By: Zoe W.

Often, when teaching online, you may reach the end of your planned material a little early. Whether this is two minutes early or ten minutes early, the time can seem to stretch as you struggle to keep your students engaged through the screen. Here are a few foolproof tips I have used in my years as an online English teacher to help you get you through those gaps!

Play a relevant, educational game

I had a pair of students learning to write and format essays in English, and we often sped through the material as they were a bit above the level-assigned work provided by the tutoring agency at their school. As a result, we often had five to ten minutes left at the end of every class. If we had a shorter amount of time left, we would play hangman, which helped them develop their spelling skills. If we had a longer period of time, we would play finish-the-story, which helped with grammar, spelling, and story writing. With GOAT, the screen sharing option provides the opportunity to use a virtual whiteboard for games such as these, allowing all students to be engaged! 

Homework Help

One of the commonly assigned homework activities I gave in my essay writing class was for the students to write different types of essays. Often, a few minutes of time at the end of a class could be the perfect window to allow them to write outlines for their homework assignments and get some feedback. This could be peer feedback or feedback from the teacher, and could help the students to feel more confident and conformable when it came to writing the essays. 

Reflection: Think, Pair, Share

This is a good activity for lesson reflection. If you have a larger group of students, you can put them into pairs or small groups and have them reflect on something they found of particular interest or something noteworthy from the lesson. Then, each group can have a minute, 30-seconds, or however long is appropriate given the amount of time left to share their thoughts with the rest of the class. 

I hope that these ideas will come in handy if you ever find yourself with time to fill at the end of a lesson! There are many other games, conversation topics, and more you can use as well. This is a great space to get creative and let your students have a bit of fun to unwind after online learning!

Check out some tips on using Mentimeter for interactive and engaging presentations, or find more online games to use with your students with Blooklet!