My experience teaching in lockdown

If there are any positives of this situation, it is surely that it happened in an age where we have the technology that allows most of us to continue working online. Teaching online for me was a completely new experience, and one that I found daunting at first, especially the idea of teaching my young learners classes online.

The first week of classes was the most nervous I can remember being since I first started teaching, but the nerves soon faded away as both the students and I adapted quickly to our ´new normal´. It is true that the online classes take more planning and preparation, and it is sometimes difficult to try and adapt activities I normally use frequently in class into a format that works online, and although at times this can be challenging, it has definitely made me more organised and thoughtful with my lesson planning.

The online classes have also allowed me to discover a whole host of new online resources, which I will definitely be incorporating into my classes once we are back at the academy. This situation has forced me to adapt my teaching style, and incorporate new resources into my classes, which in the long term I believe will make me a better teacher, or at least I hope so!

Of course there are also negatives about teaching online. Spending hours a day staring at a screen everyday can at times feel mentally draining, and I miss my students, and this situation has made me more aware than ever of the unique relationship that exists between students and teachers.

Despite these negatives my overall feeling is gratefulness. I feel grateful that unlike so many others, I can continue with my job, and that I work for an academy where the staff have so much support, and so many online resources provided for us,as this has made the transition from presencial teaching to online teaching so much easier.

Miss Lily