3. I like the way both practice activities are adapted. In the first activity, I like the idea that students have to use their memory to complete the task. In the second activity, I like the idea that students have to ask questions to each other.
There are other ideas to make these activities more communicative. For example, in the second reading, we can divide students in groups of 4-5 (depending on the group) to discuss the story for the 4 pictures. Then the teacher takes the pictures back from the groups and makes new groups with one student from the original group. The students in the new groups have to try and reconstruct the story by discussing what they saw on each of their pictures. Finally, students explain their stories.
4. I think that as there are mixed ability groups, there may be students who need receptive grammar practice activities. In the particular case of receptive grammar practice activities, the main benefit is that it helps students at getting simply to understand the grammatical item. In addition, these activities can be done individually and students can self-check them. However, they do not necessarily help students to produce it.
In my classes I recommend this kind of activities if there’s someone who needs more practice at home. In class, I try to make productive and communicative grammar activities. Otherwise, classes are too boring and too slow.