Let’s collaborate!
Language training in the virtual classroom
Lecture-style classes? No, thanks! Interaction and active speaking are enormously important, especially for the acquisition of a new language. Virtual classroom instruction offers a variety of new opportunities for collaboration between trainers and their course participants.
Steven has been working for LinguaTV, a corporate language training provider, for 5 years. He is currently teaching a group of five participants from the middle management of an insurance company. In doing so, he tries to orient the training as close as possible to practical everyday work. The topic of the next session: "You have a good idea. How do you get your teammates excited about it?" Steven likes to start the class with a brainstorming session. For this, he uses the whiteboard function of the virtual classroom. In doing so, he groups the participants' suggestions in a spider diagram. In this way, the group works together to create an overview with tips. The next step is practical implementation. In the form of a role play, the participants should try to inspire their learning partner with an idea. Steven places two learners in separate virtual rooms, also called breakout rooms. He himself can move flexibly between the rooms and support his learners with practical advice. After about 15 minutes, the participants come back together and discuss the results of the partner exercise. As a homework assignment, Steven has come up with something very special. Each of the participants is to present an idea convincingly and film themselves doing so with their smartphone. The learners should not only practice their English language skills, but also work on their rhetoric, facial expressions and gestures. These videos are then shared with the group and are to be discussed together in the next session. Participants will also be asked to research helpful online articles and advice videos on the topic and share them with the group. Over time, this will create a multimedia content collection that learners can benefit from even after the class ends.
Steven is excited about the collaborative opportunities that the virtual classroom has to offer. In addition to the increased flexibility, this was one of the main reasons he switched completely to online teaching seven years ago. Now, in times of Corona, his course participants can benefit from his many years of experience.
This is just one example of the many uses and advantages of virtual seminar rooms in language training. Particularly in combination with other e-learning offerings, such as multimedia self-study courses, a demand-oriented and effective training solution can be put together. The education experts at LinguaTV will be happy to provide you with a free consultation.