Episode Forty-three

Practice Activities

Show Notes

Tune in to this week's episode to learn more about practice activities for the ESL lesson. Let's start with a quick refresher of the difference between controlled and freer practice as well as which types of lessons require "practice" to begin with. From there, you'll learn about how to find and acquire useful practice activities plus ideas for using them in your virtual or in-person classroom.


In this Episode

-A review of the difference between systems and skills, and why this matters when determining whether your lesson truly needs practice activities.

-The difference between controlled and freer practice and the aim of each.

-Finding practice activities:

1. The course book 

  • finding activities in the individual units 

  • adapting the same activities for different grammar points (an example with “find someone who”)

2. The teacher’s book

  • extra activities included here (communicative activities and others) 

  3. Course book websites

4. Websites 

  •  the pros and cons of seeking out additional activities on various ELT websites

5. Other teachers’ lessons  

  • stealing and adapting ideas (this is a good thing!)

  • Observing your colleagues’ lessons

6. The Lesson Plan Library

7. The Online English Teacher program


Do you have any practice activities you love or questions about this episode? Leave a comment below!