Bircan Ay

In 2019, I started working as an ESL teacher in a kindergarten. Teaching five-year-olds requires reimaging language instruction entirely, moving beyond traditional textbook-based approaches. I spent hours creating handmade games with different colours and tactile elements, searching for interactive songs that would make vocabulary memorable. However, in March 2020, Covid-19 changed everything overnight. We experienced a lockdown that forced us to abandon everything we thought we knew about effective language teaching. My colleagues and I faced what felt impossible back then: teaching English to five-year-olds through a screen, without physical interaction. I tried to create digital alternatives, working hard to...