Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JZer]

Does anyone know any good communicative activities for practicing the present perfect tense?

[Zolt]

For a perfect present? I can't remember any that don't involve taking your clothes off..

[Demonicat]

Never have I ever
Play a game where the kids have to ask questions like:
Never have I ever been in an earthquake
Never have I ever seen a UFO

Things like this, just remind them to not say a specific time:
Never have I ever kicked Peter yesterday

After they ask the question, the others raise their hands IF they have done that. If only one student raises his hand, he has to talk about it. Then he asks the next question.

this game is real fun, BTW- it is Awesome-licious if you go out with some people that you wouldn't mind hooking up with, the questions just get dirtier

[JZer]

Demonicat, sounds interesting. I think I will try it next week. I will actually use this activity for a freshman English class.

[the saint]

find pics that show the result of something and ss brainstorm what caused it. Pics I use include
refugees heading out of Rwanda
a guy showing a surfboard with a shark bite out of it
someone really badly sunburned
a kid covered in chocolate or ice cream after eating
a guy covered in mud
etc

SS come up with stuff like
He's been eating ice cream.
His board's been bitten by a shark
etc...

[Hanson]

There's a decent activity in "New American Headway 1" where they compare present perfect with the simple past by comparing famous dead/alive people.

For example, they compare Marilyn Monroe and Julia Roberts, and the students have to write a question and answer using the correct tense. For example, they could probably ask "How many movies has she acted in?" (for Roberts - because the number of movies she has acted in has increased until now), but would have to ask "How many movies did she act in?" (for Monroe - because she's dead, and the number of movies she acted in is set and will never change).

They also compare Margaret Attwood and Jane Austin, Bob Marley and JLO's husband (I can never remember his name), as well as Vincent Van Gogh and David Hockney.

It's a simple but effective lesson which can be easily expanded.

[JZer]

In one addition of American Headway 1 they compare a musician with her dead father. I was trying to think of something that was communicative and not just a written exercise.

I think I will try Demonicat's idea and maybe have to students prepare an interview about what other students have done in the past. Students can write questions about things they have done in the past.

Have you studied Chinese?
Have you had a foreign girlfriend?
etc