Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in YanjiA XiAng? Are you interested in teaching English in Tianshui Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Past Tenses relays to past. All continuous forms include some form of verb ?to be? plus ?ing?. If verb ?to be? is in present = Present Continuous. If verb ?to be? in past = Past Continuous. All perfect forms include form of verb ?to have? + Past Particle of form of verb. If verb ?to have? is in present = Present Perfect. If verb ?to have? in past = Past Perfect. All Perfect Continuous Forms include some form of verb ?to have? + ?been? + ?ing? form of verb. If verb ?to have? is in present = Present Perfect Continuous. If verb ?to have? is in past = Past Perfect Continuous. PAST SIMPLE: FORM: Regular verbs AFFIRMATIVE: add ?ed/-d to base form of verb I worked - I played etc. NEGATIVE: add did not/didn?t before base form QUESTION: add did + subject before base form Did you work? etc. IRREGULAR VERBS: Only one Simple Past verb which has two forms according to person i.e. verb ?to be? = has forms ?was? (used with I, he, she, it & were) used with (you, we, they) All other verbs form stays same. Common verbs in English have Irregular Simple Past form i.e. one that is not created by adding ed. Are no rules to help know which is irregular or how they are formed e.g. BASE FORM PAST SIMPLE see saw make made eat ate give gave drink drank sleep slept write wrote know knew pay paid understand understood be was/were say said take took get got etc. USAGES: used for actions completed at definitive time in the past i.e. Past actions where time is given ? I met him yesterday ? Pasteur died in 1890 ? Their time expired 30 seconds ago When the time is asked about ? When did you meet her? ? When did the Second World War break out? When action clearly took place at a definitive time even though this time is not mentioned ? The train arrived ten minutes late ? We sold our Porsche a long time ago ? My grandmother met Queen Victoria Sometimes the time becomes definitive as a result of a question & answer in the present perfect ? Where have you been? ? I?ve been to the opera ? Did you enjoy it? Point out to students when see word ?ago? then tense associated with it will most likely be the Past Simple. COMMON MISTAKES: Mostly arise from use of ?did? & ?did not? for questions & negatives + use of Irregular verbs. Leads to confusion with Present Perfect Tense. SAMPLE ACTIVATE TEACHING IDEAS: ? To teach Irregular verb forms: Card games i.e. memory pairs, fish etc. ? Narrative storytelling in conjunction with Past Continuous & Past Perfect ? Curriculum Vitae ? Interview role-play ? Discussing past holidays/major events etc PAST CONTINUOUS: FORM: Past tense of auxiliary verb be (was/were) + the Present Participle (verb + ?ing?) AFFIRMATIVE: subject + was/were + verb + ing NEGATIVE: subject + was/were + not + verb + ing QUESTION: was/were + subject verb + ing USAGES: For interrupted past actions ? While I was having a bath, the phone rang. Used without time expression, it can indicate gradual development that took place in the past. ? It was getting darker. ? The winds were rising. It can express an action which began before that time & probably continued after it. ? At eight he was having breakfast implies that he was in the middle of breakfast at eight i.e. that he had started it before eight. He had breakfast at eight would imply that he started at eight. We use the Continuous Tense in descriptions ? Note the combination of description (Past Continuous) with narrative (Past Simple). When I woke up, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Note the Past Continuous nearly always needs some form of time reference. E.g. I was playing tennis simply doesn?t make sense as we don?t know when. One of the few instances when it is possible to use the Past Continuous without a specific time reference is with steady development usage. TYPICAL STUDENT MISTAKES: ? Omission of verb ?to be? ? Omission of the ?-ing? ? Use of ?-ing? with state verbs ? Confusion with past simple SAMPLE ACTIVATE STAGE TEACHING IDEAS: Detective game: Where were you last night at 19h00 pm? Etc. Use of diaries/journals: Describing a story using a mixture of Past Simple & Past Continuous; can be constructed on visual prompts etc. PAST PERFECT: FORM: AFFIRMATIVE: subject + had + past participle NEGATIVE: subject + had + not + past participle QUESTION: had + subject + past participle USAGE: Past equivalent of present perfect i.e. When I arrived the concert had started. Which was first ? my arrival or the start of the concert? ? The start of concert. How do I know? 1. Wrote ?had started? Had started = Past Perfect 1. She told me she had worked in France. 2. He arrived late; he hadn?t realized the roads would be so busy. Past Perfect verbs in bold = actions that happened before other actions in the past. So Past Perfect is ?the past in the past? or ?past viewed from another past viewpoint? COMPLETELY FINISHED ACTIONS: ? After he had painted the door, he decided to rest. ? When she had finished the report, she realized that it was too late to post it. After & when used to show past action completely finished before another action in past started. SAMPLE ACTIVATE STAGE TEACHING IDEAS: ? Story telling/writing with past tenses ? Give students final situation. Ask them to think of reasons why situation happened. ? Students retell a story backwards ? starting from end describing what happened before. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS: FORM: AFFIRMATIVE: subject + had + been + verb + ing NEGATIVE: subject + had + not +been + verb + ing QUESTION: had + subject + been + verb + ing USAGE: Past Perfect Continuous not most frequently taught tense but has major use: To talk about longer actions or situations in the past that had been going on continuously up to the past moment that we are thinking about. We don?t know/are not concerned with weather or not it continued after i.e. Before eating lunch, she had been clipping her toenails for two hours. TYPICAL STUDENT MISTAKES: This tense has two auxiliary verbs ? ?had & been? ? the exclusion of one of these or failure to add ?ing? to main form are main errors. Some problems with usage can be expected as can be easily confused with Past Perfect (complete actions) & Past Continuous (action happened around a time & not just up to that time)
