D-08.06 Produce Simple-Past Sentences

Unit 17 of the Original Scenario: English Grammar in Context: the Simple Past Tense  (“Gossip”), pages 156-175

20 Pages

Who It’s For: (Self) Teachers & Helpers at (High) Beginning to Low-Intermediate Learning Levels      

Why It’s Useful: In the Original Scenario: English Grammar in Context series, each division of material covers a specific grammatical Topic in as much detail as its subject matter warrants at the targeted Level of Differentiation.  Unit 17: The Simple Past Tense is typical of this approach.  Postponing “the Past Time Frame” to a more advanced stage of instruction, it “teaches” Affirmative & Negative Statement, Question, & Answer patterns first.  Next come Spelling / Pronunciation Rules for Regular Past Verbs, followed by the Vocabulary of nine groupings of Irregular Verbs with a Verb-Form Reference List. Also characteristic of this mode of delivery is [1] Presentation of its Grammar-in-Context with a Scenario; numbered-lettered [2] Comprehension Checks; [3] Pedagogy with Sentence-Structure Charts; Examples, & Notes for each Learning Point; [4] controlled (guided) practice Exercises; [5] more expressive/communicative Activity Sections titled “Talking It Over,” “Writing It down,” and/or “Putting It Together.”   

What You’ll Do: 

[1] Have fun with the page 156 exaggerated Scenario, “Gossip,” which satirizes  parallels between real-life rumor spreading and traditional TV soap-opera plots. In doing / checking Exercises 1a-1c, 2a-2b, 2d-2e, 2g-2h, 2l on pages 157–161, you might (not) want / need to refer to the Boxed Pedagogy in between. 

[2] The rest of Unit 17 on pages 161-175 focuses on verb forms rather than phrase  structure.  You get to follow spelling ( + pronunciation) rules for adding regular –(e)d endings to base verbs.  Then many of the (more commonly used but fewer in number) Irregular Verbs of English are grouped into boxes according to how they are formed.  Puzzle-like Vocabulary Exercises follow each one, two, or three of these groupings. Activities 4n-4o suggest steps for card-deck creation and game play. (Already prepared, colorized Basic & Beginning Verb-Forms Card Decks + Activity & Idea Books are in downloadable Parts & Pieces D-08.07 through D-10.)

[3] With suggestions for Past-Time Expressions, the Download ends with Story-Telling & Creative-Writing Activities.