Getting students to engage and participate while online ESL teaching can be challenging for many teachers since many students see classes as work and want to finish as soon as possible. This is something we can all relate to, especially on a Friday afternoon. However, the flip side of the coin is that teaching becomes a lot easier when teachers are aware of effective methods that will get students engaged in class. In this blog, I am going to focus on 5 different tips that you can use in your classroom to help develop student engagement. (If you’re looking for more helpful tips and resources for online ESL teaching, check out TeachOn’s blog!)

1. Make Expectations Clear
2. Pique Student Interest
3. Set-Up an Incentive System
4. Give Students Autonomy
5. Use TPR

Make Expectations Clear

To get students engaged in your class, the first thing you have to do is make expectations clear. To do this you need to check if your students know what will be expected of them. When online ESL teaching, you can’t expect a student to behave a certain way if you never explained what behavior was acceptable and expected. Teaching the classroom rules often makes for a wonderful lesson as well. Here’s a list of worksheets that are great for teaching the classroom rules.

As a teacher doing online ESL teaching with mostly Chinese young-learners, my expectations are clear and simple:

1. Listen To The Teacher 👂
2. Speak English 🔠
3. Use Complete Sentences 🆗,🆒!

After my students know what is expected of them, suddenly my job becomes much easier. Young ESL learners love to answer with one-word answers instead of full sentences. After my students know my “complete-sentence rule” and they give me a one-word answer I usually just pause and give them a look that says, “aaaaannnnd?” Most of the time I never have to do more than that. They correct themselves and repeat their answer in a full sentence. Magic 🔮

Pique Student Interest

If you are trying to get your students involved in your class, you must make the topic of your lesson something that will interest them. Taking an active interest in what you are teaching will make the class more interactive and more engaging. When online ESL teaching it is critical that you do this. It will also help to keep the students interested in the lesson because relevant topics usually include relevant personal examples to the subject matter. This makes it easier for them to relate and understand.

If you can get your students interested in your class, then they will be much more likely to partake in group work and demonstrations because they will want to do well in class and be part of something that they care about. One of my newest students is a 12-year old Chinese girl that’s fascinated by American history, yet she had no clue about Native Americans. We did the first of 5 lessons about Native American history yesterday and it was amazing how engaged she was in class. She was asking tons of questions and her mind was blown.

Set Up An Incentive System

You want to give your students a reason to share their ideas, try new things, and interact with each other and you. If they feel like they’re getting something out of the experience, then they’ll be willing to put forth more effort. Steps 1 and 2 are essential to creating and deploying effective rewards for your students while online ESL teaching. If they don’t know what’s expected of them and you don’t know what they’re interested in, it will be impossible to create and give rewards.

Incentives should complement what you’re already doing in class and should be related to something that they enjoy or value. Finding out what your students’ interests are is a must to come up with worthwhile incentives that will motivate your student to learn. One of my most challenging students loves to skateboard, so before every class, I prepare about 5 different rewards related to skateboarding (usually short video clips.) Each time he meets a class objective, we watch a video. I was amazed by how much of a difference this made in his attitude, motivation, and the overall quality of the class.

If you need some ideas for incentives for online ESL teaching visit this blog with 10 great ideas!

Give Students Autonomy

Give your students autonomy so they take responsibility for their learning. Don’t just talk at them. Imagine you’re sitting in a classroom and your teacher is the only one talking. After a few minutes, you’d get bored and lose focus. Yet, teachers often do this while online ESL teaching because their students are responding with short answers or not responding at all.

Even if we try to divide the class into smaller groups and ask each group to discuss a particular topic, one student usually dominates the discussion and it’s easy for other students to get lost. This can happen even in small groups discussions or when students should be working individually on their assignments. But other methods will enable your students to participate actively in class discussions and take responsibility for their learning. The goal of each class should be too minimize teacher talking time and maximize student talking time. Make this clear with your student as well and empower them!

Use TPR

Any teacher that’s been online ESL teaching for awhile knows the importance of TPR. “What is TPR?,” some of you may ask. TPR stands for total physical response and refers to using your body gestures to help reinforce a verbal message. Your body can be the most engaging prop you have for student learning. When a teacher uses gestures and movements to aid their communication, students can comprehend the message that is being delivered more clearly.

The teacher’s ability to convey information through gestures will also help students better understand the concept being taught. When a teacher uses his or her body as a prop it adds a level of engagement to whatever material they may be presenting. Have you ever had a monotone teacher that either sits in a chair or stands in one place motionless? Totally boring and disengaging! Be animated and have fun!

Wrapping Up

No matter what you do, there is no one size fits all method to getting students engaged in class. Every teacher is going to have a different way of doing it. However, some methods are more effective than others. If you can find a positive way to get students engaged in your classroom environment it will go a long way in helping you succeed in online ESL teaching. If you’re online ESL teaching and are looking for more helpful information and tips please check out our blog at TeachOn!