Saturday, May 22, 2021

Online Teaching ESL Kindergarten

 


“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”  - Charles Darwin

Covid has changed the world and how some of us have to teach. We can  no longer stand in front of our students and teach them. We need to teach through a computer. This new method of delivery requires a new way of teaching. Those teachers that just teach their online lesson as they would their stand up lesson are not going to be as effective as those that adapt to this new world.

One of the first things you should do is decide what your aim is? Or what should your aim be? Is it to impart a lesson? Is it to give the parents a break? To entertain the children? To give them social stimulation? To burn off energy? All or some of these?

For myself, all of them is correct. I want them to continue their English language learning, but having them just sit and watch me on the screen is going to quickly get boring. Hence making the lesson entertaining is critical. While also remembering this children may not get a chance to go outside and run around so I have to make sure the lesson is energetic to help burn off some energy and allow them some time to talk to their classmates to provide the social stimulation they require. English is best learnt when students get a chance to talk to each other and though it's harder as a teacher we should be facilitating that opportunity. Lastly, as much as teachers don't want to admit sometimes we are baby sitters and for online learning I admit one of my goals is very much to give tired parents a break.

If you want to be the best online teacher I highly recommend role playing, games, physical activities and having students communicate to each other. You're students will look forward to your classes and so will the parents.

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