Let's Teach English

Ultimate Resources, Devices, And Techniques For Teaching Online

Teaching English online can be very beneficial, especially when you have good trendy techniques, devices, and resources. The combination will provide you the assistance and confidence that you need to offer a five-star teaching service to your students.

Sufficient Devices to Utilize for Teaching Online

• Desktop/Laptop

Technology has been developing throughout the year in a great measure. There are brand new tablets or smartphones on the market every few weeks that are swiftly surrounded by excellent feedback from consumers and media. Even though tablets and smartphones are beneficial, an online English teacher must utilize a regular laptop or desktop. These types of computers exemplify professionalism, and you will interact with your students in a productive way.

• Top-Notch Headset

Using a suitable headset will allow your voice to be heard clearly by your students at all times. If you decide to purchase a headset, you need to survey top-notch headsets that are made by reputable brands and choose the one that suits your preferences by reading the specifications and reviews from other users. It would be better if you can splurge on an extra headset as a reserve because you never know when it will be needed.

• Webcam

If you want to teach online, you must have a camera because it is one of the essential tools you need to prepare before starting a class. Many brand new laptops come with cameras, but you have to ensure that you read the description and reviews of a particular camera that is recommended and best for teaching. Keep in mind that your teaching room’s lighting has to be bright so that your students can see you. It would be best if you also made sure that the camera is facing you directly and your eyes must look straight ahead to make your students focus on the lesson.

• Skype / Scribblar

There are various platforms that you can employ to provide a teaching service to students. One of the well-known platforms is Skype which seems to be the recommended tool because it is incredibly dependable. Besides, most students already get used to this application as it contains a free annotation tool called  “Talk and Write” which is a whiteboard and drawing tool. Another excellent application for teaching online is Scribblar. This platform is known as a free online whiteboard tutoring program that allows audio conferencing. You may test both platforms to find out which one is the best for you!

• Zoom

Many teachers have changed to Zoom as it adds extra functionality as well as better connectivity in many situations. The application is highly preferred when you have a group lesson because it allows you to record your lesson. You can simply do it with Skype by using third-party applications, but Zoom already saved the lesson for you.

Zoom can be pretty pricey if you add on many features. When you get started, you are recommended to build your student base to incur additional costs. Skype is easier for onboard students since they have used it in the past.

• Asana or Trello for Project Tracking

This website is a free tool for online ESL teachers as it allows them to plan their lessons or projects. You can employ it to take notes and ideas about new lessons and stay connected with students.

Teaching Techniques to Employ in the Classroom

• Video Disclosure

Students should utilize the English language outside their virtual classroom as well so that they can reinforce their skills smoothly. You may share movies, music, and eBooks in the English language and encourage them to enjoy the learning materials daily. They should realize that English lessons do not stop when the class is over.

One of the teaching techniques that you can use in the classroom is to play an English video and then discuss it with students. Discussion enables different perspectives and thoughts to be formed that will make students think outside the box.

• DuoLingo

DuoLingo is a free application that will allow your students to learn more about the English language. It uses essential words that are often heard every day in English-speaking countries. You can check their progress through this application as it gives you a weekly report along with the ability to assign new assignments.

DuoLingo also has a teacher from a certification program that can help you understand the system better as you earn a certificate upon passing the course. You will become a certified DuoLingo teacher.

• The English Mom

As a teacher, you should try various teaching techniques to make students comprehend the lesson, such as the English Mom technique. You made many mistakes in conversation when you were younger, but your mother did not point out your grammatical error. She just corrected your sentences, and sometimes she would teach you more details about your mistakes.

For example, you said, “I like a dog,” and your mother will correct you by saying, “Oh, you like dogs. That is what you want to say.” However, you cannot use the same methods when you are teaching adults. It would help if you repeated their errors along with the corrections. It would be best if you determined the frequency based on your students. Japanese students prefer to be corrected directly, and meanwhile, Italian students usually like to keep talking. This is just a generalization, and every student is different.

You need to write down all of their errors during the lesson, including the ones you corrected and those you do not. You may go through the mistakes and corrections at the end of the lesson and ask them to repeat the correct answer. For example, a student says, “Last week I went see the doctor,” and you will repeat and correct the sentence, “Oh, last week you went to see the doctor.” You need to inform them about their mistakes and issues not to repeat the same thing in the next lesson. You may give them a link to an article that covers the grammar rule, and you can use the same techniques for pronunciation errors.

• ESL Flashcards

Ask your students to download free printable flashcards on Eslflashcard.com. This website provides a ton of free printable flashcards that consist of colorful pictures. You can download and print them out easily without registration.

• Short-Story Audio

Please encourage your students to hear and read a short story on Esl-Bits.net, full of short stories for students trying to improve their English vocabulary.

• Cloud-Based File-Sharing

A technique that will smooth the path for learning the English language is collecting and assigning homework through Cloud-Based File-Sharing websites. This platform can be a time saver and a stress-reduction solution for students because some files tend to be too large to attach to an email. You also can use Google Drive, DropBox, or SugarSync.

Sufficient Resources to Employ for Teaching Online

As an online ESL teacher, you need to be aware of everything related to your field. There are plenty of resources online that you can check out, but not all of them contain helpful content.

One of the great online resources is reallifeglobal.com, consisting of five hundred articles, videos, and podcasts for online ESL teachers. Englishfluencynow.com is another website that provides high-quality upper-secondary and advanced materials for teachers.

Noteworthy Guides

When it comes to your personality, you need to ensure that you present yourself professionally. Before starting to teach, you should turn off your phone and email, YouTube, and Facebook notifications. If you choose to disregard it, you will look highly unprofessional when you start a screen share, and you will have a big chance of losing your students. Besides, your teaching place should be clear from clutters. The fewer things you keep around you, the more professional you will look to your students.

Nurture the Confidence of Your Students

You will perceive that most of your students will be less confident when uttering words because they will overthink messing up. Some of them also feel too scared to voice out, but this fear can be reduced if you inform them that making mistakes is just a normal thing in learning a new language. Everybody begins their journey from zero in every aspect, including Albert Einstein. Most people often forget about this truth even though it is just a piece of general knowledge. Nurturing the self-confidence of your students is part of your duties as a teacher. It would help if you encouraged them to speak in the English language so that nothing can hold them back. 

You will be the best online ESL teacher if you follow the previously mentioned good techniques, appliances, and resources in this article. Give it a try and see the result!