Teach Languages Online Like a Pro: 6 Strategies That Actually Work

If you're a language teacher looking for innovative and impactful teaching methods, or simply fascinated by the art of language learning, you're in the right place! In this post, we dive into 6 proven strategies that transform language teaching from a routine classroom activity into an engaging, dynamic, and highly effective online learning experience.

1. Make Your Lessons Real and Relevant

Mastering a language isn't just about passive acquisition; the true goal is to actively use it in daily life. Therefore, one of the best ways to teach a language is to embed it in real-world scenarios. You can craft exercises that mimic everyday situations and seamlessly integrate grammar and vocabulary teaching within these contexts. This approach not only keeps students interested but also equips them to use the language confidently in real-life interactions.

Tip: Start with simple, everyday tasks: ordering at a restaurant, buying a bus or train ticket, mailing a package, asking for directions, or introducing themselves to someone new. You could pair up students for role-plays of these daily life scenarios, applying their newly taught language knowledge. This boosts online class participation and makes live online learning more practical.

2. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

The CLIL approach fundamentally involves studying one academic subject (for example, literature, science, or history) while simultaneously learning a target language, such as English—effectively integrating the two. Language teaching in this method is organized around the subject matter rather than the specific rules of the target language. This technique is particularly effective for intermediate or advanced levels of language learning, where students already have a foundational understanding of the new language.

Tip: It’s critically important to ensure that the integration between content and language is clear and that the chosen content is genuinely of your students’ interest. The CLIL approach creates significant opportunities for cross-curricular learning, expanding language learning into a wider context and powerfully re-engaging previously demotivated students within your virtual classroom.

3. Gamify Your Language Lessons

Gamification makes language learning inherently more engaging and fun. Young students are especially attracted to small rewards like badges, which serve as highly effective motivational factors in encouraging student participation and task completion. Simultaneously, a little friendly competition is almost always welcome in an online classroom.

Tip: You can establish a points-based leader board system structured around clear classroom rules such as "actively participating in class discussion" and "helping each other." For example, a gamified virtual classroom like Funclass provides you with all the handy interactive tools you need, including embedded gamified quizzes, engaging mini-games, dynamic leader boards, XP rewards, badges, and exciting quests to maximize your student engagement. With the XP rewards earned in class, students can level up their wizard avatars and proudly show off their learning progress. This is an excellent way to make Zoom classes fun and leverage gamification in education.

4. Leverage the Forgetting Curve

Ever wondered why students sometimes struggle to remember newly taught vocabulary and grammar? The forgetting curve, proposed by Hermann Ebbinghaus, illustrates how information is lost over time when there's no deliberate attempt to retain it. In language learning, this means students are likely to forget new vocabulary or grammar rules if they don't review them regularly.

Tip: To counteract the forgetting curve, spaced repetition is a highly effective learning and teaching technique that involves increasing intervals of time between subsequent reviews of previously learned material to exploit the psychological spacing effect. You can also teach the same words in different contexts for students to truly master the usage of the vocabulary. This could include digital flashcards, integrated quizzes within your online teaching platform, or conversational practice that actively reinforces earlier lessons.

5. Connect New Knowledge to Existing Knowledge

Learning is significantly more effective when new knowledge is explicitly built upon existing knowledge, which is particularly crucial for language learning given its emphasis on memorization. When you are teaching new grammar rules or vocabulary, try to draw clear connections between the target language and the languages your students already know, such as their native language.

Tip: For example, if you're teaching Spanish to English speakers, highlight similarities and differences between the two languages. Point out cognates—words that are similar in both languages like 'profesor' (professor) and 'clase' (class)—and discuss how both languages use a subject-verb-object structure but differ in adjective placement. By linking new lessons to familiar concepts, students can more easily assimilate and recall new information. This approach not only aids memory but also deepens their understanding of how different languages interrelate, enhancing teaching efficiency.

6. Teach the Culture Behind the Language

Learning a language is about far more than just memorizing words and grammar rules; it's a gateway to understanding a whole new culture and way of life. Try incorporating a wide variety of cultural materials that are authentically in the language you're teaching.

Tip: Utilize resources like social media, podcasts, virtual field trips, and native music, films, and TV shows to truly make the language come alive in your online lessons. Pick a movie or TV series clip in the target language; then students can listen to authentic conversations, work on their pronunciation, and pick up new words, all while enjoying the latest hit series! This promotes student engagement and provides a more holistic language learning experience within your virtual classroom.

These 6 strategies are designed to significantly improve your online language teaching methods, helping your students achieve greater fluency and engagement. To further amplify your impact and explore how gamification can specifically boost student learning outcomes in any online tutoring setting, delve into our next blog post!