# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Breadcrumb

Help your learners define their own aims and organise their own study.

awareness understanding habit online learning primary secondary adult reading writing speaking listening integrated skills vocabulary grammar

Digital tools can help learners become more independent as they don't have to rely on you for input and practice. Autonomous learners can set their own goals and plan how to achieve them. They tend to learn more efficiently and effectively, and to be more motivated. However, not all learners are able to do this, so they may need guidance from you. With support, learners can be more independent and develop their language skills beyond the classroom.

Digital tools and goal setting

Using digital tools can help learners develop their language skills. To do this as effectively as possible, it's important to understand how exactly the tool can help so they can use it with a clear learning goal in mind. Get learners to discuss these questions. Let's try this with Quizlet.
1. How will this help me with my English? What can I do with it?

I can create flashcards.

I can play games with the flashcards to review words.

This can help me remember more vocabulary.

New vocabulary can help me read, listen, speak and write better.

2. How exactly can the different features help me to achieve my goals?

Creating flashcards can help me think more deeply about words and their meanings.

Adding images to the flashcards can help me create a visual memory of the word.

Listening and repeating the words can help me create a verbal memory of the word.

Reviewing vocabulary little and often can be more effective than reviewing lots of vocabulary at once.

3. Setting personal learning goals Encourage learners to set personal goals, as this is motivating. Younger learners can choose how many new words from Quizlet they want to learn each week. They might choose too many or too few to start with, but they can think about this and you can help them set a more realistic goal.

Secondary and adult learners can set more in-depth goals. For example, I'll use Quizlet to learn 20 new phrasal verbs each week for a month. You can help learners make decisions such as when and how often to use the tool. Learners can make better decisions about using a tool if they know how it can help best. This will help them achieve their goals more efficiently.

Using choice to build learner autonomy

If we make all these decisions about what, how and when to learn then we're not giving learners the chance to become autonomous. But with too much freedom to choose, learners often struggle to make decisions. Giving options is one way to help learners build autonomy until they can make decisions without them.

1. Give options for digital tools Not all learners like using the same digital tools, so giving options to choose from can help motivation while allowing them to take some responsibility for their learning. Let's imagine that you asked learners to complete this speaking task for homework: Record yourself talking about a topic for 1-2 minutes and share the recording with your teacher and classmates. Build in autonomy by giving a choice of tools. For example:

use an audio recorder app

use mailVU to create a video

use WeVideo to add voice to images

use Voki to create a talking animated figure.

Some learners are too shy to create a video so they prefer to create audio, while others may really enjoy creating a YouTube vlogger-style video, adding voice to images, or creating an animated figure.

You might not have time to show learners how to use each of these tools, but you can share links to the tools and relevant video tutorials on how to use them or you can encourage learners to find the tutorials themselves.

2. Give options for tasks You can give options for tasks using digital tools, for example, a task to practise using the past tenses with topics to choose from:

talk about a happy childhood memory

talk about a holiday you had

talk about a fun day out you had last month.

Learners choose tasks that motivate them, helping to keep them engaged with their language learning.

Helping learners to find and use digital tools

A truly autonomous learner can find digital tools without too much support from you. You can make some suggestions and your learners can research how to use them. They then critically analyse the tool and decide whether it's useful. If it is, learners will use it to develop their language skills.

Not all learners are independent, so how can you help them to get there?

1. Start with a teacher-led approach Showing and practising using a digital tool in class is OK. You can offer support and suggestions, helping learners get used to using digital tools for language learning.

2. Take it step by step Encourage learners to ask questions about digital tools you introduce. Ask them to think of questions when using technology for education, and use these in class. For example:

Is the tool free to use?

Do I have to register and give an email address?

Do I have to be a certain age to use the tool?

Is the material I create in the public domain?

Can I use the tool on a computer/Android device/iOS device?

How will it help me to improve my English?

Next, encourage learners to critically analyse the tools, thinking about the advantages and disadvantages in terms of their needs. This can be a simple One thing I like about this tool and One thing I don't like or more in-depth analysis using a questionnaire.

3. Encourage learners to find support online Show learners where to find online support. This is usually on the Help pages or a community space. There are also video tutorials on how to use most tools on sites like . Show learners how to search for these so they don't need to rely on your help.

4. Move towards an autonomous classroom Once your learners are ready, you can ask them to research tools for themselves and report back to the class. Encourage them to present the basic information about each tool, as well as a critical analysis of its benefits and limitations.

Skills like these stay with your learners long after they've left your classroom, and they can be used in many different contexts.

Motivating learners to practise language outside the classroom

Some learners are motivated to practise outside the classroom just because they love language. Some learners have other priorities and don't allocate a lot of time to developing their language skills beyond the class. Here are some ideas for bringing independent learning into the classroom.

1. Noticing and researching new language Encourage learners to notice new language outside the classroom by reading or listening in English. Get them to look it up online and share what they've learned with their peers using a tool such as Padlet or Edmodo. In class, open up the or page and then ask pairs to tell each other what they learned and from each other.

2. Sharing new words In pairs, ask learners to share two or three new words they learned outside class. Write prompts on the board to help them, for example:

It's (an adjective/a verb) and it means...

You pronounce it...

I like this word because...

I think this word is useful because...

In groups, learners can take turns giving definitions for their words, or mime or draw pictures of them. The first person in the group to guess the word gets a point. The learner with the most points after all the words have been guessed wins.

3. Sharing work Encourage learners to share work with their peers. For example, ask learners to produce a voice recording or a piece of written work and then share it using a tool such as or . Put learners into pairs and ask them to listen to or read the work and give some feedback. Sharing can happen outside the classroom and the feedback can be done in class.

Feedback can be on the content, use of language or both. You can provide prompts for learners to complete, for example:

I really enjoyed...

You...really well.

Maybe next time you could...

Just a few minutes at the beginning or end is enough to show learners that what they do outside the classroom is really important, and will motivate them to want to do more.

Reflection to encourage autonomy

Learners need to be able to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and identify progress. Doing this in class is important because not all learners can reflect successfully without support at first.

1. Real-time quizzes and polls These have two purposes: you get feedback from learners on their learning; learners reflect on their learning. Use a tool such as , or Poll Everywhere to create open questions or closed true/false or multiple-choice questions. Here are some examples:

What was the most important thing you learned today?

What did you find most difficult?

What do you need more help with?

True or false? I feel confident about today's vocabulary.

How confident do you feel about using the grammar we studied? - very confident, quite confident, not confident.

2. Collaborative sites You can ask learners to use collaborative sites such as or TodaysMeet to share their reflections. Learners can write more than they can with the quizzes and polls. You can use questions like those above and learners can share:

a summary of the lesson content

a summary of language studied

three words they've learned that they really want to use in future

3, 2, 1 e.g. three new words they've learned, two things they found most useful in the lesson, one question they want to ask the teacher.

3. A reflective learning journal Learners can keep a reflective learning journal which they write in after each lesson/unit/module. Encourage them to write about what they've learned, what they found easy, what they found difficult and what they need to do better. Encourage them to set learning goals and think about how they'll achieve those goals. A useful tool for keeping an online journal is . It's private but learners can share pages with you.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tips - Using digital tools to develop learner autonomy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Breadcrumb Help your learners define their own aims and organise their own study. awareness understanding habit online learning primary secondary adult reading writing speaking listening integrated skills vocabulary grammar Digital tools can help learners become more independent as they don't have to rely on you for input and practice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The evidence is in the practice

ESSA Level 3 correlation evidence in math and ELA, earned by teachers running frequent formative assessments.

When teachers run 30+ formative questions a week, the research is clear: they get more data-driven, their students get more engaged. Wayground is built to make that practice enjoyable ot run, attainable to fit a class period, and habitual enough to last past September.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Quizizz is now Wayground | Teacher AI and Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find standards-aligned resources that engage every student. Wayground (formerly Quizizz) helps teachers differentiate instruction with AI and track student progress.

# data[].attributes.body
How to use quizlet

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Engage your students in and out of the classroom with interactive study material, learning activities and games.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Are you a primary English teacher who is about to teach online for the first time? Or, are you a primary teacher facing the dual challenge of teaching children online and preparing them for English exams? Or, maybe you already teach English online and are looking for extra ready-to-use ideas to engage and motivate children? David Valente shares advice on ways of teaching children online, keeping them engaged and focused on the task in hand.

When primary teachers start teaching English online, they can sometimes go too far down the entertainment route with the aim of keeping children engaged. At the other extreme, some primary teachers seem to leave their best practice toolkits back in the physical classroom and online lessons unfortunately become passive with a lack of interaction and variety.

In this post, I share some simple but effective tips to help primary English teachers maintain a focus on purposeful online learning. The ideas are also all child-friendly and help make the online learning English experience enjoyable for children and teachers alike.

Tip 1: Plant seeds of early independence

Enable primary-aged children to do things for themselves during online lessons, give them choices in each lesson and ask questions such as: Do you want to draw or write your answers? Do you want to sing or rap the song? Think about how you could use or adapt these early independence ideas online:
Idea 1: Sticky note feedback
Children hold up drawings of their answers / ideas on a sticky note or a homemade, re-usable mini whiteboard (= a clear plastic A4 pocket with a sheet of paper inside to draw on with a marker which children can easily erase) to the webcam. You could also hold up an answer key on a mini board on the webcam and have children check their answers. This encourages independence and avoids laborious eliciting, which can really disengage and slow down the online lesson pace.
Idea 2: Group singing / rapping
During an online class, have groups of children take turns to sing or rap each verse of a song. For example, imagine you are using this song with a group of 6 year olds preparing for Pre A1 Starters, Listening Part 4:

This extract was taken from page 52 of Fun Skills Student's Book 1, CUP 2020. Download the full page here: Pre A1 Starters Level 1.
First, ask the children to choose whether they want to rap or sing. Next, allocate four groups using the animals and rooms vocabulary sets from the song: a bee in the bathroom (sing), a snake in the bedroom (rap), a tiger in the kitchen (sing), a lizard in the living room (rap). Then, give these instructions:

Group A turn on their mics to sing the bathroom verse, then mute their mics

Group B turn on their mics to rap the bedroom verse, then mute their mics

Group C turn on their mics to sing about the kitchen, then mute their mics

Group D turn on their mics to rap about the living room

Before the children sing, you should demonstrate by singing and rapping one or two of the verses. If you sing and rap with great gusto online, children will be much more likely to do the same! Having the children sing or rap in groups in an online lesson provides an element of choice, makes the activity less daunting than asking individual learners to sing and is highly engaging. The first time you use group singing or rapping in an online lesson, have a quick rehearsal until the children are confident muting and unmuting their mics at the right times.

Tip 2: Focus attention using WALTs

Give children a sense of purpose and accomplishment during online lessons using a menu slide at the start and outlining the WALT = ' We Are Learning T o...'

Use the slide to tell, or even better elicit the WALT, for example, 'In this lesson, we are learning to say / write / read / listen to...' Return to the menu slide at the end of the lesson to review their learning and ask questions such as, ' What did we do today?' and 'Did you enjoy it?'

When outlining your WALT slide, set or elicit goals using language suitable for the children's English levels. For example, when teaching A1 Movers level, you could say, 'Your job today is to listen to the story and then sing the song'. This also provides children with a concrete outcome for each online lesson.
Idea 3: Sample WALTs
Here are three lesson slides with WALTs for different ages and levels. As you read each one, think about these questions:

1. 1. Which age groups could you use each slide with?

2. 2. Which language level is each slide most suitable for?

3. 3. Which goals would you set for each menu?

4. 4. How could you use the WALTs to review learning?

WALT Menu 1 WALT Menu 2 WALT Menu 3 Download the PowerPoint slides of the Lesson Menus here. Listen to my suggestions for each WALT slide and compare your ideas:
https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Tip-2-WALTs-.m4a

Tip 3: Incorporate playful personalised practice

Make frequent links to children's lives outside of online lessons and use these as contexts for practice activities. This provides an even greater element of choice as well as ensures online practice is creative and enjoyable. Think about the potential 'tweaks' you could make to well-used pair speaking activities in classroom-based lessons to make them both doable and more engaging online. See the ideas below for some inspiration with your playful tweaks:
Idea 4: Truth or lie?!
Imagine that you are preparing 9 year old learners for A1 Movers, Speaking Part 4 using the topic of school. If the children already know each other well from school, a personalised 'tweak' of this pair activity is to play it online as a 'Truth or lie?' game with the whole group:

Download FUN Skills Home Booklet 4, page 23, ex 1 activity Fun Skills activity here.
Here is an example online lesson sequence of the tweaks in action:

1. 1. Introduce Sam and Jack using the photos and display their dialogue on a slide

2. 2. Children read the dialogue quickly and say 3 things the boys are talking about (answers: school friends, games at school, lunch at school)

3. 3. Children decide which is TRUE and which is a LIE

4. 4. Children think of their own answers to the 3 questions: 2 TRUE things and 1 LIE

5. 5. Model the dialogue using a football wave drill - wave your arms in front of the webcam on the stressed parts of the sentence as you drill, then the children repeat and wave their arms in front of their cams

6. 6. Volunteers take turns to ask and answer the 3 questions and the rest of the group listen carefully and say: Yes, it's true! or No, it's a lie!

By introducing an 'untrue' element, the children can be creative in a very personalised way which appeals to their love of make-believe and gives them a reason to listen to each other online. Think about how you could use the lesson procedure above with a topic you are teaching online.

Another great speaking activity for online personalisation is a tweaked version of the guessing game Who am I? You can display a slide with several photographs of the children's favourite personalities such as singers, dancers and actors. Have the children choose one of the photographs as their new identity and keep it a secret.

They take turns to ask 6 questions about their classmates' hidden identities, for example; How old are you? Where do you live? What free-time activities do you like? Again, this gives children a reason to listen carefully to their classmates online and adds a playful element to the common primary English About Me topic.

To sum up

I hope these teaching children online ideas have sparked many more for your own online repertoire. Also to help you maintain a learning focus during primary English lessons. Most importantly, I hope this post shows simply how not to lose that 'fizz' when transitioning from the primary classroom to teaching children online.

David Valente is the Coordinator of the IATEFL Young Learners and Teenagers Special Interest Group. He works as a PhD Research Fellow in English Language and Literature Subject Pedagogy at Nord University, Norway, where he teaches on the 5-year Masters in Primary Education. He is also Reviews Editor for the Children's Literature in English Language Education (CLELE) Journal.
you would like to read more blog articles from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.
Do you want to learn more about teaching English online?
Cambridge Assessment English has a free online course that starts today!

Teaching English Online helps both experienced and recently qualified teachers around the world to adapt their skills and teach English in an online environment.

Find out more and join now: camengli.sh/33805I6

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teaching Children Online | World Of Better Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Are you a primary English teacher who is about to teach online for the first time? Or, are you a primary teacher facing the dual challenge of teaching children online and preparing them for English exams? Or, maybe you already teach English online and are looking for extra ready-to-use ideas to engage and motivate children?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In previous posts we've looked at what teachers can do to get the most out of online classrooms. But how can we encourage students to learn once their lesson is over? In this blog post, Dr Claire Dembry from our ELT Research Team, looks at how and why we should encourage students to become independent learners, what is 'learning to learn' and offers some practical suggestions on how this might work in your situation.
Let's be honest - getting students to devote time to learning English beyond their lessons can be a real struggle at the best of times. But what happens when there's so much uncertainty and distraction? You can't be there for them in face-to-face classes to provide a sense of accountability. What practical things can you do to encourage your learners to take charge of their own learning?

What is learning to learn?

For learners to make good progress with English, we know that they need to do more than just work through the activities you set for them. They need to engage with the purpose and usefulness of their lessons, and really see what this means for them. They have to want to learn! Along with this, they need to learn strategies and behaviours that can help them to become better at learning things more generally, including English. This involves:

Making learning goals that are personal and meaningful to them - what do they want to achieve?

Finding learning strategies that work for them day-to-day - how do they actually 'do' learning?

Reflecting on their achievements - what did they do well? What can they do to improve?

Why is this important? We know that autonomous learners feel more motivated, manage their learning better and show improved performance long-term. So how can we actually do this? Here are four ideas you could try:

Helping your learners learn to learn

1. Goals

It sounds simple, but ask your learners what they want to achieve. This could be something short term e.g. 'learn new words to describe films I watched on Netflix'. Or, much longer term; 'pass my English exams and get into University'. Both types of goals are really useful. Perhaps you could do this collaboratively as a class? Encourage your learners to add their goals to an online shared document, like on Google Drive and regularly reflect on their progress towards them. (This could also give you lots of ideas about how to make the topics you cover in your lessons really engaging for them too!).

Along with these personalised goals, try describing what you're going to cover in each lesson and ask learners what they think this will help them get better at. For example, you could say 'today we're going to talk to each other about our dream holiday... what will this help you be better at?' This will raise awareness of the lesson aims and help them to personalise how this could be useful for them.

2. Strategies

Now that teaching and learning has moved online, how have your students changed how they organise their notes? Are they taking notes on paper? Or electronically? Encourage them to think about what works best for them. Is it helpful for them to record short voice notes to listen back to? For example, show them how they could categorise vocabulary learning both online, e.g. using Cambridge Dictionary to create personalised wordlists and quizzes, and offline in more traditional vocabulary notebooks.

3. Accountability

Maybe you could assign your students study buddies. Someone from their class, or from a different class, who they can work with virtually and to whom they're accountable. They could text each other in English, have short video calls or leave each other voice notes. Depending on your learners, this could be related to a particular speaking or writing task, or just to check in on how things are going and provide support.

4. Reflection

Encourage students to keep a learning diary in some form. This could be typed in a document shared with you and/or the whole class. It could be a drawing they share and talk about. Or a video or podcast they record at the end of each week and sent to one of their classmates. For example, they could talk about three new things they've learned, two things they've really enjoyed in their learning that week and one thing they're going to do next.

Clear methods & expectations

Learners might need lots of scaffolding and structure from you at first in order to incorporate these ideas into their learning routines if they're not used to working independently. You might need to assign specific learning strategies for them to try, like using newer online tools or making mind maps and diagrams to record new language. You might need to have clear methods for how you expect them to reflect on their learning, and build this in to your routine at the start and end of each lesson and each week. As this becomes more familiar, you can give more choice to students on strategies to use and how to set their objectives and reflect on the progress they're making.

We'd love to hear more suggestions from you about how you encourage independence in your learners, and how this is working in your online environment - get in touch and let us know!
Find out more about Learning to Learn as part of the Cambridge Life Competencies in this short video and in our guide here. Why not encourage your learners to watch this video on learning strategies for beyond the classroom too. If you would like to read more blog articles from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning To Learn Beyond Online Classrooms | World Of Better Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In previous posts we've looked at what teachers can do to get the most out of online classrooms. But how can we encourage students to learn once their lesson is over?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Social isolation impacts on everyone's wellbeing and mental health. This is particularly true for adolescents and young learners who were previously used to spending a substantial part of their day in the company of others. Virtual interactions are no replacement for spending time in the company of others face to face, however they can help to maintain some balance and keep up one's spirits. Judit Kormos, Professor in Second Language Acquisition at Lancaster University, shares part two of her creative language learning learning tasks for lockdown learning.
I will suggest some tasks which might reduce social isolation as well as give students opportunities to practise and use their English language skills. Of course, these tasks can be adapted for any additional language students learn at school. After listing the task ideas, I will also give some advice on how we can ensure that the outcomes of these tasks are shared meaningfully with other members of the class or group.
1. Message your buddy in English every second day

Students are likely to chat with each other regularly anyway. Set up pairs and ask them to check on each other in English at least once, every second day. Assign a theme for them to talk about as well. Ask for a summary of what they talked about if it isn't confidential, or simply have them report that they have done this towards the end of the week. Of course, you can also just trust them to do it!

2. Do something for your community

Ask students to describe an idea for an act that would help their community. They could make a plan to put out a box with books or cardboard games in front of their house/flat for others to read/use. In an extension of this task, you could tell them to think about potential obstacles. Students can then also practise 'if' constructions (e.g. 'If it rains, I need to make sure I bring the books back into the house').

3. Stay positive

Ask students to share something that made them feel better, happy or gave them joy that day. These can be very small things, but it can help hugely to keep up their spirits.

Share something positive: spring flowers blooming

4. Send a virtual birthday present and set up a virtual birthday party

Many students cannot have a birthday party and will feel lonely on their birthdays. Set up a birthday calendar and students can send each other virtual birthday presents. You can also set a group task in which different groups come up with ideas for a virtual birthday party. Then, organise one every second week for students who had birthdays during that period.

5. Do something to help at home

Ask students to do any task at home that can be of help to someone. They can share what they did in a photo diary, voice recording, video, written text, poem or song. You can set this task regularly by specifying what they could do. In the first week it could be tidying up a drawer or a particularly messy part of their room. Week two, it could be cooking. In the third, entertaining their little brothers or sisters, etc. Otherwise, list the various things that can be completed and students can choose one for each week.

Help at home: tidy up the drawer

6. Keep your classmates entertained

Ask students to recommend films to watch, books to read, podcasts to listen to, hobbies and games to try out to each other. Recommendations can be in any mode and the length of the description can be adjusted to students' level of proficiency.

7. Did you know that...?

The lockdown can be a great opportunity for sharing interesting things that students did not know about each other. For example, students can describe their pets ('Did you know that I have a cat?'), an interesting object in their home, etc.

Sharing your outcomes

It is also important to think about how students will share the outcomes or products of these tasks with each other. Simply asking students to post what they have done to a forum does not create a real audience for their work. Teachers might want to consider assigning fewer tasks to complete and building in time for online interaction around the task outcomes. You can do this in many different ways. Simply ask students to comment on or ask questions about the work of a number of students in the group. Create small groups or pairs who share thoughts and give feedback on each other's work.

Participating in these interactions should be strongly encouraged and rewarded. With higher level and older students you can assign moderator roles to students. They can then guide the discussion and summarise the main ideas or comments to the class. And of course, you can think of creative ways of following up these tasks with another activity. For example, a continuation of the task in which students recommend a film to watch, book to read, etc. can be to ask students to pick one of these recommendations and write a post about how they liked the film or book.

Feedback

Following these steps can reduce demand for individual teacher feedback which might take up a lot of time in online learning contexts. You can manage students' expectations for feedback by explicitly telling them there will be a mix of peer and teacher feedback. Teacher feedback can just give overall evaluation, praise and highlight key points and lessons to be learned.

Finally, it is important during these times that feedback should be positive. Acknowledge students' efforts and offer praise and encouragement. In implementing these tasks, collaboration and co-operation should be emphasised, and competition such as 'who wrote the best book description' should be avoided. Instead of selecting winners, you could ask students to say one great thing they liked about their peers' work.

If you missed it, you can read part one of Judit's creative online language learning tasks blog here.
If you would like to read more blog articles from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning Tasks For Lockdown | World Of Better Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social isolation impacts on everyone's wellbeing and mental health. This is particularly true for adolescents and young learners who were previously used to spending a substantial part of their day in the company of others. Virtual interactions are no replacement for spending time in the company of others face to face, however they can help to maintain some balance and keep up one's spirits.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Coping with the health, emotional, social, and financial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak is challenging for everyone, including children who are out of school. In many countries, school work has suddenly shifted to distance formats. In other places there is no formal education provided, even in online modes. Learning a language online, however, can still be fun. There are a lot of language learning tasks that help students deal with social isolation, and offer great opportunities for language development. Judit Kormos, a Professor in Second Language Acquisition at Lancaster University, has collected a list of creative ideas to share.
I will only give some brief descriptions of the tasks. I am convinced that teachers and parents can easily adapt these tasks to their own context and for their own learners.[1]
These 'skeleton' ideas can be expanded or simplified depending on the level of proficiency and abilities of the students. A simple version of a task can, for example, be just posting a photo with a sentence or two. A more complex version can be writing a short story or a poem. Teachers might also encourage students to use their first language or home languages as a resource. Tasks can be completed in multiple languages or by mixing languages. This can have an empowering feeling, particularly for students whose home language is a minority language.

If possible, you should give students a choice about the modality in which they perform the task. The final outcome could be a video, a voice recording, a written text, photos with caption, etc., or any mix of these. Giving learners autonomy over the choice of medium for the task and the level of difficulty or challenge, can increase motivation and engagement with these activities. [2]

1. Build something from recycled material

Students can build or create something from recycled material. They can then share their 'artwork' with a description of what it is and how they made it.

2. Organise a package holiday in your house

One can also have an imaginary holiday at home! Encourage learners to be creative and transform their homes into a holiday hotspot. Get them to think about places to visit; the bathroom can be transformed into a beach, pictures on the wall can be a gallery. Create activities to do; climbing stairs and admiring the view. What food to eat; secret family recipes. This task can be adapted in other creative ways, and students can open a virtual restaurant, a hospital for teddies, etc.

3. Rewrite or translate a song from the Quarantine playlist on Spotify

Students can rewrite a song of their own choice from the playlist or translate it into their own language. They can also write and perform a song they compose.

4. New sports at home

Ask students to think of new types of sports that can be done at home. An example is 'carpet tennis', which is played on the balcony by hanging the carpets and beating them with a carpet beater. You can even ask students to compare the new or modified sport to the real sport and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the new or modified version of the sport. You can use this task to practice comparative constructions.

A new sport: 'carpet tennis'

5. Put on a show using telecommunication tools

Students can work in groups and put on a short show or perform a song they wrote about any assigned topic or their experiences in social isolation using collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc. They can write the script collaboratively (e.g. in Google Docs). Then, either each of them can record their own part, or they can set up a meeting (e.g. in Microsoft Teams) and video record their joint performance using a screencast software.

Part II...

In the follow up to this blog, I will outline some further ideas for language learning tasks that can help students cope with social isolation. I will also give tips on how to create a meaningful context and a real audience for these online language learning tasks. Read part two here.
[1] A short self-study teacher training module on project work is available on the website of the ENGaGE project. [2] Further ideas for individual and group language learning projects for students aged 10-14, A1-A2 level can be found on the ENGaGE project website. If you would like to read more blog articles from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Creative Online Language Tasks | World Of Better Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Coping with the health, emotional, social, and financial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak is challenging for everyone, including children who are out of school. In many countries, school work has suddenly shifted to distance formats. In other places there is no formal education provided, even in online modes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As our young learners today are facing so many changes in their home and school life, online stories allow them to escape into other worlds, or to explore and manage their feelings about their new, often more restricted lives. In this blog post, Laura Sigsworth will explore how to use storytelling with young learners while teaching online.

Stories and storytelling are a central part of different cultures around the world. They are rich in language and offer lots of listening and speaking opportunities. They also offer young learners the chance to explore wider themes like emotions, values and social relationships, and to help them understand the world around them.

You may already be familiar with using stories to teach language in your classroom, but how can you use them when you're teaching online? Here are a few ways:

Choosing the story

If you have access to picture books at home, you can show the pages to very young learners through your webcam. Alternatively, there are lots of free resources online, like freechildrenstories.com. You can share your screen with your students as you read the story.

Choose short online stories of about 5 to 10 minutes so that students don't lose their concentration. Alternatively, spread longer stories over more than one lesson, giving students pre- and post-listening tasks in between, like writing a summary of the previous lesson's story or guessing what will happen in the next 'episode'.

Make sure you consider your learners' language level when you choose stories. Stories with pictures will aid comprehension, so you don't necessarily need students to understand every word. If there are no pictures and the story includes lots of challenging language, it's a good idea to pre-teach some of the words or phrases that are critical to students' understanding.

Above all, remember online storytelling is supposed to be fun so try and select stories you think your students will enjoy.

Get them interested

Start by getting your students interested. Show students a picture(s), via your webcam or by sharing your screen which represent the story and ask your students to guess what the story is about. What characters could they meet? What genre is the story - sci-fi, crime, adventure?

Create the atmosphere

Put on quiet background music or sound effects - there are lots of free sounds available online. This will help learners to become immersed in the story.

Get in touch with your inner actor

Putting on different voices for different characters and telling your story with enthusiasm and drama will help your students follow the meaning, even if it makes you feel a bit silly!

Slow down

Make sure you read slowly and pause often to give students time to process what they are hearing. If you are not showing the book via your screen, use your webcam so that students can see you as you tell the story. Your expression and gestures will aid their understanding. Ask checking questions to keep students engaged and make sure they are following the narrative.

Get active!

Stories for younger learners are often deliberately repetitive, so why not encourage your students to add actions to the story. If there are reoccurring characters, for example, a rabbit, get students to jump once every time the rabbit appears. This is a good way to keep them listening and to release some of their pent-up energy!

Go beyond basic comprehension

Try and add variety to the types of activity you do alongside the online stories. Aside from basic comprehension questions, there are plenty of other tasks you could set. Stories are a fantastic way to excite young learners' imagination, so why not get them to write an alternative ending to the story, or retell the story from one particular character's point of view, or even draw a picture of one or more 'scenes' from the story.

Create your own story

Get your students involved in the storytelling by asking them to write (and tell) their own stories. Some students can struggle with creative tasks like this, so make sure to give them some ideas to begin with. Find an interesting picture, preferably one with lots of activity going on, and ask questions like:
"Who is in the picture?" "Where do they live?" "How do they feel?" "What are they going to do next?"
This can form a starting point for their story.

Use a story grid

Alternatively, you can use a story grid like the one below. Fill it with a mixture of words: characters, place names, verbs, nouns and adjectives, plus some interesting words that could make the story more exciting, (like crime, treasure, monster hunter etc), and some words that are personal or relevant to students' lives like favourite celebrities or popular foods. Or get students to nominate words they'd like to include in their story.

Next, ask your students to write a story using all of the words in the grid, and any other language they want. Then get your students to read their stories to one another 'live' or record themselves telling their story with appropriate costume and props and share it with the class. It's a good idea to check their stories before they record them and highlight or correct any errors so they have the best version to perform with.

You can then ask your students to choose their favourite story or stories, or give 'Oscars' for the best story in different categories like "Best Scary Story", "Best Character", or "Best Acting".

Hopefully this has given you a few ideas for using stories online with your young learners. After all, we all need a little escapism in these challenging times!

Good news! Our Word Fun World app, is now free to download!

Using Word Fun World, learners can practise vocabulary Pre-A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers at home. They play and learn at the same time. Words are introduced gradually and then seen again as they play the different games. The app offers:

15 hours of game time

Vocabulary practice through different games with hidden prizes to keep them motivated

Unlock new game levels as you progress

Image dictionary to help understanding

Spoken word recordings to help pronunciation and recognition.

The app works on both mobile and tablets and can be downloaded on both the Apple Store and Google Play.
If you would like to read more blog articles from the Supporting Every Teacher series, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Storytelling Online with Young Learners | World of Better Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As our young learners today are facing so many changes in their home and school life, online stories allow them to escape into other worlds, or to explore and manage their feelings about their new, often more restricted lives. In this blog post, Laura Sigsworth will explore how to use storytelling with young learners while teaching online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Any good teacher can turn a reasonable authentic reading text into a useful and fulfilling activity, so why not take the same skills you might use with a newspaper article and turn them to good use, bearing in mind various aspects of the newer medium that are peculiar to it. This article gives advice on designing tasks based on the internet.

Criteria for selecting websites

Search tasks
Whilst still a type of reading task, simply looking for information using search engines can be quite hard for students at lower levels, or for students with relatively little experience of computers. This is because the students must sift through a fairly large amount of information on a search engine's results page and interpret those results correctly, which requires a high level of language-interpreting skills, and may be quite time consuming. This could lead to problems with sustaining the students' interest and motivation, and eventually not be particularly constructive.

Controlled Site Tasks
For less experienced learners, and for a more intensive reading session, a "controlled site" task is much better. This is where the teacher decides on the website(s) and designs the task based on this. It's also a good approach for less technologically able students (and teachers!) or students having a www lesson for the first time.

The first step is to choose a website. The simple rule here is that the obvious ones are the best, so if the topic is "News" then the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk) or CNN are fairly good starting points - they both have good international news sections. For some tips on finding relevant sites, see Using the Internet 1. Once you have a topic, things become a lot easier, but there are still several criteria which need to be considered.

Criteria for selecting websites

How topic-specific is the site? - That is, if you are doing "relationships" and you have focussed on the extended family, then a site on marriage isn't likely to help much. Many websites might seem to cover the relevant topic, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the site covers other things or even something else entirely.

How appropriate is the language? - Is there a lot of technical language or culturally specific references that may be beyond your class? You may have to pre-teach certain vocabulary for the reading, as with many reading activities. There may also be informal language that your students may not be familiar with or indeed a section with inappropriate terms such as swearing and offensive slang (although I don't imagine many younger students would be too horrified!!)

How accurate is the language? - Badly written websites are more common than you may think - as well as sites which use emoticons and text-style abbreviations ("R U OK?"). Granted this could be used as a language point for higher level students, although the relevance of such language is debatable.

How reliable is the site? - You go into your lesson on Thursday and find that the site has changed its front page content, making your clear instructions completely incomprehensible. This updating is fairly common, particularly those carrying topical information such as newspaper or TV channel sites. Some sites change about once a year, many change everyday. Beware! In some cases the site may disappear altogether.

How navigable is the site? - Is it easy to move from page to page, and to get back to the home page if necessary? Your students may end up not only grappling with the language content of the website, but also with the navigation of the website, particularly if they lack experience and confidence with the technology involved.

As well as these web-specific criteria, there are also the normal criteria which need to be used when designing any kind of reading task, for example how interesting is the site to your students? Interest is a key point because distractions are easy to find and swift to download on the web! However, if you know what your students should be looking at then classroom management issues are reduced.

Keying In
Once a site has been chosen then you need to decide what you want your students to do with it. This is where your knowledge and experience as a teacher and the materials you have designed in the past come in. The questions and activities are the same as any reading task (multiple choice questions, reading for gist then scanning for specific points within the text and so on). Tasks like this can be compiled and used again and again as long as they are well designed and flexible enough to take into account any changes that might take place. Ideally keep the original on a PC that can be changed at any time.

Conclusion
Designing a task is as simple as that, but often requires internet access during preparation time as well as just during class time. In both cases, however, you find that your students will quite happily scan through the equivalent of ten photocopied pages without a single sigh or murmur of complaint.

They can have online dictionaries (www1.oup.co.uk/elt/oald, http://publishing.cambridge.org/ge/elt/dictionaries/ and www.longman-elt.com/dictionaries/webdictionary.html) on hand and the activity will fly by.

Sam Shepherd, Eastbourne School of English

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Any good teacher can turn a reasonable authentic reading text into a useful and fulfilling activity, so why not take the same skills you might use with a newspaper article and turn them to good use, bearing in mind various aspects of the newer medium that are peculiar to it.