How to Teach English Online: Tools & Games

Essential tools: a reliable video conferencing platform (Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams), a stable internet connection, a good quality microphone, and a virtual whiteboard (Google Jamboard, Miro, or the built-in whiteboard in Zoom). Optional but valuable: a document camera for showing physical materials, and interactive platforms like LexFizz for gamified exercises.

Share the exercise URL via chat, then either have students open it independently and compare scores or screen-share and run it as a whole-class activity. Flash Cards and Quiz work well for vocabulary checking at lesson start. Gameshow Quiz and Spin the Wheel are excellent as interactive warm-ups or wrap-up activities. Use Cloze Dropdown for reading comprehension tasks.

Top activities for online teaching: (1) LexFizz interactive exercises (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation). (2) Collaborative Google Docs for shared writing tasks. (3) Padlet or Jamboard for brainstorming. (4) Breakout rooms for pair and group speaking tasks. (5) Quizzes and polls via Mentimeter or Slido. Mix formats to maintain engagement.

Change activities every 10–15 minutes. Use a mix of speaking, reading, listening, and writing tasks. Call on students by name regularly to maintain attention. Use interactive tools rather than long teacher monologues. Set small collaborative tasks in breakout rooms. Show genuine interest in students' answers and build on their responses rather than just correcting errors.

Yes. Any LexFizz exercise can be embedded in an LMS (Moodle, Canvas, Google Classroom) or other web page using an iframe with the ?embed=1 parameter. This hides the navigation and shows only the exercise, making it seamlessly integrated into your teaching platform. The embed URL format is: lexfizz.com/exercises/[exercise-name]/?embed=1

A productive 60-minute lesson structure: (1) Warm-up with an engaging activity (5 min). (2) Review of previous lesson or homework (5–10 min). (3) New language presentation with clear examples (15 min). (4) Controlled practice exercises (15 min). (5) Freer production task — speaking, writing, or discussion (15 min). (6) Review, feedback, and homework setting (5 min).

The best platform depends on your context. For private tutoring: Zoom, Skype, or Google Meet. For group classes: Zoom with breakout rooms or a specialised teaching platform like Teachable. For asynchronous teaching: Moodle, Canvas, or Google Classroom. For one-to-one tutoring marketplaces: Preply, iTalki, or Cambly. Each has different strengths for different teaching styles.

Use screen share to display IPA charts and minimal pair exercises. Record yourself pronouncing target sounds for students to compare with their own audio. Use the Speaking Cards exercise on LexFizz for pronunciation modelling with Text-to-Speech. Short, focused 5-minute pronunciation segments in each lesson are more effective than occasional long pronunciation lessons.

Use: (1) Exercise scores from LexFizz (students can share scores after playing). (2) Google Forms quizzes for written assessments. (3) Recorded speaking tasks for pronunciation and fluency assessment. (4) Error tracking over time using a shared document. (5) Self-assessment checklists based on CEFR can statements. Regular low-stakes formative assessment is more informative than infrequent high-stakes tests.

LexFizz exercises are free for educational use — individual tutoring, school lessons, and non-commercial teaching. You may share exercise URLs, embed exercises in teaching platforms, and use them in any educational context without restriction. Commercial use (embedding in paid products) should be discussed with the LexFizz team first via the contact form.