Coping With Online Practicum

Abstract

This chapter examines the experience of eight pre-service teachers of Czech as a Second Language both in Spring 2020, when their teaching practicum classes abruptly turned online, and Fall 2020, when online teaching became the “new normal,” and traces how they coped with the new instructional media. The data were collected in two group zoom sessions with a supervisor and two observed lessons with observation sheets and lesson plans, and finally, in a written reflection and a recorded group interview. The teachers identified two main problems: 1) a lack of previous training and experience with online instruction and 2) classroom management specifics related to the nature of online lessons. Peer observation and collaborative tasks emerged as the main coping strategies. Although the teachers adapted to the new situation well, training programs should provide more courses on CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in their curricula in the future.