Practical tips for teaching English to YL online

Online lessons are nothing new, but many teachers are now faced with creating lessons and content for their students fast and often without any experience. Teaching children is one of the most fulfilling experiences, especially when you observe how quickly they are learning. At the same time, it can be challenging to teach English to them online.

Young learners often struggle with reading and writing, have limited attention spans, and sometimes even have mood swings in class. The difficulty of virtual learning also tends to increase with age. The younger the students the more challenging it is to handle them.

Here are some ideas to help you engage your young learners and ways to make your career as an online English teacher pleasurable and your classes as productive as possible.

Start with building basic computer literacy skills. How to use the microphone, camera, and chatbox are the major things your young learners will probably need to know. For example, you can teach them how to use technology by showing an image of a colour and asking them to use their microphone to say it. 

Ask them to find something of that colour and show you with their camera. You can modify this activity by using objects or flashcards that are appropriate for your students' age.

Show them a picture of a microphone and ask them to find it on the screen (if you use Zoom/Meets/Skype, for example). Ask them to mute and unmute themselves. 

Although these are evident things, they are very important.

Decide on the supplies your students will use during the course. Start with a screen sharing of the supplies you'll be using every lesson. This will help parents organise everything. If everyone has their own paper, pencils, paints, and copies of coursebooks at home, they will be able to turn to the page of the book you will be using.

Consistency is comforting. You can start, for example, by asking a few questions that the kids can comfortably respond to in English, like "How are you?". When students see you on the screen, they will know what to expect, and some may even start asking you the same questions before you do. 

Giving students tasks they are familiar with boosts their confidence and prevents them from quitting mid-lesson because taking a class in a foreign language can be stressful.

Among other things, you can use a Hello song or simple games to review vocabulary from the previous lesson, a daily calendar ritual to review dates, numbers, weather, days of the week, etc.

There are many issues teachers face online, for example, students interrupting the teacher, surfing the internet or playing online games during the lesson, getting distracted by their pets or objects around them, chatting with groupmates, etc. Establishing online classroom rules is vital if you want to have effective English lessons with your younger learners. 

Create these rules together with your students. This will lay the foundation for proper and constructive behaviour.

It's also a good idea to agree on different signals with your students. This will help you work even if you or your students are muted. For example, a thumbs up could mean "I have questions", and if put their hands on their head, it could mean "I need to leave" (e.g. go to the bathroom).

You can also have your own signals. For example, when you need everyone's attention, you can stop talking and raise both hands so that everyone else raises their hands as well.

If you teach with Zoom, make use of reactions. For example, students can signal when they have finished an assignment or want to ask a question or answer.

If you want to make your life hard, use as many online tools and resources as possible. Of course, it's a joke. Here is what Chris Reese says about the perfect number of online tools for your lessons:

Giving young learners something to look at helps them learn. The benefit of the online classroom is that you can control what they are looking at.  

Additionally, you can include interactive online learning games in your classes to boost student engagement. When appropriate, you can bring items that grab their attention.

We need to put more effort to involve young learners in the learning process. Here's where game-based learning comes into play.

Students and the information become emotionally connected thanks to gamification. It has a significant impact on their attention, which increases their openness to learning.

Games are integrated into the learning process through game-based learning. It is a teaching strategy in which students pick up particular skills or information by engaging in a real-world game.

When teaching young learners, communication with parents is inevitable. Be honest and open. 

It's really important and helpful to establish rules and boundaries for parents too. Ask them not to translate or answer for their kid if they do not know the answer. Do not allow them to correct every mistake their child makes because it has the opposite effect to the one they intended: children lose motivation and become less confident.

Ask parents to participate in activities if they are in the lesson with their kids.

Do you teach online? Share your tips in the comments!