This teaching narrative aims at sharing instructional principles and actions during English lessons in two technical high school classes at the Federal Institute of São Paulo (IFSP), understanding the process as an opportunity for classroom practice reflection and not just a set of pedagogical recipes to be followed. The actions reported here are based on Ellis (2008) principles of instructed second language acquisition, being part of a work plan developed for CAPES as a feedback for the CAPES/SETEC/NOVA ongoing education program for English faculty from the federal network, January 2017.