Introduction. The article deals with the actual issue of planning online foreign language lessons at higher schools in the condition of distant education. Also there are given the main principles of this type of education. They are: flexibility, asynchrony and sociality. The analysis of contemporary researches on this topic is carried out as well. The aim of the article is to describe an effective online foreign language lesson using the distant and communicative technologies.

Materials and methods. The main method is the analysis of scientific literature concerning communicative and distant technologies in education. The other method is observing the activity of students during such lessons. The theoretical basis of the study is scientific works on communication technologies in education and the features of distance learning at the university. By description, we mean the presentation of our version of a distance lesson in a foreign language. The practical material of the study was tested in the classroom with students of the Faculty of Training Primary School Teachers of the South-Ural state Humanities-Pedagogical University.

Results. It is worked out the plan of a foreign language lesson at higher school using communicative and distant technologies. There listed the options for conducting different stages of the lesson, depending on the technical capabilities of the teacher and the level of students' foreign language proficiency. Also there stated the recommendations for teacher how to increase the effectiveness of online lessons.

Discussion. The effectiveness of the use of distance and communication technologies in a foreign language class at a university depends on the correspondence of the educational material to the interests of students and on the competent planning of the lesson as a whole. The physical disconnection of students is not the reason for the deterioration of their speech skills. On the contrary, this factor can help students overcome the language barrier.

Conclusion. It is concluded that the key to successful distance learning in a foreign language at a university is the competent use of speech tasks and the division of students into pairs or groups depending on their level of foreign language proficiency. Also it is important for a teacher to control the students unobtrusively, observe their work, direct their train of thought and correct their errors.

It is defined the main principles of distant education in general and at teaching a foreign language at higher pedagogical school;

It is worked out a plan of an online lesson allowing future teachers to improve their communication skills in a foreign language;

Recommendations for teachers are stated.

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