Nine activity types. Each one belongs to a particular moment in a lesson — this page is about which moment.
Nothing to answer. These put something in front of the class and keep the lesson moving.
A countdown everyone can see.
Give a task a clear edge: two minutes to prepare an answer, five to write, one to think before speaking. Works just as well for breaks and for “you have thirty seconds left”.
Why it helps: Students stop asking how long they have left, which is most of the interruptions gone.
A task, a question or a picture, kept on screen.
Speaking practice, a writing task, a discussion question, instructions for pair work — anything you would otherwise repeat three times.
Why it helps: You can attach an image — a photo to describe, a diagram, a piece of text. It is drawn into your video too.
Chooses who is next.
When the same three people keep answering and the rest have gone quiet. Also good for handing out roles and turns.
Why it helps: Take the decision out of your hands and the quiet students stop being skippable.
The three that answer “did that land?” — from a soft temperature check to a scored question.
Clear · Not sure · Need help.
After an explanation, before you move on. It is the lowest-effort question in the set and the one you will reach for most.
Why it helps: Three “Need help” out of eight is a reason to go again — and you would never have got that from “any questions?”.
Your question, your options, results as they arrive.
Opinions, preferences, predictions, a vote on what to do next — anything where you want the room’s answer rather than one student’s.
Why it helps: A poll at the start of a topic — “what do you think this means?” — is a better warm-up than a recap.
Multiple choice with a correct answer and points.
Checking that something was actually learned: vocabulary, rules, facts, a worked example. No separate quiz platform, no link to send.
Why it helps: Close the question, reveal, then explain the wrong option that most people picked. That is the teaching moment.
Written answers, from the whole class at once, instead of from whoever speaks first.
A short written answer from each student.
When you want production rather than recognition: use the new word in a sentence, explain the rule in your own words, give an example.
Why it helps: Eight sentences at once tells you more about a class than eight minutes of nominating people.
The last question of the lesson.
The final two minutes: what stuck, what did not, what to start with next time. It can take a written answer or a rating.
Why it helps: The cheapest lesson planning there is: your next lesson’s starting point, written by the class.
For practice that benefits from a bit of competition.
Points for students or for teams.
Review games, vocabulary races, anything where a running total keeps the energy up. It works alongside the quiz points or entirely on its own.
Why it helps: Team mode takes the sting out of it — a weaker student pulling their team up beats being bottom of a personal list.
Answers stay open until you close them. You can add a time allowance so the class can see how long they have — it is shown on the board and changes nothing else. Nothing closes behind your back.
Every widget you build stays in your library and can be dropped into any lesson. You can also start one on the spot, mid-lesson, when a question comes up that you did not plan for.
Answers are attached to the session, so after the lesson you can read what each student wrote and chose without keeping notes during it.
New accounts arrive with ready-made activities and a first lesson, so your first session is a matter of pressing start rather than building something from nothing.