A recent Cambridge English article features some great tips to improve your teaching in socially distanced classrooms.
During the lockdown, learners have had to be more self-sufficient, take responsibility for their learning, and manage their own time. They have had no choice but to work out problems on their own with no classmate and no teacher nearby to ask.
As lockdown is lifted in many places, learners are starting to return to school. They may feel relieved that the sense of isolation they felt at home is over. But things have changed. They find themselves sharing classroom space, but in the socially distanced classroom, they continue to work apart.
This is a challenge for teachers. The communicative classroom has changed. How can you recreate the energy of students working together and sharing sustained and meaningful interaction? Group work and pair work could be more difficult and the learners may have to spend more time working on their own or as a whole class.
The socially distanced classroom is an opportunity to revisit classroom strategies that build on the skills that were easier to practise at home, as well as developing the language skills they couldn’t practise so easily during lockdown, such as speaking.