Past Simple - pronunciation
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Level Pre-Intermediate
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Students already know
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The grammar There are 2 types of verbs in English – regular and irregular. Regular verbs always end in –ed when we use them in the past, eg called, walked, visited. Irregular verbs don’t – go=went, see=saw, run=ran.
The pronunciation of past simple regular verbs (ie the ones we use with “Yesterday”, eg yesterday I celebrated my birthday) differs from verb to verb. The sound added to the word “dance” to use it correctly in the past is a “t” sound (danced – try it out loud! – the pronunciation is dance-t), to listened is a “d” sound (listen-d), and to visited is an “id” sound (visit-id). All regular verbs fall into one of these 3 groups when we use the verb in the past.
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Lead-in
Put sts into pairs or small groups and ask them to find out from each other what they did last New Year’s Eve. Get feedback from sts about their partners and write some sentences on the board (take the ideas the sts give you and tailor them to make sure you include verbs from the 3 pronunciation groups (t – danced, worked, watched) (d – listened, stayed) (id – celebrated, visited). Eg, Steve watched the fireworks, Sam visited his family, Maria stayed at home. About 6 sentences is good.
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REMEMBER: Concept Questions! STT! Classroom Management!
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Presentation
Ask the sts if someone came into the room now and saw these sentences if they would know they are about New Year’s Eve (probably not). Would they know they are about some time in the past – yes. Ask sts why this is – they should identify the verbs in the sentences. Go through with sts to underline the verbs in each sentence and then ask them what they all have in common (they all end in –ed and are regular verbs). Now take one verb from the board and say it out loud a couple of times and ask the sts to tell you what sound is being added to the verb to pronounce it correctly in the past (ie danced = “t”). Create a column on the board with “t” at the top and write the word “danced” (or equivalent) underneath. Now ask sts to work in pairs to decide what other sounds are being added to the verbs on the board to pronounce them correctly in the past and which verbs fall into those sound groups. Review as a class and get sts to write the sound groups plus verbs on the board.
Sts should now work in small groups to think of more verbs to go into each group. Ask each group to put some of their ideas on the board – there should be a total of 6 verbs in each sound group (ie 18 verbs in total on the board). Make sure all the verbs are in the correct place.
Controlled Practice
Put sts into pairs or small groups. Each pair/group has to write 2 sentences for each of the 3 sound groups (6 sentences in total). In each sentence they have to use 2 verbs from the board, eg. I visited Spain and celebrated my birthday; I stayed at home and listened to music, etc. Feedback as a class and ask sts to choose their favourite/funniest sentences.
Free practice
Explain to sts that they are all going to make a sentence about their last holiday using one of the verbs from the board. Every st will start their sentence with “I visited + place” and then choose a verb from the board to say something about what they did whilst they were there. Eg I visited Spain and played volleyball on the beach. Give sts a minute or so to think about their sentence and then go round the class and listen to all the sentences.
Production
Think of a good production activity or piece of homework to finish off this class.