Getting Ready: Your Tools to Online Teaching

After deciding upon yourself if you are in this kind of job whether be it a part-time or full-time, you might want to check out these things.

Computer/laptop, headset and a camera

If you already have these things then that’s nice and good. You just have to make sure that your computer is not that slow since you would be opening an application for your audio/video class and a browser.

Internet Service Provider

Check out the internet company that’s available in your area. I recommend DSL or cable company since they offer a more stable internet. When I first started out 5 years ago 1Mbps download speed was enough to conduct the class. Internet connection is a lot cheaper now than before so if you want you could choose a higher speed just in case other family members would also want to use the internet. I currently subscribed to a plan with a 6Mbps download speed.  I’ve tried broadband several years ago but it’s just a headache due to its intermittent connection especially on a rainy day.

Materials

Most online schools have their own curriculum so you just have to familiarize yourself on how to conduct the class. For freelancers like me, I check out online sources that would best suit my students. You have to have a variety of materials since you would be catering to different ages with different levels of English and with different reasons of studying the English language. You can make your own lesson plan from these sites.

I’ve bookmarked a lot of English sites but here are some useful sites I frequently go to;

For Beginner Students

I use ESL books like Side by Side, Talk Talk Talk, Interchange and Can you believe it. You can access some websites like http://www.slideshare.net or http://www.scribd.com to check out these books for free. You can also use other ESL books that you can come across.

For intermediate students

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

This site offers a lot of exercises like vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, grammar and discussion. I ask the student to read it in advance so we could focus more on discussion. Some students however don’t have time to have an advance study and since it only is a two-paragraph essay it is easy for them to comprehend it. This is especially good for students who could already express their ideas in sentences.

For Advance Students

http://www.ted.com/

You can pick some interesting videos here. This is a good exercise for them to check out their listening comprehension and vocabulary. You can choose a shorter version so the student could just easily watch it during their free time. To make a lesson plan out of it, you could check out the transcript and look out for the idioms, deep vocabularies, and slangs that the speaker used and make an exercise out of it. It could be a multiple choice exercise or a matching type. Also, you can prepare some comprehension questions and of course discussion questions that is related to the topic.

If you are not yet sure on how to conduct the class you can check out my next blog.