1. Repeat key instructions
It is possible that students have more distractions at home than they do in school and so they may miss information. Make sure you take this into account, you may also want to type out instructions for certain exercises as well.
2. Thorough preparation
In a classroom environment you have all your resources to hand ready and it is much easier to produce a good lesson with little preparation. However, online you every move is being scrutinised so if you are not sufficiently prepared then it becomes very obvious. Fumbling around online ‘live’ in front of students is not a good look and remember parents could be watching and passing judgment too.
3. Use as little technology as possible
There is already a lot to manage for online students without you adding 3 new website tabs to the mix which already require them to create an account for.
Although you might want to check out these 16 ways to teach vocabulary online and see the exact sites that I use.
4. Train students
It may be that you know you are going to be using three different websites over the next two weeks. So, why not spend a lesson getting students logged in and used to these websites before the real teaching begins. It can make things easier in the long run.
5. Organise study spaces
Just as you should have your own classroom area which you can stream your lesson from students should also have a special place where they study online from. This should be somewhere with good internet connection, quiet and where they are not likely to be disturbed and especially away from parents who might march in and start sticking there moses in unnecessarily.
6. Share lesson objectives
I suggest clearly sharing these with students as this makes it clear to students directly what you are learning to do which can help with motivation when things are not quite going as swimmingly as planned.
You might also be interested in checking out some of my best online speaking activities here.
7. Share and check
Allow students to share their work with other classmates to provide additional inspiration and motivation and of course with you to check they are on track and to provide feedback.
Tapestry Journal is a popular tool that our school uses to track students learning. Parents or students simply upload photos, or videos of their work as evidence to show what they are learning. Just be careful not to expect too much work uploading, especially if it is a parent doing it for a younger learner as it can become a little too much and dare I say annoying for a parent who may well already be very busy to have to keep constantly uploading items. A couple of uploads a day is about right in my experience.
8. Microphone management
Nobody wants to hear a student breathing or fidgeting with a bag of crisps as you are delivering your teaching. So, get students to turn off/mute their microphones and ask questions in the chat box if they need to. this is a massive issue with groups of younger learners who have way less self-control than older students who can sit still without pulling faces at the camera and singing tandom songs.
9. Engage students
It is easy for students to hide and switch off during online learning so it pays to be a bit larger than life when you are teaching. Exaggerate your tone of voice, actions and general persona. Allied to this use some of the online tools mentioned earlier in this post to mix things up and keep students interested.
10. Be positive, cheery and smiley
You might be feeling down but that shouldn’t stop you from smiling. Online ESL students are usually excited to sign in to meet their tutor. It may be the only time they speak English all week and so it is exciting for them. Be welcoming and smile warmly for them! Whatever you do, do not hide your face – you are the product! Parents, especially wil want to see it on show.
11. Provide clear examples
Just as in real world classrooms you need to provide models of what you are expecting students to produce. These could be examples from otter groups, or ones you create yourself but without them students can be left unclear as to what it is you are expecting of them which is going to make everyone’s life more difficult.
12. Provide a hotline
If students are really stuck what are they going to do? If it is a technical issue who should they contact and how? If they don’t understand your lesson what do they do? Can they get personal help rather than have to ask in front of the rest of the class?
You need to figure out how you are going to deal with each of these scenarios and that students are also aware of what they should do in each situation otherwise online can fall apart pretty quickly.
13. Be professional
This should go without saying: be on time, dress appropriately, use appropriate language, keep records of class attendance, assess students progress regularly, mark work regularly, provide reports for parents where appropriate and support your students as best as you can. Although you are teaching online it is still an influential role that should be taken seriously.
14. Don’t overload
It is tempting to over prepare for lessons and give too much work to students. Avoid this at all costs as it has the potential to cause confusion in students not knowing what to do and in what order but it also can reduce the quality of the work they do produce as they rush through to the next piece of work.
15. Parental input
If you know parents will be around to support younger learners then make sure there are clear instructions you can give to them so they know what to do to help. However, bear in mind that not all students will have parental support and so it is not something that you can rely on, your instructions and activities need to be enough on their own to guide the students through the learning.
16. Get feedback
Find out what your students are enjoying and/or struggling with and look to address those issues and add more similar teaching methods to those they are enjoying.
I hope you have enjoyed this guide to teaching ESL online, good luck for the future and you might also want to read: A Quick Start Guide To Teaching Chinese Students Online