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How to engage students with lesson content from the first minute
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ENGAGE For homework you can tell students to write a story where
Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation the proverb can be used at the end by one of the main characters.
You can differentiate tasks with proverbs and make them
getting students interested in the lesson content from different levels of difficulty to create a more personalised learning
the very first minute experience.
doing retrieval practice
creating a more personalised learning experience for students Using images to engage students
Another idea for a warm-up activity is to show students a zoomed-in
fragment of an image connected with the theme of the lesson and
In order to get students interested in the lesson from the very first let them guess what it is. You can find a lot of images like this on
minute, you can use a proverb or a saying. the British Council LearnEnglish Teens website or you can make one
You can find a proverb to go with practically every topic – health, yourself with your smartphone.
food, lifestyle, cultures and traditions, daily routine, education, etc.
For example:
Using songs as warm-up activities
Weather – It is raining cats and dogs.
You can also play a song or a music video at the beginning of the
Health – An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
lesson as a warm-up activity. It can either be connected with the topic
Cultures and countries – When in Rome do as the Romans do.
of the lesson or just be fun and engaging.
You can use proverbs to teach grammar – imperatives,
comparatives, conditionals, etc. You can also teach about
Alternatively…
the customs and traditions of English-speaking countries with
If you are looking for a low-tech alternative of a warm-up activity, find
the help of proverbs.
an object connected to the theme of the lesson, put it in a bag and
Proverbs are short, fun and easy to memorise. You can often find
ask students to guess what it is. You may instruct them to ask you
funny illustrations to go with proverbs. Choose a proverb that
yes-no questions. For example, you can choose a book that you are
supports your learning material. Demonstrate the illustration to
reading now while studying the topic “Literature”, put some stationery
the proverb on your shared screen or on the Zoom whiteboard.
in a bag while studying the theme “School and classroom objects”,
Discuss the proverb with students, try to find equivalents in their
choose a tennis ball for the theme “Sport”, etc.
native language, and ask students to think about situations when
the proverb can be used.

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How to be a cool and effective teacher
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ENGAGE Make sure students know how to use the different functions of the
Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation tool you are using for video conferences. For example, show them
how to use the Zoom chat window, how to annotate a whiteboard
getting students interested in the lesson content from or a shared document, and how to share their screen.
the very first minute If you want to use a new Zoom feature or a new tool during the
doing retrieval practice next online lesson, try it out with your friends or colleagues first
creating a more personalised learning experience for students and make sure that everything works as planned.
Remember that students may be using different devices with
different technical abilities and characteristics, so try to choose
Teaching in a virtual classroom can be even more challenging than tools and apps that fit most devices.
working offline. Moreover, we must remember that learning online Remember to keep in touch with students’ parents and inform
can also be more difficult than in the classroom for students. Here are them regularly about their children’s progress during online lessons
some rules that can help you conduct effective and engaging online because together we can make distance learning as effective as
lessons: possible.
Establish clear rules for your online class, share them with students
and always try to stick to these rules.
Use a virtual background rather than showing students your flat or
relatives.
Always start the lesson by asking students how they are feeling.
They can be rather tired if they have already had several online
lessons before yours and you may have to modify your lesson plan
a bit if you want it to be effective.
Try to include different types of activities in your lesson plan, so
that students can switch their attention from computer screens to
textbooks or paper exercise books. Don’t forget to include visuals,
games, music, etc.
Use flash cards, cartoons, graphs, diagrams and other visual aids
for retrieval practice.

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How to set up rules for students
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ENGAGE Creating interactive posters

Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation Teachers can design a set of rules in Canva for the asynchronous
virtual classroom as well. In this case the virtual classroom will be in
getting students interested in the lesson content from the form of an interactive poster with information about the learning
the very first minute material, deadlines, links to various resources that the teacher wants
developing a virtual classroom behaviour routine students to use, and classroom rules. These rules will differ from the
making remote lessons more effective rules for the video conference class.

Online lessons are effective if there is a certain familiar routine that

students recognise. In the usual classroom teachers often write
such rules with the students and put up posters on the classroom
wall, where everyone can see them. In the virtual classroom it is also
important to discuss rules and make them visible during the lesson.

Setting up virtual classroom rules

Rules for the video lesson may vary, but some of them are essential if
we want to save time and maximise lesson effectiveness.
For example, students in the virtual classroom should:
Mute their microphone unless it’s their turn to speak.
Turn their video cameras on.
Use the chat window for questions.
Click the “Raise Hand” icon or raise their hand in front of
the camera before speaking.
Stick to the deadlines and manage their time.
Read the instructions carefully.
Ask their teacher questions via email/chat during working hours.

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Designing virtual backgrounds Alternatively…

After creating an account on Canva, you can design a virtual If you conduct your online lessons from school, you can write down
background for your video conferencing tool like Zoom. the list of classroom rules with a felt-tip pen on the whiteboard and
Log in to your Canva account and type “Zoom virtual background” sit in front of it. The students will be able to see the rules when you
in the search box. turn your video on during the video conference. Just make sure that
Browse through the templates and choose the one that you would you are not blocking the writing on the board.
like to apply. If you are working from home, you can make a paper poster with
Change the design and edit the rules if necessary, or use the ready- the classroom rules and put it up on the wall behind your working
made template. place, so that students can see it when you turn your camera on.
Download the template to your computer as a JPG file.
Use it as a virtual background for your next synchronous lesson
conducted in the form of a video conference.
To set up a virtual background in Zoom, launch your Zoom desktop
client, open “Settings”, go to “Background and Filters”, and choose
“Virtual Backgrounds”. There are usually some backgrounds to
choose from, but if you want to add the one that you downloaded
or created yourself, click on “+” and choose the file from your
computer.

Making remote lessons more effective

If you use the virtual background with classroom rules during
a video conference lesson, the students will see the classroom rules
behind you every time you start speaking. It will help them develop
a virtual classroom behaviour routine and make remote lessons more
effective. You can use classroom rules as a warm-up activity at the
beginning of the lesson. By reviewing these rules with the students,
you will get learners interested in the lesson content from the very
first minute.

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How to support students’ emotional wellbeing during warm-up activities
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ENGAGE Mood check templates

Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation Another way is to use one of the mood check templates from Canva.

getting students interested in the lesson content from

the very first minute
creating a more personalised learning experience for students

Setting your class off in the right mood at the beginning of the lesson
has always been important. The importance of learners’ emotional
well-being doubles in the remote classroom, when you and your
students are separated by distance and computer screens, and it is
difficult to spot a problem and react to it immediately. In this situation
it can be a good idea to start a synchronous video lesson with a
warm-up activity asking your students how they are feeling. This will
help you engage the students with the lesson from the start.

Using reaction icons

If you are using a Zoom video conferencing tool to organise
synchronous lessons, you should:
Start a Zoom meeting.
Find the “reaction“ icon in the dock at the bottom of the screen.
If your students are new to Zoom, explain how to locate this icon.
Show the students how you are feeling by choosing one of the
“reaction“ icons and ask them to do the same.
You may ask students to comment on their choices or simply take
them into account during the lesson.

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Using mood check activities in the virtual classroom Alternatively…

To use the mood check activity template do the following: You can ask students to prepare four pieces of coloured paper
Go to your Canva account or create one. (red, yellow, blue and green) and hold up the colour which
Type “mood check“ in the search box. corresponds to their feelings.
Choose one of the Canva mood check templates. Another idea is to ask your students to mime their feelings.
Assign the template to your students by clicking the “share“ button You can also ask your students to finish the sentence “The colour
and choosing “share this link as a template“. of my mood is…“ by naming the colour that corresponds to
Share your screen with this template during the video lesson. their feelings at that moment. You can download the printable
Share the generated link in the chat window of your Zoom lesson. Assessment for Learning Response cards from the Resources
Ask students to follow the link in the chat and mark their mood on section.
the template.
The students and the teacher can watch the template change in
real time.
You can simply share your screen with the mood checker template
via Zoom and ask your students to annotate it using the Zoom
annotation tools.
You may discuss your students’ choices or simply take them into
account.
When you know how your students are feeling you can use this
information and apply differentiation techniques to create more
personalised learning experiences.

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How to engage students with tasks connected to real life
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ENGAGE Setting collaborative projects

Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation Students can work on the project simultaneously with covering the
textbook. The programme automatically matches them with peers
getting students interested in the lesson content by connecting from other countries who are studying the same topic and allows
learning to real life them to discuss it in a safe chat window of the platform or even
doing retrieval practice create a project together.
creating a more personalised learning experience for students You can invite students’ parents to see their children’s progress.
You can grade student work using built-in assessment tools.
If you choose a PenPal Schools project connected with the theme of
To get engaged with the lesson from the very first minute, students the textbook unit you are teaching in class, your students will have
need to know how they can use the language they are studying in to recall the language they learned during the lesson and use it in
real life. If you teach a virtual class, you can arrange a safe online the new content.
communication experience for your students where they will be able
to use the language for real-life meaningful communication with Alternatively…
peers from different countries to discuss important issues. You can get your students interested in the exchange of traditional
postcards or letters with peer learners from different countries.
Using PenPal Schools for collaborative projects Connect with fellow educators via professional social networks.
PenPal Schools is an online platform that allows classrooms and Choose a class to match your students age and language skills.
students around the world to work together on collaborative Together with the fellow teacher decide on the topic questions you
projects that connect to every school subject. want your students to discuss in their writing.
Go to the PenPal Schools homepage and create an account. Agree on the writing etiquette, communication rules and deadlines.
Browse the library of projects and choose the project that Provide regular feedback. Ask your students what was the most
resonates with the theme of the textbook unit. interesting idea they learned from their peers’ answers, what new
Press “Enrol” and create and name your class within the project. vocabulary they learned, what new cultural facts they discovered,
Add students by pressing the corresponding button. and what was easy and difficult during this experience.
The programme automatically creates a classroom code for your
class. Your students need to create student accounts and join the
class using the classroom code.

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How to do retrieval practice
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ENGAGE Using the KWL chart in a virtual classroom

Warm-up, retrieval practice, prior knowledge activation You can send the chart to your students by email or chat as
a document that students can edit before the planned video
getting students interested in the lesson content from conference lesson. Alternatively, you can open the chart on your
the very first minute computer during the online lesson, share your screen and enable
doing retrieval practice annotations.
creating a more personalised learning experience for students Ask your students to complete the first and the second columns of
the chart and leave the third one until the end of the lesson or
the theme.
To see what students already know about the theme of the lesson, what In the first column students write what they already know about the
they would like to know and to get them interested in the lesson from topic. For example, if you are going to teach a new grammar
the very first minute, a teacher can use a “KWL“ chart. The KWL chart is structure, students may put the rules they already know or
a graphical organiser. It is a part of the constructivist teaching method, an example sentence.
which develops students as active learners who construct their own In the second column let students put down what they want to
knowledge. KWL is an abbreviation: “K“ stands for what students already know about the topic. It may be a word in their native language that
Know about the theme of the lesson, “W“ stands for what they Want to they want to know how to translate into English.
learn, and “L“ stands for what they Learned during the lesson. Students fill in the third column at the end of the lesson or theme
and reflect on what they have learned.
KWL Chart You can find a KWL template online for free or draw it yourself as
a table in a document or on the Zoom whiteboard.
K What I already know
about my topic W L
What I want to know
about my topic
What I learned
about my topic

Alternatively…
Ask students to draw and fill in the KWL chart in their notebooks
and read out their ideas at the beginning of the next Zoom lesson.
If you are teaching from the classroom, you can draw the KWL chart
on a regular whiteboard, elicit the ideas from students during the
Zoom lesson and fill in the chart yourself. Make sure you position
the laptop or the webcam so that students can see the chart.

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