In this paper I seek to lay out how I jumped online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools abruptly closed, how I processed the flood of new technologies that availed themselves to teachers, and how I developed a teaching method that was manageable, adopting a new approach for putting students at the center of learning their second language. Faced with the problems of reduced connectedness and immersiveness, the model of the class needed to be modified. Using new evaluative techniques better suited for elearning, and adjusting the presentation of class content based on principals of cognitive load and universal design theory, I sought to give my students an experience akin to being in an in-person ESL classroom - one that required their input and collaboration.