Since the pandemic, I have been teaching on online pre-sessional English courses for a UK university, with the students dispersed across China (which is why the Chinese context is cyclically highlighted in this article). Many of these students lack authentic English practice, and some admit to never having spoken to a foreigner before (issues that are not exclusive to Chinese learners). Even though they are set regular collaborative discussion-led homework tasks, such homogeneous class groups invariably end up communicating overwhelmingly in their first language.
Last summer, I devised this list of realistic ideas for my online students to . . .
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