From face-to-face tuition to online classes: ‘Re-styling’ a course of English for academic purposes

Some of the comments made by the students are presented here. Some are taken from the anonymous Google form, others from the end-of-course Token of Appreciation and/or Exit Ticket assignments.

1. “I think the course is very well structured for being an online course: it is hard to make people interact in an online course. I liked the structure: I think that the idea to have a break in the middle of the class in which we had time to prepare our assignments was perfect for our attention and for our work.”

2. I liked the way the course was structured […] it challenged me to meet deadlines, which is very useful. It was very demanding, however with the exact time to develop all activities. It is based on academic purposes, but we can bring all learned knowledges to our personal and professional life.”

3. “I really appreciated the fact that we were asked multiple time to be the reviewer of other’s work. I think that it helped me to think consciously not only about the work I was reviewing, but also about my work and how I could improve it the next time.”

4. “I really did not expect to like to assess other work as much as I did. And also I did not imagine it, to be this useful to improve my work. But the first assignment in which we had to act as assessors, was really difficult, and I did not particularly liked it, then, little by little, as we had more and more assessors work to do, I started to feel more confident in it and to appreciate how it made me actively reflect on what are the things that I mostly appreciate in a work, and how to implement them to improve myself. Also, for the same reason, I found very useful the simulated conferences. Seeing different approaches to a similar task was very interesting and I gained some ideas to implement in my future presentations!”

5. “For sure I gained a lot of confidence in talking to people in a languages that is different from my mother tongue. Also, I learned to assess my work (and others’ work too) better and to manage my time better, both for the assignments we were given in the lesson break and for the presentations we had to give. My favorite part of the course was when we were put in breakout rooms to work in teams. That is very important to me because it totally simulates how things are being done professionally at the level of organisations, companies, etc.”

6. “What have I learned from the course? Brain storming approach to writing (doing it right now). I feel I can walk into a conference knowing what to expect. I liked the tasks that made us focus on: definitions, explaining a procedure, what is an abstract, and similar. I felt comfortable doing before (I guess/I hope), but it made me reflect in these things, e.g. What is an abstract?”

7. “If I think of an object that could symbolize what I have taken from this course, I think it could be a puzzle. We have different backgrounds, different stories, we are like pieces of various colours. With the great help of [the teacher], we have managed somehow to form together a greater picture, different but still linked to any one of us. It is beautiful to learn how people that don’t know each other can reach common goals while enjoying the process. I think I have learned many things from this puzzle.”

8. “The pandemic has not allowed us to know each other personally but has allowed us to “live” an unforgettable virtual experience. I have never seen your face because of connection problems that not always allowed us to activate our videos. However, through the “fearsome” breakout rooms, I know your favourite objects, your study topic, and your fears/hopes about English. Thanks to the many “completed missions” such as the participation in your interesting presentations, the abstracts read, the LinkedIn profiles you wrote and much more, I was able to learn a lot about you and I hope you about me. Thank you again for this wonderful experience and I hope to meet you soon.”

9. “I believe I will miss the Study Skills Course because it has represented an interactive and social moment in a very difficult time, like the lockdown. Wednesday and Friday sessions were a fixed engagement which enabled us to distract, besides the possibility to improve our English. I appreciated the commitment and the constancy of all my colleagues in delivering every task with punctuality and accuracy.”

10. “I want to thank you all for sharing this path together. During this period of isolation, being together in class allowed us to feel less alone and to meet new people.”

11. “The course has given to us the opportunity to share a lot of things. I am very grateful to be part of this course, but specifically I enjoyed so much the part of the Breakout Rooms when I spoke with a partner. I felt that we were not only doing our task, but we were sharing experiences. I remember in particular the talking with Lorenzo, Martina and Stefania, in which always there was something more than the simple task of the day. We talked about our current work, but also about our past experiences. I felt connected with others, even if we are far away from each other and in a difficult situation.”

12. In his Token of appreciation one Iranian student explained how important the emotional support from the course was: “The English skills course started on the same day that I was sick. I sent a message in the break-up time of the session to [the teacher] and she replied to my email warmly. Due to my sickness, I was losing my interest to pursue this course and I wanted to drop out of this program, however, her positive attitude dissuaded me from doing so. I don’t know, maybe if the context of the letter was different [sic], I would have made a different decision. Thank you, [teacher] for doing it well. You and all of the students provided a good vibe to see and follow all the English study sessions.”

13. During the course one Brazilian student had to actually present in a conference which had been transferred online (https://iceis.scitevents.org/?y=2020, accessed 8 November 2022). The previous day he sent an email to the teacher saying “Tomorrow I have to deliver a presentation in a Congress using Zoom, at 13 h (Italy time zone). If you wish, you can send the link to my classmates to learn about it (a real case). The Zoom link is this […], and the password is […].” The teacher and a few of his course mates attended his presentation and in the afternoon he wrote to the teacher again: “I am so happy with your presence at my presentation (I also noticed that Valentina and Silvia were there for a brief period of time). Before starting, I had some problems when I shared my screen, so they decided to stream a backup file (my internet connection did not help me in this moment). Thus, I was a little apprehensive about the questions, but after the first one, I was a little bit more calm, and everything went well). By the way, the room’s Chair was very kind and interested person, I am so happy to deliver this presentation. I am also so glad to hear your suggestion (it is a very important one) [*]. I will do this in my final year presentation and in my lesson presentation. Once again, thank you very much! Your class has been very important for my learning and your care for the students motivates me to always do the same.”

[*The teacher had given positive comments on the presentation as regards timing, slides and delivery, but commented on the fact that the conclusion had appeared to be a little too abrupt and needed improving].