All things – good and not so good – usually come to an end. And for many school districts the end of the school year is either imminent or has already been embraced.
In one of my blog posts, I wrote about what you can do during those last days and weeks with your ESL students.
But tell me: who could have predicted that in just about 12 months since then we would be teaching online? Scrambling to digitize resources? Longing to make connections with our students?
Yea, me neither.
But if this year has revealed anything, it is this: teachers around the world have demonstrated what is truly important. Without whining, just doing the thing they do best: teaching, adapting, reteaching, pivoting, and connecting.
Boom.
One thing that hasn’t changed? The end of the school year is still happening. And it likely is still as hectic as it is under normal circumstances.
Remember, even if you are (still) teaching online, fun has not been quarantined.
In this blog post I am going to share three activities you can do remotely with your students.
Memory books
Widely used, memory books are the perfect way to end the school year. They provide an opportunity for your students not only to reflect and connect but also to demonstrate what they have learned.
Digital memory books are the thing right now. They are versatile, too!
Older students can complete them individually.
You can choose one page of a memory book to assign if you don’t have much time left.
You can hold a Zoom or Google Meet with the student to help them through the technology piece (great listening practice!)
For those without the internet, you can assign the tasks from the memory book to be completed on a separate piece of paper and then send a picture of it to you.
The possibilities are endless.
In addition, memory books is one of those activities that can easily be adapted to all age groups. For younger students, there may be more colors and fun clipart. For older students, we want to add information that they might be interested in such a favorite song/outfit/hopes for the future, etc.
I have created two memory books – as always, one for elementary grade English learners and one for middle and high school ESL beginners.
Here is a memory book for elementary grades.
And here is one for grades 6-12.
Online games
When I think about online games, I get overwhelmed. There are many, and some of them are more fun than others.
But there are amazing teachers who take a simple game and turn it into a very usable format. While online games are great, these sometimes might require approval from your district’s tech department regarding student privacy and other parameters.
But if your district is already using G-Suite, which includes Gmail, Google classroom, Google Slides, etc., I have a built-in solution for you!!
As mentioned, you can take a good old game, make it interactive in google slides, and play with your students online.
Check out this video by The Language Lady. She demonstrates how to play the games, and provides how-to instructions. In addition, below the video she shares links to download the games you think might work well with your students.
Take a virtual field trip!
The end of the school year is usually filled with field trips. Unfortunately, during the Covid-19 pandemic that had to stop.
However, people are resourceful and have found a solution to this, too. Enter virtual field trips.
Below are several links to famous places that can be visited virtually. Of course, activities to do with your English learners are endless with this
U.S. History and landmarks
For your animal lovers, many zoos have live cams, where you can explore and talk about animals. Here is the link to the San Diego Zoo live cam.
Finally, here are a few more ideas for end of the school year activities from the ELL Lady. Now is the time to try out all these things you’ve been meaning to but never had the time. Creating podcasts with your students? Sure! Writing a blog post? Why not!
How are you finishing up the school year? Share in the comments below – we love hearing from you!
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