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Expansion Activities Chapter 1: Overview of Verb Tenses: Understanding and Using English Grammar, 3rd Edition

english language learning

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94 views

Expansion Activities Chapter 1: Overview of Verb Tenses: Understanding and Using English Grammar, 3rd Edition

english language learning

Uploaded by

ANA MARIA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Expansion Activities

Understanding and Using English Grammar, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1: Overview of Verb Tenses


Activity: A Tense Discovery
Materials needed: A selection of three or four written articles and/or professional essays
that provide a variety of verb tense usage -- enough photocopies of each for the class. (To
help gather the articles, ask students to bring in a serious news or magazine story a few
days before. Longer magazine articles work better than many news stories. If fifteen
students bring in articles, youll have a nice collection from which to find the best ones to
use. Additionally, if the students choose the writings, they will have more interest in the
content and the level will be right for them.)
Description: Prepare the articles for the students by underlining the verb structures or
bracketing the paragraphs you want the students to pay attention to. This saves time
because students dont have to read the entire article, which may be multi-paged. Use a
numbering system so that you and the students can easily refer to a particular sentence or
passage. Do this with 2-4 articles, depending on the variety of verb tenses you find in
each article, and then photocopy enough for the class.
Divide the students into groups of 4-5 and pass out the first article.
Instruct the students to pay attention to the verb forms and to identify
which verb tense is being used in each situation. More advanced students
can discuss why a specific tense is needed. Encourage students to
discuss the time/meaning relationship in the targeted areas and to draw
from their knowledge of verb tense rules, referring to their textbook
charts as needed.
To have a whole-class conclusion to this exercise, each group should appoint a scribe.
Using the numbering system on the article, the groups can record their answers to report
to the class.
Students enjoy seeing the connection between the grammar learned in class and its
authentic application. You can see the great a-ha! moment on their faces when they
make that connection on their own.
Note: Students will mistakenly select a few present and past participial modifiers,
gerunds, infinitives, etc., thinking they are verbs. Plan how you will handle that. One way
is to remind students by writing on the board before they begin: An -ing word is NOT a
verb if there is no helping verb with it. To + an action word is not a verb.
Also, to save class time, assign the article for homework. Students can read the article
and consider the underlined verb tenses, preparing themselves for group discussion in the
next class.

Copyright 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

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