08/26/2021
hey guys welcome to a new itt's live stream uh and my name is lisa uh if you
don't know me yet uh i'm a tefl and t soul expert at itt and i also teach
english online as a non-native esl teacher so i'm super glad to welcome you
um at today's session and it's going to be devoted to um the very first online
esl class um i hope yeah my name is lisa not linda
but it's okay hi uh mikey i hope i pronounce your name correctly
so uh today's session is going to be devoted to everything related to the
very first uh lesson with your um online students
so um i'm going to share five uh five main points uh you have to remember
before planning your very first lesson um so hopefully it's going to be useful
i believe that if you are a new teacher it's going to be
really valuable so stay tuned and let me just change my screen a
little bit and uh move on so um
i'm glad guys that you're joining me uh thanks for coming uh if you are um
new here uh let me know where you're tuning in from uh i'm currently located
in russia uh so i'm based in uh the euro region of russia which is
really far from moscow or saint petersburg but this region is also really interesting so if
you are curious about uh teaching in russia as well uh it's a
great place to investigate yeah hi guys thanks for
tuning in i can see several new new faces
um and also some old commerce um and just a quick reminder um these
live streams are provided by itttt we're and um
we're a tefl and t soul provider uh we are presented on various social media so
if you like youtube for example um just stay tuned um check out our channel we
share a lot of great stuff there um and if you feel like um
spending time on instagram or pinterest maybe we also share content
on those social media as well so uh just keep in touch
uh and i also wanna draw your attention uh to this
oh what's going on yeah so i also wanna draw your attention
to this qr code or to this um link
let me share the link via the chat box uh really quick
so uh if you feel like you wanna learn a little bit more about teaching and
specifically about online teaching for example we've got really interesting um courses
at itt ttt and this is a really nice uh chance uh to
get this special offer so uh if you sign up uh using this qr code or a link uh
from the chat box you will get a 30 discount which is actually the highest
discount we give and it's a special offer which we
share during the live streams only so um yeah just
check out our courses and feel free to ask any questions
if you have and let's now uh start today's presentation so as i've mentioned before
we are going to spend some time uh talking about the very first online esl class and what to
include in that particular class and to begin with i want to mention that
the first class actually includes some preparation
it actually requires some preparation and uh before you actually go live with
your new student um i i recommend uh taking some time
um and spending um that time on research
so um it is always better to send a placement test um and a kind of a
questionary to your new students um and um check out their level um check
out their use of english probably and see if they have any um
you know gaps uh which you will be able to
point out later on during the actual lesson so
my recommendation is send out a placement test
and a kind of a question every to your students before you actually start teaching them
it is very helpful in terms of creating um a general course
and picking out some specific materials like course books and so on so
um here on this slide you can see this uh placement test
[Music] highlight it so i actually placed a link
uh right here um to the placement test i usually use i usually
um send to my students uh and right after this uh live stream
i'm going to share this presentation with you on my facebook group so if you
need it just let me know via the chat box uh and what else um so right after you
send the placement test it is all also helpful to
um ask a couple of questions related to their interests related to their
lifestyles uh because if you don't know anything about the person
uh it is actually pretty challenging to create uh something um interesting and
engaging and um the very first lesson might be daunting and
boring for students and for you as well so it is always better to
ask what interests they have and to think of some
uh possible ways how to use those interests um
in order to organize your first lesson and not actually just the first lesson
but the whole course as well uh because if you consider their
interests and needs um you can craft
the whole course uh specifically for for the student or for the group
okay and let's move on to the second point um that you have to consider when
you plan the first class with your online esl students so um
just based on the previous slide based on the previous uh information
you would probably think of a speaking assessment so uh when it comes to
placement tests they are usually very subjective and you know they are um
not that informative you want to make sure you have
enough information related to your students abilities so that is why it is
important to organize a kind of a speaking assessment and it is actually
possible um only when you have this face-to-face communication
um the way i usually organize speaking assessments um is
either a small talk or a kind of a game
like get to know each other game and it it works mostly for
teenagers or younger students with adults you would probably choose
the first idea of a small talk because people
because people usually feel stressed uh you know to
share their [Music] ideas and you know
share what they think complete strangers so small talks or
this kind of game uh might be really helpful and basically uh get to know uh get to
know each other games are also helpful for older students as well
some people can't open up easy so
games might be helpful as well but just bear in mind that this
type of assessment also should be based on the placement test and on their interests so
for example if you see that your students grammar
is at the a2 level for example you can't ask them
questions that include some higher level grammar because uh
it's going to be too difficult for them uh and at the same time if
you see that your students are interested in music or sports it is um
not um logical to offer them some topics
related to i don't know um science or some something like that
so make sure you consider their interests and their placement tests when
you organize speaking assessments um and um
then let's move on to the third point uh which is also um
connected to the uh previous two points so when you uh have already assessed the
your uh level and then you've assessed their
speaking abilities uh it is important to give some feedback on their
overall results uh because students have already done a lot of things related to
english lessons and they want to get some initial feedback from
you as a teacher so here i should say that
the very first thing you should do is to praise you want to say something good instead
of highlighting their mistakes for example um sometimes teachers are really picky and
they see um only uh like some blank spaces
but students want to feel motivated and want
to feel inspired and the only way to inspire them is actually to say
what areas are what areas they are good at
so that is why always praise your students always say that they've done
um such a great job that they have accomplished so many things already
and um they are actually brilliant uh people like to hear um
good things um about themselves and uh this is the best way to motivate
students as well only after this appraisal part uh you
would probably move on to um explaining some things
some areas uh they should work on and
they should improve and uh you should also give reasons why like
for example sometimes it looks like students have
a pretty high level of grammar or use of english
but when it comes to speaking they start mixing up they start making
stupid mistakes and so on so in such cases you want to explain you
want to uh give reasons why they have to work on for example a2 grammar
instead of b1 grammar so uh this is the best
approach uh to explain uh what areas should be
improved so if you guys have any questions
related to um the first three points of today's
presentation let me know um you can use the chat box and um
and let me just quickly check out the chat box
yes so uh bakawa
asks about um signing up for the itt courses if i'm not mistaken
um so um the thing is uh we share this
qr code let me show it right here yeah in the uh top right corner of your
screen you can see the qr code or you can use
the link from the chat box if you want to sign up for any of itttt
courses uh it's a great chance to get this 30 percent discount today so it's a
special incentive from itttt we share it during our live streams
uh so if you have this need you can do so um if you don't need it no problem no no
strings attached so just um ignore it yeah um and
let me see uh letter um asks uh for a template for a feedback
template i actually don't have uh such a template uh but it's a great idea for me um so i
i have this facebook group um i unfortunately i'm not that
active on the group yet uh but i can yeah i can create this template for you
and share on my facebook group so just stay tuned um i i'll not note it
down and i'll try my best to create this one but basically uh the feedback is pretty
simple so if you want to um if you want your student
your new student or your potential student stay with you
uh be patient be friendly say good things to them
on the first place and then move on to the second part where you explain like
what areas should be improved they actually don't want to hear
uh that they are failures or they have some problems you know people are
usually very intimidated by such information so it is it is always better to um
say more things about something good and then to say uh what should be improved
yeah so uh this is pretty much so this is the strategy i use when i
communicate with my students or with my potential clients
um yeah that's it uh but it's a great idea so i'll try my
best to create a feedback template okay so let's move on to the fourth
point uh which is also pretty important so um the first lesson uh isn't
um isn't actual teaching so you wouldn't probably um start with
present simple or present continuous and so on you wouldn't
start teaching some specific points related to english
the first lesson in my opinion especially if you work online
the first lesson is related to uh building up some relationship some
initial relationship and um you know like setting up some
communication ways so that is why after
all of those previous assessments uh you can move on to the course outline
and explain how you are going to teach
those students it can be a pretty short
explan explanation of some points uh related to
those areas of improvement and then uh you would probably explain what
resources you're going to use show a course book for example
if you have already thought of any um and then
uh it is also a great idea to set up some goals together with your students
uh because usually um it is the teacher who sets the goals
and it is a one-sided approach but you want your student to be engaged as much
as it is possible that is why what if you ask them like what you
expect from this course uh what goals do you want to achieve
what um what will help you to see that you have
this progress in english so um basically the fourth step uh is devoted
to some um organizational um things
um to the milestones you have to achieve to the milestones you have to
um like take and so on uh so
make sure you take some time during the first lesson when you
explain all these details um and it's actually really helpful
for uh in those cases when you work um
with two clients at the same time what i mean you teach a child for example but you
actually communicate with their parents so in this case you have two um different
audiences you know two different clients uh parents wants to know uh some
specific details like um what their children are going to learn uh how fast
uh how to measure their progress and so on uh and students um from their side they
want they just want to be motivated so setting up goals can be helpful for both
children and parents and another way to organize
this step is to create some um you know some board or something
related to um the way they measure their achievements
they may measure their progress and so on um and let's move on to the last point
um it's the the most important point probably for
you as uh business people so the first class
should be devoted to terms and conditions as well usually
teachers feel really stressed to talk about
uh money to talk about uh different different situations like cancellations
or delays and so on but you don't
have to be intimidated by those things because
they are still important and it's just a part of this learning process as well
so i strongly recommend you discussing things related to schedule
payment cancellation and everything related to these routines
so um it is important [Music] specifically for you
you want to make sure you work effectively you want to make sure you provide those
high quality services and this is actually the only way um to build this
uh strong profile uh for you as a teacher so make sure you
discuss those things from the very beginning
um and other way um i would recommend
creating uh you know um something like an agreement um it is
important as well um but it depends on the country you work
for it depends uh on on the location you work in for example um in russia
i have this agreement and i send it uh to my students or to their parents uh
before the very first class uh they read everything and then they
either agree uh to sign it up or they disagree and then we don't work at all
um what i include in in that agreement is um the payment process um schedule
all conditions related to cancellations and uh delays of our lessons and stuff like
that um you can actually use this agreement uh to
point out that you are allowed to increase or decrease your
payment for example yeah and stuff like that so it's just some legal
things it's this legal side of your relationship but it is very valuable and
it actually motivates students to work better because um it is not like
you know this um this
uh simple communication it is something related to legal issues as well so they
uh feel more responsible so
i recommend doing it as well but it's up to you and one more thing to mention it is
subjected to some specific areas and um you should
uh probably get some consultation from an accountant or
lawyer if you want to make sure that you follow all the directions of your country
so that's probably it these are all the five points um that
should be um considered when you plan your lessons when you schedule the first
class with your potential client um if you have any questions related to
this topic or to tefl uh in general feel free to ask because this is where we
start the q and a session i would really appreciate if you give me
some feedback related to today's topic i actually wanted to
make it valuable for you so let me know if you
if you could benefit from these ideas i'll really appreciate that
and one more time this is the qr code uh which gives you
this 30 discount of any itt courses and by the
way if you haven't taught online yet we've got a really nice
online teaching course so if you want to learn different strategies and and approaches related to
online teaching just check it out it might be helpful to you
as a new online teacher but generally speaking
tefl certification is really valuable for all teachers in general so
make sure you check it out and now let me see the questions from the chat box so
um so great question glenn of course there are a lot of opportunities to
teach college students and adults um it is just um
up to you uh who to find who to teach and so on so you can basically um
find whatever students you need um online uh it just depends on um the way you
promote your services for example if you work for a teaching company or for a teaching
platform like crapli or italki you can
you know like limit uh your audience you can narrow down
your audience by uh stating that uh in your profile so if you want to teach
children only you can write it down and explain that you work with this audience
if you target um students or adults uh you can also
um make like you can also state it in your
profile uh if you find students on social media uh it's uh
it's almost the same strategy but all those marketing things are on
you um you have to be realistic in this um point because
you know nobody um nobody is better no one is better in
understanding your audience and your you know
clients okay
uh so itttt is not a teaching platform um
if you have already been temple certified uh it's fine you can just uh
create your account on um a teaching platform and uh state all your credentials
and experience um what else you can also try to promote your services on social
media like instagram or facebook why not um it's a great way to find clients and
students so just make sure you create a nice
profile and you target some specific audience
because i usually see that many teachers offer like general english classes and
work with any possible students but from my point
of view it's not logical because you know you as a person understand that
you are more likely to work better with adults
but not with children so it's important to
narrow down your audience um yeah why not you can start teaching
online without any uh further certifications um
the reason i point out um our tefl courses uh is that
um if you haven't been tefl certified or if you haven't
got some specific experience it might be helpful because
uh you know everything changes so fast and there are different qualities
which are uh necessary for um english english teachers and you can
just build on your resume this way but if you have experience it's totally
fine you can just move on and continue what
you have already been doing all right uh do you guys have any
further questions related to today's topic let me know uh by the way i have something weird
with my voice i don't know why i hope that um it sounds normal
uh to you but i feel like um it's difficult to talk right now
probably that's because of the weather we have a really severe smoke in here
because of the forest fires here it's my friendly invitation
to my facebook group so i have a facebook group
for english teachers and english learners so
non-native esl teachers are usually english learners themselves so feel free
to join in my small community i will try my best to be active and
helpful there as well and right after the session i'm going to share this
presentation um on on the facebook group and as um
that um mentioned asked i'm going to create this
um feedback template so i hope uh you will find it useful
uh just feel free to join in i will be happy to communicate with you and by the
way uh this group is um a teaching community so if you have any questions
or i don't know issues related to teaching in general you can actually ask other
people on the group for their um
recommendations or for a piece of advice feel free to do so
yeah that's probably it if you don't have any further questions
related to today's topic i hope that
you found it useful and i hope to see you next week
so next week is going to be at the beginning of
september and it's a really tough time for all
teachers and students i'm actually going to take one week
break from teaching in the beginning of september because
students usually don't know anything about their schedule and um it takes
some time to um get the whole understanding of the way they
are going to um work in the school year
so yeah if you have the same situation let me know
if you have any questions related to today's topic feel free to ask you can ask me on
facebook group or you can message me on facebook as well
i try to be helpful on the chat as well uh so stay tuned uh see you next week um
i hope uh that today's session was valuable so thanks a lot for joining in
and see you see you soon
