Free Authentic Assessment Starter Pack #2 for Language Teachers

📚 Overview

This second starter pack builds on the Authentic Assessment series with four fresh scenarios that place students in realistic social situations. Each task asks students to produce and interact in the target language through a mix of written and spoken activities, from texting a friend to planning a holiday itinerary.

The scenarios progress naturally through everyday experiences: starting at a new school, welcoming a visiting student, choosing a vacation rental, and organising a farewell party. Students practise introducing themselves, describing routines, giving opinions, writing invitations, and navigating transactional conversations like shopping at a grocery store.

Designed for Year 3-9 and adaptable to any target language, every task is supported by EP resources to scaffold the learning journey.

✅ This starter pack provides:

• Starting School scenario (4 parts) – Students text a friend about their first day, fill out a student profile, introduce themselves to a class, and help a newer student settle in, covering written and spoken production and interaction
• Hosting a Student scenario (3 parts) – Students create a video introduction of their family, write about their daily routine and household responsibilities, and send a text message with plans for a night out
• Selecting a Vacation Rental scenario (3 parts) – Students discuss and compare rental properties with an exchange student, describe their home and local area to visiting family, and create a weather-aware activity itinerary
• Throwing a Party scenario (3 parts) – Students design an event invitation with key details, discuss food preferences and share a recipe, and role-play buying missing ingredients at a grocery store
• Balanced skill coverage – Each scenario deliberately mixes written production, written interaction, spoken production, and spoken interaction so students are assessed across all four communication modes
• Adaptable placeholders – Target language and country fields are left open so tasks work seamlessly across any language programme

🧑‍🏫 Teaching Tips

• Pair scenarios across packs: Combine a scenario from Starter Pack #1 with one from #2 to create a richer assessment portfolio that covers a wider range of language functions.
• Lean into the text message tasks: The texting format in “Starting School” and “Hosting a Student” feels natural to students and lowers the stakes for written interaction. It’s a great entry point for less confident writers.
• Localise the scenarios: Encourage students to use real places, actual bus routes, or genuine local restaurants when completing tasks like the vacation itinerary or party planning. The more personal, the more authentic.
• Use the video tasks for self-assessment: Have students watch back their own video introductions and identify one strength and one area to improve before submitting.
• Extend the grocery store role-play: Add a complication like an item being out of stock to push students into unscripted problem-solving in the target language.