Pixel International Conferences

Language teachers face increasingly diversified groups of students in terms of skills, interests, cultural backgrounds and experience in learning languages. The challenge to adapt the lessons to these diverse groups of students was magnified when we were forced to stay behind the screens of our devices, due to Covid 19. Adaptability and collaboration are becoming the words that best describe our new reality. We need to be ready for changes and also our lessons need to fit whatever new situation that may appear.   In addition, we need to keep students engaged and motivated while they are isolated in their rooms. More than ever, it’s important to connect students to real life, giving them choices and opportunities to show their thinking, their understanding and their progress. They seem to come alive when we allow them to discover, connect with their previous knowledge and reflect on a large variety of topics from a wide cultural context, when they choose topics for research and ways of showing progress. It seems essential to find the way to engage the students by awakening their curiosity, developing reflection and by encouraging independence as learners. Therefore, it may be a good opportunity to focus on formative assessment rather than on test scores to ensure real learning in this virtual environment that has suddenly taken over.
Sure enough, the use of technology allows infinite possibilities of research and creativity, although we are still not able to bring the direct and dynamic interaction of the brick and mortar classroom to the screens. The educational revolution that is taking place nowadays will bring in the near future another concept of school, one that is capable of adapting to sudden and constant changes without forgetting, hopefully, that emotions are fundamental in the learning process.  

Keywords: Motivation, formative assessment, collaboration, online interaction.