04 June, 2007

This Week’s Contest: The Perfect Tense

We were very pleased by the response to our first weekly contest (“icebreakers”). Our winner, Bill P. in Indonesia, asks his students/seminar course participants to remember their favorite vacation/holiday. Then pair up the students, and give them each one minute to describe the vacation’s high points to the other (this is done with all pairs at once, resulting in what Bill called “a nice cacophony”!). After both have spoken, rotate the students and repeat. Continue until everyone has told/heard about everyone’s vacation. Re-seat the students, and quiz them on what they heard: e.g., “Kim, where did John go on his vacation?” The students are thus forced to really listen to each other during the recitations, and keep all the places, activities, etc., straight for the follow-up quiz. Good one, Bill—you get five free English Toolbox Co. exercises!

The topic for this week’s contest is teaching the perfect tenses. How do you explain how and when to use past & present perfect, especially in contrast to simple past/present? Send in your tried-and-true methods to info@englishtoolbox.com by 10 June, and we’ll pick the best one and publish it in this space next week. The winner will receive five free English Toolbox exercises, even if s/he isn’t a subscriber! We look forward to reading and sharing your great ideas.






<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]