In the last 10 years, the ESL industry has exploded online and has become a huge money-making business for many entrepreneurs. Most online ESL platforms promote “no lesson planning” or “no preparation needed” slogans when they hire teachers. And indeed, there is very little or no lesson planning expected from the online teacher today.
The slides are ready. There is even a script for the teacher to use, prompting the teacher what to say or not say, what to do, what to circle, etc. In some platforms, a teacher is bombarded with moving reminders like “smile!”, “do TPR!”, “ask the student to repeat” across the screen. Everything is literally set up for the teacher that sometimes it feels robotic. It’s like you have ceased to be a teacher and instead, morphed into an actor, or worse, a clown.
So, if that’s the case, What else is there to plan? you might ask. Here are my suggestions:
1. Plan for contingencies. From my experience, especially if the student’s level is higher than what the material is presenting, you need to have additional activities to pull up on the screen just in case you finish the whole supposedly 45-minute lesson in five minutes. I usually prepare pictures, games, conversation questions, etc ideally related to the official material. I am currently creating “back-up stuff” for situations like that, so stay tuned!
2. Use what you have. As you teach, mentally take note of the portions your student had a struggle with. Plan to go back to those slides and have a quick review, or open a whiteboard screen to teach more about it.
3. Have Plan B generic lesson plans and slides. Not all official lesson materials work. Your student might just stare at you blankly or throw a tantrum or simple tell you “I don’t understand”. Smile and retrieve a generic teaching material which you have created (or taken from the Internet), and go from there.
Hope this helps!
Question: Any additional thoughts? Which company are you teaching for right now? How much planning do you actually do?
Joiful Teaching 