The first stage of ESA, engage, must be followed before you can teach using the activate stage. This simply means that instructors will try to interest students in learning the language and get them emotionally involved. They may play games or show videos to make them curious and desire to learn more. They will then implement the study stage, which teaches students specific details about English. From the sounds letters make to reading texts, teachers must help students to understand how the language works before they can be introduced to the activate stage.
Activate, the third and final stage of the ESA teaching method, is what will ultimately help students retain and gain confidence in their English proficiency. This stage involves doing activities that encourage students to use all that they know to attempt communicating in English for themselves. Instead of focusing on a particular rule or pattern, students get to participate in and understand real-life scenarios that may arise once they are on their own. The great thing about activate and the other stages of ESA is that it can be used each class session rather than at the end of the year or semester.
Children and young students are often fascinated with technology. Thus, using a cell phone as an example can keep their attention while showing the different ways to communicate questions and needs. For example, divide your class into groups and assign different sentences for them to role-play with and correctly speak about using another person's phone. These sentences will be similar but have completely different meanings. "May I use your phone?," "Should I use your phone?," "Can I use your phone?," "I need to use your phone," and "I've got to use your phone," are some that have different meanings to native English speakers. Explain when the use of each is appropriate and encourage them to think of corresponding scenarios.
Some adults may be afraid of or embarrassed of their English abilities, while others may feel confident or be naturally bold. Either way, you want to get them to produce the English for themselves since telling them how to do it will not help them when you are no longer around. Having them communicate about simple tasks at their jobs or in their homes can give them the confidence to create their own sentences without needing to ask for a translation. It is especially important to teach them to understand and correctly use modal verbs, such as "may," "might," "must" and "can."