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Teaching Corner

Teacher Stories

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At EF Teach Online, we provide the technology to connect teachers and students worldwide. Here you'll find tools, tips and teacher stories to power your online classes.

Matina Gatsou ‹ EF Teach Online

It’s 7:30 am on a Saturday, and I’m about to start teaching an ESL class. As I enter the classroom, I notice that my students are sleepy and mentally absent. I take a deep breath, and all I can think is, “What do I do now?”  
Nearly every TEFL teacher has found themselves in this situation: a class of students who are indifferent to what is happening in the lesson no matter how hard you worked on that lesson plan. Student engagement is an ideal we all strive to foster, but we know there is no single way to achieve it, whether we are teaching online or offline.  
Every class is different, with its strengths, dynamics, expectations, and outcomes. Luckily, we can use the following techniques to support engagement without feeling like we are trying too hard.  
<h3>Set the tone</h3>
The warmer plays a vital role in setting the tone for any type of lesson. A short warm-up task provides an opportunity to learn about students’ interests and respond positively to create connections. Everyone likes talking about things they are passionate about, so why not give students the chance to connect with us and each other through their interests?  
<h3>Create a positive environment </h3>
I have learnt that this goes beyond simply smiling and nodding. A positive learning environment is an environment where each of my students feels accepted, comfortable, valued, and confident enough to express themselves. Being responsive to what students say is key to achieving that, and as a teacher, I always try to remember I have to set the tone. So when a student speaks, I wait for them to finish; when they share an opinion, I thank them; and when they express their emotions, I am there to foster connections with other classmates. This is arguably easier in an online environment, where connections can be built and reinforced by use of non-verbal reactions on camera between students. 
<h3>Praise students </h3>
Positive comments need to be specific and correspond to the outcome we are commenting on to be meaningful. “Great job” sounds good, but “I liked how well-structured your argument was” sounds even better and provides a clear direction for other students working towards a positive outcome. 
<h3>Use gestures </h3>
Even during input stages where students are listening, they need not be passive. I like to elicit responses by encouraging them to give me a thumbs-up if they like something or raise their hand if they have a question. In an online classroom, learners may use emoticons or a chat pod to respond in a similar way. 
<h3>Vary interaction patterns  </h3>
Variety is the mother of engagement if done right, but offering different interaction patterns may be challenging in some settings. Some simple strategies that I tend to use are: varying the interaction patterns during a lesson to include a balance between individual, pair and group work, varying student pairing or groupings so they can work with different classmates on tasks, and encouraging students to nominate a classmate during whole-class activities to encourage turn-taking, whether remotely or in person.  
<h3>Encourage reflection </h3>
Making time for students to reflect and self-assess after activities or at the end of the lesson can prompt them to interact with the lesson content on a more personal level. For example, I may ask them to show how confident they feel about the target language on a scale of 1-10 or summarise three things they will take away from the lesson. Both online and offline, including short reflective tasks helps highlight any issues with the language and reinforce student-student connections. 
While no single strategy will work in the same way in every ESL classroom, making an effort will nevertheless be seen, appreciated, and hopefully imitated by students. Indeed, modelling the behaviour I want to see in my students (like trying my best) has proven to be the best way to connect and set expectations in each lesson. 
Do you have a favourite strategy that you use to engage your students?
  
Learn more about EF Teach Online <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/teachonline/">here</a>.

It’s 7:30 am on a Saturday, and I’m about to start teaching an ESL class. As I enter the classroom, I notice that my students are sleepy and mentally absent. I take a deep breath, and all I can think is, “What do I do now?”   Nearly every TEFL teacher has found themselves in this situation: a class …

6 Strategies To Build Student Engagement - EF Teach Online

6 Strategies To Build Student Engagement ‹ EF Teach Online

6 Strategies To Build Student Engagement

6 strategies to build student engagement

In trying to understand more about how to manage my time effectively, I have gone through countless websites looking for that holy grail of wisdom that will help me beat the clock. Instead, what I found was that I only had to look at myself and what keeps me productive to then see how I can spend my time more wisely. Looking within, this is what I found helps me master my time. 
 
1. Weekly planners 
Daily to-do lists are overrated; there, I said it! Yes, I know it’s good to have a rough idea of what needs to be done in the day — particularly if it’s urgent — but only using daily lists can make us feel like failures when we don’t tick everything off at the end of the day. Instead, a weekly list allows us to move things around as we prioritise or de-prioritise them.  
 
2. Reflection time 
This may sound counter-intuitive, but if I want to organise my time properly, I need to actually give myself the time to do that several times a week. Particularly  when I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed, I allow myself to pause, take a breath, and re-think my priorities for the day/week. Taking a step back can work wonders in helping us see the bigger picture and take our focus away from the granular. 
 
3. Joy in action 
To me, it is important that I enjoy the tasks I complete and while this may not always be the case, sometimes we have the headspace to tackle challenging or boring tasks, and at other times we don’t. If I find myself struggling to finish a task because I do not have the mental capacity for it, I drop it and do something else I enjoy for a bit. This way, I allow my thoughts to re-group and my mind to relax; otherwise, it will just take longer to complete the initial task and it probably won’t be my best effort, which will leave me feeling frustrated even after completing it. In short, I just listen to what my brain is telling me! 
 
4. Reminders 
The urgent stuff, we don’t forget, the average stuff is probably on our list or planner; but what about that quick email I meant to send or that small change I meant to make in my presentation? Setting a reminder for the next day, whether it’s a digital reminder, a post-it note, or a quick voice reminder, helps me track my action points and follow up on them more efficiently.  
 
5. Preferences 
A word of advice: observe yourself when you are at your most productive. What is it that influences your productivity? Is it the time of day, a specific place, the music you are listening to? Identify the factor(s) that can boost your productivity and stick with that strategy to unlock your full potential. This way, your time will be well spent, and you can go through more tasks faster and in a more pleasant way. 
 
Ultimately, what works for me may not work for everyone, but I hope I have inspired you to explore different routes in managing your valuable time from now on, and that you eventually find the right balance for yourself. Good luck! 
 
Learn more about EF Teach Online <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/teachonline/">here</a>.

In trying to understand more about how to manage my time effectively, I have gone through countless websites looking for that holy grail of wisdom that will help me beat the clock. Instead, what I found was that I only had to look at myself and what keeps me productive to then see how I …

5 Ways to Manage Your Time More Efficiently - EF Teach Online

5 Ways to Manage Your Time More Efficiently ‹ EF Teach Online

5 Ways to Manage Your Time More Efficiently

5 ways to manage your time more efficiently

The first time I saw the International Phonemic Alphabet (IPA) in a /ˈdɪkʃ(ə)n(ə)ri/ I thought it looked like a different language! Thankfully, Adrian Underhill devised the English Phonemic Chart to make sense of the English sounds, making life easier for teachers and learners. This chart offers limitless potential to aid pronunciation teaching, as shown by Underhill himself in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAPHyHd7Lo&ab_channel=MacmillanEducationELT">workshop</a>. This is down to its design, which maps sounds to where and how they are produced in the mouth. With it, we can demonstrate to our learners what our lips, tongue, teeth, and jaw should look like as a sound is uttered.  
If you are new to the Phonemic Chart or are looking for ideas to help your learners practise their pronunciation, check out the following three activities below.  
<h3>Activity 1: Odd one out </h3>
The vowel sounds are a good place to start because most learners would be familiar with some of them. Here is a way in which you can introduce vowels and engage learners in practising them.  
Step 1: Model pronunciation 
Use your camera if you are teaching online and a picture of the chart to show your students what to do when producing 2-3 sounds you have pre-selected (e.g. /ɪ/, /æ/ and /ɒ/), first in isolation and then included in short CVC words (e.g. tip, cat and lot). By using the chart, you can highlight details such as lip shape, jaw height, and where the sound originates within the mouth or throat.   
Step 2: Controlled practise 
Ask students to match the individual sounds to a list of words. They can also come up with words containing these sounds in pairs, and practise pronouncing them with each other.   
Step 3: Freer practise  
Instruct your students to come up with a list of 3 words which use a sound correctly (e.g. ship, lip, hit for /ɪ/) and one incorrectly (e.g. sheep), like an ‘odd-one-out’ exercise. They can then say these words to another pair and have them guess which one is the incorrect word and why. Having a time limit or point system can help create suspense! You can also use the camera to provide non-verbal hints to help learners if needed.  
<h3>Activity 2: Student dictation </h3>
One of the most interesting aspects of these sounds in English is that most consonants in the chart are paired up, produced in the same way except one is voiced and the other is voiceless. /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, /f/ and /v/, /p/ and /b/ are all such examples.   
Step 1: Model pronunciation 
Show learners a pair of these sounds in the chart, demonstrate how to produce them and then ask students to place their hand against their throat and produce them again. The voiced sound will produce vibrations that they will be able to feel, while there should be no vibrations when producing the voiceless one. Go ahead and try it yourself! When pronouncing /p/, /f/ or /tʃ/ only air comes out, no vibrations no matter how hard you try!  
Step 2: Practise 
Put students in pairs to prepare a list of words or sentences containing the sounds you studied. Then pair them up with new partners and play some music. Students take it in turns to read a sentence, while the other student writes it down exactly as it is said. When you stop the music, they come together and compare. A variation of this for the online classroom is to send the words or sentences to only one of the students to read to everyone else while you play music or any sound through your device to increase the level of challenge.  
Early finishers in these lessons could return to the chart to try and identify more pairs of consonant sounds using any of the tools online classrooms have to offer (e.g. circle sounds with paint or type them in the chat).  
<h3>Activity 3: Rhyming pairs </h3>
ESL students need to have a good understanding of vowel sounds before delving into this activity because diphthongs are two vowel sounds combined and uttered in a single breath. Though these sounds are more complex, they can be a lot of fun to include.  
Step 1: Model pronunciation 
Starting with a popular rhyme or an excerpt from a song, you can first show students how these sounds can be properly produced by pointing to the diphthong and the sounds it combines in the chart. For more advanced learners, ask them to show you where the sounds are instead.  
Step 2: Controlled practise 
Next, show students how diphthongs can be manipulated to create a rhyming effect. This will also increase students’ overall phonological awareness of the language. A good example sound from the phonemic chart would be /ɪə/ as in here, peer, near, deer.   
Step 3: Freer practise  
You can prepare a short song or poem as a class before moving on to group or pair work for students to create their own. When students mistake the diphthong with another one, direct them back to the chart, highlight the relevant sounds and show them again how to produce them with their lips, teeth and jaw at the right place.  
There are infinite ways to teach and have your students practise sounds from the phonemic chart. We hope you have fun adapting and using these activities in your online and face-to-face classes. 
 
  Learn more about EF Teach Online <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/teachonline/">here</a>.

The first time I saw the International Phonemic Alphabet (IPA) in a /ˈdɪkʃ(ə)n(ə)ri/ I thought it looked like a different language! Thankfully, Adrian Underhill devised the English Phonemic Chart to make sense of the English sounds, making life easier for teachers and learners. This chart offers limitless potential to aid pronunciation teaching, as shown by Underhill himself in this workshop. This is down to its design, which maps …

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Matina Gatsou

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