I just finished observing several teachers working in Vietnamese preschools and primary schools. During those observations I noticed a consistent issue with teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) while masked. In this video I’ll share what the problem is and a tip for overcoming it.
Masked for Covid-19
We’re still dealing with Covid-19 here in Saigon, so everyone is masked up. And one thing that consistently came up in my observations was that masks were making teaching difficult (nothing really new there!).
Students were frequently missing their teacher’s instructions, questions, and intentions. I often saw only one or two students at a time respond to their teacher’s questions, or attempts to drill vocabulary.
Even in small, quiet preschool classes it looked like many students couldn’t follow their teacher. They were often confused and didn’t know to answer when their teacher was asking a question.
However, it wasn’t an issue of not being able to hear the teachers. Even in the back, I could always easily hear and understand the teachers. Instead, it’s an issue of the teachers not giving their students enough visual context while teaching EFL masked. I will cover what this means in the video.
A Quick and Easy Tip
Fortunately, a quick & easy change greatly helped the students follow their teachers. It’s a habit that every EFL teacher already should have, but it’s especially important when teaching EFL while masked.
Check out the video to learn what the tip is and how it will help you with your students.
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