by Lingoda Team
Updated on January 9, 2024
How to Teach Online – Get Our Free Resources and Our Best Tips!
Lingoda is Europe’s leading online language school and we have started the #StayHomeKeepLearning initiative. We want to empower teachers across the globe to stay home and keep teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic. To help educational professionals through this period, we are offering free resources, access to masterclasses and use of the Lingoda platform. Read on to find out more.
The most important thing you need to know when transitioning to online learning, is how to set up a class. This includes editing activities, student participation and, of course, the logistics of actually creating a virtual classroom. Here at Lingoda, we use Zoom because we find it has the best range of functionalities. One of Zoom’s most useful functionalities is the option to share your screen. You can use this in order to share materials, websites, presentations and so on with your students. You can also make comments on your work, annotate, add notes to the chat function and create virtutal backgrounds.
Install Zoom by going to the Zoom website. Zoom works on any PC, Apple or Android device. You cna sign up easily for Zoom with your email address and then sign into the Zoom app you have downloaded. Next, test your camera and microphone, it’s important that your students will be able to hear and see you throughout your lessons. Zoom has lifted the 40 minute limit on meetings during the Covid-19 epidemic, so don’t worry about not having enough time for your classes.
Teaching an online class shouldn’t be too different from teaching a face-to-face class, so relax. You know how to do this! One thing to keep in mind is that having strong lesson objectives is very important in an online classroom. This prevents the lesson from turning into a conversation. Go through the lesson objectives on screen with your students at the beginning of the class and then again at the end to show your students what they have achieved.
Make sure your students know you are engaging with them. In a normal classroom, you probably use interjections like ‘um’ and ‘ah’ to indicate that you are listening, but in an online lesson, this will be an interruption. Instead, smile and nod at the student, use the chat to send a thumbs up, or put a check mark annotation on screen instead.
Speaking activities, games, grammar and writing activities can work extremely well via online classrooms. If you use Lingoda’s resources, all of the activities will be provided for you to expand upon.
Time management can be a little different when delivering classes online. Make sure you always leave some time at the beginning of the lesson to deal with technical delays and late arrivals, especially during your first few lessons. You should also leave time during the first lesson to explain to your students how to share their screens or use breakout rooms if you plan to do this. It’s also a great time to set some class ground rules about how you’ll like people to interject and work together.
Lingoda’s free information pack goes through everything you need to know about transitioning to online learning. We explain everything how it all works and we even throw in some helpful links to additional resources to assist you in your online teaching experience.
