I’m considering shifting a 10-week A2–B1 course from grammar-led units to task-first modules anchored by communicative projects (e.g., a 3-minute community PSA in Week 4) with form-focused mini-lessons slotted after diagnostics. If you’ve tried this, how did you handle assessment alignment — particularly rubrics and pacing in 90-minute blocks without overwhelming lower A2 learners?
Works well if rubrics stay three-criteria; add a 12-minute ‘language lab’ mid-block for the ‘3-minute PSA’, or A2s overload.
Switched my 10-week A2–B1 to task-first last spring; a single-point rubric tied to CEFR can-dos (“message met, understandable, target move used”) kept grades aligned without slowing us down. In 90-minute blocks, I chunk the Week 4 ‘3-minute PSA’ into an at-home draft and a 15-minute in-class fix-it clinic, then only live-play 60 seconds per team and grade the rest asynchronously via Loom. Caveat: lower A2s need sentence frames printed on the rubric during diagnostics, @smorrison34.
Building on @amanda_r91, I’ve had good luck with a single-point rubric that has an A2 “meets” column and a B1 “stretch” note, so feedback stays concise but still signals progress. In 90-minute blocks I use a do–notice–redo loop: quick first attempt, micro-teach on 1–2 forms pulled from their output, then a second attempt — like interval training, it keeps A2s engaged without overload. Small caveat: if the project uses an unfamiliar genre, a short gallery walk with 4–5 annotated examples and a checklist up front keeps pacing from drifting.