Teach english new edition r

debate 
or a 
role-play, 
a prolonged Internet-based search
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Chapter 4
or a piece of extended writing take a lot of tim e and so, in one lesson, teachers may not 
want to interrupt the flow of activation with a study stage. But they may want to use the 
exercise as a basis for study (perhaps in a different lesson). The same m ight be true of an 
extended study period where chances for activation are few. But, in both these cases, the 
only lim itation is time. The missing elements will appear at some other time.
The m ajority of teaching and learning at lower levels is not made up of such long 
activities, however. Instead, it is far more likely that there will be more than one ESA 
sequence in a given lesson sequence or period.
ESA lesson sequences
Just because the three elements of ESA need to be present in lesson sequences, this does not 
mean that they should always occur in the same order. In the first place, the order is b ound 
to change depending on what we want to achieve. If we are running a task-based lesson, the 
study event may well come after activation. On the other hand, if we are introducing a piece 
of grammar, we may study the language first before the students are asked to try to use it.
Secondly, there is a danger that if we always do things in the same order, students will 
become bored; predictability can diminish students’ enthusiasm and motivation - and 
ours, as teachers, too.
Many different teaching sequences (using the ESA elements in a num ber of different 
ways) are possible. We can look at just three possibilities to sense how varied the sequences 
can be.
One type of teaching sequence takes students in a straight line and, as a result, is called 
straight arrows: 
first the teacher gets the class interested and engaged; then they study 
something; then they try to activate it by putting it into production. Here is an example of 
such a sequence designed for elementary-level students to teach ‘can’ and ‘can’t ’: