Find out some of the many ways that schools ensure their students’ success by exploring our case studies. As our efficacy and evidence-based library grows, we’ll be adding more case studies to this page, so please check back often.
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Read how the American Language Institute affiliated to the University of Toledo implemented Pearson’s NorthStar with MyEnglishLab, Versant English Placement Test, and the Global Scale of English (GSE) and how it benefited their instructors and students in a variety of ways.
Browse the resources below to find some useful tips and resources for your English classes.
As our library of useful tips and articles grows, we’ll be adding to this page, so be sure to check it often.
Click here to read and download the full article.Click here to read and download the full article.Click here to read and download the full article.Click here to read and download the full article.
After making the emergency transition from face-to-face to remote instruction last spring, many programs continue distance learning as the pandemic keeps its grip on the world. Remote instruction poses many unique challenges for English language programs. These challenges include how to encourage student engagement, promote interactive communication practice, balance synchronous and asynchronous learning, build a classroom community virtually, and deliver remote instruction that is effective on a range of student devices.
With the new edition of Future, teachers can engage, support, and challenge their adult learners at a distance by leveraging the program’s considerable digital and print resources. Future not only prepares learners to meet their life, career, and educational goals, but it also helps instructors deliver high-quality engaging lessons remotely, both synchronously and asynchronously.
It all begins with the Pearson English Portal – a powerful platform that delivers Future digital resources to instructors and students, such as MyEnglishLab, eBooks, and the ActiveTeach. With these digital resources, you can transition your Future course online and ensure your students have the resources they need to continue learning.
This handy toolkit offers tips and suggestions for teaching remotely with Future, 2E.
Future eBooks
Reader+
Students don’t have their books? No problem! For studying on-the-go, the Future eBooks are the perfect solution. Delivered on the Reader+ platform, the eBooks can be accessed on a computer, tablet, or smart phone. The Reader+ application allows students to read and interact with rich digital content and multimedia assets through highlighting, annotating and many other study and reading tools. Users can store all their eBooks and notes in one place and access them at any time, as all of their content gets synced across multiple devices. Designed with offline capabilities, Reader+ offers a perfect solution for areas with low bandwidth or unreliable Internet access.
The eBooks are also a perfect resource for synchronous instruction in a remote setting. Teachers can share pages from the eBook using Zoom capabilities (or other web conferencing platforms) and use multiple tools to zoom in, highlight, add text, and play the class audio.
The Reader+ app can be downloaded from the app store.
MyEnglishLab
MyEnglishLab
MyEnglishLab is an easy-to-use learning management platform that delivers additional Future course content digitally. MyEnglishLab is an excellent resource for asynchronous instruction, delivering engaging exercises, videos, and tests in one place. Students can practice each lesson’s content in an interactive environment with instant feedback and tips to scaffold their learning. Teacher can take advantage of the MyEnglishLab platform to assign homework, monitor performance, and pinpoint areas for improvement.
ActiveTeach
ActiveTeach
The ActiveTeach is an offline tool that delivers student book pages, audio, video, additional activities, and teacher resources. You can use ActiveTeach with Zoom or other web conferencing platforms to share the Future book pages with your students. In the classroom, it can be used a computer and projector or with an interactive whiteboard to bring the book to life. With ActiveTeach you can zoom in, zoom out, and focus on specific activities. You can annotate pages, embed links, and attach files. You also have access to full class audio, printable worksheets, interactive exercises, assessment activities, tests and interactive whiteboard tools. The ActiveTeach for Future comes as a downloadable zip file within your course on the Pearson English Portal.
Watch this video to learn how to install and use the Future ActiveTeach
Pearson Practice English App
Pearson Practice English app
The Pearson Practice English app is a mobile app that delivers Future audio and video resources on smart phones. Students and teachers can easily access their course resources anytime, anywhere. The app can be downloaded from the app store and unlocked with the same Pearson English Portal login and password.
Additional Teacher Resources
Teachers can feel fully supported with Future teacher resources. Available on the Pearson English Portal, these resources include additional worksheets, Teacher’s Edition pages, robust assessments, standards correlation documents, and more.
Watch this video to learn more about how to access all the available teacher resources for Future.
To learn more about Future, access additional videos and resources, please visit our Future catalog page.
Our team is dedicated to helping you achieve success with Future, 2E. If you would like us to help you get started, please contact your dedicated Pearson ELT Specialist at pearsoneltusa.com/reps.
English language educators are bridge builders. We build bridges not only between people and their goals, but also between people. Language is all about connecting with others. When we learn a language, we are opening ourselves up to those personal connections. Our entire field is centered around connecting and communication. If you are like me, you probably gave very little thought to that pre-COVID. But, how about in our COVID world? How can we build those bridges when there are walls, borders and oceans between us? As I am planning my course for the Spring term, I can’t help but reflect on how I can be that bridge builder. How can I connect my students to others when it’s challenging for us to connect? Or, when my old ways of engaging learners do not translate in this new medium? It’s important to define engagement in this new environment of remote instruction. What is it? Why is it so critical to student success? And, how can I build it? Before we look at how we can build engagement in our ELT classes during this new COVID age, let’s examine what engagement is.
What is Engagement?
Engagement in learning is about “the degree of attention,
curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are
learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to
learn and progress in their education.” This engagement involves behavioral
engagement—are our students participating? Are they working in groups
effectively and efficiently? Then we have cognitive engagement—are they
interacting with content and applying the new content? Are they developing
autonomy? And, emotional or affective engagement—are they motivated? Do they
see relevance in what is being studied? Are they comfortable in the learning
environment?
Emotional Engagement
Now that our learning environments look quite differently,
how can we build and assess engagement? Well, as ELT educators we are very
cognizant of the importance of emotional engagement. We know our students need to feel comfortable
to take those language risks. We have spent a lot of time thinking and
designing lessons that lower that affective filter– making students more
comfortable in the classroom. Thinking of my old ways of teaching, this may
have involved ice-breakers and small group or pair introductions. What does
that look like today when I can’t easily pair students, or I have some students
online and some face-to-face? How does that happen when we move to a digital or
hybrid model of teaching?
Strategies to Build Emotional Engagement
It’s all about leveraging the tools we have. And, on the upside, there are many benefits. Often times that ‘everyone is looking at me’ intimidation goes away in a virtual or digital environment, and students feel freer to share and engage.
Strategy #1: Build a Community Before Class Begins. If you are using an LMS, such as Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle or Google Classroom, consider posting a video of yourself describing your interests, expectations, etc. Ask your students to submit a video of their own. Then, begin class by asking follow-up questions, or noting individual interests. Pair students up by interest. Create a task where students ask targeted questions. “I saw you play soccer. How often do you play?” They can then introduce their partner to the class that extends upon what the video included.
Post a video introducing yourself
Strategy #2: Hold a Coffee/Tea Hour. This should be an informal open house type of meeting where students can drop by virtually and ask questions about culture or language.
Strategy #3: Use Collaborative Tools. Consider using collaborative tools like Nearpod. The collaborative board within Nearpod allows learners to share their ideas, see everyone’s ideas and even like one another’s ideas.
Collaborate! activity in the Nearpod platform
Strategy #4: Think-Pair-Share/Zoom. Rather than
immediately putting students in a breakout room, and giving them tasks, give
students time to think. Model what you expect to happen in the breakout room.
Assign pairs via Zoom breakout rooms and have them share in their rooms.
Providing students time before you open breakout rooms, allows
for students to better use their pair time, and be on task while in the
breakout room.
Strategy #5: Races. Students love competition whether online or
face-to-face. These races can also serve as great formative assessments.
Consider grammar. Create a Powerpoint with common errors, then have students
race to type in the correct answers. Or, if teaching vocabulary, put a sentence
up with a missing vocabulary word. Provide students choices (A, B, C) and then
have them type in the correct choice. For quick formative assessments, have
students use the thumbs up or other reaction tool to indicate if something is
correct or not. My favorite is the Time to Climb in Nearpod.
Students can choose their avatar and you set the time limit. Students answer
questions and race up a hill. They are awarded points by both their correct
answer and how fast they answer. These races build community and you will find
students ‘talking’ about these races for weeks to come.
In summary, moving learning online isn’t easy. It takes thoughtful planning and careful execution. However, there are numerous tools out there that can help build that engagement. Well-planned digital and hybrid lessons can even be more emotionally engaging to students today. Stay tuned for next month when we will look at strategies to build behavioral engagement.
References:
Student Engagement Definition. (2016, February 18). Retrieved January 05, 2021, from https://www.edglossary.org/student-engagement/
Christina Cavage is the Curriculum and Assessment Manager at University of Central Florida. She has trained numerous teachers all over the world in using digital technologies to enhance and extend learning. She has authored over a dozen ELT textbooks, including University Success, Oral Communication, Transition Level, Advanced Level, Intermediate Level and A2. Recently, Ms. Cavage completed grammar and academic vocabulary curriculum for the new Pearson English Content Library Powered by Nearpod, which is now available. Learn more here.
This is a back-to-school season like no other. Many school
systems are either delaying openings, remaining fully remote through the fall,
or reopening partially with limited attendance, smaller class sizes, staggered
schedules, and hybrid instruction in order to follow social distancing
guidelines. As a result, remote learning is continuing to fully or partially
replace face-to-face classroom instruction as the new school year gets
underway.
Realizing that the challenges of remote and hybrid
instruction are particularly acute for English language learners, we have
developed some new training resources to support middle school and high school instructors
and students who are using our Side by
Side Extra course and its eText. Instructors are finding the eText version
especially useful for online learning, citing the programmatic and predictable
nature of the course and its communicative methodology that maximizes student
interaction through conversation practice during synchronous learning sessions.
(Side by Side Extra is a streamlined intensive course especially appropriate for middle school and high school newcomers. Side by Side Plus is the adult education version of the course.)
To support instructors, we have created new quick-start guides for remote learning strategies with the eText. The guides offer tips for using the eText along with Google Meet and Zoom to create a dynamic and interactive remote learning experience. The guides also explain how teachers can use the eText to create classes, modify course content, communicate with students, and document their program participation and progress. Video training resources are also available.
Synchronous,
Asynchronous, and Independent Learning
• Synchronous
instruction is easy, interactive, and fun using a conferencing platform
such as Google Meet or Zoom. Instructors can use screensharing to display the lesson page on
students’ devices. Breakout rooms enable the highly interactive pair practice
that is the hallmark of the Side by Side
guided conversation methodology.
• Asynchronous
learning is an important component of the remote learning experience as
students preview on their own activities and content to prepare for a
synchronous class, and then do follow-up activities to reinforce and expand
upon the online lesson.
• Independent learning is promoted through easy-to-access embedded audio, course features such as the Side by Side Gazette, and the unique FunZone digital amusement park that offers informal, self-directed, and flexible learning through motivating instant-feedback activities, games, and videos.
Synchronous Instruction with the eText
Screensharing allows instructors to display the digital student book page for all students, with instant access to the audio program for each page. The eText’s enlargement tool makes it possible to focus on a particular activity, such as a dialog, illustration, or exercise. This is especially helpful to students who access online sessions on a smartphone or small tablet device.
Tiled/Grid View (in Google Meet) and Gallery View (in Zoom) build community in the online classroom as students participate together in listening and speaking practice, present dialogs and role plays, and engage in discussions.
Breakout Room is
the ideal environment for pair practice that is at the core of the Side by Side guided conversation
methodology. (The Breakout Room function is available in Zoom and forthcoming
in Google Meet.)
Learning Management Using the eText
The Instructor
Version of the eText enables teachers to create classes and post assignments
and notes to students directly to their students’ eTexts, without the need for
an LMS such as Canvas or Blackboard. Onboarding students is an easy
registration process at the Pearson English Portal, and creating courses and
class rosters happens through the eText platform and a simple email invitation
to students to join a class.
Teaching Strategies
The quick-start guides offer step-by-step suggestions for using each type of Side by Side activity in a blend of remote learning modes of instruction: synchronous, asynchronous, and independent. The guides also provide simple instructions for onboarding students, creating courses, and using the eText platform to document learner participation. Video training resources are also available at the links below.
We hope that these resources are helpful as you continue to flexibly adapt your instruction to meet your students’ language learning needs during this unusual and challenging school year.
To download a quick-start guide for using Side by Side Extra with Google Meet, clickhere.
To download a quick-start guide for using Side by Side Extra or Side by Side Plus with Zoom, click here.
To access a training video for the Side by Side Extra eText, click here.
To access a webinar recording about the Side by Side Plus eText, clickhere.
For more information about Side by Side Extra and Side
by Side Plus, click here.
To view the new Pearson ELT K12 catalog with additional elementary and secondary school resources, click here.
To locate your dedicated Pearson ELT Specialist, click here.
