What I’ve learned from the 1st term of this year

The first term of our 4-term academic year has just ended. We’ll start a brand new term on Monday. During the 1^st term, I’ve tried many things. Some worked well, some didn’t, some needed an update, some needed slight changes. In this post I’d like to share what worked well, what I need to do in the second term differently, which tools were useful and how.

Instructions

The online teaching showed me the importance of giving clear instructions. The instructions should be well planned and short and clear. Instead of repeating them, I’m planning to prepare more written instructions and keep them on the screen throughout the activities.

Rapport

Having good rapport with the students is even more important. When they see, you care about them, support them and you are comfortable with the technology, they feel more confident. If you guide them to be autonomous learners, they gradually become one.

Tools

There are tons of thousands of tools out there. They are really like candies in a shop. However, less is more. Choose the ones which support you more. I loved using the followings.

Jamboard: Brainstorming, group work in breakout rooms, exit tickets, discussions, vocabulary

Quizizz: I also liked using ‘Lessons’ with Quizizz. The tool gives you the chance to introduce the target language and then you can continue with CCQs and follow-up questions.

Wordwall: As wordwall has many features, you can use it to check grammar, vocabulary, class discussion

Padlet: Without Padlet, I’ll feel incomplete. I created one board for each class and they became the students’ online portfolios.

Google Forms: They are one of the most versatile, most useful tools this term. I assigned my student to watch videos and gave them questions to answer, moved drilled to the forms, turned them into quizzes, added the answer key so that the students can get instant feedback and as they did their exercises on the forms, I also had the chance to see who is doing what, who needs more help, tutorials etc.

Breakout rooms

They were great. Students loved them and to my surprise they worked there eagerly.

Yes a new term is about to start for us and I’m looking forward to my new challenges 🙂