Just a quick one! Nothing groundbreaking here, ha!
We used ‘Smart Starts’ at my last school. They called it a ‘Do It Now!’ which I thought was intense…
Anyway, it was basically a retrieval task which the learners could get going with straight away at the start of class. We used them in EAL support slots too, mostly just vocab retrieval.
This was my preferred format – familiar I’m sure!
Around assessment time you could give the learners blank copies of these grids. They choose a subject, create their own ‘Name 3…’ statements, and you can use the student-generated resources for Smart Starts (or a longer activity, pinpointing topics to review?). Print on A3, laminate, create a reusable ‘challenge bank’ in the class. Also a good filler/stirrer.
Another example from Maths of a different Smart Start we used (shapes topic):
What Smart Starts do you use in EAL? Which ones work well?
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Categories: Lesson Ideas, vocabulary
ELT Planning 
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