tailieunhanh - The grammar book teacher course part 12

One of the greatest challenges in teaching this course is helping students overcome the anxiety toward the study of grammar that they sometimes bring with them. One of the greatest rewards is watching students move from anxiety to curiosity. | Chapter 4 The Copula and Subject-Verb Agreement 71 Teacher Was Carlos late today Class Yes he was. Teacher Was Kin Lee late Class No she wasn t. Teacher Were they late Class Yes they were. A student then takes over the role of teacher. 2. Form. Badalamenti and Stanchina 1997 10 suggest using the names of famous people from all over the world to practice the copula be with country of origin and nationality. For example the teacher can give one model and then provide only a name. Sophia Loren is from Italy. She s Italian. Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Austria. He s Austrian. Madonna is from the United States. She s American. Nelson Mandela is from South Africa. He s South African. 3. Form. The problematic area with regular present-tense verbs other than be involves the third person singular form of the verb. Since the third person singular form of the verb is the only one inflected for person and number agreement ESL EFL students frequently and persistently omit the necessary -s marker by simplifying or by overgeneralizing the basic pattern to third person singular. Practice with the present tense should thus put a great deal of focus on the third person singular inflection and on the contrast with all other persons. The teacher can introduce a fictional character Jack and talk about what he does every day. He gets up at 7 . He runs in the park at 5 00 . He eats breakfast at 7 30. He comes home at 6 00. He goes to work at 8 00. etc. Jack s schedule can be practiced by the class with the teacher using pictures and or a clock with movable hands as prompts. Then the practice can extend to classroom interactions prompted by the teacher as needed. Teacher What does Jack do at 7 . Student He gets up. Teacher When do you get up Student I get up at 8. Teacher Ask Maria when she gets up and then tell us what you found out. Student When do you get up Maria Maria I get up at 6 30. Student She gets up at 6 30. Finally pairs of students could interview each other about .