Job Discussion Forums

[jace666]

Hi I am doing a pre selection text and have stumbled on this question , I have only 2 months ESL teaching under my belt , so Im struggling with this one.
What problems might these two phrases have for language learners?
How can we help them overcome these problems?
She's going to London
She's been to London
any insight into these questions would be greatly appreciated, Cheers..

[Glenski]

Are you saying you don't know the difference between the 2 contractions?

She is
She has

The fact that the same contraction can have these two very different expanded meanings should be obvious, as should the problems they cause.

[jace666]

Yes these facts are obviously apparent , I just don't know what would be the best approach to teach esl learners how not to confuse the differences.

[denise]

Aside from the contractions, there's the obvious difference in meaning: when was/is her trip?

d

[Glenski]

How do you teach the differences?

Dirt easy. Look at the words following "She's". You would probably never have these in a pair situation anyway. The lessons for she is going to and she has been to are completely separate.

[Mike_2007]

There's also the possibility that 'she's been' could be misunderstood (in a listening exercise) as 'she's being', especially if the student is unfamiliar with the perfect tenses and doesn't immediately recognise the 'she's' as a contraction of 'she has'.

Romanians, for example, translate their proposition 'la' as 'to' and 'la' is used with the verb 'to be' in their L1. Thus, they nearly always say things like "At the weekend I was to the mountains". Therefore it's perfectly feasible for them to do a direct translation from Romanian and end up with "Next weekend I'm being to the mountains" as a future arrangement construction. I'm sure that many lower-level students around the globe also struggle to pick out the subtle difference in pronunciation between 'been' and 'being'.

Best,
Mike

[fluffyhamster]

Maybe the question is simply asking how one would teach "the future" and "present perfect" (which as Glenski says are really two separate areas). If so, the problems are that the former "contrasts" with other forms such as constructions with the modal 'will', and "present progressive" (there are a variety of ways to express "the future" in English), whilst the latter apparently overlaps somewhat (at least in pedagogical treatments, if not student and even native minds) with Simple Past tense ("present perfect" is a "present" tense, but the scare quotes there are meant to suggest that it relates something in the past -> to the moment of speaking much moreso than is the case with Simple Past, when we are 'simply' talking about the past <- at/from the present moment of speaking (which is the only place we can talk at!); that is, Simple Past does not necessarily have as much connection or bearing to the present as present perfect seems to have. So present perfect is a "bridge" of sorts with the traffic heading from past in the direction of the present and signalling...(what, exactly?), whereas Simple Past is about stuff nicely parked away and stationary back there somewhere in the lot).

Or perhaps the task writer or the OP missed out a 'been' in the first sentence? Thus: 'She's (=has) been going to London' versus 'She's been to London' - that whole present perfect versus present perfect progressive deal (in which case the 'going (to)' would be the main difference, obviously).

[denise]

Actually, now that I think of it, I've seen these compared:

She's been to London.
She's gone to London.

Here it's not such an easy question of a past trip vs. a future trip.

d

[Glenski]

[denise]

[Glenski]

[jace666]

That was my whole point , it just seamed too obvious, the differences a 10 year old could pick up, again just trying to get an opinion on the simplest way to teach these differences. I think I'll take the question on face value then.

[jace666]

Why those two? I didn't choose them , the differences are just as obvious as the pair "she's been" she's gone" . Again just trying to find an efficient and simple way to teach the difference in the verb tenses thats all

[santi84]

I use my trusty chart (below). Draw it on the board and write out the basic tenses.

<---PAST---|---PRESENT---|---FUTURE--->

Using a longer line, add other tenses to the graph (ie. past perfect, simple past, present perfect) and make them stand out using a bold colour/star/whatever. Write your sentences in their appropriate spot on the line, or above it and use an arrow to point to the appropriate tense.

I'm sure there are plenty of great ways to teach this but I prefer a visual method!

[jace666]

Thanks!