FREE PRACTICE

Stage 7 of 7 — Free Practice

Time: 28 minutes
Source: SB p. 5, Communication Activator B adapted; changed-partner transfer task. Reserve the one-page biography/project for another route.
Interaction: Changed pairs → changed pairs → groups of three → individual retrieval log

Round 1 — Retell a partner’s background

Students form new pairs and present the first partner’s background. The listener asks questions to check:

• Is the sequence clear?
• What happened first?
• What was already happening?
• What influenced the person’s present goal?

Round 2 — Personal or invented transfer

Students discuss: How did one past experience influence your present career or study plans? Use minimal guidance. The target-language requirements belong mainly in the teacher checklist; do not turn this into another controlled drill.

Round 3 — Concise triad account

In groups of three, each student gives a short background → turning point → present plan account. Peers respond with one genuine content question and one helpful language recast.

Close the instructional sequence

1. Each student says one expression or form they need to retrieve on Wednesday.
2. Students record it in their personal error/retrieval log.
3. Give no more than two or three anonymous delayed-feedback points under: Message worked / Try this form / Retrieve next class.

Feedback policy

• Do not interrupt every error while students are communicating.
• Intervene immediately only when meaning breaks down or the target form cannot be recovered.
• Use brief recasts and clarification questions.
• Record individual priorities on the observation checklist.

If time is lost

Cut public reporting, duplicate book items or an optional replay first. Do not remove Free Practice completely. Preserve at least two rounds of genuine transfer.

Success evidence before students leave

• at least three background questions;
• two different past-time relationships;
• one past perfect or past perfect continuous form produced or self-corrected;
• a comprehensible partner summary;
• one recorded retrieval priority.

Planned balance: 26 minutes student talk / 2 minutes teacher talk.

Class instructional total: 105 minutes — 84 student talk / 12 teacher talk / 9 listening, setup and transition.

Central outcome: spoken control of backgrounds and past-time relationships, not page completion.