This autoethnographic work explores how four university English teachers in Oman approached rapport-building with students during Emergency Remote Teaching. Based on an analysis of the researcher’s personal teaching experiences as well as interviews with three colleagues, the findings revealed that the absence of face-to-face communication compelled these teachers to adopt alternative rapport-building strategies, such as interacting via email, listening to students during synchronous classes, being friendly and using humour. The teachers failed, however, to find ways to implement some key elements of rapport-building, such as recognising students, giving praise and providing intervention when needed. Cultural, institutional and technical difficulties hampered their concerted efforts to build interpersonal relationships with students.