Workshop: Digital Educational Environment in Foreign Language Instruction

Workshop: Creating a Digital Educational Environment as a Prerequisite for the Effective Implementation of Modern Teaching Methods in Foreign Language Instruction

Based on the experience of the author blog “SuperEnglish with Veronika” — Veronika Bebekh, English teacher, Secondary School No. 4, Soligorsk

1. Workshop passport

Item	Description
Audience	Heads of district-level methodological associations of English teachers
Duration	40 minutes
Format	Workshop: short input + live demonstration + hands-on group design + reflection
Group size	12–25 participants, 4–5 working groups
Equipment	Projector, internet, participants’ phones or laptops, printed handouts (task cards, checklist)
Experience base	Six years of systematic blended learning on the basis of an author blog (Blogger), stages II and III of education (grades 5–11)

Leading idea: A digital educational environment is not a set of apps used from time to time. It is a system in which content, activity, communication and diagnostics are connected. Only inside such a system modern methods (flipped classroom, station rotation, project work, autonomous learning) stop being one-off “open lesson” events and become everyday practice.

Goal: To show how an author blog can serve as a digital educational environment for foreign language teaching, and to equip heads of methodological associations to transfer this approach to the teachers of their district.

Tasks:

1. Clarify what a digital educational environment is and how it differs from the episodic use of digital tools.

2. Demonstrate the structure of the blog and the “three spaces of the lesson” (digital before, classroom, digital after).

3. Present five models of blended learning and show one in action.

4. Let participants design a fragment of a blended lesson and a plan for scaling the experience in their district.

Expected outcomes. Each participant leaves with:

1) a working definition and criteria of a digital educational environment,

2) a draft blended-lesson fragment,

3) a first-steps checklist for their own methodological association,

4) the address of the blog and its resource pages.

2. Timeline at a glance

Min	Stage	Form	Minutes
0–4	Opening and hook: “Where does your students’ English live between lessons?”	Quick poll, discussion	4
4–10	Theory: what makes an environment environment	Mini-lecture with 3 slides	6
10–18	The blog as environment: four entrances and three spaces of the lesson	Live tour of the blog	8
18–27	Five models of blended learning; demonstration of one	Presentation + demonstration	9
27–35	Workshop: design your own blended fragment	Group work	8
35–40	Results of the experience, reflection, takeaways	Presentation + reflection	5

Методические карточки: Модели смешанного обучения

Набор дидактических карточек для проектирования уроков английского языка.

Card A Flipped Classroom (Перевернутый класс) Task: Choose a topic from grade 6, 8 or 10. What is the preparation task in the digital space (maximum 10 minutes)? What is the first speaking task in class that depends on this preparation? Example: Класс и тема: 8 класс, тема «Environmental Problems» (Проблемы окружающей среды). Задание в цифровой среде (до 10 мин): Просмотр короткого интерактивного видео (3-4 минуты) на платформе Edpuzzle о загрязнении пластиком, со встроенными вопросами на проверку понимания ключевой лексики (landfill, decompose, microplastics, single-use). Первое говорение в классе: Учащиеся сразу объединяются в пары и получают «Task Dependent on Prep»: восстановить цепочку причинно-следственных связей на основе видео. Задача — обсудить и составить 3 предложения по шаблону: «Because people use [X], it leads to [Y], which results in [Z]», используя новые слова.

 

Card B Station Rotation (Ротация станций) Task: Plan three stations for a 15-minute segment: teacher-led, digital, peer. What does each group do? How does the group move between stations? Example: Сегмент: 15 минут в рамках урока (по 5 минут на станцию). Станция 1 — С учителем (Teacher-led): Мини-дебаты / Guided Speaking. Учитель дает фокусные вопросы по теме. Каждые 5 минут новая микрогруппа аргументирует свою позицию, получая мгновенную обратную связь от учителя. Станция 2 — Цифровая (Digital): Индивидуальная или парная работа на планшетах/ПК. Интерактивный квиз на Quizlet Live или Wordwall для автоматизации грамматической конструкции (например, Conditionals) по текущей теме уроков. Станция 3 — Сверстники (Peer-to-peer): Совместное создание mind map (интеллект-карты) на листе А3. Группа развивает идеи предыдущей команды, добавляя свои аргументы, примеры или лексику по теме. Движение групп: Класс делится на 3 группы. Перемещение происходит по сигналу таймера по часовой стрелке: С учителем -> Цифровая -> Сверстники. Логистика: столы расставлены зонами, переходы занимают не более 30 секунд.

 

Card C Autonomous Group (Автономная группа) Task: Design a task that a group can complete alone with blog materials. What instructions and self-check will the group need? Example: Задание: «Анализ блога путешественника». Группа самостоятельно работает с целевым англоязычным блогом для сбора материала к собственному тревел-гайду. Инструкция для группы: 1. Откройте блог по QR-коду. 2. Распределите роли: Спикер, Тайм-кипер, Секретарь, Редактор. 3. Прочитайте последние 3 поста и выпишите топ-5 лайфхаков для туристов. 4. Оформите краткий список рекомендаций на общем флипчарте. Критерии самопроверки (Self-check list): ✔ Все ли 5 лайфхаков уникальны? ✔ Использованы ли минимум 4 фразы-совета (You should / I recommend...)? ✔ Уложилась ли группа в 12 минут? ✔ Каждый ли участник внес вклад в обсуждение?

 

Card D Project Model (Проектная модель) Task: Choose a product (a podcast, a poster, a video, a mini-guide). Which digital resources support each stage? How and when is it presented? Example: Продукт: Мини-гайд (Digital Travel Guidebook) для туристов по родному городу. Этап 1: Исследование и планирование: Ресурсы: Google Docs для совместного брейншторминга и распределения обязанностей, поисковик для сбора фактов. Этап 2: Создание контента и дизайн: Ресурсы: Canva (шаблоны гайдов/брошюр) для верстки, Unsplash/Pexels для поиска легальных качественных изображений. Этап 3: Обратная связь и редактура: Ресурсы: Padlet — группы выкладывают черновики страниц гайда, другие команды оставляют комментарии по методике «Two stars and a wish». Презентация продукта: Цифровая выставка (Digital Gallery Walk). Проекты публикуются на платформе BookCreator или Padlet. На уроке учащиеся ходят со своими девайсами, изучают гайды одноклассников и голосуют через Mentimeter в конце недели.

 

Card E Enriched Virtual (Обогащенная виртуальная модель) Task: Plan one week: which tasks are digital, which two meetings are face-to-face, what is the purpose of the meeting? Example: План на неделю: Курс «Подготовка к экзаменам» (10 класс). Цифровая среда (Асинхронно): Понедельник, Среда, Пятница. Самостоятельное изучение теории на LMS (Moodle/Google Classroom): видеолекции, разбор грамматики, выполнение интерактивных тестов, написание эссе в общем документе. Очная встреча 1 (Вторник): Цель: Снятие барьеров и практика продуктивных навыков (Speaking Workshop). Отработка формата устной части экзамена в парах, проведение ролевой игры / симуляции на основе изученной теории. Очная встреча 2 (Четверг): Цель: Анализ сложных кейсов и рефлексия (Feedback & Troubleshooting Session). Разбор типичных ошибок из онлайн-тестов и эссе, индивидуальные консультации, защита мини-кейсов.

 

Happy New Year 2026

 

The Decade of Unconventional Activities - Декада нестандартных занятий

Day of the Belarusian Language and Literature in English

Mathematics and Computer Science Day in English

The English Language Day

Biology Day in English

Day of the Russian Language and Literature in English

Arts and Crafts Day in English

Chemistry and Physics Day in English

History and Geography Day in English

Workshop: Creating a digital educational environment as an effective tool for language education

 

Creating a digital educational environment as an effective tool for language education

Veronika Bebekh,

EFL Teacher,

State educational institution 

"Secondary school No. 4 of Soligorsk"

Our lives are rapidly changing, and so is education, adapting to the demands of the information society. The Internet and information technologies provide opportunities for creating a unified digital educational environment that allows teachers, students, and parents to combine their efforts to develop the creative potential of students.

Creating a digital educational environment includes the use of websites, blogs, electronic services, various online programs and applications. Even social networks and communication platforms can be used to create and manage a digital educational space. It empowers students by making them more interested in their studies and broadening their horizons. Digital learning tools and technologies are filling the gaps where traditional classroom learning is lagging. Digital learning is a step up from traditional teaching methods.

What is the digital educational environment (DLE - Digital Learning Environment)? It is a learner-centric digital environment where learning opportunities and access to educational resources are available anytime, anywhere. Its components include:

1) 21st Century Skills - communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking

2) Digital curriculum (Digital Curriculum) - learning management system, electronic resources, etc.

3) Mobile Devices - laptop or tablet with Wi-Fi and battery life of more than 6 hours.

4) Personalized Learning – the usage of multiple resources and assessment data to customize learning.

Why is it important? This creates opportunities for:

1) Collaboration - students can communicate and collaborate synchronously and asynchronously

2) More timely feedback - digital assessments can provide immediate feedback to improve learning.

3) Differentiation - different learning and teaching styles to meet the individual needs of students.

4) Closing the digital gap - providing equal technology opportunities to all students

5) Engaging all students in high-level learning – students can work at their own pace.

How to implement this?

It is important to understand that successful digital learning environments focus on teaching and learning, not technology. The device or program is a tool for learning, and the teacher facilitates the process and guides each student along the path of individual learning.

Based on my own experience of creating and operating an educational blog, I can say with confidence that maintaining a pedagogical website or blog allows you to create a single information and educational space within all participants in the educational process, accessible anywhere in the world provided there is access to the network.

After analyzing various blogging platforms, I chose the Blogger service on the Google platform.

The goals and objectives of creating a blog are the creation of a unified school and interschool information and communication environment within the framework of blended and distance learning, the presentation of modern information technologies and educational platforms to improve the efficiency of the educational process, the creation of a tool for public interactive discussion of school issues and problems in English to involve students in the process of foreign language communication.

Educational blog ( https://superenglishwithveronika.blogspot.com/ ) , created using the Blogger service on the Google platform, within its operation has acquired regular readers, has feedback and already has more than 800 publications of original materials: author's tests, multimedia assignments, audio and video materials, lesson plans, announcements of international conferences, comments, methodological recommendations for teaching English.

Structurally, the blog consists of pages (Home, CPD, Online Video Conferencing, The English Language Olympiad, 10th grade, 11th grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade English Traditions&Amazing Facts, ExamTopics, Exam Cards, Students’ Projects, Functional English, Grammar, Listening, Speaking и т.д.), which are constantly updated and used both in training sessions in the blended learning format and for repetition at home as part of distance learning.

To learn new vocabulary and language units, flashcards are created on the educational platform Quizlet and embedded in the blog, so students do not need to register on another platform. In this case, the “flipped classroom” approach is used, when students learn new grammar or language material at home using multimedia files embedded in the blog, and are ready to use and reinforce the learned material during the lesson.

Ability to embed tests (Microsoft Forms, Quizlet, GoConqr, Google Forms, Learning apps, Wordwall, H5P, Udoba, Opinion Stage и т.д.) allows you to consolidate material and check it remotely in a fun way. 

The comments feature built into the blog is used by students to develop writing skills, gives students a real audience to whom they can write, and, when optimized, a collaborative environment (built-in Padlet and Jamboard for sharing text messages, photos, links, app on creating online Google Slides presentations) where they can give and receive feedback. 

Based on my own experience using an educational blog, I can confidently say that students' English improves and they become more attentive in web publications as a wider audience (including peers) can view and read their work.

Over 5 years, the blog was viewed about 450,000 times, which shows students’ interest in the blog’s content and confirms the correctness of the chosen approach to create a digital educational space and, as a result, to increase students’ motivation to learn English and improve the quality of learning.

Based on my own experience, I would especially like to note the advantages of the digital educational environment for users (students, parents, teachers, colleagues):

• the first and most important advantage of the educational space is its use as an e-learning tool. In this way, the teaching-learning process can continue outside the classroom;

• ease of setup and administration, unlike other technologies;

• simplified publication of all types of resources (text, images, videos, hyperlinks, etc.) on the Internet compared to traditional sites;

• instant one-click publishing: Blogs are easy to create and maintain, unlike traditional web pages, which are labor intensive and require at least some web design knowledge (HTML, CSS, JavaScript);

• update from anywhere without worrying about web development software, etc.;

• reaching a large audience without losing the quality of information;

• 24/7 (anytime, anywhere) access to information posted on the blog;

• no special software is required to create a digital educational space, which allows the teacher to create and maintain a blog without knowing HTML. Moreover, the teacher can focus on the content without worrying about periodic archiving or the exact recording time;

• use of other platforms together. For example, using Wikipedia as a tool for group writing and knowledge sharing, etc.

What does the digital educational environment give to the student? First, such a system helps to establish connections between students with different opinions and interests. This encourages critical thinking and teaches respect for other students' points of view. The digital learning space makes it easier to share knowledge and information, and comment discussions encourage higher-level thinking because students can think before responding or writing, support teamwork and group learning, and encourage informal communication, creativity, and self-expression. The final assessment is faster and easier: the teacher can evaluate how students participated and developed during the course. The digital learning environment created is also attractive in the sense that teenagers in general want to be able to share their experiences and feelings, and this digital learning environment gives them the opportunity to do this in a simple, interactive way. Leveraging the digital educational space through new technologies better prepares students for the current job market. Teacher and students teach and learn together.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the creation of a digital educational space has become a way of self-expression and one of the methods of realizing one’s own professional competence, as it opens up incredible opportunities for self-education and development for participants in the educational process.