TEACHING DURING A PANDEMIC: DESIGNINGASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE MATERIALS
Andrew Gill
Kanda University of International Studies
INTRODUCTION
Due to the onset of the 2020 pandemic, this institution took the decision to move all classes
online for the spring 2020 semester. Adopting a hybrid approach, utilizing both synchronousand asynchronous lessons, the university aimed to mitigate issues students may encounter
regarding internet access and excessive screen time, while providing multiple methods ofinteraction. Synchronous lessons were to be held on Zoom, a video conferencing application,
and would closely resemble face-to-face classes: taking place in real time and allowing
students to interact with their peers and the teacher. Asynchronous classes would involveclasswork being placed on an online learning management system (I chose to utilize Google
Classroom), with students given a set deadline by which to complete it. I therefore neededto adapt my teaching materials to fit this proposed new system.
THE COURSE
This paper describes the creation of an asynchronous lesson for “Olympic Games: History,
Key Issues and Tokyo 2020”. This elective course is taught to third and fourth year studentsbased on content and language integrated learning (CLIL), “an educational approach inwhich various language-supportive methodologies are used which lead to a dual-focusedform of instruction where attention is given to both language and content” (Coyle, et al.,2010, p. 3).
I designed the course myself, creating five independent units: Ancient Olympics, ModernOlympics, Olympic Controversies, Benefits and Costs of Hosting the Games, and Tokyo 2020.
Considering the hybrid approach adopted for spring 2020, I needed to identify which of myexisting lessons best suited the synchronous and asynchronous formats, as well as design
new lessons if deemed necessary. Furthermore, I had to ensure that the four main language
skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing continued to be practiced in a balanced way,
as prescribed by university policy regarding CLIL courses.
SELECTION CRITERIA FOR SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS LESSONS
When initially designing the course in 2019, one major focus was maximizing opportunities
for collaborative learning, whereby students could learn from each other, developing not
only their L2 ability, but also their social skills. With this in mind, I decided to prioritize lesson
content that I believed the students were more likely to be familiar with for synchronous
Zoom lessons, in which students would have greater opportunities to interact. Conversely, I
decided that more foreign topics were better suited to asynchronous classes, as less benefit
could be derived from having students discuss past experiences, or share knowledge,
regarding unfamiliar subject matter.
1.	  Teaching	  During	  a	  Pandemic:	  Designing	  Asynchronous	  Online	  Materials.	  Andrew	  Gill.	  Pages	  7-­‐10.	  Literacies	  &	  Language	  Education:	  Research	  &	  Practice,	  2020	  Special	  Section:	  Teaching	  During	  a	  Pandemic.	  English	  Language	  Institute,	  KUIS.

THE LESSON ITSELF
The following sections detail the creation of an asynchronous lesson about the Paralympics,
previously included as a subsection of classes on the summer and winter Olympics, but
expanded into a standalone lesson for 2020. As with all content for the semester, the lesson
materials were placed on Google Classroom. The Paralympics lesson consisted of just one
Google Doc, including hyperlinks to videos and websites that the students would need tocomplete the lesson. With a plethora of material online for their various courses, I felt it was
important to streamline the Google Classroom page as much as possible for the students.
CREATING INTEREST IN THE TOPIC
For asynchronous lessons in particular, the lesson opening is extremely important. With noteacher physically present to introduce the topic and generate interest, students’ motivation
to study could be affected. One option for beginning a lesson is to record a video using anapplication such as Loom, whereby the teacher can capture their screen, face and voicesimultaneously, thus providing a similar opening to a face-to-face lesson. However, for thisparticular topic, I felt that providing students with short highlight videos of the two mostrecent Paralympic Games (Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018) would be ideal to stimulate
their interest, as the videos showcased a number of dramatic moments in a wide variety ofevents. I provided links to the videos on the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC)
official website and asked the students to briefly write their impressions of what they had
watched, and their familiarity with the sports shown.
AUTHENTIC TEXT SELECTION AND LANGUAGE GRADINGThe video activity was followed by an authentic text copied from the IPC’s website. The
advantage of using the IPC website was that it caters to an international audience, andtherefore consideration is likely given to non-native English speakers when producing
content (the site languages are limited to English and French). Defined as "ordinary texts notproduced specifically for language teaching purposes" (Carter & Nunan, 2001, p. 88),
authentic materials can motivate students because “they are proof that the language is used
for real-life purposes by real people" (Nuttall, 1996, p. 172). However, issues regarding lengthand vocabulary were evident, and I therefore adapted the text to remove superfluous
information, as well as simplify difficult structures (for example, the phrasal verb ‘caught on’
was replaced with ‘became popular’). I also added footnotes for what I predicted would be
unfamiliar concepts (such as ‘a war veteran’). While these steps could be followed when
designing any graded materials for L2 learners, they were particularly important for thisasynchronous class, as students could not ask questions as they would in a face-to-facelesson. The final advantage of the IPC article was that it not only described the origins andhistory of the Paralympics, but also briefly summarized the two most recent competitions(Rio 2016; PyeongChang 2018), which tied in perfectly with the video the students had
watched to begin the lesson.
FAMILIAR TASKS WITH EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONSAfter reading the article, the students were given two related activities to complete:comprehension checking, and matching selected vocabulary to definitions. Both activity
types were familiar to the students, as they had completed similar exercises in previous
synchronous classes on Zoom. For each activity, explicit written instructions were provided,
and the first answer was completed as a model. Ensuring task familiarity was a deliberateploy, not only to help the students complete the lesson successfully, but also to reduce stressthey may experience related to lack of teacher and peer support.
FACILITATING ORAL COMMUNICATION AND PEER ENGAGEMENTPerhaps one of the most challenging aspects of asynchronous lessons is providing students
with the opportunity to practice all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In thisparticular lesson, I still needed to incorporate an element of oral communication, and student
to student engagement was also lacking. With these points in mind, the final lesson task
involved video recording.
The students were first provided with a link to a website detailing the most successful
Paralympians of all time. Their task was to read about the eleven athletes, and then record asixty-second video using Flipgrid (a video discussion application), explaining which athlete
they were most impressed by and why. In addition, the students were asked to record a short
response to at least three of their classmates’ videos, in order to provide an element of peer
engagement. As with the comprehension and vocabulary tasks, the students had priorexperience using Flipgrid, and I also recorded my own model video, detailing my thoughts on
the British Paralympian, Mike Kenny.
This type of asynchronous oral communication has numerous advantages: practicing
presentational speaking, promoting planning before speaking, allowing learners to review
and conduct self-evaluation, and providing the opportunity to revise and re-record toproduce a best version (Young & West, 2018). Furthermore, a number of studies havechronicled the impact of students recording and analyzing their speech asynchronously(Engin, 2014; Gromik, 2012; Lepore, 2014), reporting improved accuracy, fluency, andpronunciation. However, such recordings would need to be included consistently throughout
an online curriculum for such benefits to be realized. With this in mind, I made asynchronousrecording on Flipgrid a regular feature of the course.
While the use of Flipgrid suited this particular lesson, alternative means of providing
speaking practice are possible. For example, students could record a video diary throughout
the semester, where they talk about what they learned and the challenges they faced.
Moreover, not every skill necessarily needs to be practiced within an asynchronous lesson: ateacher might allocate time at the beginning of the subsequent synchronous lesson forstudents to discuss pertinent sections of a self-study class.
CONCLUSION
This paper points to providing specifically tailored, multi-faceted materials for asynchronousclasses. While explicit instructions and examples are key, I also assert that minimizing thenumber of unfamiliar tasks is paramount for students to be able to complete self-study
materials successfully. Furthermore, asynchronous lessons should not necessarily restricthow students learn: teachers must consider alternative approaches to providing essential
learning components, such as oral communication and peer engagement, which may initiallyseem problematic online.
While many of the recommendations in this paper could potentially be applicable to othercontexts, my lesson was purposefully designed with the university’s specific guidelines inmind. However, I hope that the general principles detailed in this article resonate with otherteachers, and that this paper provides some valuable insight into the preparation ofasynchronous materials and the thought process behind them.

REFERENCES
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Engin, M. (2014). Extending the flipped classroom model: Developing second language
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Gromik, N. A. (2012). Computers & education cell phone video recording feature as alanguage learning tool: A case study. Computers & Education, 58(1), 223–230.
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Lepore, C. E. (2014). Influencing students’ pronunciation and willingness to communicate
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http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1080228.pdf
Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford University Press.
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