This paper describes a qualitative study that examined the lived experience of 50 English language instructors who transitioned from in-person teaching to online instruction during the COVID pandemic of 2020. The purpose of this study focused on the contrast between systematic online English language teacher preparation and rapid migration to identify strategies that can facilitate sudden shifts in instructional contexts. The data that was collected through snowball sampling with an anonymous Qualtrics survey revealed that during this rapid transition, instructors struggled with learning the technological pedagogy skills, establishing connections with their students, implementing assessment practices, and organizing student interactions. After a description of the findings, the article concludes with implications for teacher education for online English language instruction.