An English teacher's portfolio: how I prepare, how I explain, how I use Padlet, and how I check that students actually learned.
Green: English. Amber: Arabic. These are my working guidelines, not fixed rules. I use Arabic for short contrast points ("Arabic does it this way, English does it that way") and never for instructions students can understand from a demo.
Beginners learn to order a drink politely and answer "Anything else?" without freezing.
I do: Show a photo of an empty cup. Pairs talk for one minute.
"Tell your partner: what did you drink today, and where?"
Why: it wakes up the vocabulary they already own, with no pressure to be correct.
I do: Act the café scene with a volunteer twice. First I say "Coffee." Then "Hi! Can I have a coffee, please?" Students vote.
"Same order, two customers. Which one would you serve first?"
Then: I write the two chunks on the board and drill them by building from the end of the sentence: "…please" then "…a coffee, please" then the full question.
I do: Hand out menu and role cards. Students swap roles twice. I walk around and write three errors on slips, without correcting mid-sentence.
Why: stopping a beginner mid-sentence kills confidence. I collect the errors and teach them to everyone later.
Students do: Post a card in "My order" with a photo of their drink and the sentence they said. Then react to a partner's card in "Polite or too direct?"
I do: Show three anonymous errors from my slips. The class fixes them together. At the door, each student orders a drink from me in one sentence.
"Last one. I'm the barista. What would you like?"
The exit ticket is a clear yes or no: did the student produce a polite order without help? I log it per student and open the next lesson by re-ordering with the three students who struggled.
Intermediate learners use the present perfect for life experiences, then switch to the past simple for the details.
I do: I say three sentences: "I've never seen snow." "I've met a famous footballer." "I've been to Turkey." Students vote on the lie.
"Talk to your partner. Which one is the lie, and how do you know?"
Why: the grammar appears naturally before I name it.
I do: Write "I lost my keys" and "I've lost my keys" on the board. Draw a timeline with NOW at the end. Ask students to explain the difference.
Then: Show the form: have/has + past participle. Students sort the participle list into regular, same as past, and different.
Students do: Mingle with the sheet. For every "yes" they must ask one follow-up in the past simple: "When did you do it?" I listen for the switch from present perfect to past simple.
Students do: Drop a pin on a place they've visited. Write: "I've been to ___. I went there in ___." Then read a partner's pin and ask two questions.
I do: Three anonymous errors on the board, fixed together. Exit ticket on a slip: one "Have you ever…?" question and one true answer with a detail.
I read the exit slips and sort them into three piles: correct, almost, and not yet. The "not yet" pile decides who I check first in the next lesson.
Upper-intermediate learners control tone: firm without being rude, polite without being vague.
Students do: Read the "too angry" and "effective" emails side by side and vote.
"Imagine you work in customer service. Which email do you want to reply to first, and why?"
Students do: Highlight problem in one colour, request in another, softeners in a third. I collect the softeners on the board: Unfortunately… / I was disappointed to find… / I would be grateful if you could…
Students do: On mini whiteboards, rewrite three blunt sentences politely. Pairs hold them up. I choose two to discuss.
Why: fast, visible feedback before they write alone.
Students do: Write 80 to 100 words alone. I circulate and ask questions instead of correcting: "Where is your request?"
Students do: Post the draft. Each student leaves comments on two classmates' emails: two stars (what works) and one wish (one change).
Students do: Check their email against the rubric and fix one thing. I collect the final version for the next lesson.
I compare the first draft with the final version for each student. If the request is clear and the tone is polite in the final version, the lesson worked. If not, the next lesson starts with a mini whiteboard round.