in your ESL lesson plans. In this manner, kids may create a digital mind map of these words and present it to the teacher. You may now construct a single huge mind map with all of your students’ vocabulary and discuss it in the classroom or online classroom. You may even print them and hang them on a classroom wall.
Picture Carousel
To display vocabulary in context, use the Image Carousel. Simply upload a picture and add pop-ups with text to the image. A word will emerge every time the student clicks someplace on the image. You may also provide audio snippets to help students learn how to say the term.
Worksheet division
After you’ve introduced some language with the Image Carousel, you may practice it with the same image for teaching vocabulary. Use the Split Worksheet to insert the image on the left and the digital questions on the right. You and your classmates can complete the activity jointly or independently. When they are finished, they can submit their replies to you.
Matching Pairs
In both online and offline classes, use a Sequence Matching game to practice vocabulary. Add images and words, or two pictures and two words, and ask students to match them. If you’re teaching more advanced groups, you may use it to review prepositional words such as rely on, be accountable for, and so on that are in the ESL vocabulary.
Memory Exercise
The Memory game appears to be similar to the Pair matching game. The only distinction is that you require your students to practice their memory abilities in addition to their vocabulary.
The jigsaw puzzle is fun for teaching ESL
Nothing like a good old-fashioned puzzle. Choose a photograph of a location from any nation. Request that your students complete the digital jigsaw puzzle and write a few lines about the location.
Make use of technology to your advantage.
Teaching online has its issues, but it also provides access to numerous pretty great technologies. You may leverage the technology you have to add diversity to your ESL lesson plan and keep students on their toes by using whiteboards, pointers, virtual games, text editors, drawing tools, file editors, breakout rooms, or screen-sharing applications. First and foremost, ensure that you understand how to use these virtual tools and that you take the time to teach them to students so that they are also comfortable utilizing them. Then consider how you may utilize them to spice up your lectures. You might, for example, offer attractive prizes to engage students.
Setting objectives for online ESL Activities
Making sure each session includes a clear framework that you share with your students so they know where they stand in the classroom activities and the meaning of any activity they are doing is one simple strategy to add short-term objectives into the online classroom. Then consider how you may reward students for completing assignments or working hard throughout a class. You may attempt positive reinforcement, badges, points, games, or other entertaining learning activities that your pupils would like. Planning too ahead may not be helpful for long-term objectives, but consider checking in with your students now and again and setting goals together for the following month, three months, etc.
Make the lesson easier to understand by breaking it down.
Timing is critical in online teaching, and you may discover that you’ll need to break up your online lectures differently than you would in person. As a general guideline, keep a quick pace and divide material down into little, readily consumable portions. In practice, this means avoiding long explanations and presentations with a lot of text. Adding a range of activity kinds to your sessions to change up the speed is another excellent method to help the time fly by for your students. You can also use free lesson planners like Planboard to create lesson plans for your online school;
There are also several free resources available to online English teachers.
The Final Word
Online settings might be difficult to understand at first, but with a bit of work and patience, your students will have the greatest possible experience. There are several benefits to taking an ESL class. First and foremost, pupils practice grammar. When answering the question, pupils are required to employ the second conditional. Second, they practice English grammar, tenses, and vocabulary, which are all needed to construct accurate English sentences.
Even more importantly, pupils acquire innovative and unconventional thinking abilities, which are typically lacking in modern schooling. Join Classplus to acquire the most excellent teaching tools available to make your courses more enjoyable, your own personalized app to manage all your classes, and even sell your courses and grow your brand.
