Page 43 - ELG2009 Sep Issue 472

RESOURCES . REVIEWS & RESOURCES

Ideas for remote Zoom lessons Activity 1

The first activity I would like to talk about is brainstorming.
Anastasia Antonova explores solutions and workarounds for some This is great for activating schemata of the target language
and/or checking the language they already know. This can be
common issues when working with Zoom achieved by first dividing the virtual whiteboard into sections
corresponding to the number of students in the lesson. Each
student then uses their designated section of the whiteboard
he situation we now find ourselves in discuss topics or problems and play board students to write their comments in the chat to draw the target items, in this case, food items which they
with Covid-19 has led many English games. This is a great tool for free speaking and have the teacher transfer them onto the have in their fridge or are familiar with. Then, the whole group
teachers around the world to use practice. It is also good for online mingling whiteboard for later discussion. guesses the names of all the food that has been drawn, and
Tonline platforms to conduct their activities, such as ‘find someone who’, where Another inevitable issue with online checks with the teacher.
classes. After teaching offline my entire students circulate around the rooms learning is that students can feel distant and All in all, this activity takes about 8-10 minutes in total, 5
career, the sudden shock of having to use the (controlled by the teacher and timed) to find less engaged in the lessons. This may cause minutes for students to draw and 3-5 minutes to check as a
internet for teaching left me in the dark, to the right person for the statements or students to be reluctant to speak, give whole class. Conveniently, this activity can take place on any could give the student the ability to annotate using the host’s
say the least. What made it even more questions offered. feedback and share their opinions. This can device which has a touch screen or mouse. In the case where computer via mouse control, although this can only be done
terrifying, was the sheer variety of platforms be overcome by giving students appropriate a student might have a problem with annotating, the teacher for one student at a time.
available, and trying to discover which one time to communicate in pairs, so they
worked best for me. Nevertheless, out of the become more familiar with the format of the
handful available, I feel that Zoom is the Honing the skills lesson, and by tailoring tasks to be more
most versatile and useful platform in teaching relatable and engaging. Activity 2
English online, regardless of the age or level of your students On the flip side, during open class
of your students. through fun, discussion, students might accidentally In the second activity, Zoom provides a great opportunity for
In this article, I will address some of the speak over each other, which can be chaotic. scaffolding speaking practice by using the whiteboard as a
most common problems facing those who are interactive activities If needed, the teacher can nominate class. The teacher divides the whiteboard into sections so
teaching online, and how they can be solved. students to speak one at a time, which also that each student can write their ideas before discussing
I will also explore some of the different tools is easy through allows plenty of time for them to express them. After that, students write one idea of what they would
that Zoom has to offer, and how they can be Zoom. themselves fully without being interrupted. like to do in the future, in their assigned section. After the
used in interesting and efficient ways. Lastly, The teacher can also control students’ ideas have been written on the whiteboard, students then
I will explore three activities to make Zoom microphones, letting them only speak one at write one piece of advice for each other on how to achieve
lessons more fun, interactive and engaging. a time. their goal.
This article is based on my experiences To set the context of the lesson in a more Last but not least, there can be a problem Students can then discuss the points and decide as a class Zoom and the ability to annotate. There can be issues with
with a group of elementary adult students engaging way, we often do a quick survey while sharing audio and video materials for which piece of advice was the most useful. Students need 1-2 students writing over each other when giving advice. One
that I had been teaching for some time before using the ‘polls’ tool. This allows everyone to in-class activities. To tackle this problem, minutes to write their points and 4-5 minutes to give advice solution for this might be for the teacher to organise the
taking our lessons to the world wide web. be involved in the poll, and this is then the materials can be given as homework to each other. It also will take about 2-3 minutes to discuss whiteboard so that each student has a separate line to write
Nonetheless, everything here can be used followed by class discussion. It works tasks before the lesson. The materials can the advice as a class. on or, alternatively, the teacher could organise the students’
with students of different levels and ages. amazingly well for activating student’s then be discussed during the lesson and For this activity, students will need any device connected to writings during the writing task.
schemata on a topic, to help them remember worked on for grammar and lexis input.
Zoom tools what they know and to set further pair or Alternatively, it can be set as homework
One of the main reasons why I chose Zoom group discussions. after the lesson, for students to look into in
for conducting my online lessons is down to their own time and then checked in the Activity 3
the variety of different tools it offers. following lesson.
To start, the teacher and students have the Problems and Solutions For the last activity, students are given the opportunity to
ability to share their screens. This way Nevertheless, there are some challenges with Activities for online learning freely practice the target language. This involves the students
everyone can be involved and easily follow using any online platform in this context. In All that being said, honing the skills of your discussing the differences between two pictures. For
the flow of the lesson from task to task. The this section, I will highlight some of the main students through fun, interactive activities is example, by practicing the language there was/there
ability to share audio and video is also very issues I have faced and how I keep the lesson easy through Zoom. Here, we will see a few were/there is/there are and prepositions of place, such as on,
useful for listening tasks. In my classes, we going. activities I have used with students of under, next to, etc.
often watch videos from YouTube, TedEd, Firstly, and what may be the biggest issue, different levels and ages, which you can also To start, a picture of a room is shown to the whole class
TubeQuizard and Edpuzzle, and use these for is the Internet. As a rule, everyone should adapt for your own classes. using screen sharing, and the students must memorise as
discussions both in pairs and as a class, and as aim to find a location with a stable much of the picture as possible, such as the objects and their
a lead-in to the topic of the lesson, and for connection. That being said, your students locations in the room. Then, the picture is removed and the
detailed listening and pronunciation practice. may end up with the prompt ‘unstable Anastasia students are sent another picture through the chat function.
Zoom also offers a virtual whiteboard, internet connection’ presenting itself on their Antonova is an This consists of the same room, but with the objects in
which can be used for brainstorming as a screen, resulting in down time, and the English teacher, different locations.
class, where every student gets the inability to speak to the teacher or other ANASTASIA ANTONOVA translator and a Students can then work in pairs via the breakout rooms
opportunity to write their ideas, opinions and students. If this persists, the most feasible holder of CELTA function or as a whole class, and they compare where the
comments on a topic or a problem. Moreover, solution is to ask the students to type short (Grade B), TKT, objects were in the first picture with their location in the
this tool comes in handy when I want to answers in the chat so they can be included TKT YL. She is second picture.
present a new topic, vocabulary or a piece of and not feel entirely left out. from Moscow, where As a whole, this activity can take between 10-15 minutes;
grammar to the students. It can be used in In addition, students who do not have a she has been 1-2 minutes to remember the first picture and roughly 10
the same way as a ‘real world’ whiteboard. laptop or desktop may end up using mobile teaching English to minutes to discuss. Like the previous activity, this can take
Other than presenting topics and ideas, this devices, which makes participating more students from 4-50 place on any device connected to Zoom. However, the
tool also helps me to set semi-controlled or difficult, as they may not be able to years of age, at various levels and contexts for teacher may find issues with the students being able to
free speaking activities in teams or pairs, by comment or type text on screen during the more than five years. receive the second picture through the chat function. In this
writing the instructions to a task. use of the virtual whiteboard. Fortunately, anastasiaantonova270594@gmail.com case, the teacher can send the picture via a messenger app
Another tool that I use in every lesson is Zoom has a pop up chat which allows Lessons available at: like Messenger or WhatsApp, providing the teacher has their
the breakout room. I pair students and put students to communicate with each other https://taplink.cc/anastasia.british contact details.
them in different rooms to answer questions, through text. One workaround is for the

42 September 2020 editorial@elgazette.com 43