Covid-19: How to conduct university foreign language classes remotely?

March 19, 2020 8:05 AM

My university in Japan is encouraging (although unfortunately not yet requiring) us to conduct classes online for the upcoming semester. I am planning to teach remotely, and am doing everything I can to encourage my colleagues to do the same, but I am having difficulty working out how we will be able to conduct foreign language classes online, particularly speaking classes where students are normally required to work in pairs or small groups while the teacher circulates around the room.

I am under a lot of time pressure to sort this out, and have not found any useful resources from a regular internet search. If anyone has experience in this area and can offer suggestions about how to make foreign language teaching work in a remote environment, I would be very grateful.

posted by mydonkeybenjamin to Education (3 answers total)

Best answer: Zoom could do this very easily using their breakout rooms feature. Otherwise, something like Kami could allow students to work jointly on a shared PDF while they Skype or video-call for real-time communication.
posted by Bardolph at 8:09 AM on March 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: My Dutch language class just moved to Zoom.

Breakout rooms allow students to work in small groups while the teacher can go move from room to room. It has worked out well. The teacher can send individual PDFs to specific people too when there is a script we are all doing together. There's a whiteboard feature too so the teacher can go over a grammar point for example.
posted by vacapinta at 8:24 AM on March 19, 2020

Best answer: ZOOM!
posted by Wilder at 9:38 AM on March 19, 2020