How To Be A Great Online English Teacher

Welcome to the world of online teaching and so the fun begins!

Note: all references to the teaching company DaDa are no longer applicable due to the changing tuition regulations in China.

Image of me teaching with a monkey puppet prop — Props make your teaching fun and a whiteboard is essential!

Do you you have your basics covered – computer, headset, quiet environment? Yep, check

So, let us turn to what makes you a great online teacher.

You will need to:

have a great background
use props & reward systems
be friendly, fun, positive and engaging
use lots of TPR
be highly adaptable
have a starter and plenary
review, reinforce, review…!

1. Your background is YOUR classroom

Your background is your classroom and it’s up to you how you want your classroom to look. You can keep it relatively plain or you can go all out!

I really enjoy creating and changing my background according to the season, where I am in the world or just because I fancy a change. For example, in Malaysia I decorated my background for Chinese New Year and in Italy I use a funky shower curtain to create a backdrop whilst we are renovating.

Your background can also form part of your teaching, for example you may have the alphabet, a map of the world or numbers to refer to. It also enables your teaching to be more dynamic and less static, which is important in an online environment.

2. Props & Reward Systems

Using props and rewards are what brings you teaching to life and makes it fun.

The first prop you must have, without a doubt is a mini magnetic whiteboard – you can actually forgo all other props, but you must have a whiteboard. There is so much you can do with it, from drawing pictures, writing letters to playing games. Just like a teacher in a classroom depends on a whiteboard, so will you as an online teacher. I have 3!

Props – I have a whole range of props that I use including puppets, flash cards, games, magnetic books, plastic letters, funny glasses – you name it, I’ve probably used it!

Where can I get props?

Magnetic books from charity shops are a great resource.

Firstly, you don’t need to spend much or indeed any money on props! You can:

Use what you already have in your home – if it’s a lesson on fruit then have a selection of fruit!
Make your own – it’s really easy to make simple games and rewards using coloured paper and a little imagination (your best friend will be self-adhesive tape and magnetic backing).
Trawl the charity shops – when I first started online teaching, I picked up some great props from my local charity shops including puppets, flash cards, plastic letters etc etc.
Buy online teaching resources – you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, there are lots of online teachers out there that have created some really awesome resources that are great value for money and sometimes even free. I love using resources from Spark ESL. They’re colourful, imaginative, easy to download and aimed at different levels of ability. The students really enjoy them! What’s more freebies are regularly emailed!

Reward Systems

Reward systems are great motivators! They’re a way of rewarding students’ hard work and providing positive reinforcement. Also, by using a reward system you can review basic vocabulary e.g. prepositions, colours, numbers (there’s always a learning opportunity)!

How do you use reward systems?

I teach for DaDa and we have a 5 gold star system built into the teaching platform. In conjunction with the stars I use a fun reward system e.g. 1 gold star = choose an animal for the picture.

ice cream reward chart — Students love this homemade reward chart

Do you use the same reward system for all students?

Nope! The type of system I choose for a lesson varies depending on the age and ability of the child. Younger students can get really excited about say choosing an ice cream colour to make a super huge ice cream or adding animals to a background. However, for older children, I tend to use reward games such as choosing a random letter from my silver globe and seeing how many words they can think of that begins with that letter, Q&A games using various formats, word association, word guessing games and the occasional tic tac toe (I have one student who is very competitive!)

End of lesson sticker charts– this is something I choose to do with my younger students. When I start with a new regular student, I give them a selection of coloured cards to choose from, we write their name at the top and then at the end of each lesson they get to choose a sticker. This marks the end of the lesson, makes it fun and also gives them a visual reminder of how well they are doing. I like to display the sticker charts on my whiteboard from the start of the lesson, which is a great way of showing that the classroom space is theirs for that 30 minutes. It’s also another opportunity to reinforce basic vocabulary.

Travelling and props

Obviously, if you’re travelling you are more limited by the number of props, backgrounds, rewards etc you can carry. When I travel, I tend to stick to a few basics and going back to my first point, there’s 101 ways to use a mini whiteboard! Also, coloured paper can be used for a myriad of games and is light and easy to carry.

a selection of coloured paper folded in half, one is opened showing ' name 10 animals' — light weight props for travelling…

3. Mr/Ms Positivity

It’s your job to exude positivity, warmth and every other word that describes a happy jolly personality!

You must remember that the kids you teach have probably just done a full day at school and have a backpack full of homework. My students are all Chinese, and they get a lot of homework, and I mean a lot!! Therefore, you’ve got to be that lovely smiley engaging English teacher that they look forward to seeing at the end of the day. If you’re not…well they’ll request to have another teacher and bang goes your stability bonus (if you work for DaDa).

So even if you’re feeling tired, had a bad day or just not really in the mood for teaching, and let’s face it we all have off days, you still have to be awesome! And to be honest, once you’re sat in front a student with a big smile, it doesn’t take long to feel energised!

Lessons have got to be fun, fun, fun and there are so many ways to do this! You can use your props, play games or try breaking into song – turning words and sentences into random songs is a great way to add a bit of vitality to a lesson, and it’s not uncommon to find students who have been struggling to pronounce a word, can suddenly sing it perfectly! Oh, and if you play an instrument – even better!

Also, don’t be afraid to be silly! I can’t stress this enough; kids love teachers that goof around a bit and it really lightens the lesson. I think I get the most laughs when I accidentally drop something on the floor (don’t ask me why that is so funny!)

4. Total Physical Response (TPR)

TPR is a style of teaching that is particularly important with young learners and great fun to do. It basically means reinforcing language through pairing it with actions.

Example – you say ‘stand up’ and you physically stand up, the learner also stands up and says, ‘stand up’.

There’s a lot of basic vocabulary that can be learnt through TPR (verbs, prepositions, imperatives).

5. Queen or King of Adaptability

One of the most important characteristics of a good teacher is adaptability and responding to each student’s individual needs. You cannot be rigid in your approach and you cannot presume that just because a particular teaching technique, prop, reward system worked for one student, it will work for the next. I’ve had brilliant lessons followed by flops with the same reward system. It’s all about getting to know your student. You need to think about their age; their personality and it goes without saying their level of English.

One way that teaching online differs greatly to regular classroom teaching, is that you could be faced with a range of ages; one minute you could be teaching a 12 year old and the next a 4 year old so you have to be ready to quickly adapt your teaching style. This may seem quite daunting at first, but once you have a few lessons under your belt it becomes very natural. I find the easiest way to do this, is to check my schedule and once I know who I’ll be teaching have a selection of age appropriate props close at hand. Of course, it’s not all about props but it helps to know you’re geared up!

Adapting your teaching style – there simply isn’t a one size fits all when it comes to teaching (even when students are the same age). Everybody learns differently and at different speeds. If you find that a student isn’t retaining or understanding, try adapting how you teach them. Consider how your student learns best – is it through seeing, listening, speaking, singing, writing, drawing or through movement (TPR)? The best teachers in any subject, will use a multi-sensory approach to cover all bases and reinforce learning. I teach for DaDa and I find that the courseware allows you do to this quite naturally.

6. Have a starter and a plenary

Starter/warmup – you don’t need to rush straight into teaching the course material. Start off with a bit of a warmup to get the lesson going; this will depend on the age and language ability of the student, but examples include asking questions about their day, the weather, school etc, review vocabulary from the previous lesson and set the context for the lesson.

Plenary – at the end of the lesson, give yourself 5 minutes to review some of the key words and go over any vocabulary, grammar that the learner found challenging.

7. Review, Reinforce and Review

Anyone that has tried to learn a language, will know the importance of reviewing and reinforcing. It’s no good just to presume that because you taught something, that your student will retain and remember it. Therefore, it’s crucial to give opportunities to review vocabulary and grammar throughout the lesson and in subsequent lessons. Thankfully, most courseware does this in plenty, but you can also do it yourself through simple games, flash cards etc.

For example, if your student is learning about animals. You could have pictures of animals for your student to name and describe.

The joy of teaching is that there are so many ways of reinforcing learning, and the more inventive you are, and the more fun you have with it, the more your student will remember! Almost everyone can think back to a particular teacher at school that did something in a certain way, that made the learning stick. The more you can do that, the better.

The number one rule – enjoy it!