Teachers rejoiced when they returned to in-person classes after teaching online during the pandemic. Virtual classes were a rough go for many of us, who had little to no experience teaching online. We had to grin and bear it. I think once we got used to teaching online and, more, mastered a few techniques for doing virtual classes, we discovered that teaching online really wasn’t, and isn’t, all that bad. Or difficult. Today, online classes are a popular option for students and teachers.
Is Anybody Out There?
One challenge I’ve had with my CLB 3/4 online class is engaging students. There are many similarities between in-person and online classes. We do group work, group discussions, and have students write on the board in both virtual and physical classrooms. Helping students one-on-one and taking up answers as a class are two other common activities shared by in-person and online classes. One big difference, however, is that, to state the obvious, the personal presence of teachers and students is lost in cyberspace. It’s easy for students to lose interest and become disengaged in-person. It’s even easier to lose them online. Here are three ways I engage my students in my class. *
Get Involved
First, I use break-out rooms a lot. This is a great tool for putting students in pairs and groups for conversation. For speaking practice, I sometimes use Elli Polls and Dilemmas as warm-up or cool down activities. With Elli polls, for instance, we do them as a class, and then I put the students into break-out rooms to talk more in-depth about some of the questions. I usually give the students their own space and let them talk freely without my presence inhibiting them. I also use these rooms for Avenue speaking activities, but in this case, I drop in on each group to help with their pronunciation and other areas they may need help with.
Second, I use BBB’s whiteboard for grammar and sentence correction. I’ve found the students like this feature and the activity. It’s like getting students to come to the board in an in-person class, except they do it virtually. I really like the whiteboard for sentence correction, because I can copy and paste sentences from a student’s writing onto the whiteboard and then the class finds and corrects the errors. The students who don’t want to give their answers orally can use the chat section.
Third, I read passages aloud and have the students repeat them. This activity was a student request, and it has proven to be one of the more popular exercises we do. I model reading a passage a few times, and then it’s the students’ turn. This activity provides an opportunity for me to provide feedback on their pronunciation and other reading techniques, such as pace, and pausing at commas and periods. Most of the students participate, and sometimes more than once. They work hard at improving their spoken English by listening to me, their classmates, and my corrections.
Virtual Class. Real Outcomes.
These three ways to engage students online have enlivened my classes and sparked my students’ interest. I’ve talked about three simple and easy ways to use technology to increase student participation and attention. These are by no means the only ways. The great thing you’ll discover about teaching online is that you have myriad programs and platforms at your actual fingertips to make your digital classes as dynamic, engaging and beneficial as in-person classes. So, if you’re still gritting your teeth with your current online class, or the thought of teaching online puts your stomach in knots, try my three suggestions. They’ve brought tangible results to my virtual classroom.
* Note: All the functions I mention are for Avenue’s Big Blue Button.
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