The activities are mainly designed for IEP students in Structure and Compisiton classes, level 4. They are based on the first chapter of the textbook that is used in the classroom, namely Looking Ahead 3, by Elizabeth Byleen. I also used an additional textbook on idioms, Essential Idioms in English, by Robert Dixson. The main foci of these activities are grammar and vocabulary features that I identified in the textbook and that the students will likely benefit from for their academic writing. Designed with Hot Potatoes, these activities purport to suplement that Structure and Composition textbook, with the purpose of helping students to be better writers. 

        Based on the two foci, I have divided the activities into two major sections. Section 1 includes only grammar activities and section 2 vocabulary activities. The purpose for arranging the activities that way is to allow learners to easily move from one focus to the other. 

Section I: Grammar Activities

This section is made of eight activities, numbered 1 through 8. There are four multiple choice, two matching, one fill-in-the-blank, and one short-answer question.

Activity 1 is about question formation. This activity gives the students an opportunity to practice on forming questions. Knowing how to ask a question is a very important grammar feature that students need to have acceptable control of. In academic settings, as well as in real life, questioning is an important part of interaction, either oral or written.

Activity 2 is about prepositions. Preposition is an area where ESL/EFL students have the most difficulty with. And because of the multiplicity of rules governing prepositions, it is important that  students practice as much as they can.

Activity 3 is about verb form. This is another area where ESL/EFL students encounter a lot of difficulties. Students often omit the inflections to the verbs when the pronoun changes, especially when it is the third personal pronoun. By dint of practicing on verb forms, students can get better control of them.

Activity 4 is about verb tense. This might not be a major problem for many ESL/EFL students. However, because of its importance in writing, more practice seems a plus. When not appropriately used, tenses can sometimes affect the meaning of a message.

Activity 5 deals with adverbial clauses. Adverbial clauses are often used to make complex sentences. Considering the level of the students and their near goal (entering college), building complex sentences seems an important feature not to be neglected. Students should be trained to produce more and more sophisticated writings.

Activity 6 is a practice on articles and determiners. Most ESL/EFL teachers acknowledge that articles and determiners are very complex and troublesome to students. For this reason, only practice can pay off.

Activity 7 is about sentence types. Based on what is said in activity 5 above, it seems relevant that students get familiar with different types of sentences that they will have to produce to make their writing sophisticated. 

Activity 8 deals with grammar terminologies. As we expect to have a better grasp of the grammar, it goes without saying that we have to know the grammar terms. Knowing grammar terms constitute a part of grammar competence. For example, if a teacher points out to a students that a preposition is missing somewhere, that student need to know what a preposition is before venturing any correction.

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Section II: Vocabulary activities

This section is made of 7 activities and numbered 1 through 7. There are four fill-in-the-blanks, one multiple choice, one matching, and one crossword puzzle. The main purpose for designing vocabulary activities is that in order for students to become better writers, they need to have a very extended vocabulary repertoire.

Activity 1 through 3 are all based on vocabulary words that are considered academic. Actually, all the words used in this section are academic in essence, but have other specifications. 

Activity 4 and 5 are about idioms. Idioms play a determining role in languages. They are used in every settings and every language skills. And because their meaning is not obvious from their components, students need to do a lot of practice on them so as to gain some control of them.

Activity 6 is about phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs often function like idioms. Besides, some of them are included in Activity 4 and 5. Phrasal verbs cause trouble to students because of the particles that follow them and which often alter the meaning of the verb. It is only by practicing on them regularly that students will better manage their use.

Activity 7 is a practice on word family. According to experts in vocabulary teaching and learning, a good way of learning new words is to learn, along with that word, the other members of the family (adjective, adverb, noun, etc.). Knowing all the "brothers" and "sisters" of new words, students can better make use of them in contexts.
 

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