Chapter 2: Facilitating Remote Learning
and Teaching

Lead-in
Having just reviewed the basics of remote learning and teaching in Chapter 1, you’ll
find more concrete suggestions for engaging learners in the remote learning context
in Chapter 2. We’ll first explore communicative approaches applicable to remote
mode (Section 1) and how we can equip learners to create autonomous learning
objectives. We’ll specifically describe task-based learning (навчання через
автентичні завдання – наближені до реального життя) and the flipped classroom
(перевернутий клас або перевернуте навчання) for those of you who are willing
to shift to these approaches or would like to raise confidence in them.
In Section 2, we’ll discuss the differences and similarities that exist between remote
and in-person learning for you to see that many best practices for in-person learning
are still, indeed, best teaching practices in remote modalities. This chapter will go
on with remote class management essentials (Section 3) and strategies for effective
instructions (Section 4). You’ll find many practical suggestions and replicable slides
for immediate implementation in your classroom.
Section 1: Communicative approaches applicable to remote
learning and teaching
Communicative approaches aren’t a formal pedagogy, but rather are defined by
principles:
• Meaning is central to the task.
• There’s a communicative goal.
• The activity is measured by the outcome.
• There’s a real-world relationship.
• Focus is on the forms as needed.
Methods are considered communicative when learners negotiate meaning for a
real-world goal. In general, translating a vocabulary list isn’t an example of
communicative approach, even though learning vocabulary is essential. However,
by adding context, negotiation, and communication with others, teaching vocabulary
can be an element of communicative approach (see Chapter 5, Section 3 for
examples).
In this section, you’ll check the essentials of communicative approaches and get
supporting illustrations of them further on and also in Chapters 4 and 5.
Task-Based Learning (TBL) is basically about learning authentic
(автентичний – реальний) language for completing meaningful tasks related to
real-world contexts. Useful, real-world tasks align with learners’ needs and interests.
They have clear outcomes (результати учіння) and outputs (продукти), so that

your learners and you know when the task has been successfully completed. A post-
task discussion is recommended to reinforce learning and make any corrections, if

necessary, through recasts, modeling or a brief vocabulary or grammar activity.
Your choice of the appropriate task type for remote TBL is expected to be based on
the learning objectives, opportunities for learner personalization, and the selection
of the best remote modalities, either synchronous or asynchronous.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

21

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Discrete language production is not predetermined, but derives out of the
communication needs of the task. Three typical stages to TBL are: 1) in-class
planning, collaborating, and assigning specific roles; 2) out-of-class preparation,

drafting, step-by-step completion of tasks and distribution of final products; 3) post-
task discussion and review.

Some tasks may include a variation on the Jigsaw Activity (прийом ‘складання
пазла’, також відомий як метод ‘ажурна пилка’). Jigsaw groups can be very easily
facilitated e.g., through creating breakout rooms on Zoom. The benefit of online
breakout rooms is that there’s no physical limitation on desk mobility or classroom
volume, and you can easily reconfigure groups for different tasks. As a teacher, you
can ‘roam’ around the rooms by joining each group, you can broadcast a message
to all rooms about timing or other reminders, and when the time is up you can
instantly close all rooms and be joined in the main Zoom room.

Image borrowed from Tomaswick, L. (2017). Active
Learning – Jigsaw. Retrieved 08 Apr 2023 from
https://www.kent.edu/ctl/jigsaw.

Expert Jigsaw. Any large task can be
broken down into smaller components.
Learners are assigned into Expert groups
in which they learn their specific
component and then shuffled into Study
groups to share and teach their peers.
Everyone in the Study groups must take
notes to take back to their Expert group
and compare and teach what they
learned from other groups. The tasks can
vary from simple (to sort out food groups:
fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, dairy,
dessert) to more complex (to organize a
school event), when each group is
responsible for one aspect, collects
necessary information and reports to the
organizing committee.

Information Gap. Learners are given different sets of information (schedules,
maps, etc.) which taken individually is partial, and taken together is complete. For
example, a bus schedule with one learner who has the arrival and departure times
in the morning and the other learner with only the afternoon times. Learners talk to
each other to find out the missing information and fill out their information sets. This
task can be very easily modified for other purposes.
Opinion Gap. The structure may be similar to the Expert Jigsaw or Information
Gap, but the content is opinion based. The purpose is to explore preferences or
attitudes to an issue.
Reasoning Gap. Learners are given a creative task, such as explaining how to get
from point A to point B for a specific goal, within particular parameters, and they
must demonstrate creative problem solving. Learners have goals like collecting
items, meeting people, or purchasing food at specific stops. Teams build their own
instructions to accomplish this task within given parameters (at least 4 stops, or
within a certain hypothetical monetary amount) that will give them multiple language
practicing opportunities.
There’re more examples of tasks and sequencing activities for TBL in Chapter 5,
Section 2.

Figure 2.1 Jigsaw activity

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

22

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Flipped classroom. The goal of flipped learning is to make the most of
limited class time together by doing brainstorming, collaboration, demonstration,
problem-solving as well as building motivation and providing group feedback for
continued progress. When planning to flip the classroom and create pre-class
learning and in-class learning experiences, you need to consider the role that each
play in achieving learning outcomes.
While both pre-class learning and in-class learning contribute to learners’ education
and achievement of course outcomes, we must consider the results and position of
both for greatest impact. In their research into flipped learning, Lee and Choi (2019)
claim that pre-class learning correlations reveal double the impact of in-class
learning. The results show that pre-class learning needs to be presented as
valuable, not supplementary. It should be assessed at the beginning of each class
to make sure learners understand the pre-class designated material before
beginning the in-class learning.
The value of pre-class learning has two significant variables that contribute to
success: modality (тут спосіб дії) and interest. Multimedia content such as videos
has a higher correlation to positive learning outcomes than reading. This may be
due to the reduced cognitive load of watching material and the shorter time that is
required. There’s an assumption that learners can rewatch a short video for
comprehension easier than struggling through a difficult reading once.
When material needs to be read, you can introduce the reading with a short video
to help learners engage better with the reading material. Learner’s success is also
dependent on interest, surprisingly more than their own self-regulation. This is a
helpful designation because you have more control over connecting content to
learner interest than to changing learners’ ability to regulate through the way
material is introduced and explained. If pre-class learning is not accessible (too
difficult or too long) or not relevant or interesting to learners, even strong learners
can become demotivated when they begin in-class learning.
There must be strategies in place (such as a quiz to check understanding, formative
assessment, brief summary presentation, etc.) that ensure that learners have truly
learned the pre-class material in order for the in-class learning to be possible. You
should identify which learners are struggling with pre-class material or who have
difficulty with self-direction and provide additional scaffolding (образно
‘риштування’, тобто підтримка, допомога) to help them prepare for in-class
learning.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

23

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Table 2.1 Comparing traditional and flipped class
Traditional Class Flipped Class Planning stage

Pre-class:
• Teacher created materials:
Vocabulary activities, video
identifying key words, digital
flashcards to memorize new
words.
• Individual learning tasks:
Read the text or listen to the
audio recording.
Create 5 new vocabulary
flashcards or events/places
flashcards.

You do:
• Information that will be
taught in the initial stage of
class is learned at home,
before synchronous class
time.
• Some of the practice
stages of foundational
information, building and
using flashcards,
vocabulary practice, are
done at home before
coming to class,

In-class:
• Warm up with vocabulary
teaching and explaining
key words.
• Shadow reading of a text.
• Small group completion of
comprehension worksheet,
diagraming relationships,
events, places, etc.

In-class:
• Vocabulary key words quiz.
• Learners choose from
multiple project options to
demonstrate their higher
order engagement with the
content (Analyze, Evaluate,
Create).

Entrance Tickets:
• Entrance Ticket to make
sure that all learners are
starting with the key
learning objectives.
(If less than 80% of the class

have key learning, briefly re-
teach that information).

• Exit Ticket to assess that
the majority of learners
retained the key learning
objective.

• Expert Jigsaw to
collaboratively summarize
complex topics.

We do:
Model multiple modalities for
demonstrating higher order
engagement with content.

Homework:
• Finish the in-class
worksheet.
• Write a paper
demonstrating
comprehension.

Homework:
Complete recurring independent
routine learning tasks. Track
progress.

Independent learning:
• Daily personal reading,
journaling, vocabulary
review.
You do:
Learners (and learner teams)
continue working on longer term
projects that are started in
class.

There’s more on flipping the classroom in the article from The University of Texas
at Austin, Center for Teaching and Learning.
Bloom’s taxonomy for the flipped classroom (Flipped Bloom’s
taxonomy). You will remember how Bloom’s taxonomy is used in planning a lesson
in Chapter 1 (Section 5). You’ve hopefully noticed instances of flipping learning.
Talbert (2019) compares the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (2001) with the flipped
one. Look how he suggests dividing the orders of thinking skills (порядок
мисленнєвої діяльності) into thirds in his article ‘Re-thinking Bloom's Taxonomy
for flipped learning design’.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

24

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Figure 2.2 Flipped Bloom’s Taxonomy (Talbert, 2019)

And though Talbert provides an example of using Bloom’s Taxonomy in teaching
mathematics, his ideas on flipping learning are still relevant to any subject.
Here’s another visual which demonstrates Flipped Bloom’ Taxonomy.
Image borrowed from Talbert, R. (2019) Re-thinking Bloom's Taxonomy for flipped learning design.

Retrieved 08 Apr 2023 from https://rtalbert.org/re-thinking-blooms-taxonomy-for-flipped-learning-
design/.

Figure 2.3 Flipped Bloom’s Taxonomy
(University of Minnesota, undated)

Image borrowed from University of
Minnesota (undated) Flipped Learning
Guide. Retrieved 15 Apr 2023 from

https://academics.cehd.umn.edu/digital-
education/flipped-learning-guide/.

Remember and Understand. In the asynchronous pre-class session, material is
reviewed and activated as the background knowledge for the next stage of learning.
Learners build up their foundational information by making/using flashcards,
practicing vocabulary in sample conversations or cloze reading texts (клоуз-текст,
текст з пропусками, заповнити які допомагає контекст), and reading the text of
the lesson. Learners do autonomous tasks that help them remember (define, list,
memorize, repeat, state, etc.) and understand (explain concepts, classify, describe,
explain, identify, select, translate, etc.).
After successful pre-class learning is completed, then learners are equipped to
participate in interactive group-based learning inside the classroom. In-class
lessons should begin with an entrance ticket or pre-test to hold learners accountable
for the pre-class asynchronous learning.

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Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

25

Apply and Analyze. During in-class activities, the focus should be placed on
learning tasks that require structured interactions in a social environment. This
includes applying new knowledge (use in new situations, implement, solve,
demonstrate, interpret, sketch, etc.) and analyzing the connections between ideas
(differentiate, organize, relate, compare, contrast, distinguish, experiment, etc.).
These tasks are the first extensions of the basic facts and at this stage learners may
need the most immediate scaffolding, correction, and assistance.
Evaluate and Create. These are the most complex extensions of the topic, and
require the most time. These tasks can be started in-class, by assigning learners to
groups, and defining individual roles, and creating a timeline for post-class work
expectations. Learners work individually or collaboratively to evaluate or justify a
decision (appraise, argue, defend, judge, support, value, critique, etc.) and to create
some original work (design, assemble, construct, develop, investigate, etc.)
demonstrating higher order thinking.
Asynchronous journaling (ведення журналу) tasks. The following tasks
can help you add variety to asynchronous learning, primarily at the pre-class stage.
These writing activities will inform you about your learners’ interests, level of
motivation, intellectual strengths, and developmental assets. Learners can also
benefit from written reflection for increased cognition (пізнання) and metacognition
(метапізнання – вміння критично аналізувати, усвідомлювати та контролювати
власне мислення) in preparation for in-class learning. Journaling is an effective
practice for reaching learning and mental health outcomes. It contributes to the
integration of SEL in education.
Learning journals can include:
• Homework tracking. Learners document their work, e.g., log the time spent on
various independent learning tasks, pages/books they’ve read, or other relevant
details of the tasks.
• Questions. Learners can write questions that they have during pre-class
learning so that they are prepared for in-class learning. They can ask questions
about the material or questions that they hope to answer for themselves as the
unit progresses. The chart in Figure 2.4 is useful as a guide for learners.

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources

Appendices Figure 2.4 Moby KWL Chart

Image cropped from BrainPOPEducators (undated) Moby KWL Chart.. Retrieved 15 Apr 2023 from
https://educators.brainpop.com/printable/moby-kwl-chart/.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

26

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

The editorial from University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences ‘10 Ways
Journaling Benefits Learners’ points out the advantages of journaling for learning
and personal development. It introduces a variety of journals and indicates what
they are best for.
Section 2: Remote vs face-to-face lesson planning
In this section, you’ll review the basic elements of effective teaching and see how
you can transfer them from in-person to remote lessons.
Planning transfers. Think of how you’ll structure your class online with
digital features that replicate the physical functions of your classroom. Maintain the
features that reflect your personality as a teacher: if you like sharing funny jokes or
memes with learners on posters in your classroom, create a digital humor wall to
share with learners online as well. This can be done, for example, on Padlet. This
sample Padlet wall shows how you can also use this application to create a clear
daily routine for your learners, including the times you are synchronous and
asynchronous, and when learners should take a break.
If you have a classroom newsletter, or weekly ‘Pet Pictures’, create a digital sharing
space to continue the practice. Learners will appreciate the normalcy of continuing
those practices and they’ll build your classroom community. You can make a ‘Virtual
Hallway’ on Padlet to post introduction poems like in the example in Figure 2.5 that
will help learners get acquainted and share their interests. It’ll also help you as a
teacher to be able to know your learners better since you have less interaction
online than in person.
Figure 2.5 Back to School Poems

To make your remote class effective, you may need to establish a space where
you’ll organize your materials consistently either chronologically, with information
stored according to what is needed each week, or topically, with information stored
based on its type: presentations, readings, assignments, work in progress (group
projects), etc.
The way you organize your digital classroom is your choice, but you must clearly
communicate expectations to parents. Remember that they may have multiple
children, in different grades, and with one or more teachers at each grade level.
When the expectations are clear, parents can more easily support your teaching at
home. Consider posting a weekly calendar with all pre-class and in-class activities
identified and files clearly labeled to find supporting materials. See Section 4 in
Chapter 1 for selective tools.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

27

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Personalization. Learners will be more motivated to learn when the content
is relevant to their interests and needs. Conduct an interest survey at the beginning
of the year to learn about family, hobbies, learning interests, goals, favorite
reading/media titles. You can also interview parents to learn more about their
children and their learning opportunities. Michigan State University College of
Education offers interest surveys for learners and parents from which you can
choose and adapt 5-8 questions that seem most relevant to your class. In a variety
of survey tools, Google Forms seem to be among the most widely used. If you want
to have instant answers to a few questions in class and share the results with your
learners, use an interactive application like Mentimeter, which demonstrates
learners’ responses as a word cloud, line graph, etc.
As learners learn a new language, they should also be encouraged to develop their
identity as a foreign language speaker. Incorporate elements of learners’ lives, their
names, the name of their town, etc., into class conversations. Encourage learners
to rewrite textbook examples using relevant personal names, friends, local places
or situations, in writing or speaking assignments. Language practice that is relevant
to real world events will be more memorable and meaningful to learners.
Devices, interface, student experience. Conduct a brief survey of your
learners’ learning environment: what devices they’ll use (e.g., laptop, tablet,
smartphone, etc.), what school materials they have access to (e.g., coursebook,
activity book, dictionary, etc.), how much/when they have internet access (e.g.,
broadband, dial-up, limited, unlimited, etc.), whether an adult is available to assist
them during classes if necessary. Always check whether learning materials work on
different devices and frequently ask your learners to comment on the useability of
materials.
Warm-ups. Whether the class structure is flipped or traditional, it’s desirable
to begin each lesson with a warming-up activity. The main purposes of warm-ups
are to:
• Focus attention – help learners transition from whatever personal, social, or
learning task they just completed and turn attention to the current lesson.
• Create interest – connect to learners’ skills, interests, and needs to create a
sense of internal motivation to learn. When you’re meeting new learners or
starting a new unit, it can be helpful to ask learners to journal about their
personal interests to help make informed curriculum choices.
• Provide formative feedback – serve as an opportunity to gather evidence of
the foundational knowledge that was learned in pre-class activities.
There’s an overview of online tools which can be used for warm-ups in Chapter 7.
Applications like Mentimeter, Wooclap, Kahoot! can be integrated into Zoom and
used directly within a Zoom meeting.
Lesson plan components. Hopefully, you wouldn’t deny the importance of
lesson plans and would agree that they help to structure a lesson, organize the
content, anticipate interaction patterns, and, eventually, inform classroom
management.
The lesson plan design will greatly depend on the approach to learning and teaching

you follow, e.g., Presentation, Practice, Production; Task-based learning; Project-
based learning; Flipped classroom, etc. But, will the lesson plan structure depend

on the learning mode: face-to-face or remote? Obviously, not much. The essential
lesson plan components stay the same and the differences will be in the mode of
delivery.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

28

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Essential lesson plan components are:
• aims as teacher intentions
• outcomes as expected learner achievements at the end of studying a topic
• objectives as achievements at a lesson or certain stages of a lesson
• purposes as intentions of each activity
• lesson stages and activities (these will specify the mode of delivery)
• timing
• materials and tools.
There’re definitely other components of a lesson plan, e.g., class profile, anticipated
problems, homework, feedback, etc., which you may consider essential or
desirable. You decide.
Chapter 4 will introduce a holistic approach to planning learning with a pattern of
identifying the topic context, communicative language skills (коммунікативні
мовленнєві вміння) and core skills (наскрізні вміння), language inventory (мовний
інвентар), as well as designing lesson frameworks.
Section 3: Remote classroom management
As it is true in the in-person classroom, remote classroom management is best
solved with high quality planning and instructions while also setting clear
expectations. In this section, you’ll find practical ways to create procedures and
routines for learners that will result in desired learner behavior and more learner
engagement during synchronous and asynchronous lessons.
Challenge of time. Like many other teachers, you may be often working
against the clock as you attempt to fit as much teaching into a small block of time.
Remote learning makes this challenge even more apparent as learners and you
may both grapple with the many hurdles presented by technology. As described
previously, there’re instances where a loss of time cannot be avoided, however,
effective preparation for a remote lesson can reduce a loss of learning/teaching
time.
Lesson Road Map. Whether a lesson is synchronous or asynchronous, it
is easy for learners to feel lost in a virtual learning environment. When learners feel
lost, they may decide to disengage in the lesson in a number of ways. One strategy
is to provide learners with a road-map at the beginning of the lesson. This acts as
a simple visual outline that can be presented on a Google slide or other. When
learners are given a roadmap, they have a mental image of where you’ll lead them,
it gives them an opportunity to access any background knowledge they may have
on the topic and addresses the potential for feeling lost.
Here’s an example of what a road
map looks like and how it can be
presented. The image in the slide
is copyright free.
Figure 2.6 Sample lesson road
map

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

29

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Preparing digital materials in advance. Similar to the way you prepare
physical materials for an in-person lesson, it’s equally if not more important to
prepare digital materials for remote learning. By preparing materials in advance,
you can avoid losing learning time due to a lack of preparedness.
Breakout Rooms. Grouping learners strategically for pair and small group
activities can be critical for the success of a lesson. When you work with learners in
the physical classroom, it can be easy to simply place learners into pairs or groups
by telling them to turn and talk or actually dictating where learners should sit. To
replicate this in the remote classroom requires thoughtful preparation. Zoom does
have a function that allows us to quickly create random groups, however, if you want
to group learners strategically, you’ll need to prepare lists of groups in advance. You
can create homogeneous groups with high-achieving and low-achieving learners in
different groups. You can also assign learners to groups in line with the tasks or
their roles in a task. You can even invite learners to choose a group themselves
according to their interests.
Do-Now activities. Once learners arrive at a remote synchronous lesson,
you may have them complete a Do-Now independent activity. While learners are
completing it, you have time to use the breakout room function on Zoom to create
the groups in advance for a small group activity to be used later in the lesson. This
will save you time and allow for a seamless transition between independent, large
group and small group work.
Do-Now activities are simple actions which learners should be able to complete
without any assistance or support from you. Learners can write their answers in
Chat which is the easiest option. Do-Now activities should act as a bridge for the
learners to activate their prior knowledge and prime them for the new content or as
a check of how well they coped with the flipped task. These activities can as well be
used for formative assessment, however, that is not their primary purpose.
Here's an example of a Do-Now activity in which learners are expected to answer a
question with reasoning. Before launching the activity, you need to agree with
learners on where they’ll post their answers. Sample slides are in Figure 2.7.
Images in the slides are copyright free.
Figure 2.7 Sample Do-Now activity

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International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

30

Virtual work spaces such as Padlet. Padlet was first mentioned in
Chapter 1, Section 4 as a place for discussion boards. With Padlet you can engage
learners in all sorts of interaction and collaboration. But remember to prepare such
a digital space prior to the lesson to avoid loss of time and learner confusion during
the lesson. Below is a screenshot of a Padlet wall that was used for a small group
reading activity. Before the activity, the teacher prepared the text to be used in class
and assigned learners to groups with specific roles. This made for a smooth
transition into the activity and allowed learners to immediately begin working.
Figure 2.8 Sample Padlet wall for a reading workshop

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Procedures and routines. Regularly practiced procedures and routines
allow you to simultaneously maximize teaching time and prevent potentially
unwanted behavior from learners. Procedures can simply be described as a specific
way of doing something in a lesson whether you are teaching in-person or remotely.
Classroom routines are something that is done by the learners and teachers
frequently during lessons. When establishing any new routine, it’s important that
you provide learners with explicit instructions on how they should complete the task
and model your expectations. Once practiced, your desired procedure will allow for
a smooth completion of the task.
Beginning and end of class
routines. Teachers often have routines for
the way they begin and end a lesson both
face-to-face and remote. One of the most
common routines is to greet learners. It’s
particularly important when learners enter
the virtual classroom and they’ll also
appreciate it if you thank them for being
able to join. In addition to greetings, you
may want to have a check-in displayed for
learners to complete immediately after
they have entered the classroom. Here’s
an example of a feelings check-in you can
use to quickly gauge the mood of your
learners. Simply ask learners to enter into
the Chat which number sheep they are
feeling like at the moment. See a sample
picture in Figure 2.9.

Figure 2.9 Feelings on a sheep-scale

Image borrowed from Wool For Every Day
(undated) Sheep Scale 1-9 Meme.
Retrieved 15 Apr 2023 from
https://samanthawan.com.au/2020/08/22/sh
eep-scale-meme/.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

31

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Chapter 6 provides additional information on social and emotional check-ins.
Exit ticket. Providing learners with an exit ticket at the end of each lesson
is another example of a routine. One of the popular tools for exit tickets is Google
Forms. You’ll find plenty of exit ticket ideas and examples in Ziplet: confidence
checks, learning reflection, learner well-being and many more. If you choose to
create a Ziplet account, you can use it as an alternative to Google Forms. But, you
can as well pick up ideas and use them with your preferred tools.
End of class check-out. Having a check-out routine for remote lessons can

be an effective way to hold learners’ attention right to the end. There’re many check-
out routines, one that is simple and easy to implement is called the Waterfall. This

check-out can be formal or informal depending on your goal. For a more formal
Waterfall, you may ask learners a question relating to the topic of a particular lesson.
Learners should write their answers in the Chat but wait to press enter. Once you
have determined all learners are ready, you will tell them to send their answers at
the same time. When you see all the messages from learners coming into the Chat
at the same time, it looks like a waterfall of text. Afterwards, you can quickly scan
the messages together with learners and highlight a few for the group. To make this
routine more informal, you can follow the same procedure but change the prompt
to something less academic and more personal.

Attention-getters. You’re sure to have your own repertoire of attention-
getters which may facilitate smooth transitions from activity to activity or get learners

back if they’re distracted or reset a noisy classroom. Using hand gestures can be
an easy routine to get learners’ attention and increase their involvement. For
example, simply holding up two fingers to indicate that all learners should do the
same. Or, holding up any number of fingers and then asking learners to type that
number into the Chat to indicate they’re ready and listening for what is about to
come next.
Movement breaks. Sitting on Zoom for an extended period of time can be
challenging for anyone but especially children. One way to keep learners focused
and attentive is to use movement breaks. The type of movement break will most
likely depend on the age and interest of your learners. Younger learners often enjoy
high energy activities that allow them to release pent up energy whereas older
learners may feel more comfortable simply being allowed to take a two-minute break
for independent time or participating in a stretching/breathing exercises.
Here’re three examples of movement breaks that are differentiated for age. There’re
plenty of other videos like these on YouTube. Choose the one which will work best
for your learners.

Chapter 6 will add more ideas on encouraging movement which makes part of SEL.

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

32

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Managing behavior. It may sometimes be tricky to manage behavior in a
remote classroom. Cameras off, background noise, distracting screen background,
little or no concentration, etc. In most cases, a class contract and netiquette (see
Chapter 1, Section 1), strong procedures and routines (see above) can be your
helpers. Actually, if learners are engaged and interested, they’re unlikely to
misbehave. However, you may still need to remind learners of the classroom rules
and expected behavior.
Classroom rules/class contract will have more value if they are created in
collaboration with your learners and as early as possible. During the process of
creating community rules, you can initiate and facilitate a conversation with learners
by asking these sample driving questions:
• How do you feel when you are speaking and someone speaks over you? What
rule could we create to help with this?
• How would you feel if you were the only one with your camera on?
• What happens if we aren’t listening and paying attention while our friends or
the teacher is speaking?
Rules often depend on the needs and age of a particular group. And you’ll have to
adapt questions accordingly. For younger learners, it may be useful to create visuals
with rules on slides or a poster. Images in the slides below are copyright free.
Figure 2.10 Sample classroom rules

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

33

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Section 4: Effective instructions
Providing learners with clear and concise instructions is a foundation for success in
the classroom. When we design tasks for learners, it’s important that we think about
the steps learners need to take to complete the task and how we’ll explain those
steps in the classroom effectively. Unclear or complicated instructions often lead to
learner confusion which may result in unwanted behavior. In this section, we’ll
explore the strategies and principles you can use to create high quality task
instructions.
Visual support and product models. Your learners may sometimes get off
the task or get it wrong if the instructions you give are vague, long, only oral and not
structured. One way you can address this is by combining oral and written
instructions. It may also be useful to pair written instructions with visual cues
especially at the earlier stages of learning. If your learners work in a virtual space
like Google Drive, Google Classroom, Padlet, or similar, you can post the
instructions within that space. Here’s an example of embedding visuals in the
instructions for an activity based on Karpyuk, O. and K. Karpyuk (2023) English 6,
Unit 8, Terrific Trips, p. 131. Icons and images in the example are copyright free.
Figure 2.11 Embedding visuals in instructions

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

34

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

And here’s an example of what the product of this task could look like. Images in
the slides are copyright free. You can demonstrate the slides during the lesson or
attach them to the task instructions.
Providing a model/example of what your learners are expected to produce will
decrease the chances of learner confusion and clearly convey your expectations
for the task.
Note here that visuals should be used strategically as a form of scaffolding and
in no way overused.
Figure 2.12 Model product

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

35

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

Small group virtual activities. Small group work is particularly challenging
in the remote classroom because you may feel lack of possibility to effectively
monitor the contributions from individual learners. This is where well-structured
instructions with specific role distribution come on stage. This will hopefully minimize
learner disengagement from the task.
Look at the example of instructions and sample sentences for an activity which is
done in groups of four in breakout rooms. It’s based on Karpyuk, O. and K. Karpyuk
(2023) English 6, Unit 3 (p. 41). What about your free time?
Figure 2.13 Small group activity

This Teacher’s Guide was developed by the SDELE
Program implemented by American Councils for
International Education: ACTR/ACCELS Ukraine Office.

36

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The basics of
remote learning and teaching
Chapter 2 Facilitating remote
learning and teaching
Chapter 3 Remote assessment
FOR learning and OF learning
Chapter 4 Context-based
lesson planning
Chapter 5 Developing
communicative language skills
and language remotely
Chapter 6 Incorporating social
and emotional learning in
English lessons
Chapter 7 Overview of existing
online resources
References
Recommended resources
Appendices

If some kind of product is expected at the end of the activity, you may find the
following guidelines useful. Before launching the task,
• prepare a written description of the task and what learners need to produce
• demonstrate a sample product or describe what successful completion of the
task looks like
• define roles for each learner in a group to fulfill during the activity and the
presentation of the product
• negotiate the time limit
• instruct learners to distribute roles themselves once they’re in their group in
breakout rooms.
Asynchronous group tasks may need additional instructions and a collaborative
space. If the task is quite large (more than one day to complete) and has multiple
steps, you can break it into smaller tasks with separate deadlines, so that learners
could organize their work accordingly. Agreed virtual check-ins along the way can
stimulate learners and provide you with an indicator of their progression in the task.
Summing up
This chapter considered some communicative approaches which are applicable in

remote learning and teaching settings. You were able to compare remote and in-
person lesson planning, explore the specifics of remote classroom management,

and analyze effective teaching strategies. We believe that you’ve picked up ideas
which will be helpful in your teaching practice. The next chapter will take you to the
area of assessment.





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