Online Toolkit

Teaching English to Refugees Online

By Caritas Salford and the Manchester Institute of Education

This Toolkit is intended as a practical guide to anyone teaching English to refugees in an online setting. Developed by teachers at Caritas Salford Refugee Education alongside faculty at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education, this toolkit presents the findings of a year’s worth of research and practice conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Simply use the drop-down menus at the top of the page, or the search bar at the bottom, to get started!

*All activities in this Toolkit use Zoom as the main platform for the lesson, however they are easily adaptable to other video conferencing or teaching platforms. Zoom is a free-to-use video conferencing app which is widely used for teaching. Free Zoom accounts only allow for 40 minute lessons; professional accounts, which cost roughly £10 per month do not have time limits.

The Toolkit

Adaptable

Each tool presents a different approach to a particular type of ESOL activity. These are not lessons plans, rather they are guidelines for how to tackle certain challenges when teaching English online. They are intended to be easily adaptable for teachers looking for ways to teach certain activities online (e.g., ‘how can I recreate a mingling activity in an online setting).

Phone-Friendly

At Caritas Refugee Education 70 % of our learners do not own laptops and therefore access lessons on their phones. Each activity is adapted for learners studying on phones.

Cost-Effective

We know that the field of Refugee Education isn’t awash with money! That is why all resources are made using free-to-use online platforms.