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Janet BougeoisMarzieh Sadeghpour
Maximising Communication in Virtual Classrooms
Agenda
● Challenges in communication in virtual classrooms
● Strategies to create an environment that maximises communication
opportunities
1. 1- Communication in the main session
2. 2- Communication in the breakout rooms
Challenges of communication in English in virtual classrooms
Our identified challenges:
1. Technical difficulties
2. Higher affective filter
3. Not using English in the breakout rooms
Communication in the main room
● Challenges
● Our solutions
1 - Starting the day right
2- Giving ownership
Start the day right!Open the conversation to everyone from the very first minute. 1
10:35:47 From Janet Bougeois To Everyone: I wish I could go to the gym - I am
slowly but surely putting on weight!!!
10:36:03 From Xiangrui Li To Everyone: I wish I could sleep enough time this
weekend
10:37:18 From Ben To Everyone: I wish I could meet my friends in the weekend.
10:37:21 From Jeffery To Everyone: I wish I could go to another city to play with
my parents for a few days.
10:37:57 From Jenny (Jie Zhou) To Everyone: I wish I could solve my Internet
problem to pass listening assessment because it is slow today.
Start the day right: Activity 1
Give a sentence prompt to
start the day. For example:
In the Chat finish
this sentence -
‘I wish I could…’
Prompts which have worked well:
Today I will..., Today I would love to… If only I..., You would be surprised to know I….
Start the day right: Activity 2
Let the background open the conversation on Monday
morning!
● Students feel more comfortable in discussion as the focus is on the picture. ● Students have more questions to ask when there is a visual stimulus.
Allow students to share ownership of the classroom2
Ownership: Activity 1Ask/Find a Friend
Strategy
Janet (Teacher): Derrick, do you have answer to question 1?
Derrick: I’m sorry I didn't catch that, Dailin can you help me?
Dailin: I didn’t hear it either, Roath do you know it?
Roath: No I don’t. Janet, can you help us?
Janet: Sure…..
Fostering a classroom environment where the focus is not always on the teacher creates an more engaging classroom dynamic and gives students increased speaking time.
Ownership: Example Activity 2
Morning Greeting
The ‘student teacher’ needs to
ask two of their classmates the
morning question/greeting and
ask one follow up question.
Behind closed doors…..
Why are students reluctant to speak English in breakout rooms?
● Don’t understand the task - asking their classmates for clarification
● Embarrassed to speak English/ Fear of not being understood (“my
speaking is not good”)
● Not knowing what to talk about when/if a task is finished
6 strategies to foster communication in the breakout
rooms
1. The yellow card
2. Personalisation and accountability
3. Practice before performance
4. Everyone has a role to play
5. The discussion a trois!
6. A question bank
1How do you feel about the class yellow card policy?
After language class we will have class with Australian, we should practice English more
to adapt. We no longer use Chinese in class or in group discussions, which helps us
practice our English.
Because we rarely have the opportunity to practice oral English in China, this policy
greatly increases our opportunities for oral practice.
Yellow cards can make students always speak English in class, it can help us improve
our spoken English.
Even after class we starting to talk with friends in English
Accountability
Interest and AccountabilityTapping into our students’ stories and experiences makes communication easier and more meaningful.2
Interest and Accountability: Activity
Personalise discussions while
consolidating students’
understanding of a task.
Discuss the 2 questions and be prepared to write a short paragraph about what you learnt from your classmates in the table below.
Organisational Culture and Success Lecture
1. Think of a time when you have been criticised, describe the situation and how you felt, was the criticism justified?
2. Do you think you have a strong work ethic? If yes, how do you demonstrate this?
What interesting or surprising things did you learn about your classmates? Try to use comparative language. (Examples)
Shantel I learned from Vuitton that he used to play mobile phone in class and was always distracted. Once he was caught by his teacher when he was playing his phone in class, the teacher criticized him so seriously that he realized he had made a mistake!
Leia I learned from Jerry that he said he was working in two companies, and he was loyal to each one, because he thought that was an essential work ethic to keep secrets from other staff even if you are in a good relationship.
James I learned from Lee that when he is criticised by a teacher, he always feels nervous and ashamed,because he is not good at his writing.
Giving a follow up task to breakout room discussions gives students a focus and extrinsic motivation to actively communicate with each other aswell as giving the whole class a glimpse into the breakout rooms.
Build confidenceGiving students time to practice before opening up rooms, gives them an opportunity to formulate their ideas before ‘exposing’ themselves to their peers.3
Confidence: ActivityTarricone and Luca’s Theory of Teamwork for Tutorial Discussion
Summarise your allocated attribute and think of one example in your
experience where a team has demonstrated your given attribute.
Before you share your ideas with your group, record your
explanation of the attribute using vocaroo. Absolute maximum 1
minute.
Name Vocaroo Link
Sherry https://voca.ro/13tyOx3ZZgBQ
Jeffery https://voca.ro/1b0bE12C9vUW
Li https://voca.ro/18nhapNCOno0
https://vocaroo.com/
How did/does Vocaroo help you?
I can listen to my records
again and again - Ben
I feel more
confident after I
practise with
Vocaroo - SherryFurthermore, it helps students
avoid embarrassing scenarios,
since immediately speaking for me
is sometimes hard. - Li
Because using
vocaroo can give me
some feedback about
my pronunciation and
intonation. - Harriet
It is a good option for us students
to record their own voice in order
to help us to improve our
speaking. - Jenny
Results: 100% Keep using it!
Vocaroo really helped a lot, especially with organising my ideas and
pronunciation.- Tom
Everyone has a role to play4 LeaderDuties
● Ensure that everyone is
performing their role
● Ensure that everyone
contributes ideas
● Ensure that everyone speaks
English
WriterDuties
● Record everyone’s ideas on the
Google doc
SpokespersonDuties
● Report to the class on work
completed by your group
EditorDuties
● Ensure that written work is
grammatically correct.
● Check the spelling and
punctuation of presented work
ResearcherDuties
● Use the internet and other
information sources to gather
appropriate information for the
task
Devil’s advocateDuties
● Take the opposite view of the
group and present ideas that will
challenge their ideas
5Example Activity
Roles: Two talkers, one observer
Process:
1. Observer is given specific things to take note of
during the conversation: pre taught vocab
(adjectives to describe an experience), an aspect
of connected speech, who gave the most
convincing argument and why
1. With one or two minutes to go the teacher
broadcasts to the groups that it is now time to
feedback to their group.
The discussion à trois!
Using a shared board allows students to have input into the direction of conversations during
the coming week
IDEAZBOARD
6We’ve finished…..
Conclusion
● Students need to be motivated, comfortable and confident enough to
use English in virtual classes
● As teachers, we should create a culture in their classroom where this
can be achieved.
● We looked at ideas for developing culture and strategies that teachers
can adopt and provided real examples of activities from our virtual
classrooms
Thank you!