Incorporate activities for adult ESL students to use grammar in authentic, communicative ways! 

One of the final stages of your lesson should include an applied activity that students do after the practice activities. The purpose of applied activities is to get students to apply the new language/grammar they just learned for an authentic, real-life task. They should have enough knowledge of the grammar point to use it for an open-ended, communicative task. 

It is important that the teacher gives clear guidelines on what students need to produce for the applied activity. For example, give them a length requirement and show them a model/example so they can see exactly what you expect. Below are some examples of applied activities.

1. Write and perform a dialogue/role-play

Give students a real-life scenario to write a role-play about in groups. For example, if you are teaching them about comparative and superlative adjectives, have them write a role play about planning a party. Which food would be the best to serve? Which venue is the biggest/cheapest? 

2. Write a letter or a story

If you are teaching them about the simple past verb tense and the theme of the lesson is vacation, have them write a letter to a friend about the most recent vacation they took using simple past verbs. 

3. Create a brochure or poster

Have students create a brochure or poster advertisement to sell a product of their choice. Require them to use specific grammar structures. For example, they can use conditional sentences and/or superlative adjectives to sell the product. For example, “If you use this shampoo, your hair will be so shiny!” “This shampoo has the most amazing smell.”

4. Create a timeline and present it

Timelines are a great visual aid for practicing verb tenses. For example, if you are teaching them about the present perfect verb tense, have them create a timeline of events from their life or a famous person’s life. Then they can present it using sentences in the present perfect.

Including applied activities in your ESL lessons will give students a chance to practice the new language in authentic ways. This will not only be fun and engaging, but it will give them the tools to use the language in real-life situations.

 For more tips on lesson planning, check out my post on how to write an ESL lesson plan the right way.

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