Tia Goodhand
The Covid-19 pandemic presents many changes that target all facets of society, one of the heaviest hitters being the sector of education. While the profession of teaching already requires educators to possess professional skills including flexibility, adaptability and resilience, the pandemic has required implementation of these qualities tenfold.
The newly integrated protocols drastically affect the strategies I use to support and connect with my students. As teachers shift their traditional models of instruction, interaction, and classroom environment, we are tasked with resolving new challenges that arise. The first issue I have encountered is the lack of comprehension cues caused by wearing a protective face mask. As second language learners often refer to facial expressions and gesturing to support their second language comprehension, lacking these features has presented difficulties. Secondly, I have also experienced concern regarding the limited face-to face interactions that are now a reality in the classroom, as well as the resulting possibility of students feeling of lonely or isolated due to the removal of engaging conversation activities.
Examining new modes of interaction, the implemented regulations also present feelings of loneliness among students. Reflecting on the findings within the article: Teaching During Covid-19: Teacher and Students’ Experience, researchers provide the perspectives of both students and teachers when asked about Covid-19. In the recent qualitative study conducted by Murhter and Chowdhary (2020), a small sample size is analyzed through interviews. One student shares, “The hustle and bustle of classroom learning are absent- mainly, our interactions are absent. Learning from home can be lonely for our peers. We do feel strongly isolated” (p. 32).
In order to compensative for the removal of traditional methods of connection in the classroom, I have integrated digital story telling through the use of vlogs (video logs). Vlogs are an excellent way to connect with classmates, as students find commonalities within their weekly submissions of a documented “Day in my Life” video diary. The videos act a personal journal that must include a list of specific details. While not all learning conditions permit this method of connection, the students partaking in this project are provided with borrowed I-Pads from the school. After the weekly vlogs are presented, the students are then asked to respond to 2-3 classmates in the comments section. This project allows students to share their realities daily realities with peers, while also safely following social distancing protocols. Considering the text, More Eyes on COVID-19: Perspectives from Linguistics: Pay attention to how people are talking about the pandemic in different languages, “It is the use of eye contact, gesture, facial cues, bodily posture and immediate feedback that makes our communication human” (Mesthrie, p.1, 2020). While vlogs are not presented in real time, the media form does restore many features that wearing a mask removes, such as facial cues and gesturing.
Two questions I have for readers:
1) How do you compensate for body language and physical cues that are not possible when wearing a protective face mask?
Have you used any media tools that foster learner connection?
I look forward to responding to your responses in the comments section!
References:
Mesthrie, R. (2020). More Eyes on Covid-19: Perspectives from Linguistics: Pay Attention to How People are Talking about the Pandemic in Different Languages. 7(8), 1.https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8497
Mukhter, I., & Chowdry, R. (2020). Teaching During Covid-19: Teacher and Student’s Experience. South African Journal of Science,8(2) 25-35. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8497
Additional Information:
What is a Vlog?
Hi Tia, thank you for describing what you have experienced during this time. I got a full picture of your class and what you are worried about after reading!
To answer your questions, umm, personally, I don’t like to wear mask to speak, let alone to teach. I think many students have the same feeling with me, but for the sake of safety, we are not allowed to remove our masks. So, I would like to choose online teaching. (That’s what we are doing now! It is the last choice, I know.) By the way, which grade you are teaching? This is most important, since young learners need more attention form teachers and interactions with peers than adults.
As you have mentioned above, “facial expressions and gesturing” are needed in L2 class, it is the same in online situation. But the truth is that when really teaching online, it is hard for teachers to sense the class climate, children’s motions and many other factors, thus activities will not proceeded in a smooth way. I do know some parents in China who cancelled the school for their young children and pay for the private English one-to-one instruction, because the teacher could focus on their children only. If you look up the data in China, you will find that the private education market was saturated during the pandemic time. Expensive as it is, parents hold the view that the safety and efficiency are of priority. But we all know this is not sustainable and unrealistic to be promoted in a large area.
So from teachers’ perspective, I think the best choice is to improve the online teaching. And I am so glad that you have shared many multimodal ways with us, such as digital story telling vlogs. (Some of our teachers have required the digital recording/video as an assignment, too) Speaking of interesting activities, I could come up with Kahoot!, dubbing a film(for L2 beginners) and fake interviews(for intermediate), and online debate, etc. Some of them are proved useful among students and teachers, and some of them I have never tried, maybe you could use this way in your class! Lastly, teachers should do the feedback and survey accordingly, to figure out the best modal for their students.
Hope you a successful teaching!
Anna/Yaan Wu