Korean Job Discussion Forums

[flotsam]

OK. Normally when I create an activity, I start from context and see where it takes me in terms of grammar. However, my partner teacher has a demo class next week and asked me for an fun activity through which she can explain the difference between the past progressive, the present perfect progressive and the past perfect progressive--with the greatest emphasis on clarifying the difference between the two perfect tenses.

Now I know we all know what these tenses are, I'm just reminding myself here :

Past Progressive: We were eating dinner when she deserted me.
Present Perfect Progressive: We have been eating dinner for three hours, but she still hasn't fled! Huzzah!
Past Perfect Progressive: We had been eating dinner for three hours when she told me she had a crush on my sister and asked me for an introduction.

At this point you may review my co-teacher's request and notice that she had, indeed, thrown the word "fun" in there somewhere.

I am about to start my Internet search for ideas, but if anyone has something to offer, please let me know!

Note: This really is for her, and I don't have a girlfriend from the Canadian side of Niagra Falls.

Cheers all.

[flotsam]

Dudes and dudettes, please. Somebody. Help me. Please. NOW.

The Past Perfect Progressive in a fun activity.

I consider myself clever, yet I continue to draw a big, white, hulking blank.

Anyone? Anyone?

[Demophobe]

Well...

Fun? Dunno.

"Situations". Take a picture (draw it, find it, write it, students write it) of a situation: A man sitting at his kitchen table with an angry look on his face, the kitchen door's window is broken and muddy footprints leading in and then out of the room and the dog is barking madly at the door.

Students must create a story that led to these things being as they are.

"A man was eating dinner when a baseball came through the kitchen door window. He was looking down at the baseball on the floor when a boy came charging through the door with muddy shoes, grabbed the ball and ran back out. The dog was sleeping when the ball came through the window and he was surprised."

Hope I got the tense right.

I used this before and it was quite fun to have a group of students draw a picture or write a situation for another group. They exchange pictures and stand up, one group at a time and deliver their stories, one sentence per team member or something to involve all students. Works best with pictures that are large enough for all in the class to see them. Using an OHP is useful...the students can draw on a transparency.