A Contextuialized Grammar Lesson: Present Perfect

John Mark on November 21st, 2009 | Filed under Lessons/Materials, Speaking, Uncategorized

Attached below is a sample lesson plan I designed for teaching the present perfect tense. Of note is that the lesson focuses on a particular communicative task, not the target structure specifically. it is very important to provide students with a real communicative purpose for the structures they learn so that they will know when and how to apply the lessons of the classroom in the real world.

It is also very important that classroom activities closely mirror contextualized language that is both useful and interesting to the students.

This lesson is comprised of dialogs and a variety of activities that will help students to discover, practice and use the target structure within real communicative context.

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Below is a copy of the lesson plan cover page, included in the materials:

Grammar Lesson Plan: The Present Perfect Tense

Text Source: Three teacher-prepared conversation dialogs

1)      Class Demographics

  • Topic: The Present Perfect Tense as used in two sample conversation dialogs to talk about things they have done already and haven’t done yet.
  • Primary skills: listening, reading, writing
  • Age Range of Students: Any literate adult over 18
  • Type of Institution: Prepared with a private language school in mind
  • Number of Students: 4-18
  • Proficiency Level: low intermediate
  • Length of Class: about two hours
  • First Language Background: usually varied, but more likely Spanish

2)      Objectives

A. Language Skills

  • Terminal Objectives: to use the Present Perfect Tense orally in a simulated and informal discussion role play dialog with a classmate to report and inquire about activities they have or have not done following the presented dialog format
  • Enabling Objectives

1. Language Presentation

  1. Demonstrate comprehension of three dialogs by forming hypotheses about who/what/where from them
    1. Read as they listen to dialogs, focusing on intonation aspects
    2. Demonstrate knowledge of the dialogs by responding to more detailed comprehension and vocabulary questions
      1. Practice dialogs with partners

2. Highlighting

  1. Answer questions related to the target structure
  2. Underline Present Perfect forms in the dialogs
  3. Transfer Present Perfect forms from the sentences in the dialogs to a visual grid
  4. Students formulate the rule for the construction of Present Perfect Tense
  5. Students formulate the rule for when the structure is needed and its usefulness in a specific context (telling people about tasks/assignments/duties you have done already or have not done yet)

3. Controlled Activity

  1. Complete dialogs by using Present Perfect and selecting from two alternatives
  2. Practice dialogs orally

4. Semi-Controlled Activity

  1. complete dialogs with Present Perfect Tense forms by selecting from a variety of possible activities
  2. practice dialogs orally

5. Communicative Activity

  1. generate a list of activities
  2. terminal objective activity

B. Learning Strategies

  • Cognitive
  1. Gathering general information quickly by listening to a dialog
  2. Deduce the meaning of the Present Perfect Tense by context
  • Compensation
  1. Use context to deduce dialog meanings and the usage of Present Perfect Tense
  2. Communicate in small groups and in the class as a whole as a means to overcome limitations and gather meaning from a dialog
  • Metacognitive
  1. Use tactics that help to independently discover the Present Perfect Tense in a dialog.
  2. Practice the use of intonation and context to piece together meaning from a dialog that contains new grammatical structures.
  3. Using class discussion to evaluate personal inferences made in each activity
  • Socio-Affective
  1. Working with others in groups of varying sizes
  2. Asking questions related to the material
  3. Use of creativity to process information and lower anxiety

C. Learning Styles

  • Visual
  1. Students use photos, worksheets, an overhead projector and writing on the blackboard/whiteboard to help them understand two dialogs
  2. Students listen to two dialog recordings
  3. Students listen to their classmates practice several dialogs
  4. Students listen to instructions from the teacher
  5. Students complete worksheets
  6. Students engage in small group work
  7. Teacher encourages students to ask questions in case of confusion (related to receiving directions)
  8. Students listen to dialogs by themselves
  9. Students fill out worksheets by themselves
  10. Students are encouraged to speak casually within their groups
  11. Students are encouraged to reproduce the casual speech in their dialogs
  12. Students discover grammar items in dialogs and infer from them its rule
  13. Students are given individual listening/reading/worksheet tasks
  14. Students are encouraged to come up with their own dialogs with varying levels of selective freedom
  15. Students understand the dialogs through semi-controlled and free activities
  16. Students work in groups
  17. Students listen to dialogs about things people have done already or have not done yet
  • Auditory
  • Tactile
  • Participatory
  • Independent Learning
  • Informal Communication
  • Field Independent
  • Field Dependent
  • Topic-Centered

3)      Relevant Structural/Organizational Patterns

  • Organization of a casual conversation. For example: I have already gone to the library and I haven’t cleaned the bathroom yet.

4)      Relevant Vocabulary Items (Past Participle verb forms)

studied

taken out

gone

found

started

eaten

loaded

mopped

finished

dusted

taken

5)  Materials

  • All lesson plan worksheets
  • Overhead transparencies of dialogs and highlighting grid
  • An overhead projector marker
  • Cassettes of the two dialogs
  • One cassette player
  • Chalk and blackboard
  • Extra pens and pencils for students

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