Competency 1: To interact orally in English
In Cycle 2, students need their teacher to support them by modelling, having them repeat words and expressions to prepare them for an oral interaction activity. It’s a good idea to organize meetings in small groups. When your students are more autonomous or comfortable with the activity, you can use breakout rooms where students interact among themselves.
In Cycle 3 and especially in Intensive English, when you feel students are more autonomous, you should use breakout rooms where students meet in small groups during an online session.
This will also give them the opportunity to work collaboratively in practising the language, and they can rely on the help of their classmates.
How can you prepare successful oral interactions online?
Oral interaction must take place in context. This means that students must have enough knowledge (vocabulary, topic, functional language) to talk about a given subject and resources must be accessible during the interaction.
Resources can be sent home beforehand to be printed or available through a shared screen during a presentation. Students can use them during the discussion.
Before the interaction:
- Present the learning goal
- Let them know which feature of the competency is to be developed
- Provide a model and functional language
- Provide anything they should watch or read before the interaction
During the interaction:
- Offer visual support
- If needed, provide guidance
After the interaction:
- Provide teacher or peer feedback
- Give time for self-evaluation
Some projects that could be carried out online in teams:
- create a tour guide using Tour Creator
- create a “How to” explaining how to do or make something and present it in Canva
- create an online book to share with younger children using Book Creator
- conduct research on a famous person and create a poster with PosterMyWall
To learn about how to manage subgroups or channels where students can interact in small groups, check out the Service national du RÉCIT, domaine des langues webinar: C1 Online: It’s Possible! Open in a new window.
To learn the tools mentioned in this module, please consult the Toolbox section (Boîte à outils) of the website.
