Level Up Your Online Teaching: Mastering Zoom Etiquette for a Smoother Classroom Experience
The way of delivering and consuming education has been changed drastically. In recent years, especially after COVID-19, the virtual way of teaching has been on the rise and it replaces the orthodox way of teaching and learning English like teaching with the help of a white-board.
This transition was initially not comfortable for many English teachers, especially TEFL teachers, however with time most of the teachers adapted their teaching method, and thanks to the availability of many virtual teaching tools like- Zoom, which makes the teaching job easier.
According to researchgate.net, 25% of the students use Zoom as a learning platform.
So, teachers must know how to engage students in their virtual classes via the Zoom platform. One of the effective ways to achieve that is by managing your etiquette while teaching English online.
In this blog post, we will be exploring some of the effective tips to follow while you are conducting a virtual English class on the Zoom platform.
Before moving to the topic, can we ask you a question? Do you follow us on Social Media? We regularly share upgraded educational content, tips, feedback, and more. Check us out by clicking the profiles here - Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Pinterest / Instagram / YouTube
So, without any further delay, let's get started.
1. Take Care of Your background
While you are considering conducting a virtual English class, it’s very essential to create a positive learning environment for your students so that they feel motivated. It is suggested to avoid teaching in a dark room. Always prefer to keep your room well-lit with balanced brightness and you can also keep lam in front of you for better light.
2. Keep Your Eye Contact With Camera
Most teachers have a hard time figuring out where to look while conducting online classes on the Zoom platform. Most of us have the compulsion to look at our image intentionally or unintentionally.
For every teacher, it’s a good practice to look at the camera while teaching to a whole class or even individual student. Additionally, to make the communication more natural, you can also encourage students to look at the camera while speaking.
Learn some of the fun teaching ideas for kids in Zoom here:
3. Stay On Mute While You’re Not Speaking
Let’s face it, even if we found any corner of the home to a teacher there’s a high possibility of background noise from different sources like- coughing, sneezing, family members interaction, notification sound of phones, emails, etc. So, it’s a good practice to keep yourself muted while you are not speaking or when students are doing their tasks. Unmute only at the time when you need to speak.
4. Leave Your Virtual Classroom At Last
It’s a general practice for every teacher to leave after the whole students leave the classroom, the same applies to digital classrooms as well. You must be the last one to leave the digital classroom, if you leave early then you will not be able to control what has been said or happened in your absence. Therefore, every teacher should wait for every student to leave the virtual classroom to maintain the virtual classroom discipline.
5. Don’t Interrupt Student’s While They Speak
In a virtual classroom, it’s very difficult to figure out whether the student is done speaking or not. There might be several cases like- low internet connectivity, audio issues, and technical issues, which might create hindrances while students are speaking and cause delays. Additionally, in the case of language learning classes where students learning English as a foreign language or second language may have difficulty sharing their queries or responses.
To avoid any miscommunication, it is suggested to give a second or two before responding to students. This will avoid any interruptions in the virtual classroom to give equal opportunity to each student to communicate properly.
Make Your Virtual Classroom in Zoom a Success
The way of learning and teaching has been transformed totally into a virtual method after the COVID-19 era. This situation makes teachers adapt their teaching method to teach virtually. Virtual way of teaching proves to be beneficial for TEFL teachers who can teach English to students around the world without going anywhere and there are many virtual platforms is there to support like- Zoom. Consider applying the above-mentioned etiquette tips to conduct your English classes in the Zoom platform seamlessly.
To learn more exciting and latest TEFL teaching methods, you can consider pursuing courses like the Advanced Diploma in TESOL/TEFL Program, where you will get guidance from a top expert trainer who will also help you to become a capable TEFL teacher.
We believe education should be accessible for everyone. That’s why we don’t charge for our blogs. Find the right course that will help you in your career with us, contact us at - 1800–212–6400. You can mail us at act@asiancollegeofteachers.com
