Explaining why you are doing something should not lessen the act of doing it. It is unlikely this was explained in the syllabus and they are unlikely to have been taught the theories of teaching English Literature.
Another Canadian here. Today I transfer funds to friends and coworkers by emailing them an Interact e-transfer from my bank app which they can deposit directly into their account. Interact is our Debit Card network. I also used tap-to-pay for lots of stuff (we all have chip-and-pin here). I bought some cheques while searching for an apartment so I could pay rent in the future. I found a property company that does pre-authorized payments. I still have all my cheques.
Explaining why you are doing something should not lessen the act of doing it. It is unlikely this was explained in the syllabus and they are unlikely to have been taught the theories of teaching English Literature.