5 Best Props For Teaching English Online
While teaching English online requires innovative techniques, technology, and modern skills, the props teachers use in their virtual classrooms have a greater impact on the effectiveness of the learning process. To be honest, an online platform is a fast-changing space that has been constantly evolving, oftentimes it is even hard to even keep up with it.
Online ESL teachers need props to teach. These props not only help to engage learners but also allow the teacher to amplify learning objectives by getting creative while using the resources. Teaching props are those teachers’ uses throughout, it can be the tools teacher need to engage learners during the delivery of the lesson or functional gadgets teacher needs in the online platform.
5 Best teaching props for ESL teachers to use in their online classroom –
Desk Lamp
A desk lamp is a must-have for all online English teachers. it can make all the difference in how you look across the screen and also help you to present yourself as a professional. Additionally, for ESL teachers who are traveling, lighting can be a big factor that makes your workspace look teacher-friendly. With this, you don't need to worry about insufficient lighting.
Laptop Stand
Another useful tool for traveling ESL teachers, a laptop stand is certainly worth investing in. You may not always have a desk to work on, laptop stands can be your day savers and these areportable and collapsible that is compact to fit into the nomadic lifestyle. It can give you the edge to look professional even when you may not have the right resource around you.
Flashcards
Flashcards are the go-to props for all teachers, both in the online and traditional classroom. They are an essential and very useful tool for helping ESL learners memorize lessons, especially those who are visual learners. Flashcards can easily grab students’ attentionin the classroom; can be used for various topics including phonics.
It can also be used to teach simple alphabets to even help them memorize harder words. Flashcards can be made or found on the internet. This is one such tool that requires the small cost of making. Additionally, it can also just be saved in digital form to use on the screen.
Whiteboard & Marker
Whiteboard can be very useful to explain ideas quickly. Like flashcards, this too is another classic teacher essential. For instance, certain lessons can be hard for learners to understand. A travel-friendly whiteboard can help you to explain the topic in a different way. Additionally, the whiteboard can also be very handy for rewards or blending sounds.
There are also virtual whiteboards in the online teaching platform, for teachers who do not want to add a manual whiteboard to their kitty can certainly use this as a more flexible virtual toolto use in their classroom.
Timer
There is a lot of group and collaborative activities that are practiced in the ESL classroom. plus, most students love competitions. This also keeps them feel motivated to engage in the lesson throughout. Rather than using your phone or computer, a timer can be a more flexible and interesting addition to ESL props. For instance, speaking activities can be monitored with a timer. It can also be a useful tool to write down what the learner says during a particular time and correct his/her errors at the end when the timer has stopped, instead of interrupting them in the middle.
Final words
When used with innovation props can help a teacher to take charge of ESL lessons and create an authentic learning experience for learners. Bear in mind, for teaching English online, sometimes we just need to get a little creative as there can be multi-purposeful to a prop is.
The more accustomed you are to using it, the more experimental you will be in your classroom. furthermore, you can also use the objects that are around you and use your unique ideas on how you might be using those objects for several situations. With an online TEFL certificate find your unique teaching style and put the resource management skills to use, at their best!