Socially distanced discussions – an oxymoron?

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First-week reflections

The first week is over. It was tough, tougher than I anticipated. I thought I was relatively well prepared for what’s coming, but nothing could have prepared me for the harsh reality of reopening a school after the lockdown.

I was overjoyed seeing my students come through the front doors. At the same time, however, I felt so sad both for myself and for them. Our faces covered with the masks reminded us that even though the school is open, life as we knew it has not returned. My colleagues and I tried so hard to make our happiness show in our eyes and hoped that our smiles under the masks are felt by the students.

The kids have grown. They are all so much taller now. Five and a half months have passed since we closed the gates, so I guess that’s not surprising. And they were all so happy to see each other again. They practically ran up to their friends without a care in the world and definitely not thinking about distancing themselves from each other. I know it broke every teacher’s heart when we had to ask them to stand further apart and refrain from hugging each other.

The SOPs are there for a reason, of course, however, they make school life harder. Social distancing means students are walking in single file lines around the school when they have to get from point A to point B. Breaks and lunchtimes are spent in the classrooms, sitting by the socially distanced desks and trying to have the much needed private conversations with the friends who they had missed for all these months. The masks are only allowed to come off while they are eating and they are constantly reminded of disinfecting everything.

Teachers’ work has become even harder as well. The new rules mean added duties, which take up even more of the precious little free time we have on our timetables. I don’t mind spending the extra time with the students, but I am much more exhausted by the end of the day. It’s only been a week and I feel like I’m ready for my next vacation.

And then there are the EAL students, the new and the old. They find it so much harder to integrate due to their lack of English. Now with the new rules and the added pressure of social distancing, I worry they will feel isolated and left behind. This made me think of ways to help them. Normally, I would use one of my trusted discussion activities to break the ice and facilitate conversations among the students, but most of these require moving students around. Our classrooms are filled to the brim, which complicates things. Students are not supposed to be swapping places to minimise the chance of contamination, so any activity that requires moving students from group to group is out of the question.

Socially distanced discussion tasks

The first few weeks of school are always crucial in getting to know each other. With the new normal, our students might need more help making friends, so helping them start a conversation is something to prioritise. EAL students, of course, will need more help than most.

Here are my thoughts on how to make discussion tasks work within the realm of social distancing. Disclaimer: all of these are ideas that I haven’t trialed yet. I’m merely trying to come up with ways to make lessons more interactive while still keeping everyone safe.

Activity ideas

  • Conversation starters: I am going to try and run activities that facilitate conversations in the breaks that I supervise. I’m going to ask the students to talk about the discussion questions on the board, making sure that all the students are involved. I don’t care what language they use as long as I see the students making friends. I will mingle with the groups (as much as the SOPs allow!) and target the newest and the EAL students so that I can build relationships with them.
  • Socially distanced discussion tasks: I will try to set up discussion tasks so that the students get to speak to each other, even though they can’t get within a meter of each other. I might try changing groups by asking the students to turn their chairs around so that they get to speak to new partners. If possible, I might take them outside to the corridor and do a ladder discussion with all students being a meter apart. I’m also wondering if I could set up a carousel activity in the classroom if everyone is standing right next to the desks. For speaking lesson ideas in the first few lessons click here.
  • Find someone who…: FSW activities are great for finding out more about each other. I love using them at the beginning of the school year. It helps the students find potential friends and I get to know them a bit better too. But with the limited movement that the SOPs allow, how do I do this? This could probably be set up like a ladder discussion or maybe let them shout out their questions to each other. I wonder what my colleagues teaching next door will think of that though… Making this a day-long assignment might be a better idea. I will hand out the FSW worksheets and tell them to talk to everybody by the end of the day. We can use Google Classroom to report the findings and use this as an opportunity to get an online discussion going. If everybody posts a short paragraph about what they found out, they could then respond by asking their follow-up questions online.

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About Adri

My name is Adri. I am an experienced English Language Teacher and academic manager with a passion for transforming education. A life-long student and a reflective classroom practitioner, I actively look for ways to develop my skillset and help others do the same.