JOURNAL ENTRY #5: TEACHING FROM QUARANTINE

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Hello, there. As we know, these last two weeks have been pretty intense due to the Coronavirus outbreak that right now is the main concern of many governments around the world, and of course, that has affected our country's education system as well. As the son of an elementary school teacher and a college student myself, I have witnessed the radical change for both sectors and it has been surprising for me how everything has radically changed overnight. But, of course, as English teachers, something that characterizes us is our adaptability during emergency situations, and this case hasn't been the exception.

In less than a week, I've found out different ways to work and study by distance learning that I thought I will never ever use. You'll see, about a year ago, I was assigned by my English teacher at the time to finish a whole English teaching online course of any type from the Cambridge official website. So, I decided to sign up for one called "How to teach online", where I had my first contact with apps and platforms such as Kahoot or Edmodo. It was a very interesting and new experience for me because I realized that there was a big amount of teachers who currently made a living exclusively using online platforms. However, I believed that that world was too far away from my circumstances. I guess I was wrong.

Only last week, I learned how to use some video calling apps such as Google Hangouts and Zoom as in both my school and job our superiors asked us to use them to continue with the class sessions from home. Despite being good with technology (in general terms), I have to be honest and confess that it has been quite challenging for me to face unexpected technical issues, explore the systems of each app and adapt written and physical materials to a digital format. Nevertheless, after all the chaos, I think I've finally found myself enjoying online classes and I am seriously considering researching more about the topic and even take some other courses about it. I think it is important for us to get to know this type of platforms as every day that goes by, new teaching modalities emerge and if we don't catch up with them, we either are out of the market or we are denying ourselves a world full of possibilities that might make our already insane teacher life a lot easier. What do you think about this type of platforms? Do you know any other useful online tool to teach? Would you formally consider teaching online?

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