by Ananda and Huyen

Main Features

• Comprehensive Content: Ready-to-use lessons, practice activities, and diagnostic tests that cover a wide range of grammar and writing topics.

• Interactive Learning: Engaging, slide-based activities that promote hands-on practice and immediate feedback.

• Automatic Feedback: Learners receive instant, specific corrections and suggestions, helping them revise in the moment.

• Teacher Dashboard: Real-time insights into student errors, progress, and mastery - great for formative assessment and personalized support.

Teacher Tips

• Align: Assign activities that match your current writing or grammar focus

• Model: Use Lesson Mode to show, discuss, and edit together

• Combine: Pair it with other tools for richer writing experiences.

Classroom Activity Ideas

• Sentence Connect A2–B1 (Teens/Adults): Use Quill Connect to combine short, simple sentences into complex ones.

• Revision Relay B1–B2 (Teens/Young Adults): After a Connect activity, groups rewrite their sentences in a relay format - fastest accurate team wins.

• Grammar Bootcamp A2–B2 (Teens/Adults): Students take the Diagnostic and complete daily Quill grammar drills, earning badges for progress.

• Proofread-a-Thon B1–B2 (Teens/Adults): Pairs compete in Proofreader activities to fix as many grammar errors as possible in 10 minutes.

• Evidence Hunt B2–C1 (Upper-intermediate/Advanced): In Reading for Evidence, students identify claims and textual support, then rewrite one paragraph with evidence.

Short description

• Students will use Quill.org’s Activity Pack: Parallel Structure to identify and produce grammatically balanced sentences, improving writing fluency and cohesion.

• (This activity is part of a larger lesson on “Improving Sentence Fluency and Variety” in an academic writing course.)

Contextualization

• • Target Age: 12+ (high school to university-level ESL/EFL learners)

  • Target Language Level: CEFR B2 (Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate)

  • Location: Classroom or computer lab (individual devices with internet access)

Lesson Aims

• Recognize and apply parallel structures in sentences and short paragraphs.

• Revise writing to ensure syntactic balance and stylistic consistency.

• Use digital feedback from Quill to monitor and self-correct grammatical errors.

CEFR Competencies

1. Production (p. 70):

Can produce connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest, showing control over sentence patterns and cohesive devices.

2. Communicative Language Competence – Linguistic (p. 132):

Demonstrates control of grammar forms and sentence-level structures to achieve coherence and emphasis.

Learning objectives (SWBATs)

• Identify examples of parallel structures in model sentences.

• Apply parallel structures when revising their own sentences.

• Evaluate and correct grammatical imbalance in sentences with digital feedback from Quill.

Preparation for the App Task Cycle

Preparation time: 10–15 minutes

Before class (teacher):

• Log into www.quill.org and preview the “Parallel Structure” Activity Pack.

• Create or import your class; assign the “Parallel Structure” activity.

• Prepare 1–2 example sentences to model before students begin.

Before class (students):

• Sign up at Quill.org and join teacher’s class code.

Materials

• App: Quill.org – Activity Pack: Parallel Structure

• Equipment: Laptops or tablets with internet access

• Handouts: One-page guide with examples of parallel structure

Brief description of each phase of task cycle

Pre-Task (10 minutes)

• Focus: Activate prior knowledge and introduce form.

• Teacher elicits examples of lists or comparisons from student writing (e.g., I like reading, to swim, and dancing → corrected to I like reading, swimming, and dancing).

• Short guided practice on board; students underline parallel elements in sample sentences.

Main Task (20 minutes)

• Students log into Quill and complete the “Parallel Structure” Activity Pack individually.

• Quill provides instant feedback on each attempt, allowing self-correction.

• Teacher monitors and notes common issues for post-task review.

• Students discuss one example of a corrected sentence with a peer.

Post-Task (15 minutes)

• Whole-class reflection: teacher projects 2–3 anonymized Quill sentences with common errors and discusses revisions.

• Students revise one paragraph from their own writing to apply parallel structure.

Getting Started

• Go to www.quill.org → click “Sign Up as a Teacher.”

• Create or import your class (from Google Classroom or manually).

• Explore the Activity Library and click “Assign Activities.”

First Steps

• • Run the Diagnostic to identify each student’s grammar and sentence-writing needs.

  • View results in your Dashboard and plan mini-lessons from common errors.

In Class

• Use Quill as a 10-minute warm-up or independent station.

• Encourage students to read feedback and retry until correct.

After Class

• Check Reports for student progress and frequent mistakes.

• Use data to support formative assessment and progress tracking.