“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

We could spend long hours discussing our capacity to adapt to situations, or even our will to do so. But that’s not my main purpose. Quite often the time to change comes when least expected. So, let me tell you about my experience as one of the many teachers who were challenged with online teaching overnight. I still feel challenged every day as I watch my students response to this new reality. One might say our students’ generation masters technology and even teachers have been using digital resources like none before… Well,  it doesn’t go exactly like that.

First week, first task: to enrol in an intensive online course about online teaching. Luckily Cambridge and Knightsbridge, to name a few,  have provided us with free training sessions on this matter and immediately I was sharing my concerns, my EXPECTATIONS and my HOPE with teachers all over the world.

I must say it wasn’t easy. It still isn’t and it involves a great effort from all the intervenients: students, teachers and parents. However, I am able to find just the right amount of excitement and motivation to go through every day. Everyone is understanding and lessons go on quite peacefully. We try to make the most of the digital tools and have introduced a few to our students. This urgent need led to a boost of available online resources released by reliable institutions.

Personally I try to make students feel as if they were in a common classroom, which can be rather difficult. We manage to keep doing listening, speaking, reading and writing activities, though.

I would like to end by saying that there are lots of interfering factors, of course, and in the beginning most of the students were shy and insecure. So was I. But we all need to adapt nevertheless and keep in mind that our students need to continue practising. Language exposure is a fruitful strategy and that is my main purpose regardless of the lockdown.