Thread: Da Tenses! Creative Ways To Teach Them

Originally Posted by panhunger

Are there any ways to teach them that might actually stick?

send them to america for a year


...really pan. theres no magic trick. if there was, there would be a 'best practices' already established within the profession.


my best take on it, is to use the tenses' motivation (why do we even se them) as a springboard for an activity centered solely around that tense. if you cant think of a reason to teach it, then the problem might be a curriculum one, where you are instructed to teach something to death.

past tense- biographies
future will/going to- predictions (if the earth is going to end in 5 days, i will....)
present perfect- (have been)- telling an old friend what youve been up to (phone conversations)


...if you want it to stick, you have ot make it interactive, repetitive, and step-by-step. work a lexis, build the grammar, get them interacting in meaningful ways, and repeat.

good luck pan

I do all tenses with time lines. I want the students to visualize when the action takes place.

Other than that, can't think of any magic pills. If I had one, I would copyright it and retire to a life of luxury.

Right my magic pill 2 penny bit. I made a picture verbs dictionary and wrote all the verbs in the past and present (P.M me if you want a copy) Next I smothered my wall in a load of the verbs. the I asked shit loads of quetions till they got it. Before they ever wrote anything they'd read in the past and spoken in the past and these are P2. Exposure, exposure and exposure to it. Regular reading is also important.

^ spoken by stephen krashen junior over here

really, pee. you ARE krashen junior



its the input, dummy.

[quote=stfranalum;1050292]^ spoken by stephen krashen junior over here

really, pee. you ARE krashen junior

Not sure if that's a compliment or not as i've no idea who this bloke is. i got asked last week to test an M3 class in my town. their teachers was conplaining of the same thing that they couldn't get the past tense. In an hour I tested all 37 students on the 25 most common verbs in English. All they had to do was read them and translate them in Thai. 4 knew more than 20, 9 knew between 10 and 20 and the rest knew less than 10.

The results had a profound effect on the teacher who the next day asked me the difference between bargain and negotiate. Needless to say I told him to fuck off. Really though a lot of the problems here are very obvious to see, its the solutions that are hard.

Originally Posted by peelieorion

Right my magic pill 2 penny bit. I made a picture verbs dictionary and wrote all the verbs in the past and present (P.M me if you want a copy) Next I smothered my wall in a load of the verbs. the I asked shit loads of quetions till they got it. Before they ever wrote anything they'd read in the past and spoken in the past and these are P2. Exposure, exposure and exposure to it. Regular reading is also important.

Same same me - put a load of actions on the wall (after the kids have coloured them in if we're talking real young ones)
Then get two large pieces of card with 'EVERY DAY' and "Yesterday" written on them. Then just elicit and drill ad nauseam, I'm afraid, and revise every day.

Putting stuff on the wall is vital part of reinforcement for fundamentals like this with younger ones - it's worth almost a term in itself on the PGCE, I'm told.

Reward Starter and Elementary Resources Pack also has some good stuff on this. DON'T bother with the coursebook, though.

Incidentally, I've had exactly the same problem with Intermediate students doing the same thing with the dreaded bloody past perfect. 'Yesterday I had gone shopping'

Telling them the importance of the tenses helps as a start. For example, someone says 'I do it today' This is either wrong tense or wrong grammar, which one is it?

I also like to keep the same theme for all the tenses at the beginning. Putting them into a grid for reference helps.

Example

I played football yesterday
I play football every Tuesday
I will play....
I will be playing....
I have played football...

etc.

GL

Originally Posted by Mr Mister

Telling them the importance of the tenses helps as a start. For example, someone says 'I do it today' This is either wrong tense or wrong grammar, which one is it?

I also like to keep the same theme for all the tenses at the beginning. Putting them into a grid for reference helps.

Example

I played football yesterday
I play football every Tuesday
I will play....
I will be playing....
I have played football...

etc.

GL

I do something similar to this as a 'punishment': they have to put the same sentences into pres simp, past simp, pres cont, past cont, pres question, past question with one example given for each). Since Thais don't have tenses and all learners carry over the structures from their own tongue, tenses are damn near impossible for them to learn to use - they just don't form language that way. However, if they internalise the structures when young then, if they ever live in a native-speaking country (the only way they ever have a real chance of nailing it) you'll have given them a chance.

One very effective way to teach past simple irregular verbs (and I guess also past participles) is making coloured laminated cards (one colour base verbs and one irregular forms) and letting them spread on the floor - kinetic learning an' all that. My P3 are pretty hot on these now - even if they don't know what the base verb means!