Grammar: Present Continuous (Progressive)
Elementary (Grade 4) level

Description

In this lesson, Ss learn about the present continuous (progressive) using the inductive approach. The lesson starts with playing a video of (Lemon Tree Song) as a lead-in to introduce present progressive. That is followed by a reading comprehension activity that exposes and highlights the form, function and keywords of the present continuous tense. Finally, there are some controlled, semi-controlled and free practice through MCQ and dialogue activities in addition to a miming game.

Materials

Abc Abby's Visit HO
Abc Vocab Exposure Worksheet
Abc Whiteboard and markers
Abc OHP
Abc Tense form Clarification practice
Abc Semi-controlled dialogue worksheet

Main Aims

  • Grammar: provide clarification, review and practice of present progressive tense in the context of temporary situations.

Subsidiary Aims

  • Reading: to provide gist and detailed reading practice using a text about temporary actions in the context of a family visit.

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (5-7 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

* Start the lesson by writing on board 2 gist questions to give Ss a purpose for listening to the song: - Is the singer happy or sad? - Is he singing about something he did in the past or something he is doing now? * Ask Ss to listen and watch the song video and answer these two questions. * Play the video song (Lemon Tree) on OHP. * Answer the 2 questions with the whole class.

Exposure (5-7 minutes) • To provide context for the target language through a text or situation

* Write on board 2 gist questions: - Who are those people? - What are they doing? * Show the picture above the text on OHP and ask Ss to brainstorm and guess the answer of the 2 questions on board. * Elicit answers from whole class. * Give Ss the text HO and ask them to read it individually and check their guessing.

Highlighting (4-6 minutes) • To draw students' attention to the target language

* Write on board the marker sentence: "Today, Abby is visiting her grandparents." * Ask Ss CCQs to draw their attention to the function of the tense: - What is the action that Abby doing? - Is it a present action or a past one? How do you know that? * Draw a two-column table on board title one of them with "Action verb" and the other with "Keyword". * Under the "Action verb" column write "is visiting" and the word "Today" under the "Keyword" column as guided examples extracted from the marker sentence. * Ask Ss to work in-pairs for 3 mins to extract from the text all action verbs that happens now to be dropped in the first column and the keywords to be dropped in the second column. * Elicit from Ss and complete the table.

Clarification (8-10 minutes) • To clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language

* On board write the marker sentence: "She is listening to a story." * Elicit from Ss the negative, Yes/No, and Wh Question forms and write the sentences on board under the marker sentence: - She is not listening to a story. - Is she listening to a story? - What does she listening to? * Apply whole class coral repetition as substitution drill practice for the sentences on board.

Controlled Practice (4-6 minutes) • To concept check and prepare students for more meaningful practice

* Give Ss MCQ worksheet and ask them to answer it in-pairs in 3 minutes. * Ask Ss to exchange their worksheets for peer correction. * Show the modle answer sheet on OHP as whole class feedback.

Semi-Controlled Practice (8-10 minutes) • To concept check further and prepare students for free practice

* Ask Ss in-pairs to answer the questions of the dialogue worksheet with their personal actions. * Remind Ss that they have 5 mins to answer. * Monitor pairs' progress giving any necessary help. * Give Ss clear instructions to apply a whole class chain drill practice for the dialogues that pairs completed: - Ask all pairs to play their dialogues in sequence out-loud. - Play the first dialogue with a volunteered S as an example to be followed. * Take notes in order to give a whole class error correction and feedback at the end of the chain drill.

Free Practice (8-10 minutes) • To provide students with free practice of the target language

* Ask Ss to watch me and guess what I am doing. * Mime a simple action and encourage Ss to call out what I am doing in present continous tense: e.g. " You are wearing your jacket." * When Ss have guessed what I am doing, tell them they will play a similar game in teams. * Give Ss clear instructions of the game: - Divide the class into two teams. - Each team choose one actor to mime for the other team once. - The chosen actor pick blindly an action card from the box and mime it for the other team and ask them: "what am I doing?" - The asked team must say the exact words written on the mime card to win. - Remind Ss that they should guess the mimed action and say it in a complete present continuous sentence. - The game goes on one alternately between the two teams until the box runs out of cards. - The winner team is the team that could guess the larger number of cards.

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