Units of study

UNITS PROCEDURES TOPICS

1 Present Step One:  Present Progressive
Imperative. Explain to your  Simple Present
students what an Tense
'imperative' is.  Non-action verbs
Also known as a  Present Progressive
command or a and Simple Present
plea, it gives Tense
someone  Imperative
instructions
about what they
should do - Stand
up. Sit down.
Stop talking. Etc.
Write several
examples on the
board and have
students copy
into notebooks.

Step Two:
Explain the basic
structure of an
imperative,
either a) the
simple version
composed of just
a verb - Sit. Stop.
Eat. Run. Etc., or
b) a verb
followed by
additional
information - Sit
there. Stop
talking. Eat
faster. Hit
Nelson. Etc.

Step Three: Go
around the
classroom, giving
a basic verb
imperative (Go.
Eat. Talk etc) and
ask each student
to add additional
information to
the imperative -
Faster, A
Person's Name,
Now, Tomorrow
etc.

Step Four:
(Game One) -
Choose three
students and ask
them to come to
the front of the
class. Choose the
more outgoing
ones, so they
don't feel stupid
when they're
standing up
there and
expected to
follow
commands.

When standing in
a row facing the
other students,
give them
several
imperatives to
follow - Turn
around. Sit down
on the floor.
Stand up. Touch
your nose and on
and on. I always
do a few silly
ones "Hit
yourself really
fast", "Kiss that
 boy", which my
students love as
it makes them
laugh.

Now allow other

students to raise
their hands and,
after you choose
one, let him or
her give an
imperative to the
students at the
front of the class.
Here the other
students get very
creative, and
silly, with the
imperatives they
create and it
usually ends up
with the whole
classroom
screaming
laughing
including the
three students at
the front of the
class.

2 Past tense Introduction and  Simple Past Tense:

Motivation affirmative
statements
The teacher will  Simple Past Tense:
read the Negative statements
students a short and Questions.
story. The  Used to
teacher will place  Past Progressive
emphasis on the  Past Progressive and
past tense verbs Simple Past Tense
within the story.

After the story

the class will
 have a
discussion about
activities that
they have done
in the past. As
students talk
about these past
events the
teacher can point
out the different
tense verbs that
the students are
using in their oral
language. The
teacher will write
the verbs on the
chalkboard. Once
the teacher feel
confident that
the students
understand the
concept of the
past tense verbs
he will explain to
them that at the
end of the lesson
they will be using
the pictures of
themselves to
create a class
book titled When
I was a Little
Boy/Girl.

3 Present perfect Teacher will put  Present Perfect:

and Past Perfect two category Since and for
headings on the  Present Perfect:
board: Past Already and Yet
Perfect -  Present Perfect:
Present Perfect Indefinite Past
 Present Perfect and
Students brain Simple Past Tense
storm on the  Present Perfect
various time Progressive
 signifiers that are  Present Perfect and
used in each Present Perfect
tense. Progressive.
 Past Perfect
Teacher will put  Past Perfect
the time Progressive
expressions into
the correct
category on the
board and have
students copy
the exercise. Ask
students to
provide example
sentences for
each of the time
expressions -
signifiers that are
on the board.

Divide students
into groups of 3 -
4. Give students
worksheet and
ask them to
decide which
time signifiers -
expressions can
go with which
sentences. Make
sure to point out
that there are a
number of
possibilities for
each sentence.
Correct
sentences as a
class. Follow-up
by discussing
which time
signifier(s) might
be best in

4 Future and Future The choice of the  Future: Be going and

Perfect future form and Will
 future perfect is  Future: Contrast be
difficult for many going to, Will, Simple
students. This present
lesson focuses on  Future: Be going and
providing context Will, Simple Present
for students so Tense, Present
that they can Progressive.
understand the  Future Progressive
basic difference  Future Perfect and
between Future Perfect
something that is Progressive
planned for the  Future: Be going and
future and a Will
spontaneous
decision.
Students first
study a short a
dialog and
answer some
questions. After
this, students
give answers to a
number of
questions which
elicit either 'will'
or 'will have to'.
Finally, students
get together for
some small talk
to practice.

5 Wh-questions, Tag Instructional  Wh-Questions:

questions and Activity Subject and
Addition Predicate
1. Teacher greets  Tag Questions
students.  Additions: With So,
2. Teacher Too, Neither, and
informs the class Not either
that they will be
learning about
WH-questions.
3. Teacher
asks the students
whether they
have heard about
 it before.
4. Teacher
asks the students
to say the WH-
questions out
loud.

Activity 1
[Link] lists
down the WH-
questions.
[Link]
discusses with
students on what
the WH-
questions
indicate.
[Link] makes
sure the students
understand the
purposes of the
WH-questions.

Conclusion
[Link] asks
the students
what do they
think of the
lesson and what
have they
learned.
2. Teacher
recaps and
concludes the
lesson.

6 Adjectives and Activity 1:  Adjectives and

Adverbs Gather a variety Adverbs: (quick
of pictures and /quickly)
assign either a  Participial
noun or verb to Adjectives:
them depending (interesting/intereste
on what the d)
picture depicts.  Adjectives and
Clearly a picture Adverbs: Equatives
of a car would be  Adjectives:
labeled “car.” Comparatives
However, the  Adjectives:
picture of a Superlatives
woman sitting  Adverbs:
behind the wheel Comparatives and
of a car could be Superlatives
labeled “driving.”
Next, break
students up into
groups to
challenge each
other. The
purpose of the
challenge is
describe the
noun pictures
using adjectives
and the verb
pictures using
adverbs. The
opposing teams
have to figure
out what is in the
picture given
these clues.
Using the picture
of the car,
students might
describe it as
red, shiny,
metallic, small,
and economical.
For the picture of
the person
driving, students
might describe it
as happily,
speedily, joyfully,
or energetically.
The team that
figures out the
most pictures
would win.

Activity 2: On
the classroom
walls, provide
students with
sentences that
have blank
spaces where an
adjective or
adverb should
be. Make them
large enough
that students can
be part of the
sentence. Give
each student a
few large pieces
of paper in which
to write down a
word to fit into
the space. Then
have students
become part of
the sentence by
standing in front
of the correct
space with their
adjective or
adverb.

Activity 3: On
large note cards
or pieces of
paper, have
students write
down individual
nouns, verbs,
adjectives and
adverbs. Then,
have students
walk around
class trying to
find two to three
other students to
make a sentence
with. The
students that
create the
longest complete
sentence (that
makes sense)
wins.

Activity 4:
Adverb charades
- choose a
variety of
different adverbs
to put on one set
of note cards and
put a variety of
different verbs
on another set.
Have students
draw from both
piles of cards.
Once they have
their adverbs and
verbs, they can
then act out the
words and hope
that the students
can guess the
two word phrase.