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Using Your Coursebook Online PDF

This document provides tips for teachers on adapting face-to-face coursebook activities to online teaching. It suggests getting digital versions of coursebooks, making supplementary video or audio recordings, and connecting asynchronous and synchronous tasks. It also offers ideas for providing input online through videos, pictures, and presentations. Suggestions are given for practice tasks such as speaking activities with family or forums. Providing feedback using shared drives or screen recording is also recommended.

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Monica Jiménez Ferron
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43 views2 pages

Using Your Coursebook Online PDF

This document provides tips for teachers on adapting face-to-face coursebook activities to online teaching. It suggests getting digital versions of coursebooks, making supplementary video or audio recordings, and connecting asynchronous and synchronous tasks. It also offers ideas for providing input online through videos, pictures, and presentations. Suggestions are given for practice tasks such as speaking activities with family or forums. Providing feedback using shared drives or screen recording is also recommended.

Uploaded by

Monica Jiménez Ferron
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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#TeachingFromHome

Kirsteen Donaghy, Maria Jose Galleno, Teodora Naiba, Nataliya Nayavko and Cristiana Osan

Introduction
Teaching online from coursebooks that are designed to be taught face-to-face can be
challenging. However, there are many ways you can adapt the activities to provide engaging
lessons online, while still covering the set syllabus or content. Your school may be using
asynchronous tools only, such as email, shared drives, Google Classroom, Apple School, etc., or
you may also have synchronous or ‘live’ lessons.

Getting started
• Ask your school (or the publisher) if you have access to digital versions of your coursebook
(e.g. a PDF). If you don’t, check that you are allowed to take pictures of your coursebook
and use them when you are teaching online, to show learners what pages and activities
they should focus on.
• If teaching synchronously, you can also join from your phone at the same time and use the
camera on that as a visualiser to show the book – remember to mute one of the devices to
avoid audio feedback.
• Consider making short video or audio recordings which refer to the coursebook and
provide supplementary explanations, examples and instructions. Your students can then
use these when they need them.
• If using both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (not live) lessons, make connections
between the tasks students are doing asynchronously and synchronously. Divide up the
tasks and assign reading and writing or practice/review activities before a synchronous
class. Focus on communicative tasks in the live lessons, as well as answering any questions.

Providing input
Asynchronous
• Regularly share instructions with unit, page and exercise numbers to complete and let the
learners know what you want them to upload or send to you and by when.
• You can use Google Docs or another similar platform to share files and information.
• Find videos on the coursebook topics online and share the links with the students.
Remember to give them clear tasks to do before, while and after watching.
• Send regular messages. Let learners know when you will provide new tasks and feedback.
Synchronous
• As a warmer or lead-in activity, take a picture from the coursebook and cover it with sticky
notes. Ask students to ask yes/no questions. Reveal the picture gradually, removing one
sticky note every time the answer is yes.
• Use the text from the coursebook. Take a picture and use a marker tool to cover some of
the words in order to create an open cloze exercise.
• Use open pair work and nominate learners to do exercises.
• Ask learners to research a topic and do a short presentation for the class, with questions
for the others to answer as they listen.

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
#TeachingFromHome

Setting practice tasks and activities


Asynchronous
• To complete a speaking task in their coursebook, ask learners to do it with a family
member or friend, talk for three minutes and summarise the discussion in 50–75 words.
This can be sent by email or uploaded to the shared space.
• Use a forum, social group or Google Classroom space, where learners can complete
speaking activities while writing. For example, instead of completing a questionnaire,
choose one question and post your answer and ask another question. The next person
must answer and post their own question.
• Set pair or group tasks where learners have to collaborate and submit their conclusion.
Assign who is in the pairs/groups. Provide clear instructions with deadlines for each
stage. Allow plenty of time. Provide a model of the final submission.
Synchronous
• Use tasks such as complete a table, label an image or matching exercises. Label parts
of the exercises in the coursebook and ask for answers through polls.
• Use the annotation tools or ask learners to hold up their answers or take a picture and
send it to the group chat.
• Use breakout rooms for speaking tasks. You can send learners to different breakout
rooms to do different tasks. When they come to open-class feedback, every group will
have completed a slightly different task and will be more motivated to listen to the
others.

Receiving work from students and giving feedback


• Assign tasks in the coursebook as homework so that parents do not need to print extra
worksheets and the learners do not have to spend too much time in front of a screen.
• Use shared drives or your online classroom to collect work and give feedback.
• Simplify where possible – learners can send a photo of their work.
• Try recording feedback with a screen recorder. Use the ‘talk and comment’ add-on or a
voice message.
• Consider how you will review tasks. If you ask your learners to record audio or video, it will
take you longer to give them feedback than if you ask them to write a summary of their
discussion.

Useful links
• ‘Talk and comment’ add on: https://tinyurl.com/yc8p6zrb
• Cristina Cabal explains how to use screen recorders: https://tinyurl.com/ydab4qam
• British Council guidance on online safety for teachers and their learners:
https://tinyurl.com/yazgwqj7

www.teachingenglish.org.uk

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