Are you wondering how to make your teaching greener? People around the world are grappling with the challenge of becoming more sustainable — and for teachers, that challenge extends right into the classroom.
There has long been criticism of the amount of paper used in teaching, and the move towards digitalization has been gathering pace. There are a plethora of ways to teach using technology now, and the reduction in paper-use must be celebrated.
But when we consider the environmental impact of technology, many teachers are left wondering: how can we reduce paper and our reliance on devices at the same time?
Educators are rightly concerned about technology’s impact on young people’s cognitive and social skills. What is often not discussed, however, is the environmental cost.
Data centers alone are already estimated to account for 1.5% of the world’s energy consumption. In light of this, is it really fair to assume that digitalization is environmentally responsible?
Source: iea.org (2025)
Although using technology enhances learning in many ways and does help teachers transition away from paper, we can all consider just how much technology we are using and whether we can cut down our use of screens and devices in the classroom.
The good news is that a number of established teaching methods can help us reduce both paper use and tech dependence simultaneously. This article explores three different classroom contexts and offers practical, low-resource strategies for each.
Small, Motivated Classes: Let the Conversation Lead
One well-established method is Dogme ELT, which focuses on emergent language from students while the teacher facilitates conversation with, among other things, a simple prompt written on the board (Donald, 2018).
Source: medium.com (2018)
For example, give students a set of preferences on a given topic and ask them to discuss and justify their choices. The teacher’s role becomes one of support — helping students find the language to express their ideas and providing feedback.
This method works especially well in smaller, more intimate classrooms with reasonably proficient students. No textbook. No handouts. No devices. Just conversation.
Of course, encouraging students to speak, even in a class with high-level students, comes with its own challenges. Teachers need to learn how to be patient when there are gaps in conversation, and how to help students express themselves in a coherent way. Luckily, there is also advice for this.
Larger Classes: Oracy and Storytelling
Of course, not all classrooms are small and discussion-ready. What about classes of 30 students or more? There are still effective low-resource options from mingles to games for students of all ages. Here are some more specific examples:
Oracy activities
Try giving groups a physical object and asking them to discuss its future version before presenting to the class (Smith et al., 2017). Students who feel uncomfortable speaking in front of the whole class often thrive in this smaller-group format.
Source: teachingenglish.org.uk (2017)
Storytelling
Ask willing students to bring in a favourite storybook from home and share it with their group — what is the story about, and why do they love it? This builds speaking skills and can spark a love of reading. There are so many post-reading activities activities that you could incorporate into your classroom as well to extend class time and give students more English practice.
Teachers can also begin class with anecdotes, poems, or jokes as a listening warm-up. This energises students and provides natural, authentic input — with no device required.
Low-Proficiency, Low-Motivation Classes: Creative Solutions
Perhaps the most challenging context is a large, homogenous class with low-proficiency students who are not motivated to speak English.
In Japan, for example, many university students no experience of conversational English classes. They have come through the yakudoku system — a grammar-translation method that prioritises reading and sentence-by-sentence translation over communication. And although this is being updated, opportunities for free conversation are minimal.
Source: Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences (2025)
Asking these students to engage in free discussion is, realistically, a stretch. But there are low-tech activities proven to work even in this context. Here are a few to consider:
- Human Likert Scale: Designate parts of the room as “Strongly Agree,” “Agree,” etc. Read statements aloud and have students physically move to show their opinion. Write useful phrases on the board. Students get moving, interact with peers, and engage with real language.
Source: Peace Learner (2010)
- Whiteboard scripts: Write a dialogue or script on the board for pronunciation practice, or leave blanks for students to insert their own ideas. This keeps things structured while still encouraging creativity.
- Dictogloss for speaking prep: Instead of printing interview questions for a mingle activity, read them aloud as a dictogloss. Students practise listening, write the questions in their notebooks, and then use them for speaking. No printing needed.
And finally, don’t underestimate your voice. How about getting students involved in a TPR session and giving them physical instructions? Aside from this, narrating parts of the lesson, telling stories, and posing hypothetical questions are all powerful forms of listening input that require no technology whatsoever. Providing models of language is one of the primary goals of teaching — and it doesn’t get more low-tech than simply speaking to the class.
Conclusion
We often hear about the need to reduce paper in the classroom or the need to reduce students’ reliance on technology. What we rarely hear about is how to do both at the same time. It is unrealistic to cut both out, and it is important to recognize that paper and technology have their own benefits. However, hopefully teachers around the world can think about ways to reorganize their classrooms so that they can utilize what we already have; our voices, our belongings and the physical space of the classroom.
Despite the enormous variety of teaching contexts that exist around the world, there are always options for teachers who want to reduce their carbon footprint. Whether you’re working with a small group of motivated learners or a large class of reluctant beginners, low-resource, low-tech teaching is not only possible — it’s educationally valuable.
What’s your experience with low-tech teaching? Have you tried any of these approaches in your classroom?
References
Donald, S. (2018) Go with the flow (Part 1 — Dogme: the dirtiest word in ELT). A Little More Action Research / Medium.
IEA (2025) Energy and AI. International Energy Agency, Paris.
Lawrence, L. (2025) Yakudoku today: Investigating the use of yakudoku in Japanese secondary schools using the COLT observation scheme. Journal of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 30(2·3), pp.1–19.
Peace Learner (2010) Human Likert Scale. Peace Learner.
Smith, R., Padwad, A. & Bullock, D. (Eds.) (2017) Teaching in low-resource classrooms: voices of experience. British Council.
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