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LESSON PLAN : CULTURAL PRESENT PERFECT
Aims
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To introduce and practice the Present Perfect tense
To use the Present Perfect tense to compare and contrast education settings
across time
To develop the students’ receptive and productive skills and their critical
thinking
To encourage cross-curricular and cross-cultural teaching and learning
To engage the students in collaborative learning
To alert the students to post-primary school language requirements
To initiate the students to the cognitive challenges of secondary education
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Textbook (unit 7, grammar section)
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Interactive whiteboard
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PowerPoint presentation
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Photocopied material (crossword on past participles of irregular verbs, colour
cartoons, work sheet)
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Materials
used
Web links to access for grammar practice and online reading and writing:
Procedure
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http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/online/flashcards/index.html
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www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/victorian_britain/victorian_schools/
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http://www.victorians.org.uk/
Warm up
Students are introduced to the use of the Present Perfect tense through discussion
on Britain (London sights)
Presentation
The teacher shows pictures of her trips to Britain, explaining the difference between
events at specific times and events completed. The teacher also explains the
structure of the tense.
Then, the teacher shows more pictures and elicits from the students ideas in the
present perfect tense. She then asks the students to complete in their textbook an
activity to familiarize themselves with the difference between the Present Perfect
tense and the Simple Past tense.
Practice
The students start practicing the Present Perfect tense initially through the
interactive whiteboard (http://www.bradleys-englishschool.com/online/flashcards/index.html) and then by completing a typed crossword
puzzle on the past participles of several irregular verbs.
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Then, the students are invited to guess some world history disasters through a set of
slides.
In groups, the students guess the cause of the events in a set of cartoons they are
given using the tense.
Then, the students are directed to a web site
(www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/victorian_britain/victorian_schools/), where
they read the texts by clicking on two sub-links and complete their worksheet : a)
they answer a set of questions on Victorian age schools and b) they write down a list
of changes that have taken place in the school through time. The teacher checks the
students’ findings.
Production
The students are told that they are in Britain and have just finished their visit to an
old Victorian school which has become a museum. They are asked to send an e-card
to a teacher of theirs back home, telling him/her what has changed through the
years. E-card templates can be found at: http://www.victorians.org.uk/
To support their writing production, the teacher gives them some questions to work
out while writing, e.g.
1. Where did the students sit in the classroom? What have the teachers done
with the desks now?
Or any other kind of support he/she chooses (half finished ideas to complete,
notes, e.t.c.)