Every week, EC Montreal will be sharing comments from our team of teachers. During this pandemic, our EC Montreal teachers have really been our heroes! Not only are they delivering stellar English or French online lessons to our students, they have also helped keep our students motivated, engaged and connected during this difficult time. They have been a shoulder for our students to lean on and have gone the extra mile in keeping our students happy.
This week, we are happy to share comments from our lovely English teacher, Katrina. Katrina is not only a fantastic teacher, she is also fun, cool and big-hearted! She loves teaching and is one of our best English teachers in our Young Learners programme. She connects really well with our younger clients and even after only a few weeks of teaching some of our groups, she and her students always share a very tearful farewell. It is very touching to see.
Here is what Katrina had to say about her experience at EC Montreal and teaching EC Virtual students.
I have been an English teacher at EC Montreal since July 2017. What I like most about teaching in this industry is that I like the diversity and freedom. I like how it’s not based on age but rather skill. I like how it’s a job that can be done anywhere.
I am enjoying teaching the online lessons and what I found has been an advantage are the breakout rooms. They are great because it makes it easier to listen to students during discussion. Students can ask questions vocally or written, depending on their comfort level. Students are expected to do some studying on their own to maximize speaking time in class.
When we do return to our onsite classes, I expect we will have smaller classes and more focus on conversation. I would love to see the classroom change to small group learning with a focus on self-study at home.
I like the idea of classes having specific focuses (the student is having trouble with grammar, so they go to this teacher. The student wants to focus on speaking, so they go to that teacher)
I personally love the idea that students can have more freedom with their learning, rather than having to work on a specific grammar point which they might not need anymore.
When we do return to our onsite classes, I expect there will always be an online component to limit the physical time at the school. I would love to see online weekly assessments where the students test their knowledge, the test tells them they should focus on these things, they do some online lessons, and then they go to class to practice this skill and get feedback from the teacher.
Having 1:30hr in the classroom practicing skills rather than having to read and learn the skills is a far better use of everyone’s time and gives more freedom to have smaller mini classes rather than large chunks of wasted time.
Even during these challenging times, I am doing everything I can to keep the students motivated and engaged. Specifically, I have pushed sharing hobbies and self-learning skills for them to practice at home. I have also encouraged them to talk to each other even when not in class.
