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Janet BougeoisMarzieh Sadeghpour

Maximising Communication in Virtual Classrooms

Agenda

● Challenges in communication in virtual classrooms

● Strategies to create an environment that maximises communication

opportunities

1. 1- Communication in the main session

2. 2- Communication in the breakout rooms

Challenges of communication in English in virtual classrooms

Our identified challenges:

1. Technical difficulties

2. Higher affective filter

3. Not using English in the breakout rooms

Communication in the main room

● Challenges

● Our solutions

1 - Starting the day right

2- Giving ownership

Start the day right!Open the conversation to everyone from the very first minute. 1

10:35:47 From Janet Bougeois To Everyone: I wish I could go to the gym - I am

slowly but surely putting on weight!!!

10:36:03 From Xiangrui Li To Everyone: I wish I could sleep enough time this

weekend

10:37:18 From Ben To Everyone: I wish I could meet my friends in the weekend.

10:37:21 From Jeffery To Everyone: I wish I could go to another city to play with

my parents for a few days.

10:37:57 From Jenny (Jie Zhou) To Everyone: I wish I could solve my Internet

problem to pass listening assessment because it is slow today.

Start the day right: Activity 1

Give a sentence prompt to

start the day. For example:

In the Chat finish

this sentence -

‘I wish I could…’

Prompts which have worked well:

Today I will..., Today I would love to… If only I..., You would be surprised to know I….

Start the day right: Activity 2

Let the background open the conversation on Monday

morning!

● Students feel more comfortable in discussion as the focus is on the picture. ● Students have more questions to ask when there is a visual stimulus.

Allow students to share ownership of the classroom2

Ownership: Activity 1Ask/Find a Friend

Strategy

Janet (Teacher): Derrick, do you have answer to question 1?

Derrick: I’m sorry I didn't catch that, Dailin can you help me?

Dailin: I didn’t hear it either, Roath do you know it?

Roath: No I don’t. Janet, can you help us?

Janet: Sure…..

Fostering a classroom environment where the focus is not always on the teacher creates an more engaging classroom dynamic and gives students increased speaking time.

Ownership: Example Activity 2

Morning Greeting

The ‘student teacher’ needs to

ask two of their classmates the

morning question/greeting and

ask one follow up question.

Behind closed doors…..

Why are students reluctant to speak English in breakout rooms?

● Don’t understand the task - asking their classmates for clarification

● Embarrassed to speak English/ Fear of not being understood (“my

speaking is not good”)

● Not knowing what to talk about when/if a task is finished

6 strategies to foster communication in the breakout

rooms

1. The yellow card

2. Personalisation and accountability

3. Practice before performance

4. Everyone has a role to play

5. The discussion a trois!

6. A question bank

1How do you feel about the class yellow card policy?

After language class we will have class with Australian, we should practice English more

to adapt. We no longer use Chinese in class or in group discussions, which helps us

practice our English.

Because we rarely have the opportunity to practice oral English in China, this policy

greatly increases our opportunities for oral practice.

Yellow cards can make students always speak English in class, it can help us improve

our spoken English.

Even after class we starting to talk with friends in English

Accountability

Interest and AccountabilityTapping into our students’ stories and experiences makes communication easier and more meaningful.2

Interest and Accountability: Activity

Personalise discussions while

consolidating students’

understanding of a task.

Discuss the 2 questions and be prepared to write a short paragraph about what you learnt from your classmates in the table below.

Organisational Culture and Success Lecture

1. Think of a time when you have been criticised, describe the situation and how you felt, was the criticism justified?

2. Do you think you have a strong work ethic? If yes, how do you demonstrate this?

What interesting or surprising things did you learn about your classmates? Try to use comparative language. (Examples)

Shantel I learned from Vuitton that he used to play mobile phone in class and was always distracted. Once he was caught by his teacher when he was playing his phone in class, the teacher criticized him so seriously that he realized he had made a mistake!

Leia I learned from Jerry that he said he was working in two companies, and he was loyal to each one, because he thought that was an essential work ethic to keep secrets from other staff even if you are in a good relationship.

James I learned from Lee that when he is criticised by a teacher, he always feels nervous and ashamed,because he is not good at his writing.

Giving a follow up task to breakout room discussions gives students a focus and extrinsic motivation to actively communicate with each other aswell as giving the whole class a glimpse into the breakout rooms.

Build confidenceGiving students time to practice before opening up rooms, gives them an opportunity to formulate their ideas before ‘exposing’ themselves to their peers.3

Confidence: ActivityTarricone and Luca’s Theory of Teamwork for Tutorial Discussion

Summarise your allocated attribute and think of one example in your

experience where a team has demonstrated your given attribute.

Before you share your ideas with your group, record your

explanation of the attribute using vocaroo. Absolute maximum 1

minute.

Name Vocaroo Link

Sherry https://voca.ro/13tyOx3ZZgBQ

Jeffery https://voca.ro/1b0bE12C9vUW

Li https://voca.ro/18nhapNCOno0

https://vocaroo.com/

How did/does Vocaroo help you?

I can listen to my records

again and again - Ben

I feel more

confident after I

practise with

Vocaroo - SherryFurthermore, it helps students

avoid embarrassing scenarios,

since immediately speaking for me

is sometimes hard. - Li

Because using

vocaroo can give me

some feedback about

my pronunciation and

intonation. - Harriet

It is a good option for us students

to record their own voice in order

to help us to improve our

speaking. - Jenny

Results: 100% Keep using it!

Vocaroo really helped a lot, especially with organising my ideas and

pronunciation.- Tom

Everyone has a role to play4 LeaderDuties

● Ensure that everyone is

performing their role

● Ensure that everyone

contributes ideas

● Ensure that everyone speaks

English

WriterDuties

● Record everyone’s ideas on the

Google doc

SpokespersonDuties

● Report to the class on work

completed by your group

EditorDuties

● Ensure that written work is

grammatically correct.

● Check the spelling and

punctuation of presented work

ResearcherDuties

● Use the internet and other

information sources to gather

appropriate information for the

task

Devil’s advocateDuties

● Take the opposite view of the

group and present ideas that will

challenge their ideas

5Example Activity

Roles: Two talkers, one observer

Process:

1. Observer is given specific things to take note of

during the conversation: pre taught vocab

(adjectives to describe an experience), an aspect

of connected speech, who gave the most

convincing argument and why

1. With one or two minutes to go the teacher

broadcasts to the groups that it is now time to

feedback to their group.

The discussion à trois!

Using a shared board allows students to have input into the direction of conversations during

the coming week

IDEAZBOARD

6We’ve finished…..

Conclusion

● Students need to be motivated, comfortable and confident enough to

use English in virtual classes

● As teachers, we should create a culture in their classroom where this

can be achieved.

● We looked at ideas for developing culture and strategies that teachers

can adopt and provided real examples of activities from our virtual

classrooms

Thank you!