 Oh guys, sorry. Hey everybody, sorry, my mic was off and I was talking, that was so funny. Anyway, my name is Lisa and I'm happy to welcome you to this another live stream session with ITTT. Today's topic is going to be really helpful to those of you who wants to work online and for those of you who wants to engage students in your ESL classes at 100%. So basically I will dwell upon five fun and engaging activities for ESL lessons delivered remotely. So stay tuned and I will soon share these interesting games that I have been using in my own classes as well. And actually you will be able to implement these ideas like right after finishing this live stream session. Okay, hi guys, nice to see you joining. Please let me know that you hear and see me clearly. I basically had a trouble at the beginning. I forgot to switch on my mic and I was just stupidly talking to myself. That was so funny, but yeah, I'm just a human. All right, so my name is Lisa. If you don't know me yet, let me quickly change the slide and I will introduce myself a little bit more. So I'm an ESL teacher and I also represent ITTT as a Teflon T-SOL expert. So if you have any questions related to Teflon T-SOL certification, you can also text me right here in the chat. But that's for now, I would like you to say hello and to say that you are actually there because right now I'm talking to myself and it's pretty challenging because I don't know if anybody is there, okay? So I am a non-native English speaker from Russia. I have been teaching English for many years already and I have started teaching English online a couple of years ago, right before the quarantine period. And I should say that it is my favorite mode of teaching because it is really convenient. I don't have to get out of my comfort zone and I should say that my online classes are even more engaging than those classes that I had in real life before. So that is why I would really love to share these ideas with you and to show you that your online classes can be also really engaging and motivating for your students. So let me begin, all right. Oh, one thing to mention as well, these live streams are regularly provided by ITTT and we are a major TAPOL and T-SOL provider. We have been present, we are presented on various social media like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook of course. Some of you might watch this video as a recording on Facebook or YouTube. So basically we are presented all over the social media and we try to produce as much interesting and helpful content as possible. So we regularly share it on the feed. So if you want to keep updated, please make sure you are subscribed and or you follow us on Facebook for example. And don't forget to check the feed regularly because we sometimes post jobs and some other useful things. So just keep in touch. And let's move on to the main point of today's discussion. I actually think that I have to add this banner that states what the topic is. So just give me a second. I will do it right now. Bye, fun. Okay, here we go. So now you can see the topic. Oh, I think we have to change it a little bit like this. Nope, not yet. All right, here we go. So I can see there is a comment. Oh, thank you so much for asking me. I'm actually really, really good. What about you? How have you been? So let me just dive into today's topic. So I'm sharing five useful activities for your online ESL classes. And the first one is actually really simple, but I would say that this is one of the best activities to improve grammar because some students, even at the higher levels, they are lacking this automatic habits, which is really important for grammatical skills. And this activity will be really useful for such occasions. Let me quickly explain how it works and then I will try to demonstrate, okay? So basically it is a grammar drill and it is supposed to be used as a warmer or as a break the ice activity, you know? So it is not a main part. It shouldn't be the main part of the lesson, I would say. So this is just how I usually use this activity. And the main objective is that you want to help your students to automatize some grammatical skills. I usually use this activity with different forms of verbs, for example, do versus does or different forms of the verb to be, like when they should remember how to use the verb to be, how to change it. But at the same time, this activity can be used with the upper level grammar as well, like probably forms of present perfect, for example, or past perfect, when it is necessary to remember the form. So it's not about the correct production. It's not about the functions. It's solely about the form. So how to produce the form correctly and automatically. And right now I'm going to share my screen and show you how it works. So basically you don't need any specific tools. Canva PowerPoint or Google Slides would be enough, will be enough. And this is how it works. So let me share my screen once again. And I will show you an example. So for example, this is a PPT. I have prepared for my lower level students, for the A2 students to practice, to memorize and to drill different forms of the verb to be. And I use this activity as a warmer at the beginning or sometimes when it is important to refresh the memory right before a specific production activity. So basically I change the slides really fast and they have to say a correct form of the verb to be related to the pronoun. So based on the pronoun. So this is how it is done. And the grammar can be any grammar, any point. You can also do the same with auxiliary verbs with what else, maybe some participle and so on. So you just quickly change, you quickly open different pronouns and they have to say the correct form really fast. For example, I am, he is, we are, you are, she is. And so on. So until they complete the whole table. And the great idea of this activity is that students, especially those who have like a lower level, they start to memorize, they switch on really fast. Especially if you work with a group, you work with a group. It is super helpful to motivate, to show that if you are not fast, you are like a loser. You don't have to say like that, of course, but you want to encourage them to be fast. And this is how they practice and develop the skill to produce something really important automatically. So that's basically it in terms of this activity. So let me stop my screen sharing and get back to Canva. All right. So you can do it with any type of grammar. And at the same time, it can be used with any level and any age group. Because even adults, even higher level adults, sometimes make mistakes. For example, I have a group of B2 level students, they are adults like most of them are 30 years plus and they leave in native English speaking countries and they still make this lower level grammar mistakes. What makes them feel a little bit depressed because they think that they can't memorize, they can't produce properly, but the thing is just automation. That is why I strongly recommend trying this activity. It is super easy to create. If you don't want to spend time creating this activity, you can also message me or join my Facebook group and you will find this presentation right there. And you will be able to use my templates. All right. The next activity is also really fun and easy. You don't need to spend much time preparing for it because it is super simple. It is called 20 questions, but with lower level students, it can be even 10 questions or five questions. And the procedure is also really, really easy. You need to hide a picture of a celebrity or any picture basically under a cover. Oh, not like this. Yeah. So you just hide a picture and a picture you want to elicit. And then the task is for your students to produce questions. So they ask questions and you can answer just yes or no. For example, this activity was created by me for my B2 level student who right now has a topic related to sports and different activities. And I decided to start this lesson with this breaking, yeah, break ice, ice breaker, yeah, with this ice breaker. So I encouraged her to ask up to 20 questions to guess the celebrity, to guess the sports person. And she actually did it faster, but some students, you know, they do such activities at a lower pace. So you should adjust to their needs, adjust to their learning style as well. And as I have mentioned, you can actually cover, you can actually hide any different picture. You can also use some objects. For example, if you work on some specific vocabulary like clothes or what else, house, whatever. So you just need to hide a picture and encourage students to ask questions. And then you discuss like if their questions were correct, you give some feedback as well. But in general, it's just a nice breaker. So you don't have to dig deep into grammar and stuff related to it. Just to activate some topical vocabulary and to break the ice at the beginning of the lesson. All right, let me know if you have tried any of these activities that I have already told you about. And let's look at the next one. This is pretty challenging. I would say that it is better to be used with high level students like B1 plus. But at the same time, if your lower level students have already known some questions, some question forms, they can all, you can also try to use this game with those students. Maybe it will be challenging for younger students, younger learners, but still you can try by giving this example, by giving this vivid example. The main objective of this lesson is again to break the ice a little bit to warm up before the main point of the lesson. And then another aspect, which is also interesting is to practice some questions, to practice question forms. Basically, you can also use this activity as a part of production. When you want your students to produce actual lessons, for example, you have covered a grammatical point related to asking questions, those can be tech questions, whatever. And then you offer them this activity and ask them to use questions only. So the idea is that your students are going to have a conversation based on asking questions only. So you provide them this demonstration with one of the students, if you work as a group, or you just ask your individual student to read the example with you by roles. And this is how it works. So basically, you have to encourage them to start asking a random question. For example, how are you? And then you follow up with, why do you ask? And then you try to motivate students to keep this conversation going as long as it is possible. If you have players, it is super fun because you can just go from one breakout room to another and observe how it is going. You don't have to interrupt, you don't have to interfere, you know? And then after all, you just provide some feedback and say that, well, that was cool, well done, guys. That was just a break, a nice breaker and you don't have to worry about any mistakes and so on. So this is how it can be approached. And basically, you don't have to create any special tools, any special materials. Everything you need is your PowerPoint probably, or even your Zoom chat so that you could show this example and that's it. No preparation at all. Just make sure that you give clear instructions. That is all we need. And now let me show you my favorite game, which is called storytelling, but you can actually say like story retelling because the idea is that students use some specific material before the lesson or after the lesson or during the lesson. It depends on your creativity and the way you organize this game. The main objective can also be any, like to break the ice, to warm up, to practice topical vocabulary, to predict something and of course, to activate speaking skills. What you have to prepare in advance is a story. It can be a text or a video. Then you have to make some screenshots or to use ready-made pictures related to the particular story and place them all over your whiteboard. Then you instruct your students to put the pictures in order because they were mixed up. If it is a predicting activity, they try to put the pictures in order without knowing what is actually going to happen. And then when they watch or read or even listen, they realize that they have to make some changes. When you are finished watching, reading, listening, whatever, you ask students what happened and they have to retell, they have to unravel the plot, they have to explain, well, in details so that you could analyze how well they understood the topic, how well they got the story and that's it. How I usually use this activity at my classes is really simple. I give my students a video as a part of their homework. For example, you can see the screenshots from this TV show called Young Sheldon and they watch a particular episode and then I base my activity or lesson around this story, around this episode. And one of the activities would be like this to memorize what happened to put everything in order and then tell me the story. That's it. But as I have mentioned, you can adjust this activity to different parts of your lesson. It can be a prediction, it can be the activity you use to activate their vocabulary to help them to memorize and stuff like that. Easy but pretty engaging, especially for younger students. But I would say that older students like to put everything in order as well and they are also get really motivated to recall something that they watched at home or something that they just worked with. So again, highly recommend it. And the last idea is also fun, easy, and for some students it can be challenging. The game is called Sausage and you have to prepare a little bit. The main objective of the game is to practice topical vocabulary. But I would say that if you get really creative, you can adjust this game to grammar as well. You have to write a story with words missing. So you need to get ready with some topical vocabulary. For example, you covered a topic with your group or with your individual student and you want your student to recall the vocabulary. So you prepare this story with some words missing. You can replace it with pictures of sausages or you can just use like a gap text, it's okay as well. But when you start presenting the story, you have to read it like this. This summer was really sausage. I went to sausage with my family. So usually younger students and even older students start giggling at this point, but their task is slightly different. They have to listen and write down the words they think. So at the end, you should get a story with all words filled in. And this is the next step. The next step would be to check if it was correct or not correct. You can ask your students if you have a group, you can ask your students to interact with each other to check each other and so on. So for your tools, you have to prepare this story. Then you need to use an online board or maybe slides if you work on Zoom only and that's it. How to change this game a little bit? It can also be applied in a different way. So you can ask your students to write their own stories or to write just sentences and to replace useful vocabulary with the same word, sausage. And then each student presents their sentences or stories, but doesn't say actual words. They have to say sausage instead of them. And other participants should write the correct words. Then they all together check if it was correct or not correct. And once again, this activity is super applicable. You can use it with any levels, with any age groups. Pretty simple and yet super engaging. My CPE teacher actually used this activity with our group like a couple of weeks ago and we recalled the C2 level vocabulary. That was so fun. So again, highly recommended if you think that your classes seem to be a little bit boring and maybe you want to offer your students something special, this activity can be super helpful. That is it, five activities in total. And if you guys want to get this presentation, you can join my Facebook group. You can scan the QR code right here or let me quickly send you the link to the same Facebook group. So you will find this PPT in the group. So if you're not there yet, please join in. I sometimes, not sometimes I try to create materials and useful things related to English teaching and teacher development. So it can be helpful as well. And the last thing to mention, here is another QR code that you can actually see right here at the top right corner of your screen. This QR code gives you a 30% discount of any online tuple courses. So if you are willing to work on your teacher development, feel free to scan this QR code or let me send you a link to with the same coupon so that you could have a 30% discount of any online tuple courses when you like. And it's actually, it is a special QR code it is a special coupon link that we share with our participants who come to this live streams. So feel free to use it as well. And if you guys have any questions related to tuple, TESOL maybe some online teaching activities, let me know right now. So we have just discussed five different activities related to online English teaching. If you want to ask any questions, let's do it right now, let's have a chat. So if you have any questions, just type in the comments section and I will try my best to help you out. If not, it is probably the end of today's discussion. But nevertheless, I hope that this materials were useful for you and you would try to implement these ideas in your online English classes. Let me know, okay, thanks a lot. Thanks so much for your feedback. I really appreciate that. And if you're not on the group in my private group, feel free to join in. You can find the links above, they are right here, okay? And yeah, just feel free to ask whatever is on your mind. And as for me, I would like to share my screen once again and just to remind that these live streams are provided by ITTT and you can find us on whatever social media you prefer. If you listen to this live stream in the form of a podcast, thanks a lot for downloading. And yeah, just keep in touch, stay tuned and we will try to be helpful next week. It's as for me. As for my colleague Linda, she goes live at the end of the week, usually like on Thursday or Friday, so you can come to her live streams as well and check out her interesting materials too, okay? So basically, if there are no any questions, that is the end of today's session. If you haven't managed to watch it from the beginning till the end, you can actually check out the recording. The recording will be saved on Facebook and YouTube. And that's it. See you next week, guys. Bye-bye and have a good time.