We all know the experience during the language learning process where every verb can be conjugated perfectly, but as soon as we need to have a conversation, we freeze. Many English language learners have accuracy without fluency and knowledge without application.

This series of articles, called Project-Based English, is going to help you transform your intermediate level students from English learners to English users, one project at a time.

To kick things off, we’re going to introduce one of the most energizing projects in this series: Dragon’s Den. This project is inspired by the hit TV series where emerging entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of tough, but fair, investors.

Why Project-Based Learning? Language Lives in Context

Research in second language acquisition consistently shows that learners retain and apply language more effectively when it’s embedded in meaningful tasks. Project-based learning does exactly this. It gives students a concrete goal, a reason to communicate, and a real audience.

Unlike isolated grammar or writing exercises, projects like Dragon’s Den require students to communicate their ideas effectively, collaborate with their classmates in meaningful ways, compromise in their target language, give and receive feedback, and perform under friendly pressure. These are the exact conditions that push learners beyond their comfort zone, and into genuine fluency.

Project #1: Dragon’s Den (English Classroom Edition)

The basic idea of this project is to have students in groups of 2-3 identify a societal problem or everyday inconvenience and design a product or service that solves it. At the end of the project, each group presents their pitch to the class, who play the role of the Dragons.

This project is creative and competitive in a low-stakes way, and it generates enormous amounts of natural language use: brainstorming, negotiating, debating, persuading, questioning, etc.

These steps can be completed across a number of classes:

1) Introduce the format

Show a short clip from Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank to set the scene and get students familiar with the project. Discuss the process as a class: What do entrepreneurs do? What do the Dragons look for? Introduce key vocabulary, like pitch, invest, prototype, target market, etc.

2) Identify the problem

In their groups of 2-3, students brainstorm societal issues or daily frustrations they’d love to solve. Encourage them to think broadly, and give examples, including but not limited to: commuting stress, food waste, loneliness in cities, accessibility barriers. Remind your students that the problem must be real and relatable. Each group must agree on one issue to solve.

3) Design the solution

Groups design a product or service that addresses their chosen problem. It doesn’t need to be technically possible, as creativity and language use are the main goals. They decide on the name of the product, what it does, who it’s for, and roughly how much it costs. Prompt your class with questions like, “How does that actually work?”, “Who would buy this?”, “Why would someone pay for it?”

4) Build the pitch

Students structure their presentation using a simple framework: Hook → Problem → Solution → Product demo or description → Business model (price, audience) → Ask (what investment or support do they want?). Provide a planning template and language scaffolding for each section. Groups rehearse together, dividing speaking roles.

5) Pitch day

Each group presents their pitch to the class. The rest of the students act as Dragons. They listen, take notes, and prepare at least one question to ask. After each pitch, hold a short Q&A. You can add more excitement and a competitive edge by having students vote on which product they’d “invest” in. End with brief whole-class feedback.

Why Dragon’s Den (English Class Edition) is Effective

You may have noticed by now that every stage of this activity demands real language use for a purpose students care about. During the planning phases, students are negotiating, disagreeing, and reaching consensus. This is where some of the richest spontaneous language production happens. You can circulate quietly among the groups, noting errors to address later without interrupting flow.

During the pitch itself, students must organize their thoughts, manage the presentation floor, maintain eye contact (even on screen), and respond to unpredictable questions. These are communication competencies that transfer directly to professional and academic settings.

As audience members, students are listening actively and formulating questions: two skills that are chronically underpractised in many language classrooms.

Remember that the goal of this project isn’t for students to develop a perfect pitch, but rather to provide them with the opportunity to use their English in a fun and practical way.

Stay tuned for the following weeks’ articles featuring more projects that are designed to generate collaborative, purposeful English use in your ESL classrooms. Subscribe to LatinHire’s Weekly Newsletters to not miss out!