TEACHING GRAMMAROutline: You have to inductively introduce and illustrate the PRESENT TENSES. Plan the needed activities, the objectives, the level of the class, the adopted materials

and the lapse of time you would spend on each of them.

Lesson planContext: First class of Scuola Media. 23 students coming from Primary School. They know the most common words in English and, except 2 or 3 students (beginners level A1), they have reached level A1+. A low percenteage of the class has never visited a foreign country while the remaining ones have visited Britain. Some students show great interest in learning English, others consider it as a common school subject and their approach lacks motivation. Learners’ level: (A1 A1+)

Lesson plan

Aims: By explaining the simple present tense and the present continuous, the main objective is to provide a clear and everlasting method to recognize it and use it correctly in all communication and language practises (listening, reading; oral and written production and interaction).

Lesson plan

Methods (60’): Presentation, Practise, Production:A presentation of the basic rules should be carried out through a Power Point introduction on a whiteboard followed by a series of exercises on the same multimedia tool. Then, the student will be asked to produce a written and oral work thus developing his autonomy and competence. Interdisciplinary references with L1-Italian could be put forward.

Lesson planMaterials: Whiteboard and links to relevant web-sites; traditional paper exercise-books. Evaluation (60’): Each student will be asked to come and sort out exercises (scrambled words, fill in the gaps, multiple choice, etc.). Some exercises will be prepared by the teacher and others will be taken from the relevant web-sites with a final score which will be challenging for them! At the end, each student should write a brief description (semi-structured test) : “What I usually do or what I am doing now/in these days”. Then he will be able to summarize it in front of the class in an oral production.

Lesson planAssessment: exercises will be assessed on the basis of correct/wrong answers; written and oral production will be assessed according to CEFR descriptors, on the basis of a template which will be clearly stated at the beginning of the evaluation stage (accuracy/completeness, coherence of the sequences, punctuation, spelling, grammar correctness, pronunciation).A1: the student uses basic structures useful for his daily life; basic interaction skills; asks the speaker to support him with slow and very simple speeches.A1+: the student is able to use communication and language expressions in familiar domains.Time: 2 hours.

The simple present

I kiss, You kiss But (spelling notes):

He/She kisses Verbs ending in

-ss -sh -ch -x -o add - es

We kiss, You kiss, they kiss

The simple presentI try, You try, We try, You try, They try

but: He/She triesConsonant+y -ies

I say, You say, We say, You say, They say

But: He/She says Vowel+y - s

The simple present …

is used to express habitual actions Dogs bark

The simple present is often used with adverbs as : always, never, often, usually, etc.

My dogs always bark

Affirmative form

I kiss, you kiss, he/she kisses, we kiss, you kiss,they kiss

subject verb(inf.)

Negative form

I don’t (do not) kiss, you don’t kiss, we don’t kiss, they don’t kiss

subject aux.(do)

not verb (inf.)

but…

He/She doesn’t ( does not) kiss

subject aux.(does)

not verb (inf.)

Interrogative form

Do I kiss? Do you kiss?Do we kiss?Do you kiss?Do they kiss?

aux.(do)

subject

verb(inf.)

but…

Does he/she kiss?

aux.(does)

subject

verb(inf.)

The present continuousI am working, you are working,He/she is working,We are working,You are working,They are working

Subject + simple present to be + verb -ing (present participle)

Spelling notesLove lov-ing but …Agree agreeing Monosyllabic words:Run runningPolisyllabic words with stress on the last syllable:Begin beginningWords with ending –l:Travel travelling

The present continuous tense…is used for actions happening now

It is raining

and actions which appear to be continuous I am reading a book

Scrambled wordsThey help their fatherYou watch too much TVI always carry an umbrellaThe rivers freeze in winterDo you like boiled eggs?His sons go to the local schoolThey fly from London to EdinburghI use a computerThey don’t do exercises every morning

Scrambled wordsShe isn’t workingShe is swimming in the riverWhat are you reading now?He is sleeping nowWhat are you waiting for?

Now, let’s play with internet….http://www.agendaweb.org

….and see your scores!

Written production

Now write a brief description of you:“ What do you usually do on Sundays and what are you doing in these days” (1 or 2 pages)

Then you will be able to summarize it in front of the class.