Teach Past Tense And Past Participle

  This video is the first of two that looks at the structure of the Present Perfect tense. Positive: subject +auxiliary verb have/has + past participle I have played. / She has played. Negative: subject + auxiliary verb have/has + not + past participle I have not played. / She has not played. Question: auxiliary verb have/has + subject + past participle Have I played? / Has she played? This verb tense requires the use of the past participle. With regular verbs the past participle is the verb plus ed, for example work - worked. However there are many irregular verbs that do not follow this pattern and have to be learnt from memory. For example, eat- eaten, drink-drunk, teach-taught. Most good grammar books will provide you with lists of irregular verbs. The tense system is just one...  [Read more]

  Our second example sentence 'I am playing football at the moment.' is the present continuous tense. This has a different structure as the subject 'I', the verb 'to be' in the present tense 'am', 'is' or 'are' plus the verb with an '?ing' on the end. So here: 'I am playing football at the moment.' Whereas the present simple tense is used to talk about habits routines and facts, the present continuous tense is used to talk about actions in progress at the time of speaking or around the time of speaking. Our third example sentence is the present perfect: 'I have played football twice this week.' Here, the structure is the subject 'I', auxiliary verb 'have' or 'has' plus the past participle. The past participle is usually formed just by adding '-ed'- on to the end of the base form of...  [Read more]

  This is the second ITTT video that looks at the structure of the Present Perfect Continuous tense. This time we focus on the question form. Question form: auxiliary verb 'have/has' + subject + been + present participle Have I/you/we/they been teaching for five years? Has he/she/it been teaching for five years? To learn more about the Present Perfect Continuous tense and the other tenses, why not have a look at our other videos online. You may then want to consider completing one of our popular courses. ITTT's courses will equip you with the necessary skills needed to make sure that you can become an effective English language teacher and to be able to confidently teach all aspects of the language. Then the possibilities as to where you can teach are endless. For more...  [Read more]

  For this TEFL teaching idea we ask the students to look at a scene in a hospital where there are several people doing different things. Students are given time to memorise the picture before it is turned over. The students would then be asked to say what the people were doing in the picture. For example: A nurse was giving a patient an injection. A man was pouring a glass of water. As the trainer notes in the video, this activity can be adapted to make it into a competition by having students in teams compete to remember as many actions as they can. Grammar points such as this are often seen as fairly boring to most English language students, especially those who do not choose to study English. So being able to come up with ideas that encourage students to practice the...  [Read more]

  This video from one of ITTT's online TEFL courses looks at the structure of the future perfect tense. Positive: Subject + will + have + past participle I will have finished... Negative: Subject + will + not + have + past participle I will not (won't) have finished ... Question: Will + subject + have + past participle? Will you have finished ...? More and more people see teaching English abroad as great way to learn new skills and gain valuable experience in an international setting before returning home and embarking on their career. Alternatively, others see teaching English as an opportunity to change direction in their career and to try something new. Either way, anyone looking to start teaching English abroad will need to be appropriately qualified. Have a look at the link...  [Read more]

  We have seen that the key word that helps us to remember the Present Perfect tense is forms of the word 'have' plus the past participle form of the verb. This ITTT video looks at the three main usages of the Present Perfect. First usage: To talk about indefinite past actions. I have been to Italy twice. / I have eaten snake. Second usage: To talk about unfinished past actions I have lived here for three years. / She has been a teacher since 2010. Third usage: To talk about past actions with present results. I have lost my keys. / I have left my computer in the office. When teaching the Present Perfect tense or any other grammar point it is always important to look for patterns and make it as clear as possible for your students. The courses at ITTT assume no prior knowledge...  [Read more]

If you have never taught English to complete novices before, the prospect of spending an entire lesson speaking with students who don't comprehend a single word you say may seem frightening. Teaching absolute beginners differs from teaching other courses, as any ESL teacher will tell you. It can be difficult, but it may also be one of the most enjoyable and gratifying language levels to teach. Every new word your students learn is important at this level, and the greatest approach to teaching it is to be as creative and funny as possible. Generally, teaching the letters and numbers should be one of your first priorities. You will lay a solid foundation for everything else your students will learn by teaching them the letters and numbers at the start of the course. Ascertain that your...  [Read more]