TEFL / TESOL Blog
Over the past years, classroom management strategies have been a common topic of discussion. Due to the onset of the pandemic, many educational institutions across the globe are promoting a hybrid model of education. Consequently, the concept of a virtual classroom is quite popular now. Online education has a set of whole new learning environments that is quite different from the traditional classroom culture.
BURNING MIDNIGHT OIL TO FORMULATE ONLINE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES?
We feel that online classroom management is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea because ensuring active student engagement is indeed a big deal. Countries are also putting restrictions on their boundaries and thus, teachers who are looking for abroad teaching jobs can now teach students of other countries online by being in the home country.
TEFL teachers who are conducting virtual classroom sessions with their ESL students have shared effective online teaching strategies with us. They mentioned that during their 500-hours international advanced postgraduate diploma in TESOL/TEFL training days, they were being taught strategies or virtual classroom sessions with their ESL students.
According to them, the major field of their confusion was how to engage students virtually in a classroom session. The pattern of global classrooms is different because while teaching English to non-English speakers via video conferencing, it becomes a bit difficult for TEFL teachers to learn deeply about the culture of their students digitally.
Teachers must keep one thing in mind that online education or e-learning is the new normal and people have already tasted the sweetness of its fruit. Thus, e-learning will never stop happening and down the line, the rate of e-learning method of education will be skyrocketing. Let’s check this data out:
LMS: Learning Management system
So they believe the vibe of an online classroom is completely exclusive. The compatibility and bonding between teachers and students cannot sync easily because, at the end of the day, there is no face-to-face interaction. Also, many times due to the internet malfunctioning online learning becomes haphazard for many teachers, as well as, learners.
HERE ARE SOME EFFECTIVE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
You might be that teacher who’s being loved by everyone and students enjoy your class to the fullest. But get one thing straight you’ve to learn to control your learners’ behaviors.
Learners’ behavior: Needless to say you have to be moderate to fair tech-savvy to conduct online ESL classroom sessions. You shall be teaching speakers of other languages and their cultural background is bound to be different than yours. Some of your students might be nosy and can interrupt your lecture session.
Be handy with the mute button so that you can mute those students who are disturbing the balance of the class. Well, they can still hear you speak but they won’t be able to speak unnecessarily and spoil the classroom ambiance.
A warm-up session impacts a lot on the whole online classroom session. Instead of kick-starting the virtual lecture session with a prepared lesson plan, a little bit of a cozy interaction environment is a fantastic way to boost everyone’s energy.
Interact with your students: Interacting with your students is quite instigating and it triggers a positive vibe in the learning environment. Ask your students about what they have done before joining the online class, what are they planning for the upcoming weekend, etc., Building a sweet rapport with students always does wonder!
Practicing such conversation in English you will understand their grip on the language and can thus chalking out a teaching strategy for them will be no sweat!
There must have been days when you’re not in a good mood. You might be feeling extremely low and you cannot focus. This can influence you to keep your video mute and speak while you’re taking a class. Well, that’s a big NO NO!
Never keep your webcam off: A major portion of your students’ behavior depends on this factor. One of the main pillars of the classroom environment is a transparent communication between teachers and students irrespective of the mode of learning. If you keep your video mute, that will give a sense of negligence to your students.
They might get bored and will feel lack of interest in participating in your class. You can definitely relate this if you’ve pursued an online TEFL/TESOL course where your trainer always used to keep the webcam on. This gives a feeling of unity. You can definitely ask your students to keep their videos on as well so as to give a real-life onsite classroom feel.
There is a rule to finish off a game. Let’s say you’re playing FIFA 15 and you do not know when to take a free-kick and at what situation. You’ll eventually lose the game because you’re not aware of the rules of playing football. The same is the scenario when students start learning something new.
Classroom rules must be equal for all: You have to be very careful if you’re teaching young learners. Asking them to follow is a like the tip of an iceberg and therefore, you must explain them in their terms why following rules is important. If required, you can ask them to keep separate notebooks for in-class assignments and home assignments. Such rules must be made compulsory for all.
Another important rule can be set that if any student is having any issue she/he must raise their hand before theu start speaking. This will teach them how to become disciplined and you’ll be able to handle them properly.
You can read or learn from any source that using soft ways too often in a virtual classroom will enhance active participation of students, but TEFL teachers have a different perspective in this case.
Get rid of distractions as much as possible: Soft toys or any kind of toys attract kids a lot. Had it been the class of adult learners you definitely would not have used any cute stuff. However, using soft toys like staffed animals. Rubber roys, etc., will divert the attention of young learners from the actual lesson plan to those toys.
That is definitely unwanted, isn’t it? Therefore, use your loaf and try to use such attention-seeking elements as less as possible.
IT’S A WRAP:
So, these are the 5 major virtual classroom management strategies that TEFL teachers have shared with us. They have also mentioned how this 500-hours international advanced postgraduate diploma in TESOL/TEFL have helped them to strategize online classroom management plans efficiently. If you also want to become an English and manage your classroom online with the help of this premium teacher training program, call out toll-free number: 1800-212-6400.
