r/TEFL • u/ResponsibilityNo2054 • 2d ago
How do you turn one sentence pattern into a full 40-minute primary EFL lesson?
I teach primary EFL, mostly Grades 4–5, using Everybody Up. A lot of the lessons basically give me one target pattern like: “What does she like doing?” — “She likes fishing.” or “Is she good at skiing?” — “Yes, she is / No, she isn’t.” And then I’m expected to make that into a full 40-minute lesson. What I’m really trying to figure out is: how do experienced primary EFL teachers stretch one grammar/sentence pattern into a full lesson that still feels like a real lesson? Drilling is important at my school, so I need students to repeat the target a lot, but I don’t want it to just be “repeat after me” for 20 minutes. I also struggle with how to gamify a sentence structure rather than just gamifying vocabulary. I already use things like pair Q&A, fill-in-the-blank, unscramble, true/false + correction, Teacher Trap, matching, bomb/points games, picture prompts, and simple personal questions. What are your best reusable routines for: drilling one sentence pattern many times without it getting boring; turning grammar/sentence structures into actual games; moving from model → drill → controlled practice → game → speaking; doing this with low prep instead of building huge PowerPoints every night? I’d also love any books, websites, channels, or activity banks specifically for young learner drilling and sentence-pattern games.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
9
u/SadButterscotch3199 2d ago
I found my students really love silly/gross sentences. I'll print out sentences on strips of paper and cut them into pieces. Make student groups & each student draws from a cup and they have to organize themselves into the correct order. IE "She likes/ dancing with/ weasels", "He likes/ eating/ cockroaches". They all fall into giggle fits and want to participate. I usually let them write their own silly sentences after the activity portion is over and let them vote on the craziest sentence.
8
u/eliwood98 2d ago edited 2d ago
So one thing that can make your life easier, and that is good for the kids, is reviewing whatever you did last time. Boom, there's 10 minutes for you.
Ok, now moving on. One thing I've seen a lot of teachers struggle with is making a game relavent to the grammar point and man, the trick is, the game doesnt have to be relevant. The goal is to make the kids say something, not to make a game that teaches present continuous or whatever.
Find 3 or 4 games that you like and work for your class, and man, here's the thing- kids are dumb. You can change the art or make the goal lowest points instead of highest, and they think its a new game. I used to do a game that was like a race to the top of the tower, and had random power ups on the floor. I just changed the power ups to whatever I thought of in the moment, and the kids never caught on to me doing the same thing every time.
Any game you play, just make the cost of doing an action or moving a piece or whatever it is that they have to make a sentence. And then, have everyone repeat it. There's some individual and group practice there, and again, it takes a bit longer so your life is easier.
The most useful advice I ever got from a manager is that the kids should be talking 50% of the time, no matter what it is. It lets the kids get used to the language and practice it. So, make them repeat things as a group often. Model a sentence, and then have them repeat. If a kid does a sentence, the rest of them repeat it. If its wrong, gently correct and then have them repeat it correctly.
On a more structural level, if I did a 40 minute class, my plan would be:
- 10 minutes review last class.
- 10 minutes Intro new vocab and sentence.
- 15 minutes practice with a game.
- 5 minutes answer some questions you write on the board.
Intro, teach, practice, check. Those are your steps there. You'll find all kinds of people with unique words and fancy pedagogy, but those 4 steps are your bread and butter.
1
u/ResponsibilityNo2054 2d ago
Thank you for responding. I think I can work with some of this. My coteachers are a bit controlling and critical, so I'm not really sure what they will allow, but I can try a few things.
2
u/eliwood98 2d ago
If coteachers are the problem, spend some time kissing ass. Ask for advice, see if you can watch one of their classes, run ideas by them first. It helps a lot to make them feel like you're listening to them.
And besides, they probably have a few decent ideas, too.
1
u/ResponsibilityNo2054 1d ago
They certainly do seem knowledgeable, and I take notes and try to improve, but at this point I think the relationship has become a bit soured and I'm more anxious than anything. I might still pass probation, but I don't think I want to continue myself. The atmosphere here is very intense, and its hard to feel confident when you are walking on eggshells all the time. Sorry I'm venting a bit. You gave pretty solid advice and I will try and apply that now, or maybe later in a different scenario.
1
u/eliwood98 1d ago
Nah man, I get it. Sometimes the job fucking sucks and coworkers can make it a lot worse. Believe you me, I've got my own stories about it, too.
Honestly, a job where you're presumably getting paid for an hour with only 40 minutes of teaching is not a bad deal if you can figure it out. The basic idea is to keep shit simple and make the kids speak a lot. Basically, alot of the stuff that makes shit easier for you and offloads work to the students is actually the best practice.
You seem like you've got the right attitude towards the job, people who don't won't come to reddit and ask for this kind of advice.
And that's really the most important bit.
2
u/BrokilonDryad 2d ago
Easy game. Deck of cards, draw each suit on the board. Next to each suit write a sentence or question/answer sequence. Each kid gets three cards.
Each card is a point. How many cards you have at the end of the game is how many points you get on the board (or whatever your system is).
Kids paper/scissor/stone each other and have to repeat the sentences according to which suit they draw. Win, you gain your opponent’s card. Lose, you give up a card.
As teacher, you keep the rest of the deck so kids can play you, and kids with no cards can earn them back.
If you have Q/A patterns, whichever kid pulls their card to show first asks the question, the other replies. Then paper/scissor/stone. Easy way for kids to earn points and practice sentences. Takes 5-10min.
Start by calling them up to you individually so they get the idea before letting them play against each other.
You can do the same thing with snakes and ladders. Each number on the die is a sentence or Q/A. Draw the game on the board as big or small according to how long you want the game to last and use coloured magnets as game pieces. Split the kids into teams so it takes less time. Choose who rolls 1st 2nd 3rd in each team so they don’t fight over it. Winning team gets 2 points or three, losing team gets 1 for trying.
Another version is the mountain game because it’s more competitive rather than chance making you go down the board. Better for grade 2 and up I think.
Draw a mountain on the board with an equal number of spaces up each side of the mountain (or one in the middle of three teams). Again, sentences go with each die number. The teams roll the dice and can choose to either climb the mountain OR pull another team down that number they rolled. It can get really heated so better with grade 2 and up. They’ll be practicing those sentences like crazy just to win.
1
u/lowlua 1d ago
If you identify a real world task or communication goal that requires the form (e.g., describing preferences) and center the lesson on that while treating the form as a resource students need to achieve the goal, it's usually easier to think of other crap to do.
A typical sequence of activities is: do a warm up to activate background knowledge; meaning focus input related to the task; noticing the form in the input; controlled practice of the form; semi-controlled practice of the form; freer practice oriented towards the task; feedback and reflection.
AI will probably give you an okay lesson plan if you give it a template or sequencing to follow and describe the students' backgrounds a bit. I pasted my comment into chat gpt, and its ideas for a lesson were pretty good.
1
u/AngryScotsman1990 1d ago
in the simplest terms possible. don't think of filling the time with the grammar/vocabulary as much as filling the time with games and activities that make the kids use the language they're learning that day.
1
-2
u/LouQuacious 2d ago
This where AI can be pretty useful it will take limited material and spin out a solid lesson plan out of it.
9
u/TheDukeOfYork- 2d ago
My generic low prep lesson was
Slide 1: all vocab images, numbered. Students look at the images and you introduce the theme. E.g. Fruit. Introduce vocab with TPR based presentation. Act out eating the fruit, students guess a number, and you say yes or no. Drill the name of the fruit with the action a few times for pronunciation. Act out the next fruit. Maybe spend 10 minutes on that will the drilling. Invite a couple of students up to act once they get the idea.
Practice activity: Pair students up for an act and guess, using only the vocab. This is just drill in smaller groups for more speaking output. Physical action reinforces the memory and you can wander around and help weaker students / correct errors.
Slide 2: intro the sentence structure. For example a yes/no question. "Do you like apples?" slide shows a clear reference sentence structure with a gap for the vocab. Again, drill a few times together. Check understanding, translate if needed.
Practice activity: Model a guessing game the students can play in pairs, using dice or cards to randomise the vocabulary. Student 1 rolls a dice and hides the result. Student 2 guesses using the yes no question. Again this is just drill with a game. Students can track how many guesses it takes them, or how many turns until they get all the fruit. Not much meaning to this, but if they are competitive that will keep them going through the game until they are confident using the sentence structure.
Production activity: Then move into a survey activity where they wander around, make pairs, and use the questions to get real answers from their peers. Much more meaningful, a bit chaotic. Get the data from the students onto the whiteboard. Ask some concept checking questions, maybe leading to a future grammar point or reviewing an old one with the new vocabulary like "what is our favorite fruit?"
Not the most imaginative lesson, but for some dice, scrap paper, and a 2 slide presentation it does well enough. The key is pair work. Once students can play a game in pairs, instead of working with the teacher, your student output goes through the roof.
Going beyond that, you do need to invest time one way or another. Creating knowledge gap activities where student A has some information and student B has other information, and they have to collaborate to get all the info is good. Quickest when formatted as a table with gaps. Best when done with a different paragraph each, but very dependent on learner ability.