Advice for teaching languages remotely during COVID-19

^{Photo credit: flickr user Slava}

We’ll keep this page updated with an assortment of resources to help you move classes online. If you have a suggestion about something to add, please let us know in the comments or contact Sarah at coerll@austin.utexas.edu. You will find that most of the advice revolves around keeping it simple, being empathetic, and creating community.

Getting started

• Rule of 2’s: Keeping it Simple as You Go Remote for COVID19 worksheet by the Plymouth State University Open CoLab – this worksheet helps you boil down your online course to the essentials by asking some simple questions.
  

  “What are two ways that STUDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE in helping you to redesign elements of this course?”.

• Activities for remote language teaching webinar recording from COERLL featuring Catherine Ousselin, Olivia Grugan, and Daniel Verdugo (running time 1 hour)
• Quality Matters has published Emergency Remote Instruction Checklists for K-12 and higher ed – there’s a lot of information there, but one important point is to communicate clearly to students what has changed and what your expectations are for staying in touch.

Resources specific to language teaching

• Putting our Language Courses Online: A Resources Round-Up by Dr. Stacey Margarita Johnson – there are some great resources listed here and Dr. Johnson also has her own wise advice.
  

  “Moving a language course online fast is not going to be a perfect experience. Managing your own expectations and simplifying your approach may be just what you need to get through the experience and maybe even enjoy it!”

• Pandemic prepping webinars for language teachers by IALLT: Recording of webinar I featuring Trish Nolde, Marlene Johnshoy, and Georges Detiveaux; recoring of webinar II featuring Lauren Rosen; registration page for webinar III featuring Angelika Kraemer (Cornell University), Georges Detiveaux (University of Houston-Downtown) and Trish Nolde (Georgia State University)
• Teaching with Technology module by Orlando Kelm in COERLL’s Foreign Language Teaching Methods course
• ACTFL’s COVID-19-Response Resources for Online Teaching/Learning
• FLT Mag articles provide useful tips about approaches and tools for teaching online
• L2TReC at the University of Utah has created resource page that may be useful for parents and students in Dual Language Immersion programs as they try to stay engaged with the language from home.

Assessment

• Decision tree about online exams by Giulia Forsythe, available in infographic format  or interactive H5P format
  

  Can you re-design your final exam to meet your learning outcomes in an alternative format?

General resources

• Tips for keeping students engaged in online learning (K-12) list by Barbara Soots and Molly Berger
• 4 Teaching Practices for Remote Instruction 1-page infographic by David Buck (Howard Community College)
• For students: Adjusting Your Study Habits During COVID 4-page guide by the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation
• For those at UT Austin: LAITS‘ step-by-step instructions for moving online and Faculty Innovation Center’s Instructional Continuity site
• Your Suddenly Online Class Could Actually be a Relief blog post by Alexandra L. Milsom for Inside Higher Ed

Online Professional Development Sessions

• CASLS at the University of Oregon is hosting weekly Intercom Live forums on Facebook to discuss online teaching ideas – Mondays
• Virtual learning webinars from the University of Texas Dana Center on best practices for equitable virtual instruction, using Google Drawing to promote cooperative learning w/ problem solving, and using Padlet interactively to encourage student thinking – 4/13 (1pm CT), 4/15 (3pm CT), 4/17 (12pm CT)

Language specific ideas

• COERLL and/or UT provides online resources in Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian
  Japanese, K’iche’, Malayalam, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, and Yoruba
• French: recommendations from the AATF, prepared by Catherine Ousselin, Heidi Trude, and Nathan Lutz
• Language Ladder from the National Foreign Language Center (University of Maryland) currently offers over 6,000 lessons in 60 languages/dialects from Albanian to Zulu.
• NRCAL at California State University Fullerton has published Vietnamese storybooks and other lessons and resources in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

And here is some great advice from Twitter…

Use the technology you and your students feel comfortable with – it doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated

Thread- Gonna say it daily until it sets in. If you’re using this time to seize the moment and try that new Tech Shiny you learned about at the latest conference/workshop? AWESOME! Can’t wait to see how it works. If you’re posting material daily that’s more low tech because

— Ebony Thornton (@EThorntonGHS) March 17, 2020

Assign self-care and leisure activities as part of the students’ homework

I am NOT adding to students’ stress and unease by activities centered around the virus and illness while they complete schooling from home. I AM guiding activities focused on self care, mental/physical health, relaxation and taking up hobbies! #langchat #distancelearning

— Kendall Mott (@profedelaplaza) March 17, 2020

Find the sweet spot where humanity, pedagogy, and technology meet

I’ve been using this slide for over 10 years, but it feels especially relevant right now as many transition toward #RemoteTeaching #RemoteLearning #edtech
Find that sweet spot, remembering that your students and colleagues are sure to be under a lot of stress. pic.twitter.com/4xNo562AsK

— Dr. Alec Couros (@courosa) March 13, 2020

Partner with students, actively reach out to struggling learners, figure out what needs to be made up in summer or fall

I joined @OnPointRadio this morning to talk about online learning and higher education during #COVID19. Takeaways: Partner with students, actively reach out to struggling learner, figure out what needs to be made up in summer or the fall. Listen here: https://t.co/bycrth0Exp

— Justin Reich (@bjfr) March 24, 2020

And a general reminder for life right now: breathe deeply, go easy on yourself, and enjoy moving and being outdoors if possible 🙂