Some ideas adpated for online lessons which have worked well in my teaching context:
Get to know you (teacher)
- face-to-face (credits to Sonya): I would cut up 5 photos about me, set it as a puzzle, and let my student(s) come up with questions to ask me. For an added challenge, I would split my class into teams and give 1 point to those who asked me a question with a 'yes' answer.
- online (individual, pairs or trios): I show my students the same set of photos, but I've pixelated them so that everything looks blurry. My student(s) have to guess what the pixelated photos show. Then I progressively reveal the original photos. Finally, I let my student(s) come up with questions to ask me.
- online (larger groups): I show my students 5 (unpixelated) photos, put them in various breakout rooms, and let them come up with questions to ask me. In open class, I ask my students to type their questions in the chat box. Then I reformulate my students' questions where necessary and answer them one by one.
- online (larger groups): I set up a shared Word document on Google or OneDrive. In this document, I provide a short model paragraph introducing myself; there is designated space for each student to write their own introductions. In the lesson, I paste the link to the shared document in the chat box. My students can read each other's introduction and comment on it.
Get to know you (student)
- face-to-face: I would provide some ideas in bullet points for my students, e.g. name, current city, occupation, hobbies and interests, languages spoken, language learning history, motivation for learning English, etc. Then I would put them in pairs for 1 minute. After that, I would change the arrangement so that every student could talk to each other.
- online: I show my students the same ideas in bullet points. Then I put them in various breakout rooms. After a minute, I broadcast an announcement signalling the change of group arrangements. When I move my students to other rooms, I always do it in one of the breakout rooms so that my students know I'm moving some of them elsewhere and bringing others in their current room.
Information gap activities
- face-to-face: I would arrange my class into 'A's and 'B's and then give instructions while chesting the role/task cards. Before I hand out the role/task cards, I would check my students' understanding of instructions.
- online: I set up the breakout rooms first, so that I can arrange my class into 'A's and 'B's according to the breakout room list. Then I give instructions while showing a snapshot of the role/task cards. After that, I paste the link(s) to the role/task cards, which have been uploaded to a shared cloud storage, in the chat box. Before I put my students in various breakout rooms, I make sure everybody is on the same page (i.e. role/task cards fully downloaded) and check understanding of instructions. Finally, I open the breakout rooms.
Writing (50 to 100 words)
- face-to-face: every student would write on seperate pieces of paper. At the end of the Writing task, I would display my students' work around the classroom in a gallery reading activity.
- online: I use a Padlet board so that my students can post their written work. Students can read each other's work and give feedback on it. The Padlet board is automatically saved so that I can give further written feedback after the lesson.