Sunday 10 October 2010

Teaching the simple past tense..

I don't know whether this is a good method but I decided to give it a try. Teaching 4S2 grammar is no easy task and no matter how many times you teach it, they still get them wrong in their compositions!! Funny isn't it? So the adage 'repetition is the mother of skill' has got to be true! REPEAT until they are blue in the face :) This is what we language teachers do all the time anyway... 
How the lesson went:

1. As a set induction to this lesson, I decided to give two minutes to all the students to fill up the board with any simple past tense verbs that they have all learned in the previous lessons. While they were doing this, I left the class (practically) and came back two minutes later. 
 2. The next step was to get ss to tell me the irregular verbs and to circle the verbs.
3. I put them in groups of four and asked them to select five verbs they like and take turns to TELL a story using the five verbs. SS tried their best despite still needing to write sentences down. They are not used to speaking activities so it takes a while for them to formulate sentences.
4. Get the groups to tell their story in front of the class. 






What do you think of this 40-minute lesson? Feedback welcome.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lesson on Past Tense verbs : i like the part where you get them to recall as many Past Tense verbs n write them on the board. Writing a short paragraph using the 5 verbs chosen can be a task for them. The end result can be anything as long it's meaningful and that they know how to put the verbs to use. Great Mah! I miss teaching ... hu hu

Rahmah said...

hi anonymous,
good idea! i bet u miss teaching. tu lah sape suruh jadi _ _ _ _ _ :)