Online ESL: A Beacon of Light

By Mary Hogan

After Christmas, the ESL program at Bayview Glen Church resumed but in my advanced class, I began to hear rumblings about a coronavirus in China. It didn’t mean too much to me but then a few students stopped coming. I sensed something was wrong, but the class was eerily quiet and didn’t want to talk about it. On January 27, one of my students whom I’ll call Julie, asked to speak to all of the teachers before class. She told us how a coronavirus was destroying China. She warned us that students in our program were returning from China and that it wasn’t safe to continue. This virus was highly contagious and deadly and it would easily spread through all the classes. After Julie shared her concerns, I stepped out of the room and saw that the church was nearly empty. We had to act quickly. This was our last day. Somewhat in shock, I told my class we would continue online.

I had no idea how to do that. I quickly called my grandchildren to help me. I got together with four of them at different times. They told me they used Google Classroom regularly and that it was a great platform on which to assign work. They set me up with a classroom and I invited my class to join me. I could upload material and “hand it out,” and they in turn, could “hand it in” for me to mark and send back to them. I was starting to enjoy this. But in Google Classroom, we could only communicate in writing and I missed “seeing” my students and talking with them.

So during the second week of online classes, I learned how to conference call with Zoom. There I could see my students and talk to them. I learned how to share my screen with the class and show them articles or pictures. It took very little time for them to work with the audio and video and get online with me. Even the older students could do this.

This has been a learning curve for me, but my class of 10 loves it. They come early and want to go for 2 hours without a break. I give them their work through Google Classroom a day or two before and we take it up together on Zoom. During the second hour, we read the Bible (we are studying the life of Joseph) and discuss it in different ways. Sometimes I send out questions; sometimes they ask each other questions if I want them to practice a certain grammar point.  

Online teaching has opened up a whole new world for me. I have also used it with my prayer group and other committees. At a time of social distancing, I can see and talk to my friends anywhere in the world. And best of all, my grandkids love to be my teacher!

Editor’s Note: Click here for a beginner’s guide to Google Classroom and here for step-by-step video tutorials. Click here for an easy-to-read Zoom user guide.