A Grammar Review Lesson
-
Upload
benjamin-goh -
Category
Documents
-
view
229 -
download
0
Transcript of A Grammar Review Lesson
8/9/2019 A Grammar Review Lesson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-grammar-review-lesson 1/5
8/9/2019 A Grammar Review Lesson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-grammar-review-lesson 2/5
)istilling the grammar rules down to the most important points and the ones which
will actually help them$
*aising learners´awareness of the mistakes they make and+or are most often made
when using the tenses$
efore you even get to thinking about those things though, you need to consider which tenses
you´re actually going to teach: %ll of them? 'ome of them? -ne of them? %fter reading that
./0 of spoken communication in English among native speakers makes use of just four
tenses1present simple, present continuous 2or progressive3, past simple and present perfect1
I decided to focus my attention on these four, which I´ve come to call !the big four"$ We
could argue about how non4native speaker language use differs from native speaker language
use, but I nevertheless see these four as e5cellent building blocks for English grammar$ In the
workplace you will definitely need the present simple to talk about facts, routines and
permanent situations$ 6ou will also need the present continuous to talk abou temporary
situations and tell people what you´re doing at the moment$ 6ou have to use the past simple
to tell people about what you did yesterday, last week or last year$ &he present perfect is often
used to let colleagues know what you have already done and what you haven´t done yet and
while making small talk about where you´ve been and where you´ve worked$
7hoosing the wrong tense may result in it being unclear whether you´ve done something or
are still doing it and this can lead to complications in the workplace$ If you say: !I´m
working here for 8 months" when you should have said: !I´ve worked+ I´ve been working
here for 8 months", the colleague visiting you will not e5pect to see you again on his ne5t trip
and may well not prioritise building a relationship with you, as a result$
&he tenses review lesson that I´ve developed would be most effective with learners at 9 or
level who already have some knowledge of these four tenses and how to use them, but are
in need of a refresher lesson or review$ I´ve deliberately decided not to focus on the future
e5plicitly here, but I have mentioned the use of the present simple to talk about timetabled
events in the future and I have often found that this lesson has led learners to ask #uestions
about the future, such as what about using the present continuous to talk about future plans
and arrangements$ I would see a lesson reviewing how to talk about the future as being anatural follow4on from this lesson1I don´t want to try to do it all in ;/ or </ minutes$
93 &ell the learners that native speakers use four tenses in ./0 of spoken English$ %sk them
to guess which four tenses these four could be$ &his will give you an indication of their level
of awareness of grammar terminology and the ideas or concepts behind the different tenses$
%ccept their guesses if they don´t know the name of the tenses but they know what the
8/9/2019 A Grammar Review Lesson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-grammar-review-lesson 3/5
idea2s3 behind them is, for e5ample, if they say: !-ne of them is the tense for things that
happened in the past and are finished$" 6ou could also ask them if it surprises them that
these four tenses are used so fre#uently and why or why not$
3 &ell the learners that you´re going to give them some information about all four tensesand you would like them to read it and use the information there and their own knowledge to
find answers to the three #uestions below and then present these answers to the rest of the
group:
9$ What situations do you use this tense to describe?
$ What are the three most important things to remember about this tense?
8$ What mistakes to English learners often make when using this tense?
6ou may want to reformulate these #uestions using simpler language with lower level
learners$
6ou can download my overview of !the big four" here$
*emind the learners that you will not accept them just reading aloud from the tenses
overview when they present their answers1they have to present the information in their own
words and add their own ideas too$
)epending on the number in the group, you may need to have a small group, a pair or just
one individual working on one tense$ If you have to have a combination of pairs and
individuals, I would suggest giving the tenses which are a little easier to e5plain, e$g$ present
simple and past simple, to the individuals or the weaker learners, and those which are a little
more challenging, e$g$ present continuous and present perfect, to the pairs or stronger
learners$
83 (onitor the learners as they´re working on their answers, giving them any support that
they need and making suggestions$ &he area where the learners will probably need the most
support is thinking about typical mistakes made when using the tense$ &he amount of time
the learners will need to prepare their answers will range from 9/ minutes to 8/ minutes
depending on the group$
=3 When all the groups are finished, ask them to present their answers$ Encourage the other
learners to ask #uestions to those who are presenting and add any points which you consider
important and any typical mistakes you know which they haven´t mentioned$
8/9/2019 A Grammar Review Lesson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-grammar-review-lesson 4/5
>3 %fter this review of the four tenses, I go on to do a speaking activity in which the learners
have to use the four tenses and their #uestion forms$ &his is a variant on the popular !find
someone who" activity$
a3 I write on the board or flipchart: ind someone who@ and then ask them to complete thissentence four ways using a different one of the four tenses each time$ I give them e5amples to
get them started:
Find someone who…lives in Heidenheim
Find someone who…is working to a deadline at the moment
Find someone who…went to a Christmas market last weekend
Find someone who…has een to Berlin! has seen the new "ames Bond #ilm
*emind them that they should write sentences that they think or know will be applicable to
at least one other person in the group, so !find someone who has been to the moon", fore5ample, is not allowed, for e5ampleA
b3 When they have their four sentences, they can use them to create #uestions they will then
ask the rest of the group$ *eview the different #uestion forms you use for the four different
tenses$
$resent sim$le: %o &ou live in Heidenheim'
$resent continuous: Are &ou working to a deadline at the moment'
$ast sim$le: %id &ou go to a Christmas market last weekend'
$resent $er#ect: Have &ou een to Berlin' Have &ou seen the new "ames Bond
#ilm'
c3 &he learners can then stand up and mingle with each other and ask their #uestions$ &ell
them their aim is to find a person who can answer !yes" for each of the four #uestions and
when they have done this they have completed the task$ It´s -B if they find one person who
can answer !yes" to more than one of the #uestions$
%t the end of ;/ or </ minutes, the learners have:
been re4familiarised with the important features of each tense
been reminded of the common mistakes people make when using them
been able to focus on one tense in more detail and e5plain how it works to the rest of
the group
been re4familiarised with the #uestion forms for each of the four tenses
8/9/2019 A Grammar Review Lesson
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-grammar-review-lesson 5/5
had the opportunity to produce the language by creating their own e5amples and
#uestions in the !find someone who" game