7 Best Ways to End a Lesson (from Busy Teacher)

7 effective ways to end a lesson – because those last minutes matter!

What have you learned today?

The best way to end a lesson is to give students some kind of review activity, so that they may see the progress they've made in just one lesson. One of the most common and easiest to implement is simply taking the last 5 minutes of class to ask your students, “What have you learned today?” Notice, here, that you’re not the one telling them what they’ve learned. They may give you a list of new words, or say they learned to speak about what they did in the past or what they will do in the future, etc... Students may pick up something they missed earlier. Also, it's important to speak in functional ways, for example not say they learned to use the “simple present” but rather that they learned to speak about their habits, schedules, and everyday activities.

Performance correction and feedback

Right before the last 5 minutes of class you can have some sort of performance activity, for instance a role play. Students may also give their opinion or feedback on their classmates’ performance.

60 seconds

Choose a few students and give each 60 seconds to speak about something you’ve covered that day: what they did yesterday if you worked on simple past; talk about Halloween, professions, or animals; older learners may even give a “how to” lesson; they may also summarize a story they heard, or place themselves in another person’s shoes, like a celebrity, profession, or even animal. But they must speak for a full minute. To motivate students to speak, you may choose to reward the student who says the most, or includes the most information, with a reward sticker.

Write an email

Ask students to imagine they have to write an email to a friend or family member and tell them what they did today. Students have a chance to summarize what they’ve learned in written form. 

Say goodbye

For very young learners the best way to wrap up a lesson is with a goodbye song or saying goodbye to a puppet. The puppet may “ask” them questions about something they learned, and even give them a short “review” by asking, “What’s this?” or “What’s that?” or any other question or expression they may have learned. 

Tidying up

After a special holiday class, or right after a lesson packed with arts and crafts, ask students to help you tidy up the classroom. 

Sharing with the class

Another great way to end your class is by asking your students to share whatever it is that you worked on that day: a fall collage; a painting; they may read something they’ve written. The important thing here is to give them a space to share something they've produced with the language elements they've learned. Even adult learners may read a letter or email they’ve written.

You can do anything you want to wrap up your lesson and be as creative as you want to be.

However, it is essential that you provide these three things:

• a time for students to cool down after an activity-filled class
• some sort of review of what they’ve learned
• the proper closure to the day’s tasks

Keep these three essential points in mind, and you’ll come up with great, effective ways to end your lessons every time!