Where did you buy your dress? Buy dress where your you did
What time do you usually go to bed? Usually time go you what do bed
to What is your mother’s name?
Mother’s what name your is Organising activities such as the above can be used to pre-check any language point
that involves knowledge of word order. Of course, students can do exercises such as those above in pairs. This can help
create an environment of cooperation, and works well when you want a general idea of how well the class copes with the language item. However, if you want to know the
level of knowledge of individual students, pay very close attention while they’re working.
The beauty of exercises such as those above is that they are easy to prepare and they can be used to check extent of knowledge or be used as revision in a subsequent
lesson. And why not, occasionally, use the same activity to pre-check knowledge and to revise? This will allow you and your students to compare initial performance with
performance post-presentation of language. It can be very motivating for students to see how well they have progressed.
3.2 Stage 2: Presentation
There are a variety of ways to present language; they vary in the amount of student and teacher involvement. I will outline and comment on some options below.
3.2.1 Explanation
You can give an explanation in English or in the students’ mother tongue. For example, you can explain that the simple past is used for an action at a specific time in the past
and that the past perfect tense is used for an action that happened previous to that action.
When I got home last night my husband had already cooked dinner. Got = simple past
had cooked = past perfect action happened before I got home Change to husband to wife if you think it’s more appropriate for your students
Students used to a traditional way of teaching tend to like and expect this type of presentation. The downside is that students might not understand the explanation; very
often the language used in the explanation is more complex than the structure itself. It also requires an understanding of syntax and the words used to describe language
verb, object, etc. You can get around this by giving examples as I did above or by using the students’ mother tongue briefly. If you choose explanation as a method of
presenting, I suggest you make a note on your lesson plan of what you intend to say in class as well as example sentences.
27
Copyright © Lucy Pollard 2008 All Rights Reserved This e-book may not be reproduced in part or in full without the express written permission of the author.
3.2.2 Demonstration
You can demonstrate the language you wish to teach. For example, if you get students’ attention and drop your pen on the floor, you can say, “I’ve just dropped my
pen”. You can also use demonstration to teach the present continuous for actions happening at the moment; e.g. I’m writing on the board; Susan is listening to me. You
can use mime to demonstrate action verbs: climbing, running, walking, etc. You can also use objects or the students themselves to teach comparatives and superlatives:
John is taller than Susan. Stephen is the tallest person in the class.
Demonstration works well for some language points but not all; it’s best for things happening around the present moment and action verbs. One disadvantage is that
students may not understand the demonstration; it is advisable to follow up a demonstration with an explanation.
3.2.3 Illustration
