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Hi, I have a question. Considering I have an A2 student, is there a recomended order for classes? Something like a Coursebook table of contents so that I don’t have to keep looking for what to do next?
Hello! At this point, there’re no recommended flow of lessons or ready-to-use courses for a given level. We’re thinking about creating such courses, but for now you must decide yourself what your student’s needs are and select the lesson order yourself.
Remembering irregular verb forms, and using them, is not an easy task. While memorizing long columns of verbs might be useful, many students don’t like the idea of learning things by heart. Some even loathe it. And those who decide to take up the challenge will still need to practise the verbs in the classroom. And then practise some more. Here are some ways of working with irregular verbs that will help your students remember them once and for all.
This activity is much more fun than simply eliciting irregular verb forms. Use it instead of asking ‘What’s the Past Simple form of run?’-type of questions, as it will introduce extra challenge and excitement. It will also make your students think in English.
Ask students to come up with words or phrases that fit each of the situations. They should write them down in random order. When they are ready, make sure they can’t see the situations any more (cover the list or stop sharing the screen). Then, in pairs or groups, ask students to guess which answer belongs to which situation by recalling what the situations were. The guessing part will go like this:
To help your students practise Past Simple forms more freely, ask them to tell stories. Tasks based around stories can vary in length and challenge, so it is probably best to start with easier, more controlled activities.
One of the ESL Brains lessons that deals with irregular verbs is the pre-intermediate lesson Kindness means everything. Your students will create a story based on an animated video. The lesson, however, mostly offers controlled practice of Past Simple. So after using it with your students, provide them with more free speaking practice, which you can do in two ways:
Use other animated videos (like this one or this one) and ask students to tell the stories using their own words. Play the videos in parts and ask students to tell each other the parts in pairs. They can then repeat the whole story after they’ve watched the entire video. You can provide students with some irregular verbs or leave the choice of verbs up to them if you think they are ready for it.
Come up with words or pictures of characters or objects and ask students to tell a story using them. The funnier the words, the better. See what story your students come up with using the following words: eyebrow, Christmas tree, cloud, disgusting, uncomfortable chair, architecture student. If they struggle with ideas, give them some prompts, e.g. ‘Why was the uncomfortable chair a problem?’, ‘Whose Christmas tree was it?’ They will get better at it with the second and the third stories.
Stories can obviously be used to practise Past Participle with your more advanced students through Past Perfect. Discover some great speaking ideas using irregular verb forms in these B1/B2 lessons: Be a better storyteller and Narrative tenses – using Past Simple/Continuous/Perfect for storytelling.
ESL LessonsA fun task to practise both Past Simple and Past Participle forms of irregular verbs is asking your students to find experiences they have in common (in pairs or groups).
Give your students a list of irregular verbs such as the following: break, drive, teach, wear and write. Their task is to talk and ask each other about their experiences. They might ask ‘Have you ever broken a leg?’, and as the conversation continues they might realize they don’t have a broken limb in common but they have broken crockery on more than one occasion. At this point, they will be ready to tell you: ‘We have broken some plates.’ You can do the task first with a student in front of the class to show everyone how it works.
The task can be a great follow-up to the A2/B1 lesson You’re never too old for great things, but can be done successfully with upper-intermediate students, too. Just use some of the less obvious verbs, like quit, seek, sew or set, and make sure to tell students you want to get the feedback in Present Perfect. For example ‘We set an alarm clock every night.’ won’t work, but ‘We’ve set an alarm clock more than once this week.’ will. While talking, they will need to use both Past Simple and Past Participle forms of the verbs, as well as questions and negatives.
The more you let your students speak, the sooner they will remember the irregular verb forms, as these are used in the simplest of conversations. Remember to recycle the forms from time to time, for instance by doing one of the activities described in this article when you have some extra time left at the end of the lesson. Let us know how it goes and share your ideas for practising irregular verbs below!
‘Grammar is fun!’ is not something that English teachers often hear from their students. ‘To know English, you need to know the grammar’, many of us have probably responded on numerous occasions, hoping to encourage learners to do more review tasks, usually to no avail. Grammar has been considered the aim of language learning for too long. Let’s call it what it actually is: a communication tool. And tools are fun as they make our lives easier. But instead of explaining it to students, why not show them?
What students dislike about learning grammar is often the amount of controlled written practice they have to do once a new structure is introduced. As much as one or two activities of this kind help students get acquainted with the structure, there is no need to dedicate too much time to them. Language is supposed to be used freely, and what students usually expect from the teacher is to have the opportunity to do so. If you help your students see that knowing how to use grammar actually makes communication a lot easier, they are much more likely to enjoy the practice. They will also become more confident and feel ready to use the structure outside the classroom.
If you want to teach grammar in a fun way, all you need to do is find the right context. As much as asking your students what they have done today is a good way to start practising Present Perfect with ‘yet’ and ‘already’, you could also tell them to guess what they think the other people in the group (or you) have already done or haven’t done yet. You could also introduce the idea of a bucket list and have students report their achievements and plans using the structure, ask them to tell you about their projects at work and explain what they have already started doing and what they haven’t had the chance to do yet, or encourage them to tell you about their holiday plans and explain what they have already done and what is still left to do as part of their preparation. Being able to get the message across in a foreign language is what makes learning grammar fun! And don’t worry if your students don’t always use the target language during practice – let them mix it freely with the structures they already know. This will only consolidate the new language and make it a part of their linguistic toolbox.
Instead of asking students if they remember how a structure is formed (or giving them more gap-filling activities, for that matter), allow them to play with the language a little more. They could write revision tasks for each other, or prepare questions for their partner using the target language. This will allow for a deeper level of language processing and simply help them remember more. Just don’t forget to add variety and not reuse the tasks from the practice stage. For instance, you might ask your students to discuss what they have in common using the structure. Again, think of a context where the target language is likely to be used. Take Second Conditional, for example. Students could discuss the possible circumstances under which they would quit their jobs or adopt five puppies. To make it more interesting, you might ask them to talk for as long as they need to in order to agree on two scenarios that would make both the students in a pair decide to take these steps.
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