Presenting new language-2

Presenting new language-2

Here are two examples of presentation techniques which are both engaging and involving for the students:

Picture presentation

This first example is called a picture presentation and it also makes good use of the board. As you read, consider the role of the student during the process.
Using a picture of a person is a simple way to present the present perfect with ‘for’ and ‘since’ without using the course book. Take a picture of a man or a women from a magazine or newspaper or even draw one yourself. Pin it up on the board so that all of the students can see it. Ask the students to build up an imaginary life history for this person.

To do this you can ask them questions - ask them what the person’s name is, how old they are, where do they live? what do they do? Ask about hobbies, children, marriage and pets. Remember that the more unusual the life history is, the more interested students will be. So encourage them to use their imaginations.

Write up their answers on the board, but don’t write whole sentences - just write words. For example, What does he do?
He’s a postman - write ‘postman’. Make sure you include dates and times so that you can introduce ‘for’ and ‘since’ later. Now use the words that you’ ve got on the board to focus on the language. Get a student to try to make a sentence using two words from the board. E.g. ‘postman’, ‘1995’. With any luck the student should come up with the sentence, ‘He’s been a postman since 1995’. Write the sentence on the board and highlight the language. If the student doesn’t come up with the sentence, write it yourself and highlight the language. Write up another example on the board with ‘for’. Such as, ‘He’s had a pet dog for seven years’.

Encourage students to give more examples using the language and words on the board. You can then compare and contrast the difference between ‘for’ and ‘since’.

Did you notice that the students have an active role in the process? They actually provide all the information that the teacher needs to present the language. Rather than just telling the students the target language, the teacher has tried to elicit it from the students. Asking questions and eliciting are good techniques for involving the students more in the lesson.

Realia presentation

This second presentation method uses realia. This time consider the way that the teacher introduces the context. One way to present the present perfect with ‘for’ and ‘since’ is to use an object from the real world or what we call a piece of realia. My favourite pieces of realia are my shoes. I don’t take them off, that might be a little too dangerous for the students! However, I do focus the students’ attention on them.

First, I talk with the class about fashion - what kind of clothes do they like and so on. It’s also an opportunity to teach some vocabulary on that subject - items of clothing, for example. Then I focus them on my shoes. I ask them questions. Do they look fashionable? Do they look new? Do they look old? Do they look clean? You can do the same with any item of clothing. Then I ask the students to discuss in pairs, ‘How long have I had my shoes?’. While they’re discussing their ideas, on the board I write the beginning of my marker sentence, that is, my example sentence. In this case, ‘I’ve
had my shoes …’.

Once I have written my marker sentence on the board I ask the students for their suggestions as to how long I’ve had my shoes. I write their answers on the board leaving a space between my marker sentence, ‘I have had my shoes’ and their answers, ‘2 years’, ‘6 months’, ‘1995’. Then I ask the students what word connects the beginning of the sentence with the end of the sentence. Some students may know, if not, I can tell them, ‘I have had my shoes ‘for’ 2 years’, or ‘I
have had my shoes ‘since’ 1995’. Then, showing other examples they can see the difference between the use of ‘for’ and ‘since’. So the grammar point has been explained through a clear, real world example. I have created interest in the language by creating interest in the subject of fashion and in particular, my shoes. And so their interest - as well as a clear context - should lead to a good, clear understanding of the grammar point in question.