I often start a lesson by simply saying at the beginning of the class: What do you remember from the last English lesson? Now, perhaps that lesson was one or two days ago, perhaps it was last week. It may even have been two weeks ago, it doesn't matter. So, individually, they have to stop and try to recall any words or phrases that they may remember.
Usually, they say: Oh, but I don't remember, and you can say: Well, look, just for a few minutes I'm going to ask you to try and remember and write something down. I want two words or phrases from everybody in the class, it doesn't matter what it is, even if it's something very, very simple. And, if really necessary, remind them of the topic of the lesson.
It's amazing what in fact they can remember. Next, ask a few people to come out and write on the board what they can remember. When you have your board full of words and phrases, stop the class and ask everybody to look at it and check if the spellings are correct. You can also ask them to remember the meanings of selected words or to try to use them in an example sentence.
The final stage of using the board means there is a sense of shared memory in the class and a clear focus for the activity.
Definitely will apply it more in my class