The Western world has seen online learning for ages now whereas India was still practicing the traditional way of schooling where children used to come to schools and the teaching-learning process would happen. But, with the pandemic hitting the world, India is now into virtual classrooms.
India is witnessing this change within a blink of an eye which was very drastic and for the first time. The initial days of the pandemic were very difficult for the teachers and children to cope up with online learning and adjust to this new way of instruction. Nevertheless now, as months passed on, teachers have become tech-friendly and have come up with new innovative ideas to make online learning fun.
Fun Zoom Teaching Approaches For Young Learners
Below are some fun tips to make online learning more engaging for learners –
Set ground rules – It is very important to set ground rules for your online session. Rules are very important for smooth functioning of all the elements of the school. As it is important to set rules in a physical classroom, it is equally important to set ground rules and follow them in the virtual classroom. It helps to maintain order throughout the session.
Involve activities and play – Play holds a very vital role in a child’s overall growth and development. It is very important to involve play, activities, worksheets in your lesson plan even if it is a virtual session. This makes the lesson more fun and interesting for the learners.
Encourage art and participate with learners – Art and practical activities are part of the curriculum. It is very important to encourage learners to practice art activities. Teachers should not exclude themselves while performing activities as children will feel engaged when teacher and learners collectively contribute towards activities and also it helps to spark children's creativity. So it encourages communication, collaboration, and group learning.
Involve storytelling – Encourage story sessions once a week and give children the opportunity for story-telling. This helps the session from being too boring for the learners, avoids the regular lesson, and also brings in variations in our lessons. Moreover, provides children with the opportunity to explore their communication skills. This is a fun way of learning.
Let us find ways to set up a remote classroom.
Meditation – At the beginning or the end of the session, it is very good for teachers to have a meditation session for 5 minutes at least. This helps to cool the learners also builds the habit of meditating, which is an important life habit.
Involve costumes on fests – On special occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi, Raksha Bandhan, etc. Teachers can encourage learners to dress in a new dress and provide the importance of the fest for the learners. This gives the feel of a physical classroom.
Party and birthday celebration – Special days like birthdays, Christmas celebrations, etc. can be celebrated virtually.
This type of teaching needs proper training and knowledge regarding teaching aids. So, the online TEFL/ TESOL courses help teachers to understand the learners, help with various teaching techniques and make teachers aware of the latest aids that help the teachers to be more creative and bring in innovativeness in the lesson.
A career in EFL/ ESL classroom will help you to practice your ESL teaching techniques in the classroom.
Mentioned below are few tips for teachers –
- Make the online class more interesting for the learners
- Be tech-savvy, keep yourself updated
- Have variations in activities
To be an efficient ESL and EFL teacher, teachers need to understand the latest techniques in virtual teaching. For this, they need to constantly update themselves with the latest teaching techniques.
Thus, to conclude, it is very important for teachers to be innovative and bring creativeness in a virtual session. As teachers, we should execute the abovementioned tips and make our online session more interesting and creative for the learners. At the same time, it is very important for us to work on ourself and be updated with the latest teaching techniques and aids.
Written By : Rutuja Badede
