One of my colleagues fell in love and spent all weekends in another town. On her way back home by train she had little time to prepare lessons for Mondays so she developed her own way of using ‘work stations’ in her lessons. And, to her surprise, with great success.

‘Work stations’ (or Station work) is just another special type of group work. One of my absolute favourites among lesson types. I have been using it for decades a couple times a month at least. It works well with all kinds of students and is a particularly good way:

• to have a different but effective, fast-pacing kind of lesson
• to change a teacher-oriented lesson into a student-oriented one
• to differentiate teaching by offering choices for the students
• to enhance social skills in the groups and let the students help each other
• to practise for a future exam

The example above implies that ‘station work’ does not need to be a burden for the teacher. It may well be based on the exercises in the workbook. We only have to organize the lesson so that we do the very same things in the groups that we would do in a teacher-oriented lesson.

Central pedagogical ideas

• A new motivation point after the transition to a new table.
• Everyone proceeds at their own pace.
• Students help each other (the social emphatic aspect).
• Teaching others is a great way to learn yourself (the internalization aspect).
• The teacher can be mobile or work in a particular group .

Essential practical advice on organizing work stations

1. The students are forced to be active and co-operate.
2. Usually 4 -5 groups, 4 – 6 students in each group
3. The desks are organized as in the photo below
4. Time in each group depends on the length of the lesson
5. First 5 min for organizing the groups, at the end 5 min for wrap up
6. Group members are randomly selected, mixed-ability groups but one student is appointed group leader
7. Each group has two sets of the same instructions on the numbered desk (this way everyone can see the written instructions)
8. There are more exercises than there is time for (and the students know it), extra tasks are available and marked with *
9. There is one extra task for all groups (for example: Ask each other the words of a particular chapter)
10. Two sets of correct answers (if there are any) are placed in an envelope on the desk.
11. Announce the change of groups 2 min beforehand, and let the students check the answers. Moving to the next table takes 30 seconds.
12. Usually the 1st group takes a bit longer and the last one is shorter.

Look at the two examples below. By all means, do not hesitate to make your own version. The 1st time may seen troublesome but once you get a hang of the things to remember you will realize this is one of the best lessons types ever. I hope to be able to add a video on a ‘work stations’ lesson at some point.

Types of tasks in each group

• 1 Listening to a recording of the chapter. In the corner of the room or with headphones on. Reading the text or part of it aloud. (See my recommendations on the structure of ordinary lessons.)
• 2 Questions on the text + answers, or explain the chapter content in own words, or tell a story related to the chapter.
• 3 Various vocabulary exercises, orally and/or written ones.
• 4 Practise the latest grammar point orally and /or in writing.
• 5 Let the students choose whatever woorkbook exercises they fancy.

• Use the same types of tasks as you intend to use in the exam itself.
• 1 A couple of dictation sentences (read by you or a student) A short reading task: done alone and checked together with justifications for the correct answers.
• 2 and 4 Tasks testing recently taught grammar points, preferrably three difficulty levels (See my recommendations on ‘differentiation’ under heading ‘Grammar’
• 3 Crossword or any other vocab task, preferrably three difficulty levels 5 Practise orally the kind of questions you wish your students to be able to answer in the exam or have oral ideas for a written essay for more advanced students .

Students really enjoy ‘station work’ lessons since they can co-operate in a relaxed atmosphere and time passes quickly away and they have options on what to focus on.