Keep remote learning simple 2: Taking a Break

I was encouraged by the response to my last blog post. Teachers want to keep their remote teaching simple for themselves as much as for their students. More students will be able to access your materials if you keep them simple.

The example that I want to share with you this time is a week-long set of lessons about taking a break. I have included two videos, one is a kids’ cartoon and the other is a children’s book, and then there are three infographics. This lesson is for Intermediate Low learners of French. The theme of the lessons, taking a break, has a strong Social Emotional component which is relevant as we are finishing up the school year during the Coronavirus pandemic and need to practice self-care.

If these lessons would work for your students, I suggest that you post this set of lessons to your students on the School Management system that they use, giving each student their own copy. The students will fill out the responses on the slides and submit them back to you for feedback.

These lessons are self contained and don’t rely on external apps or technology tools, yet if you know that your students are comfortable with some technology, I included an EdPuzzle for the cartoon. Another idea is that you could make a Quizlet vocabulary quiz using the vocabulary phrases that I gave when I asked students to make their own dictionaries. I think that those are three ways that technology could marginally enhance the lesson.

In addition, I want to show you how you could use Flipgrid and give some hints on how to do some live teaching with this lesson. One way to use Flipgrid is as a daily message to greet your students, briefly present the material you are teaching and then ask the students a question that they will respond to by sending back a video to you. For this lesson specifically one of your Flip Grids could be about how you take a break, using the vocabulary that is introduced in the lessons, and then ask students how they take a break. In your live teaching segment, you could put students in breakout groups to ask and answer the questions of the interview and then you could have a chance to ask students the questions in the class discussion slides. Alternatively, you could go over all the slides with students during your live teaching segment.

Again, I want to encourage you to use these slides just as they are, without the added technology, keeping your remote learning teaching as simple as possible, again both for you and for your students.

Here is the set of slides for Lessons on Taking a Break

Examples:
EdPuzzle of Bernie & Corneil Cartoon