DrillKit is an AI-powered tool that turns your online lesson chat from Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, or Microsoft Teams into professional, print-ready ESL lessons in under 30 seconds. It automatically extracts vocabulary, generates exercises (gap-fill, error correction, vocab match, word formation, and more), and produces beautiful PDFs tailored to the student's CEFR level and native language.

Does DrillKit support Zoom chats?

Yes! Simply copy the chat text from your Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, or Microsoft Teams lesson and paste it directly into the input area. You can also paste vocabulary lists or handwritten notes. DrillKit's AI strips out timestamps, sender names, and other noise automatically.

Can I export lessons to PDF?

Absolutely. Every lesson is generated as a high-quality, print-ready PDF. Pro users can also export to Google Docs and customize branding with their school logo and accent colors.

Which languages are supported?

DrillKit supports translations in 11 languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, and Russian. The AI auto-detects the student's native language from the chat transcript.

What exercise types can DrillKit generate?

DrillKit generates 11 exercise types: Gap Fill, Vocab Match, Error Correction, Sentence Completion, Multiple Choice, Word Scramble, Sentence Reorder, Translation, Word Formation (Cambridge Part 3), Key Word Transformation (Cambridge Part 4), and Dialogue Builder.

How does the AI extract vocabulary from chat transcripts?

The AI scans your pasted chat transcript, strips out noise (timestamps, reactions, media placeholders), identifies teachable vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms, and student errors, then scores each item by relevance. You review and select the best items before generating exercises.

Is DrillKit free to use?

Yes! The free plan includes 20 generations per month with full access to all 13 exercise types, all lesson styles, and custom branding. The Pro plan ($4.99/month or $3.33/month billed yearly) unlocks unlimited generations and priority AI processing.

Can I customize the lesson with my school branding?

Pro users can add their school or institution name, choose custom accent colors, select from 5 lesson styles (Standard, Classic, Modern, Playful, Academic), and add footer text to every generated lesson.

Teaching ESL Question Formation: Activities & Error Analysis

The Question Formation Crisis

In most ESL conversations, the person who asks the questions controls the interaction. Yet question formation is one of the weakest productive skills among intermediate learners. Students at B1 can answer complex questions perfectly but can't form them independently. Why? Because English question formation requires subject-auxiliary inversion ('You are happy' → 'Are you happy?'), do-support ('You like pizza' → 'Do you like pizza?'), and wh-movement ('You went WHERE?' → 'Where did you go?') — three operations that many languages simply don't have. When a B1 student asks '*Where you went yesterday?' or '*You like this movie?', they're applying their L1's question-formation rules to English. This error fossilizes rapidly because it rarely causes communication breakdown — people understand the question anyway.

The Three Types of English Questions

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Yes/No Questions

'Do you like coffee?' 'Have you been to Japan?' Require do-support or inversion of existing auxiliaries. Students must identify whether the verb already has an auxiliary before deciding which rule to apply.

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Wh-Questions

'Where do you live?' 'What did she say?' Same inversion rules as yes/no, plus wh-movement to the front. Students often produce '*Where you live?' — missing the do-support entirely.

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Question Tags

'You're coming, aren't you?' 'She doesn't like it, does she?' The most complex form — requires identifying the auxiliary, reversing polarity (positive → negative), and matching the subject pronoun. Teach this at B2+.

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Teacher Tip

“Play 'Find Someone Who': give students a list of criteria ('has been to more than 5 countries', 'can play a musical instrument', 'prefers tea to coffee'). They must form questions and ask classmates. The twist: they cannot show their paper — they must formulate each question orally. This forces genuine question production in a communicative context. Error correction happens naturally when the interviewee doesn't understand a poorly formed question.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't my students form questions in English?

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English question formation requires three operations (subject-auxiliary inversion, do-support, wh-movement) that many languages don't use. Students default to declarative word order with rising intonation ('You like this?'), which is understood but grammatically incorrect. Targeted practice with communicative activities is essential.

How do I teach do-support for questions?

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Start with the concept: 'When there's no auxiliary verb (be, have, can, will, etc.), English borrows do/does/did as a placeholder.' Practice with transformation exercises: 'She likes pizza' → 'Does she like pizza?' Then move to communicative activities where students must generate questions independently.

When should I teach question tags?

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At B2, once students have solid control of auxiliaries and subject-verb agreement. Question tags are complex (they require identifying the main auxiliary, matching polarity, and using the correct subject pronoun) and rarely essential for communication. Prioritize yes/no and wh-questions at lower levels.

Teaching Question Formation: Why ESL Students Struggle with the One Skill Conversation Depends On