D-03.02 Get & Use Simple Present Statements, YES/NO & WH-Questions & Answers

Parts One to Three of Chapter 2 (the Simple Present: “Problems & Solutions”) of WorkLife English Grammar 2: English in Everyday Life.            

12 pages

Who It’s For: (Teachers & Helpers of) High Beginning Language Learners      

Why It’s Useful: Being able to arrange simple verbs in phrases with auxiliaries, objects, and other parts of speech is one of the early “grammatical tasks” that give English learners the confidence they need for sentence construction. And (the title of) the chapter, “Problems & Solutions,” sets up the expectation that its material will lead to results—especially as they apply to language study in life situations.

What You’ll Do: 

[1] With (other) participants, act out (read aloud) the Strip Story “I Have a Problem” on page 20. Get speakers to be alert to verb phrases, differentiate between affirmative and negative statements, pronounce can’t and don’t as equivalents, and use emphatic “falling statement intonation” for their assertions.  

[2] In sample sentences (and exercise items), identify sentence elements: Subjects, Affirmative & Negative Verbs, Noun Objects, Prepositional Phrases, other words.  Notice statement word-order.

[3] For Exercises A-D on pages 21-23, (help learners) respond to instructions. —perhaps by adding directives like “Fill in Words from the Box,” “Copy the Underlined Words,” “Change Subjects,” “Change from Affirmative to Negative & Vice Versa.” For Exercises *E and **F, (get learners) used to the idea of using given grammar and vocabulary to express “the truth” (or to make up appropriate sentences).  

[4] For Parts Two & Three on pages 25-26 and 27-30, adapt the above Steps [1] - [3] to the material. Notice or point out the advantages of “Substitution Drill Formats” in generating apropos language.