For self-employed Teachers and school owners, summer looks like the end of an era. The courses finish, students leave the school and in September you’ll have to find new ones. What about keeping your existing students instead?

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As a self-employed teacher, you may always be worried about how to encourage your students to sign up for more classes once they are done with a course. With summer break just around the corner, it should be a concern for parents as well to keep their students’ brains active and charged. 

Typically, schools encourage students to take part in summer camps where students spend their vacations taking part in various learning and recreational activities. This is an extraordinary way to give a fantastic experience to your students, that they will treasure for life. However, because of the current COVID-19 situation, many students will now be spending most of their summertime at home. 

This is a great opportunity for self-employed teachers and academy owners to keep their students engaged through online means. Online summer camps allow students to join classes and make learning fun, and with these positive experiences, it is more likely that they will return to your school in the new season.

As an English teacher, you can join Penguin Readers, which allows you to set a book reading assignment for your students. Once a student has read the book within a certain time, you should set them a written assignment to create a book review so they have a goal to reach. In addition, Penguin Readers also provides a free lesson plan for teachers suitable for book readers at various levels. This allows you access to various fun activities for your student. 

Another great activity for your online summer camp is to tell students to watch a movie or TV series and then write a summary or a character profile as an assignment that could test their English writing skills — and be fun to do as well. 

There are also other edutainment apps like Kahoot and Word Wall that are extremely engaging and allow students to learn in a fun way. Many of these apps are completely free. 

With the help of these fun-filled programs, teachers can create online summer classes that will automatically grab the interest of the students and encourage them to join your course. 

Creating a Sense of Community Through Your Courses 

The more you create community through your classes, the more your students will feel invested in the course, the more engaged they will feel, and will be more interested in signing up for another class once they have finished with a course. In addition, promoting community in your class will inspire competition among the students, which is very healthy for their academic progress. 

In addition, community building comes with many benefits that go beyond the classroom. Many students are looking to make connections online through your courses since they miss being able to go to school physically. Providing connections in virtual space will help them combat that feeling of isolation and will encourage them to sign up for the next course as well. 

An important thing to consider is to make sure that all your online students know each other and can have access to chat informally with each other, as they would in a physical classroom. 

Online students are like regular students in that they need encouragement; however, it is also important that that support is given to the right time and place. 

We are living through unprecedented times, and even highly experienced teachers and academies have to work extra hard to bring some energy, engagement, and passion from the physical classroom to the online classroom. This energy can set an important foundation for effective learning and interest students enough that they enroll in another course.