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Session 3. Offline and Low-Bandwidth Routes
Objective. Offer the same pre-class input in at least three routes (print, audio or TV, school time), prepare a one-page printed pre-reading, and run a short private access check.
When Uzbekistan's schools closed in 2020, the Ministry chose broadcast TV for lessons because almost every home could receive it, while a third of the population had no internet at all. Your classroom today faces a smaller version of the same problem: whatever you send home, some pupils cannot open. This session shows how to keep the class task the same and offer several roads to the input, so that no pupil is excluded by a phone, a data plan or the time of the evening.
Key ideas
One input, many routes
- The class task never changes. What changes is the road to the input: a printed page, a TV or radio lesson where one is broadcast, an audio or small video in a Telegram channel, 10 minutes in school, or a friend who shares.
- Offer at least three routes and let pupils choose. The pupil with no internet then does the same work as the pupil with a phone.
- During the 2020 school closures Uzbekistan used TV lessons because nearly every household could receive TV. Check what lessons your region broadcasts now before you rely on them.
The one-page printed pre-reading
- One A4 page: the key idea in plain words, one worked example or picture, three key words and a small try-it box. At the bottom, the bring-back question with a space to write.
- Use large print and short sentences, in the language of instruction. Keep a master copy and photocopy on a fixed day, for example Friday, one per pupil or one per pair.
- Add a printed page to every pack, even for pupils with phones. It is the safety net when a phone fails or is shared.
Low-bandwidth digital routes
- Prefer small files: text, a photo of the printed page or a short audio of 3 to 5 minutes. A short audio is usually much smaller than a video and still carries a clear explanation.
- Post once a week in a one-way Telegram channel at a fixed time. Pupils can download at school Wi-Fi, share with a friend or listen on a shared family phone at a set hour.
- Never ask pupils to buy data. If a route costs money, it is not an equal route.
The access audit
- Ask four things, privately: a device (own or shared), data, time in the evening, and a quiet place. A paper slip with ticks is enough; names stay off the board.
- Group the answers into routes, not into labels. 'Print plus school time' is a plan; 'poor pupils' is a label.
- Repeat the audit every month: families' situations change, especially in cotton harvest weeks when older pupils work.
Three routes to the same input
Printed page
Most reliable
- Needs paper and a copier
- Works with no internet
- Check print size
Audio or TV
Where available
- Needs a phone or TV
- 3 to 5 minutes is enough
- Shared devices, set hour
School time
For pupils with no device
- Needs a room and 10 minutes
- Library or before lesson 1
- Check bus times
Designing the printed page well
A printed page is the most reliable route because it needs no device, no data and no charged battery. Keep it to one A4 page, with the instruction at the top, the key idea in short sentences, one example or a simple drawing, three key words and a box for the bring-back question. Print large enough to read comfortably in a poorly lit room.
Copies cost money, so plan: one per pair halves the cost, and a set kept in a class folder can be reused next year if the question box is a separate slip. Print on a fixed day every week so that pupils and parents know when to expect it.
Routes that cost nothing and label no one
A route should never cost a family money, and it should not make a pupil say 'I am poor' in front of others. Collect the access information on a private tick slip, then offer the same routes to everybody and let pupils choose. A one-way Telegram channel, an audio saved at school Wi-Fi and passed on by Bluetooth, a ten-minute slot before the first lesson, and a printed page are all easy for you to run.
Experience from other countries shows the limits of broadcast routes: one household device is often shared between siblings in different grades, and keeping families engaged over weeks is hard. So keep inputs short and flexible in time, and check what your region actually broadcasts before you rely on it.
Examples from the classroom
Dilnoza's three roads
Scene. In Dilnoza's Samarkand-region school, only 6 of 35 families have steady internet. She prints 18 pages for pairs every Friday, posts a 3-minute audio in a class Telegram channel, and opens the library for 10 minutes on Monday before the first lesson. All pupils bring the same bring-back question on Monday.
Insight. One input offered by print, audio and school time lets every pupil do the same task.
Jasur and the TV question
Scene. Jasur teaches Grade 7 history in Bukhara. Before using TV as a route he checks whether his region broadcasts lessons for Grade 7 history in the weeks of his unit. It does not, so he keeps the printed page and audio. He decides to add TV only when a lesson on the right topic is really on the schedule.
Insight. Check what is available before you rely on it; the printed page is always the safety net.
Malika's access slip
Scene. Malika asks each Grade 6 pupil in Tashkent to tick four boxes on a paper slip: device, data, evening time, quiet place. She tells the class that no names will be read out. The tally shows 9 pupils with steady data, 7 on a shared phone and 8 with only TV and print. She plans routes for each group.
Insight. A private access check turns guesses into a plan without labelling any pupil.
Common pitfalls
- Sending one video link and counting absent pupils as 'did not prepare'.
- Asking pupils to say aloud in front of the class that they have no phone or internet.
- Using a route that costs families money, such as buying data.
- Relying on a TV or radio schedule without checking that it covers your grade and topic.
Same Input, Three Routes
- Read the SAMPLE class access tally in the Kit: 34 pupils in Grade 6, five situations, and the sample input text on the Silk Road in Samarkand.
- Pairs (15 min): choose a route (or two) for each of the five groups and fill the route plan. Check that no route costs the family money.
- Pairs (10 min): turn the sample text into a one-page printed pre-reading: shorten to about 120 words, add a try-it box and a bring-back question.
- Groups (10 min): swap with another pair. Ask: could a pupil with no phone and no TV do the same work as a pupil with a phone? One comment each way.
- Alone (5 min): write your classroom action task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which group was hardest to reach, and what route did you choose?
- How would you find out these facts about your own class without embarrassing any family?
- What did you cut from the text to fit one page, and what did you keep?
Reflect
- Which of your pupils would be left out if you sent only a video link?
- Where in your school could a 10-minute pre-class slot happen?
- Who could help you copy one page for every pair each week?
Try it tomorrow
- Run a private four-tick access slip with your class and count the answers into groups.
- Turn your next input into a one-page printed pre-reading and copy it for every pair.
- Offer one extra route (a 3-minute audio or a 10-minute school slot) and tally which routes pupils used.
Further reading and links
Keep the class task the same and offer several roads to the input: print, audio or TV, and school time. Never make a route that costs the family money.