10 things I wish I'd known when I started teaching online

1. Fewer tools, better lessons. Keep materials, tasks and homework in one place, with one link for the class.
2. Silence doesn't mean students understand. Give tasks that everyone answers at the same time, and look at each answer, not just the bravest student's.
3. Get students doing, not watching. Change the activity every 5-7 minutes: read, write, speak, play. Students work on their own screens.
4. Games are part of learning. Build them around what you're studying, and choose plenty of games where students have to talk to each other.
5. Feedback the same day. Short homework students can do even on their phones. They see their mistakes right away, and you start the next lesson with them.
6. Keep groups small. Online, 4 students is the most effective size. With advanced, motivated, tech-savvy adults you can sometimes go up to 6, but that's rare. Every student beyond that costs you more than the last. With beginners who can't work in pairs or breakout rooms yet, 3 is the maximum.
7. The must-have tools. A video call with breakout rooms, and one platform that keeps everything else in one place, so nobody jumps between links. Pair work makes lessons faster, more effective and more fun, if your students' age and level allow it. When two pairs are in breakout rooms, listen to both from two devices, so you can step in as soon as someone gets stuck.
8. Drills at home, talking in class. If your students can do self-checking exercises at home, save class time for tasks where they have to talk to each other.
9. Get students moving. Teens, especially younger ones, need a movement break. Ask them to walk around the house and bring back something, with a rule set by you or one of the students: something red, something older than them. Or ask them to change something about how they look, like putting on a hat. The point is to get them up from the computer for a minute.
10. Plan for fast finishers. Always keep a few extra tasks ready, or be ready to make one up on the spot, like a question to discuss.