English is an important subject for students to learn, especially for the students who have English as a second language. In offline classes, teachers teach and make students practice English in front of themselves. Trough various activities like reading, dictation or debates etc. However, in the past few years, online teaching methods are being used to teach various subjects, but many English teachers think that the activities that they used to conduct in offline classes can’t be conducted in online classes. But that’s not the case, in fact, today There are hundreds of online games, apps and activities that teachers can use to teach English in an effective and fun manner to the students.
Here in this article, we have enlisted a few of the activities that teachers can use in online classes to teach English. Let’s see them.
Speeches: Yes, an old one but a good one; speeches are the best way to teach English, improve public speaking skills, and develop the overall personality of students, it’s like hitting two birds with one stone (three, in this case). Now teachers can bring some changes to online speeches, that is, instead of giving topics to the students before the speech competition; teachers can give topics on the spot. It means students have to collect their thoughts and knowledge about the given topic on the spot and have to speak about it. Now, it may seem quite scary from students’ point of view. But the topic given need not be about something unknown; teachers should give some general topics or which students may be aware of, like, environment, the importance of education, pollution etc are some good examples.
Spelling Bee: Yet another amazing activity to enrich the vocabulary and spelling knowledge of the students. However, unlike the offline spelling bee activity where the teacher speaks the word and students guess its correct spelling; in an online spelling bee, an app or software is used. These apps use an audio feature that speaks the word. And students can spell the word (through voice typing) or type the spelling. Then it will not only show the correct spelling. But also shows the synonyms, antonyms and use of that word in the sentence. This not only teaches the spelling to the students but also provides them with overall information on that word.
Mock Interview: The real English proficiency test of students happens when they have to give job interviews later in their lives, interviews not only test the knowledge of the interviewee but also test his or her communication level. Teachers can make sure that the students are ready for this test in future, by preparing them today; conduct mock interviews with students. Teachers can instruct students to dress up as if they are giving a real interview, and then ask them questions; as it is a mock interview teacher can direct students. And tell them how they can improve and correct their mistakes. This activity is beneficial, especially for high-schoolers, who would be giving college admission interviews and later job interviews.
Ted-ED: Although we can find a hundred and thousands of educational videos and videos teaching English on the internet and YouTube, not every one of them is informative or correct. However, there is one platform that even teachers love and recommend to their students and that is “Ted-Ed”. Ted-Ed is the platform which creates videos, especially for classroom use and educational purposes. The videos are created on various educational topics in collaboration with renowned educators. Teachers can use these videos in online classes to teach students about various topics. Through which students gain knowledge about topics, improve listening skills and develop comprehensive skills. Another benefit of Ted-Ed videos is that after watching every video, it shows follow-up questions. That students need to answer based on their learning and understanding after watching videos.
Newspaper Reading And Blog Writing: English newspapers and blogs are some great sources to teach English, teachers can incorporate them to teach online. They can organise newspaper reading classes once a week and can start an online English blogs platform. On which every student will write a blog on a topic of their choice.
