Starting up in-person EFL classes at academies and public schools after the long COVID-19 break will present us all with some new challenges. We’ve been passing the time at home by watching TV, surfing the internet, cooking, learning a new language…or having a glass or two of something enjoyable. Our students have been stuck at home as well while they experience this (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. It’s important to recognize how things have changed, make plans, and try to make the start of classes as successful as possible. Here are seven tips for going back to in-person EFL classes after COVID-19 lockdown.
1. Don’t ignore the break
The first thing you need to do is recognize that this pandemic has actually affected you, your school, and your students. Don’t expect to just start classes right back up and act like it never happened. Even as an EFL teacher you will likely need to spend office and class time dealing with the effects of the pandemic.
2. Get Informed of Your School’s Coronavirus policies
Schools will need to implement new policies and procedures to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19 among students and staff. As an EFL teacher at an academy or public school you will need to pay attention and participate in these changes. Your school will likely expect you to model good practices for your students. So, learn about your school’s procedures for things like hand washing, temperature checking, and maintaining distance between people.
You might also need to get or create plans for safely:
- moving students around in their classroom and into lines
- passing out and collecting materials
- getting students to work in pairs or small groups
- getting students to share materials (if allowed)
3. Be Patient & Understanding
It’s important to remind yourself to be patient in these trying times and remember that everyone is trying to quickly adapt.
Your Students:
These kids will have just spent many without in-person classes. That’s a big deal. If you think this felt like forever, imagine what it was like for younger children who experience time much more slowly than you do.
Pent-up: Some of them will be dealing with the effects and emotions of having been locked up in (possibly small) homes with stressed out parents and little to do.
Isolated: They’ll have had tons of screen time and few opportunities to play with friends or run around. They’re going to be aching to catch up with each other.
Uncomfortable: The youngest primary students will also have to again get used to the challenge of sitting on hard wooden chairs for hours.
Rusty: Your students will have also forgotten how things are done at school. We’ll need to teach them new ways of behaving under COVID-19 and also remind them of old routines and rules that still need to apply.
Your Schools:
This is going to be a whole new world for public schools and English centers, but one that is stuck with the infrastructure of the past.
New Policies: School leaders will have to figure out how to enact the government’s new social distancing rules such as physical spacing and hand-washing requirements. Somehow they have to keep students separated, but still teach everyone.
Completing Curriculum: They’re figuring out how to continue or complete the curriculum and how to satisfy parents. This might mean cramming extra content into each lesson, cutting “unnecessary” content, or even more drastic measures.
Limitations: They’re doing this all with often very limited resources; classrooms were packed with students before the virus, budgets were tight, and competition was fierce. Many schools have already lost clients, staff, managers, and teachers in the last few months. They’re going to be hamstrung for the foreseeable future.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language can be a chaotic adventure in the best of times. This is by far not the best of times.
Be Flexible: Try your best to go with the flow, look for solutions in things you can control when you can, and accept that not everything will be done right the first, second or even the third time. At least you’re out of your apartment!
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4. Review & Update Your Rules & Routines
It is hard to understate how much your students will have forgotten over the long break. Starting classes up again will feel a lot like starting the school year after summer break.
Like that time of year, you will need to spend a significant amount of time reteaching your rules, routines, and classroom management system. Don’t assume that your students will remember to follow them – they won’t.
New Routines: Your school may need you to introduce and enforce new COVID-19 prevention routines as well. This might include rules for students to wear masks, wash their hands before class, and cough into their elbows.
Keep Distant: You might also teach students to keep distant from each other by flapping their arms or twisting like trees in the wind when they aren’t in their chairs.
No Hands: Finally, giving high-fives for praise will likely be frowned on. You can introduce elbow bumps, feet low-fives, or just thumbs up to continue encouraging your students.
Practice, Practice, Practice: You can make all of this more engaging with a game like Drill Sergeant after you teach TPR mime actions for each of the new routines. You could also try Stand Up/Sit Down to check their understanding of the rules. For example, you could ask “Can I pull down my mask?” or “Can I give elbow bumps?” and students sit down for “no” and stand up for “yes.”
Sing for Safety: Songs are great for teaching preschool and young primary school students. They can reinforce both language and the ideas carried in the song. Here are four hand washing song options, from easy to difficult, that might work for you and your students.
- “Wash Your Hands” from the Treetop Family at Super Simple Songs
- “Wash Your Hands with Baby Shark” by Pink Fong:
- “Wash Your Hands Song” by The Singing Walrus:
- “Wash Your Hands: Healthy Habits” by Pink Fong:
5. Use More Prevention-Friendly Stirring Activities
It’s pretty likely that your students won’t be used to sitting in long school classes after COVID-19 lockdown. They’re likely to be more restless and easily distracted than earlier in the school year. To compensate for this, you’ll probably want to include some extra TPR activities, songs, and other stirring activities to get them through the day for the next couple weeks.
Avoid Contact: However, you also don’t want students bunching up in lines, crashing into each other, or otherwise coming into close contact. That means games like “Four Corners” where everyone runs to the same picture on a wall aren’t a good idea. Your school might not want students sharing materials, either. Here are some stirring activities that might work:
- Magic Eyes: Students can chant through the vocabulary as a class without getting close to each other. You can add mime actions to each word as well to increase the stirring element.
- Flashcard Safari: Students can stay at their desks and “photograph” or point to flashcards on the walls.
- Drill Sergeant: Students sit or stand at their desks and mime the words you call out.
- Stand Up/Sit Down: Students stand up for true statements or “yes” answers to questions. They sit down for false statements or “no” answers to questions.
- Bingo: Each student gets their own blank bingo table. They write their own words and tick, circle, or cross out words as you call them out.
- Speed Speak/Listen Quick: You should make sure students are kept distant during this game by keeping desks apart. The leader in the group can make a statement or ask a question. Their classmates can point to flashcards on the walls, do mime actions, or call out short answers. The fastest, correct responder gets to be the new leader. This game might get especially noisy with students being separated, so you could have one half of the class play the game while the other half does a quiet activity.
6. Sharing Time
All of us have been through, and are still going through, a historic moment that has been deeply affecting for everyone. In times like these, sharing with students and getting students to share what they went through, in an age appropriate manner, can be a great idea.
Even if you don’t share the same mother-tongue with your students you can still find ways to connect with your students. This might be especially important to start rebuilding your relationship with students you haven’t seen in months. Here are some ideas.
- Show & Tell: Bring real objects or pictures of things you did while under lockdown. Maybe you baked a cake, drew, wrote, or learned to play a new song. You can briefly show these to your students and then have your students share some things they did. If you have enough time, they could draw a picture or write a few sentences. In some cases (though it’s usually difficult) they could even bring something from home.
- Mind-map Questions: Make a mind-map of the things you did on the board. Students can then ask you questions about the information. You could put up one or two fake things and have students guess which isn’t true.
- Two Truths and One Lie: Play TTOL with things you did during the break. Write the sentences on the board and have students guess which is the lie. Students can also write their own sentences to read to friends.
- Bingo: Play this game with things they did outside of school. Collect 10-15 suggestions from the class of things they did during the lock-down. Write them on the board. Students can then complete their own bingo cards to play.
Before you implement any of these, speak with your manager to make sure you have permission. Some schools might want you to just focus on the set curriculum.
7. Review Old Content
Another good idea is to cut time in each lesson to review material from before the long break. During regular times students can forget as much as 50% or more of their lessons in just one week. Chances are strong that some or many of your students will have forgotten a lot over the last three months.
Your school might set aside a few lessons for review, or you could be expected to jump right into new lessons. If it’s the latter, then taking 5 or 10 minutes from the next few lessons could still be useful in refreshing everyone’s memories.
I’d love to hear about your experiences returning to English classes after COVID-19. What worked? What didn’t go so well? Share in the comments below or on our Facebook page!
