As a teacher of English as a foreign language, you may wonder how to deal with a diversity of needs, levels of patience and, for the younger ones, comprehension. At HiPe Kids, our duty is to teach all students, from special needs kids to bilingual ones, to love and have fun with another language so they can become happy fluent English speakers.
Need directions to find the path to success? Here are our tips to help you with your online teaching journey!
Organize yourself and your lessons before you start.
Be careful and test your framing settings before starting the lesson. It’s easier to talk to someone’s face than talking to their forehead. Show yourself as the great human-being you are, and remove the elements that could catch the viewers’ attention: we like to have a proper background (you can use basic zoom backgrounds, your company’s one or create your own) and check out your lighting (your light should be behind the screen facing you) so that you appear as clear as possible on the student’s screen.
Whether you teach children or adults, everybody prefers and remembers a fun lesson over a boring lecture. Play with colours, use accessories and don’t forget to adapt your games according to age and level.
At HiPe Kids, we LOVE Padlets. We actually love them so much we also use them during lessons. If they are great at organizing information before your lessons, they also help your student pick up items, add content and collaborate with you throughout the whole course.
Before you prepare anything understand your student’s objectives. If you are giving private online lessons or tutoring, you want every experience to be adapted to their project, their needs and their personality. You wouldn’t use the same methodology for a professional cook looking to improve their English in order to work abroad, and for a student going for a Master’s degree in Cambridge… would you?
Check out our article about the importance of defining a student’s objectives. It‘s in French, but hey! Why would your students be the only ones studying another language?
Now that you have defined your student’s goal, be sure to remember yours: to be understood. Instructions are the key to a good lesson, so give examples, rephrase, ask questions (NEVER do you understand!!!) and write down the key-notions and homework at the end of the session.
Grading is part of a teacher’s job. With the Cambridge Exam process, you can introduce progress tests as achievements, exactly like you would in a game. Your students learn to deal with the stress of a test while preparing for their final exams with a refreshing willingness to learn!
You want to join our team of teachers? Contact us today!
