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[SunShan]

I'm just coming to the end of my pre-interview task. Most of it has been fine, but having NEVER taught before I'm struggling to think of how to go about answering this question:

c) Write some ideas on how you would teach the following:

� I�m going to travel to India next holiday.
� I�ve been to India 3 times.
� Let�s go to India.

I'm not familiar with any teaching methedologies, which I why I want to take the CELTA course before I start. I'm still waiting for my Teaching Tenses text book,, so any help will be much appreciated.

Once again, thanks to everyone that has responded.

[fluffyhamster]

You should be able to make a stab by now at the "remembered...the door" sentences, as the difference between them is hopefully less problematic than the "tried...the window" pair. One thing I will say however is that it always makes me laugh a bit when books get so caught up in expounding the supposed differences that they resort to words like "fact", as if 'I forgot locking the door' can only mean I did lock it but have somehow forgotten that I did (and not that forgot=couldn't be bothered and ran straight out instead, what with the door having five locks and me having a hot date waiting impatiently), and 'I remember(ed) locking the door' can only mean it definitely got locked and admits no '...but did I actually lock it?!' follow-up. Obviously, one can only be SURE of events (well, as sure as the grammar is conveying) with these sorts of verb-examples when the verb in question is actually tensed/finite, and -ings sure aren't that (or even a clear verb really, compared to to-infinitives, which seem that bit more "in phase" with their preceding tensed/finite verb); then, even the finite may be suspect, as in the recollection of 'remember' can be faulty (as just pointed out) and 'forget' mean 'not bother with' (ditto). So until somebody actually says 'I LOCKED the door', we can't rest easy, and even then we might not want to simply take their word for it (they could be mistaken, or lying etc).

Regarding your latest set of 3 sentences and how they might be taught, you can presumably identify their forms, right? ((Be) going to, Present prefect [aspect, or compound tense if you prefer], and "'Let's...' for suggestions"). For information on their functions, you'd be best getting a book like the Swan mentioned earlier (Swan isn't everybody's cup of tea, but you can usually find the answers to most questions in it, with a bit of index searching). (Edit: I see you have ordered Aitken's Teaching Tenses. That's not a bad book, but I'm not sure it always has the best activities or the best discussion of the grammar concerned. I need to dig it out and re-appraise it maybe. It definitely isn't adequate as a general grammar reference, though). Briefly:

Be going to is one of several forms that English has for expressing futurity, but is the one most associated with the notion of "intentions"* (think New Year resolutions (that could be an activity idea LOL)), as opposed to more definite, finalized plans (compare I'm going to go to India [be going to] with I'm going/flying to India next week [be -ing, i.e. Present progressive]), snap decisions (The train's been cancelled? I'll get a taxi), fixed timetables or itineraries (The train leaves at 09:38) etc. The uses of these forms can sometimes become a bit blurred in practice, but those outlined here are good to at least bear in mind.

Present perfect is a tricky one, but its experiential aspect (as in the example sentence) is one of the clearest ways in which it differs from Simple past tense, and from the experiential generalities one can move into Simple past specifics (e.g. Have you [ever]...been to India? Yes, 3 times. I was there last month, actually! Ooh, did you visit anywhere interesting? etc). Talking about experiences (e.g. travel ~) is good hearty meat n potatoes fare for conversation and thus for general ELT purposes.

Suggestions, one could talk about holiday destinations, but perhaps e.g. where to go out locally on a Friday or Saturday night would be more useful, and one might need a wider range of phrases (We could... , How about... [instead], Have you tried/been to... or Do you know... ? etc etc).


*These intentions are the human-decision subset of the wider set for 'be going to' that we might label "imminence" (e.g. Look at those stormclouds! It's going to rain; Oh no! That computer's going to fall, teetering on the edge of the table like it is), which has some overlap with those more modal-like items such as 'be bound to' etc that involve an element of prediction or deduction.