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Listening-Speaking in Zoom-land

Tuesday, May 05, 2020 7:23 PM | Anonymous
Teaching advanced listening-speaking on Zoom has been challenging, especially since this class requires a high level of student participation.   

Here are some strategies I've used in the past few weeks: 

  1. Let family members join the class...within reason. (Who doesn't want to talk to a toddler?)
  2. Use Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions and projects.
  3. Let students take turns leading parts of the class. (I borrowed this idea from my colleague, Leslie Greenlee.)
  4. Acknowledge that Zoom is not the same as a F2F classroom, but we should all make the most of it.
  5. And even though I don't mind the occasional child crawling onto a mother's lap, I tell students to mute their microphones when listening to others.
Summer classes begin on May 18, and I'll need a lot more ideas to get my students and me through two L-S classes.  I'd appreciate any ideas!


Thanks,

Linda Fellag

Community College of Philadelphia 

Comments

  • Wednesday, May 06, 2020 9:05 PM | David Slowik
    Thanks for the practical suggestions for video-conferences with our students Linda. I will add Breakout Rooms to my classes.
    Here are some additional ideas for the students as well as teachers to consider.
    + Try to have the most light BEHIND your camera to get best image of yourself presented.
    + Position the camera and yourself center screen, with few room distractions. Sometimes ceilings are half of a person's image. And, sometimes, unwanted work content gets displayed.
    + Test out and practice "new techniques" with a partner, or even by using 2 different computers or tablets.
    Link  •  Reply
    • Saturday, May 09, 2020 1:28 PM | Anonymous
      I'll try your lighting and camera position suggestions.
      Thanks!
      Link  •  Reply
  • Tuesday, June 23, 2020 5:54 AM | Terri Stiles
    Thank you, Linda, for the thoughtful post. I hope that your class is going well. Something my students really enjoy is online discussions. I find that they talk more there than they do in class. Also, there is a product called Voice Thread where the students can upload their papers as a PDF and other students can comment on it in speech bubble formats or orally. Again, my students provided much deeper questions and comments.
    Link  •  Reply


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