Participants in this workshop will engage in a variety of activities to keep students engaged in online classes. 

This workshop includes:

• simple ways to get feedback from students
• a demonstration of using video clips effectively
• using Google Docs to involve students in writing and analysis
• the adaptation of in-person materials for an online context
• A demonstration of using the students’ environment in online classes
• an example of an assignment to help students develop the skills of summarizing a text and active reading

Self-care is an important but sometimes overlooked part of our lives as educators. Freelance teachers sometimes forget that we have chosen to make ourselves a priority. In reality, we need to take care of ourselves in order to give our best to our students. This workshop covers:

• What self-care is and isn’t
• The different domains of self-care
• Journaling as a tool to promote self-care
• The role of boundaries in self-care
• Using money as a tool to invest in self-care

Participants in this workshop will take part in different activities that help students learn grammar in the context of online classes.  This workshop includes:

• simple ways to check for understanding
• a method to present grammar to students in context
• how to help students discover grammatical structures and rules in the online context 
• games that provide the repetition necessary to practice new verb forms and structures
• how to incorporate the students’ home environment into classes
• online resources to help with lesson planning and providing students with extra practice

Participants in this workshop will engage in a variety of activities that make the learning of lexis meaningful in online classes.  This workshop includes:

• an exploration of vocabulary, lexis, collocations, and fixed and semi-fixed expressions
• the distinction between active and passive vocabulary
• a demonstration of using charts to help students create their own sentences and questions
• the use of fill ins as a powerful way to check for student understanding and provide student-centered learning to generate vocabulary
• a demonstration of the use of word families to help teach the parts of speech and the relationships between words
• an exploration of a student-centered activity involving suffixes and prefixes

Participants in this workshop will take part in activities focused on raising students’ awareness and demonstrating the nuances of pronunciation in English.  This workshop includes:

• examples of the challenges that students face when learning English pronunciation
• an example of a pronunciation diagnostic test that can be used with new students
• the use of word lists to demonstrate how a sound in a variety of words
• an activity to help students master the different vowel sounds in irregular verbs
• an activity that makes students focus on how sounds are formed by the mouth when speaking in English
• Activities that demonstrate the importance of word endings, silent letters, and word stress and its relation to word families