Bringing Twygs to life: PACE based lessons in an adult ESL classroom

Erica Harris
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:57:34 PDT

English grammar is a daunting subject for language learners and teachers alike. Traditionally, grammar is taught in an explicit manner in a teacher-fronted classroom. Rules are given and explained to students, who then practice with drills and example problems. As an alternative approach to teaching grammar, this project incorporates the PACE model (Presentation, Attention, Co-Construction, Extension) and task-based language teaching (TBLT). This method of teaching is a departure from traditional explicit-style teaching, and focuses more on the learner's role in the classroom than on the teacher's role. The PACE model uses stories to teach grammar, in this case English prepositions. Over the course of three weeks, a series of story-based lessons along with mini tasks were administered to a small academic writing class of adult ESL students. In addition to focusing on prepositions, the lessons were designed to allow practice for several other grammatical features appropriate to an academic writing class. The incorporation of PACE and task based activities showed that learners were able to understand the prepositions and use them appropriately in an original writing task.