Lesson plan for simple past

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tiresias
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Joined: 30 Jul 2006, 14:05

Lesson plan for simple past

Unread post by tiresias »

Dear Lucy,
I'm currently preparing a lesson plan covering past simple question forms and simple answers for my TEFL course. I've completed a "first draft" and wondered if you could cast an eye over it and let me know what you think etc. I'd like to be able to squeeze in "to be" verb:- was/were questions, though i don't think time allows for this?? Anyway, any coments would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Ray.


LESSON PLAN

Past Simple Questions- Simple Answers.

LEVEL: Elementary... Age??

LESSON LENGTH: 45 Mins.

OBJECTIVE: To be able to ask past simple question forms and give short answers.

TARGET LANGUAGE:
1. (a) Simple past closed question i.e. did + subject + verb in base form.
(b) Short answer i.e. yes + subject + did or no +subject + didn't.


ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE: Students will know the past simple tense(regular / irregular verbs and negative form).

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: One anticipated problem is that the students use a past form of the verb to make the question instead of using the base form. E.g. Did you went? Did you made? One more probable problem is that students may naturally use the form of a positive statement to ask a question. E.g. You ate dinner yesterday? You went to a party yesterday?

SOLUTION: (a)During the presentation stage draw attention to the verb tense in the question form did + subject + verb.
(b)Practicing making questions and having the students put scrambled sentences in order could help with their work on sentence structure problems.
(c) Drilling.

PREPERATION AND AIDS:flashcards: beach. sunbathing. swimming.
city. museum. restaurant.
treking. mountain. bridge.
Past simple dialogue+ list of
simple past questions and
answers relating to the text.

Jumbled questions and answers.
Stage 1
Warmer: 'Find someone who....' 5mins

Stage 2
Introduction: Elicit three characters who went on a weekend break/holiday- elicit names,destinations, with the aid of the board/flashcards. 2mins.


Stage 3
In pairs have the students brainstorm ideas about holiday activities to the destinations 2mins.

Stage 4
Use flashcards/board to elicit simple past tense sentences about holiday activities 5mins.

Stage 5
Drill chorally and individually. 1 min.

Stage 6
Review past tense sentences by flipping back through pictures. 2 mins

Stage 7
PRESENTATION:
Present target language: elicit the simple past question. Use the flashcards to elicit questions about each character, paying close attention to the verb tense. Write target language on the board and show the students how it is formed. Elicit the short positive and negative answer form. Using the flashcards elicit questions and answers from the student. 5 mins.

Stage 8
Drill chorally and individually. 2 mins.

Stage 9
CONTROLLED PRACTICE:
Give the students an easy dialogue text written in the simple past tense. Have the students read the text 2mins.

Stage 10
Ask questions to check the students understanding of the dialogue. 1 min.

Stage 11
Students in pairs are given a set of jumbled questions and answers relating to the text. They work in pairs to match the questions and answers. 5 mins.

Stage12
Go over answers. Let the students call on one another for the answer to the question. 3 mins.

Stage 13
PRODUCTION:
Put students in new pairs. Students work in pairs to make a list of questions to ask other students about their activities last weekend. 3 mins

Stage 14
Go over questions 3 mins.
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Lucy
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Posts: 658
Joined: 13 Jan 2004, 15:09
Status: Teacher Trainer

Lesson plan for simple past

Unread post by Lucy »

Dear Tiresias,

Thank you for your question. I have copied your lesson plan below and inserted comments.

LESSON PLAN

Past Simple Questions- Simple Answers.

LEVEL: Elementary...

Comment: you might like to add something about age: are the students teenagers, adults?

LESSON LENGTH: 45 Mins.

Comment: I don’t think this is enough time to complete all you outlined above; I suggest you spend more time on these activities or if you absolutely must stick to 45 minutes, drop some of them.

OBJECTIVE: To be able to ask past simple question forms and give short answers.

TARGET LANGUAGE:
1. (a) Simple past closed question i.e. did + subject + verb in base form.
(b) Short answer i.e. yes + subject + did or no +subject + didn't.


ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE: Students will know the past simple tense(regular / irregular verbs and negative form).

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS: One anticipated problem is that the students use a past form of the verb to make the question instead of using the base form. E.g. Did you went? Did you made? One more probable problem is that students may naturally use the form of a positive statement to ask a question. E.g. You ate dinner yesterday? You went to a party yesterday?

SOLUTION: (a)During the presentation stage draw attention to the verb tense in the question form did + subject + verb.
(b)Practicing making questions and having the students put scrambled sentences in order could help with their work on sentence structure problems.
(c) Drilling.

Comments: Your solutions are very good and congratulations for remembering to add them. You could mention at what point you intend to drill: will this be immediately you hear mistakes or at some later point? Be careful with your spelling, in British English, practice is a noun; of course this might just be a typo.

PREPERATION AND AIDS:flashcards: beach. sunbathing. swimming.
city. museum. restaurant.
treking. mountain. bridge.
Past simple dialogue+ list of
simple past questions and
answers relating to the text.

Comment: I think in some cases, spelling mistakes are acceptable but not in the lesson plan of an EFL teacher. Once again, this might just be a typo, but I advise you to correct these words before you show your lesson plan.

Jumbled questions and answers.
Stage 1
Warmer: 'Find someone who....' 5mins

Comment: I suggest you choose a different warmer. I don’t think 5 minutes is enough for a ‘find someone who’ activity. It takes time to explain what is required and it also takes time for students to get into the swing of it. Then, once they’re involved, it can take time to stop them!

Stage 2
Introduction: Elicit three characters who went on a weekend break/holiday- elicit names,destinations, with the aid of the board/flashcards. 2mins.


Stage 3
In pairs have the students brainstorm ideas about holiday activities to the destinations 2mins.

Stage 4
Use flashcards/board to elicit simple past tense sentences about holiday activities 5mins.

Stage 5
Drill chorally and individually. 1 min.

Stage 6
Review past tense sentences by flipping back through pictures. 2 mins

Comment: In stages 5 and 6 you are working on simple past sentences which is good. However, I don’t think this is entirely necessary given your objective to teach questions and short answers. In fact, it could lead the students into error (i.e. your anticipated problems). If you’re including these two stages as revision and wish to keep them in your lesson plan, you should mention revision in your aims.

Stage 7
PRESENTATION:
Present target language: elicit the simple past question. Use the flashcards to elicit questions about each character, paying close attention to the verb tense. Write target language on the board and show the students how it is formed. Elicit the short positive and negative answer form. Using the flashcards elicit questions and answers from the student. 5 mins.

Comment: I’m not sure that elicitation is the best form of presentation. Elicitation works best when students have studied the language point previously and the teacher aims to revise or reactivate the language. I suggest you think about another form of presentation. Having said that you could elicit this language point by drawing on students’ knowledge of present tense questions and negatives and simple past negatives. You could ask them what similarities they know between simple present and simple past negatives and how do they think the simple past question is formed. However, I don’t advise this because 1) it will take time, 2) you might need to use the students’ mother tongue; are your students monolingual or multi-lingual? and 3) there are other ways to present the language.

Stage 8
Drill chorally and individually. 2 mins.

Stage 9
CONTROLLED PRACTICE:
Give the students an easy dialogue text written in the simple past tense. Have the students read the text 2mins.

Stage 10
Ask questions to check the students understanding of the dialogue. 1 min.

Stage 11
Students in pairs are given a set of jumbled questions and answers relating to the text. They work in pairs to match the questions and answers. 5 mins.

Comment: I’m not sure what you want to jumble here. I think you could clarify the point. Are the questions and answers given to the students as complete phrases and they match the question with the answer or are the words within each question and answer jumbled as in your solutions. If it is the latter, I think you need to leave more time for stage 11.

Stage12
Go over answers. Let the students call on one another for the answer to the question. 3 mins.

Stage 13
PRODUCTION:
Put students in new pairs. Students work in pairs to make a list of questions to ask other students about their activities last weekend. 3 mins

Comment: I think more time is needed for this stage especially if you want students to form new pairs. It’s important not to underestimate the time it takes to move students around and for them to settle with their new partner(s).

Stage 14
Go over questions 3 mins.

Comment: I think it’s important to go over the questions and to correct any errors. I think it would also be nice for students to use their questions with their classmates.

General comments:

Your lesson plan is well structured. The activities are suitable for the level of the students and the language point you want to teach. I think you are being ambitious about what you can achieve in 45 minutes, some slight changes will rectify this.

If you’d like more ideas on teaching the simple past, you can look at other posts I have written at the following links:

http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=871

http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=794

http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=743

Kind regards,

Lucy
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