Korean Job Discussion Forums

[scorpiocandy]

Hi,

I was hoping somebody could help me with an idea of how to teach the concepts of "for" and "since".

The kids' English level is not really that great and my Korean is worse than their English. So I introduced the words with examples and they seem to get it but I need a way to make it stick.

Any ideas? I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks

[oskinny1]

Since is for a specific date- Since February...Since 1812...

For is a length of time- For 5 years...For 3 seconds.

Maybe find a way to show them that.

[Ilsanman]

I always say:

for = some amount of time. Often a number, but sometimes not (for a long time)

since = a starting time. Often 'last week', '1985'.

Give many examples.

[scorpiocandy]

Yea that's kind of how I laid out my examples so I hope it stuck. We'll see tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies

[pdxsteve]

I've had success with teaching "for" as being "how long have you been doing something?" (I've been studying for 3 hours!) and "since" as "when did you start doing something?" (I've been studying since 5:00!)

[shantaram]

If it hasn't already occurred to you, you should be aware that you'll need to teach the present perfect tense so they can appropriately use 'for' and 'since';

"I have been teaching for five years."
"I have been teaching since 2002."

The other two applications of the present perfect tense are 1) you use it to show something happened sometime in the past, e.g. "I have taught in Korea." 2) you use it to show something happened in the past that is connected to the present, e.g. "I have finished."

[scorpiocandy]

[oskinny1]