Emergency Remote Teaching : From Challenges to Improvements

This is a reflection of the early challenges that teachers experienced in shifting from a planned face-to-face classroom teaching situation to a new remote online, synchronous language program during a pandemic that the world had not experienced in several generations. This paper will demonstrate that while mistakes were made during this disruptive period, and while a great deal of time and effort was expended in developing the program the end results have been an improvement in the language program that will be carried over to future years. From these early challenges, lessons were learned that would eventually lead to substantial improvements in pedagogy, classroom management, and authentic learning opportunities in 21st-century skills for both teachers and students.