Finishing the lesson

A good warmer to do is the ball game which can be used to revise many language items. As we’re going to be presenting the present perfect with ‘for ‘and ‘since’, we can use it to revise the part participle of irregular verbs. Take a ball into the classroom and get the students sitting or standing in a circle if possible. Don’t wor r y if you don’t ha ve enough space you can still play the game if they remain at their desks. Throw the ball to a student and say the infinitive of a verb. When the student catches the ball he or she should say the past participle and then throw the ball back to you. Continue for a short time in this way until you’ ve been through all the irregular verbs that you want to practise. This activity will have engaged the students and got them using some of the language that comes up later in the lesson.

Boo Tumber, teacher and teacher trainer - Lesson Plan, Programme 1

This is a very simple activity which engages the students by the introduction of the physical element of catching and throwing a ball.

Using a warmer is an excellent way to start a lesson. There are many different kinds of activity. See page 30 for more ideas and examples.

Presenting new language

When planning to present a new language item the teacher needs to be sure of the following points:

• How the language item is made - what the grammatical structure of the form is, how it is pronounced and written, how ne gatives and questions are formed if appropriate. • Concept - what the form actually means. • Context - when the form is actually used.

Once those points are clear for the planner, a way has to be thought of to pass on that knowledge to students. Only telling a class what something means and how it is used is not usually a good way for the students to learn. Thankfully there is a wide range of interesting activities, techniques and materials for presenting new language. Most involve exposing the students to the language through written texts and dialogues. Most course books have these but here are a few more of the materials that are commonly used to introduce new language:

• Video tapes • Audio tapes • Newspaper s • Songs • Pictures • Realia • Stories and anecdotes

Using different approaches to presentation in your teaching helps to create the variety that is so important to effective class management. Here are two examples of presentation techniques which are both engaging and involving for the students:

Picture presentation

This first example is called a picture presentation and it also makes good use of the board. As you read, consider the role of the student during the process.

Using a picture of a person is a simple way to present the present perfect with ‘for’ and ‘since’ without using the course book. Take a picture of a man or a women from a magazine or newspaper or even draw one yourself. Pin it up on the board so that all of the students can see it. Ask the students to build up an imaginary life history for this person. To do this you can ask them questions - ask them what the person’s name is, how old they are, where do they live? what do they do? Ask about hobbies, children, marriage and pets. Remember that the more unusual the life history is, the more interested students will be. So encourage them to use their imaginations.

Write up their ans wers on the board, but don’t write whole sentences - just write words. For example, What does he do? He’s a postman - write ‘postman’. Make sure you include dates and times so that you can introduce ‘for’ and ‘since’ later. Now use the words that you’ ve got on the board to focus on the language. Get a student to try to make a