Alhamdulillah,

The event went successfully after me and Ani did a run test few days before. 😄 I'm very honored for being invited as one of the panel to share my experience in teaching English online to kids.  The sharing session is between me and participants from Yayasan Terengganu. All of them are in the programme so called - Trenglishxcommunity for Thelp@Community.

I couldn't imagine that I've talked to almost 50 people. The feeling were not definitely the same if you talk lively in front of human. Personally, talking online for me is more comfortable compare to the real one. Heheheh~

But yet, there are still a thought at back of my mind to choose a clear words and proper sentence so that they will understand what I'm going to deliver.  

Other than that, I keep remind myself to watch out my speaking speed. Sometimes, I feel that I talk just like a speed of train. 😂

Hereby is the interview that have been conducted during the sharing session. I hope it will benefit to others too :)

iv   Gives a brief intro about me to all-how we know each other from Geology to English..

      Can you tell us a bit about how u got started in teaching English & what English program do you offer/teach now?

After we came back from Japan, in 2016. I don’t want my kids’ English proficiency lose, hence I scouting few English programmers nearby our house. Finally, I found out that my children’s’ school at that time offered this English programme. Called – Cambridge English Class.

I fell in love with the syllabus, content and there is no term of fail or pass. The children will do a placement test and they will be placed accordingly to their level and competency.

So, what trigger me to start teaching? As the children growing up. They don’t really need my attention as much as while they were still babies or toddlers. I must think something that can make me working but still having a balance life. I’ve tried sewing and baking. But it seems doesn’t last long.

I     I’ve approached the owner of this Cambridge English Programme and asked her permission to join her team. She then offered me more significant opportunity-  to invest and have my own Cambridge English Programmed.

      You centre have always offered classes online or only since the pandemic? What’s the difference between face to face & online class setup ie. class size, frequency?

I started teaching face to face in 2019. And then, after the pandemic Covid-19 hit our country, I’ve changed the method to online.

In term of class size : I have in total 17  students. And they divided into 4 groups. The ages of the students are form 9yrs old to 13 yrs old. They placed based on their own level. I have roughly like 3-5 students in one class.

Before online, the duration of the lesson is two hours and for online class is one hour and of course there are breaks in between.

What’s the first things you do to prepare when you decide to teach English onlin 

      We must know basic the I.T, explore which platform & familiarize with it, know all functions. I think it's not only me, but also the parents and the students. Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, Skype etc .  What I did was, I start by offering 1 month free class first as a free trial.

Do you set rules for your online class, what are the rules?

      Yes of course!  the rules like : Enable your camera as much as you can, mute you  mic, chat/speak. I also rewarded them by giving marks and finally send a food like cakes / drinks to their house.

      How do make the lesson plan for online class, any difference than for face to face class?

Firstly,  you have to bear in mind that you only have less than one hour of teaching and the attention span is definitely are not the same as we teach the students offline.
 

We need to think within that time, what are you going to achieve. A lesson plan are still required to ensure everything will be going smooth. Longer time, some have to give out instruction earlier, i.e. for speaking activity and extra. 

It's bit a hassle in the beginning, but though time InshaALLAH you will get used with the flow and by that time, you no longer need a details lesson plan.

What do u think is the biggest challenge for your online English class & maybe how u address it?

      Impact vs numbers?

I choose the impact. It's useless if you have many students, but they did not learn anything at the end of the day.

Split the students to get a smaller number.  How to keep them focusing during the online class? Mix between settlers  and stirring activities. ( writing, drawing, speaking task, online game )

Different age different approach, various activities. More time to think and scratch your head.

A   Any final say maybe words encouragement or motivation to us who might be doing online English programs too?

1) 1) Start with small number of children and have a lesson plan. Think the satisfaction after each of the lessons. How do you feel about it? Also, keep learning too. Don't stop yourself from learning and reading. Enroll / invest yourself to any courses that you think can help you in this field.