Extension activities for online lessons

While planning a lesson, teachers should prepare some activities that extend the learning of the lesson as it’s better not to start a new activity with less than five or six minutes left in the lesson. If you run out of things to do five minutes before the end of class, an extension task, a further activity around the aims of a class, is a saver. It can provide more, or different, forms of practice.

Here are some activities that can be used in online lessons.

For kids:

• Write new words with mistakes in the chat. Others try to correct them.
• Draw a picture of the topic of the lesson/vocabulary on a piece of paper. Show a part of it on camera. Others should guess what it is. 
• Choose one aspect of today’s lesson and draw a comic strip with examples. 
• Find and show something at home connected to the topic of the lesson. 
• Sing a song from the lesson (previous lessons). 
• Stand up and do some stretching/movements (e.g.” head, shoulders, knees and toes).

For teenagers:

• Write in the chat what you’ve learnt new about your groupmates. 
• Write three things you learned today. 
• Write an Instagram* post summarising today’s lesson. 
• Do a hashtag # search for the lesson topic and read what people are saying about it. 
• Take a photo of something you did this lesson and write a caption. 
• Find a youtube video about the topic of the lesson. 
• Do a little research and find 3 new facts/ 5 new words connected with the topic of the lesson. 
• In pairs, write a set of quiz questions related to the lesson (vocabulary, grammar, general knowledge, etc). Share with another pair. 
• Prepare a brief report on the most important or interesting things that have been learnt/discussed.

For adults:

• Write down in chat as many words from the lesson as you can. (Students shouldn’t repeat each other’s words). 
• Write 5 “Find someone who…” sentences. Then ask questions to other students who are ready. 
• Write questions using new grammar or vocabulary. Ask your partner. 
• Listen and spot what has changed. (If you have studied a reading/listening text, ask students to put away the text and then read it aloud but with ten differences). 
• Create a mind map with new vocabulary from the lesson. 
• Create a word bank to talk about the topic of the lesson. 
• Find a podcast/TEDtalk connected to the topic of the lesson. 
• Read and retell today’s news (https://www.newsinlevels.com/). 

What are your favourite extension activities? 

Мария Цедрик