Past Continuous Lesson Plan for ESL Learners

Learning the basic structure and usage of the past continuous is usually not that difficult for most students. Unfortunately, this is not the case when it comes to actively integrating the past continuous into everyday conversations or written communications. This lesson is aimed at helping students actively use the past continuous in speaking and writing. This is done through the use of the past continuous as a descriptive tense to paint a picture in words of the moment when something important occurred. Aim To increase active usage of the past continuous Activity Speaking activity followed by a gap fill exercise and  creative writing Level Intermediate Outline Begin teaching the past continuous by telling a story with exaggerated details through the use of the past continuous. For example: I remember that day well. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the children were playing games peacefully. At that moment, I saw Alex and fell in love. Point out how the past continuous is used to paint a picture of the scene.Quickly review the past continuous structure with the class. Go over differences in usage between the past simple and past continuous. Point out that the past continuous focuses on a specific moment in the past.Write various examples on the board of sentences combining the past simple and past continuous to illustrate the idea of an interrupted past. For example, I was walking through the park when I met David. Ask students to comment on what function the past continuous plays in the example sentences.Have students divide into small groups of 3-4.Ask students to complete the activity by providing an appropriate response with the past continuous to describe an action that was interrupted.Next, have students first conjugate verbs in the past simple to complete the story. Next, ask them to insert past continuous clauses into the appropriate place in the story.Correct this exercise as a class. Make sure to note differences between the past continuous and past simple as you review.Ask students to complete the written exercise focusing on a special day in their lives.Once theyve written their paragraph, ask students to find a partner. Each student should read their paragraph and ask questions to check to understand.   Interrupted Actions Use the verb suggestion to complete the sentence with an appropriate phrase expressing an interrupted action: I (watch) ____________ when her boss called with a job offer.My friends (play) _____________ when they felt the earthquake.When I walked in the door, they children (study) _________________.We (eat) _________________ when we heard the news.My parents (travel) ________________ when I telephoned that I was pregnant.   Use of the Past Continuous in Writing Put the following verbs into the past simple: Thomas _______ (live) in the small town of Brington. Thomas _______ (love) walking through the beautiful forest that surrounded Brington. One evening, he ____ (take) his umbrella and _____ (go) for a walk in the woods. He ______ (meet) an old man named Frank. Frank _______ (tell) Thomas that, if he _____ (want) to become rich, he should invest in a little-known stock called Microsoft. Thomas ______ (think) Frank _____ (be) foolish because Microsoft ____ (be) a computer stock. Everybody _____ (know) that computers _____ (be) just a passing fad. At any rate, Frank _______ (insist) that Thomas _____ (be) wrong. Frank _______ (draw) a wonderful graph of future possibilities. Thomas ______ (begin) thinking that maybe Frank ______ (understand) stocks. Thomas _______ (decide) to buy some of these stocks. The next day, he ______ (go) to the stock brokers and _____ (buy) $1,000 worth of Microsoft stock. That _____ (be) in 1986. Today, that $1,000 is worth more than $250,000! Improve the Story Insert the following past continuous fragments into the above story: As Frank was drawing the graph, ...... while he was walking to work,it was raining, so...While they were discussing the stock, ...When he was returning from his walk, ...As he was walking through the woods, Written Exercise Write a description of an important day in your life. Include the most important events that occurred during that day in the past simple. Once you have written the important events using the past simple, try to include a description of what was happening at some of the specific moments when those events occurred to provide more details.Write out a few questions about your important day.  Make sure to include a few questions in the past continuous. For example, What was I doing when I found out about the job?Find a partner and read your story twice. Next, ask your partner your questions and discuss.Listen to your partners story and answer their questions.

The Relevance of Black and White in To Kill a Mockingbird...

The Relevance of Black and White in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee This essay deals with the topic of black and white and its relevance with the novel. As much as we may despise racism it was still however a cornerstone of the novel. I shall attempt to explain how the quote from Atticus encapsulates this theme so well. The rigid class structure and social discrimination of Maycomb County had a profound effect on the events in the novel. The impact of this class structure was especially evident in the trial of Tom Robinson, a Maycomb Negro. The extreme prejudice of the town eventually led to the unjust conviction of Robinson for a crime he did not commit. The society of Maycomb County†¦show more content†¦All blacks were included in this group. Prejudice ran deep in Maycomb County. Although many classes existed within the black community, one of colour must always be in the lowest class. The blacks lived apart from the whites in their own section of town and seemed to have a society separate from the whites. The strong prejudice of Maycomb County and the negative effects of its social system were demonstrated by the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom was a hard-working, warm-hearted Negro who went out of his way to be kind and helpful to some poor white trash. He helped Miss Mayella because he felt sorry for her. His major shortcoming was the fact that he was black. Bob Ewell, a white drunk, who was a blemish and problem to the town, accused Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Atticus made it immensely clear to the jury that Tom was innocent. It was actually Mayella who made sexual advances towards Tom, and as a result was beaten by her father for kissing a black man. However, despite the obvious, undeniable facts of the case, the all white jury found in favor of the Ewells and sentenced Tom Robinson to death. Tom eventually died when he was shot in attempt to escape from prison. The two lowest classes in Maycomb were involved in the case. It was the Ewells who were white trash against Tom Robinson, a kind, black man. The jury’sShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Nature In To Kill A Mockingbird1394 Words   |  6 Pagesmessage to life. As shown in To Kill a Mockingbird, nature and various aspects of humanity are associated in the form of a mockingbird. As it relates to the novel, A mockingbird represents a commonality of an understood sin. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is well known, classic novel originally published in 1960. Though the novel was written in a different time span, its plot vividly details and expresses the events, emotions, and issues during the 1930s. Lee isolated her novel’s setting toRead MoreRelationship between How to Kill a Mockingbird and Mississipi Burning2129 Words   |  9 PagesFeature Article: If you aint better then a nigger, then who you better then? What is a nigger? 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Crack Babies Essay Research Paper David HesterIris free essay sample

Crack Babies Essay, Research Paper David Hester Iris Barbour English 111 June 23, 2000 Mothers are Responsible for Crack Babies Drugs have been a lasting job for the American society. Not merely adolescents, but besides pregnant adult females use drugs to a great extent. To unborn kids female parents taking drugs are harmful. In all cases female parents are be responsible for cleft babes. The female parent is responsible for her mistakes. This job has been looked over, but it is of import in its entireness. The cleft babes are genuinely ill. We will write a custom essay sample on Crack Babies Essay Research Paper David HesterIris or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The female parent of a cleft babe neer has been held responsible for jeopardizing her kid? s life. Besides there is a permanent job with the cleft babes being labeled in school and in society. This job is non to be over looked, and female parents are responsible for their kid because drug usage is their pick. Crack babes are genuinely ill. A cleft babe is frequently times one Born prematurely with low gestational birth weight. Harmonizing to ( Turner ) the Neonate Addiction is no more than a show of forms of both irritability and lassitude, appear to be more stressed, and fail to follow certain stimulations, such as rattling or bell, compared to non-exposed babies. This Neonate Neurological Syndrome is a syndrome in neonates characterized by unnatural slumber forms, shudders, hapless eating, crossness, occasional ictuss, and an increased hazard or incident of sudden baby decease syndrome. Besides little caput perimeters, Low birth weight from premature birth like babe James who was born at a weight of three and a half lbs. Besides trouble eating which can harm the kids and strip them of acquiring the nutriment they need. This leads to kiping upsets plus other jobs ( UNL ) . After words this kid is normally addicted to the drug and goes through backdown. Then in the remainder of the life o f the kid the child is a slow scholar. All in all medically talking a cleft babe is truly ill. Since this is infact true female parents have to be held responsible. The female parent of cleft babes has neer been held responsible for T heir kids? s good being. Well as it stands now there are no Torahs for the female parents of cleft babes to be held responsible for their kids. But there are measures seeking to acquire through but as it stands no 1 has been of all time brought up on charges for anything. Even when new testing has help decide confusion about babies born to adult females who use cleft during gestation ( Turner ) . This is more than adequate grounds to convey a female parent up on charges. Not to advert that cleft produces excitable, stressed babies but have cause bleedings lesions and encephalon harm. Plus the fact that babies fails certain stimulations such as a rattling or a bell, compared to non-exposed babies. Crack intoxicant and marihuana can do all of these symptoms but, the chief ground is that these are drugs and they are seting the unborn kid in danger of non merely of these symptoms but besides Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. With all this evidences if there was a jurisprudence she would be b rought up on charges but does she acquire the decease punishment. Does a female parent that has been prosecuted and found guilty for jeopardizing her kid? s life or slaying. Still as I stated before there are no Torahs against female parents and utilizing drugs. Well even if there were a decease punishment for this offense, the female parent is non traveling to acquire it be cause adult females merely constitute 1.5 % of the entire decease row population ( DPIC ) . It is merely uneven that a female that is found guilty for the same offense, as a male will non acquire either the same sentence or the decease punishment. America has a manner to demo prejudice for offenses. There can be a manner to alter this if the sentences in America were unbiased. In decision female parents can be held responsible for their kid? s good being. This is a serious topic and can non be merely over looked. These babes are genuinely ill as babies. They have to travel through backdown and, are faced with being stressed. For this the female parent is be responsible. She has put her kid at hazard of decease. This is to be punishable by decease because badness of the charge. From my position the female parents that choose to set her babe in danger of decease should be punished and be in danger of decease.

Time And Culture Essays - Circadian Rhythm, Anthropology, Zeitgeber

Time And Culture In The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time Anthropologist Edward T. Hall entitles his first chapter "Time as Culture." An extreme stance perhaps, especially given the potency of nature's rhythms, but it is instructive of the extent to which experiences and conceptualizations of time and space are culturally determined. Unlike the rest of nature's animals, our environment is primarily man-made and symbolic in quality. As Bronowski observed in The Ascent of Man, instead of being figures of the landscape, like antelopes upon the African savanna, we humans are the shapers of it. Geographical space and natural time are transformed into social space and social time, around whose definitions human beings orient their behaviors. For instance, instead of being governed by the natural rhythms of the sun and seasons, our behaviors are governed by such cultural temporalities as work schedules, age norms, and by the "open" hours of shopping malls. Culture is a shared system of ideas about the nature of the world and how (and when) people should behave in it. Cultural theorists argue that culture creates minds, selves and emotions in a society as reliably as DNA creates the various tissues of a living body. Culture also creates the rhythms of a society that echo within the very biology of its members. Observes Irving Hallowell ("Temporal Orientation in Western Civilization and in a Pre-Literate Society, American Anthropologist 36, 1955), "It is impossible to assume that man is born with any innate `temporal sense.' His temporal concepts are always culturally constituted" (pp. 216-7). A 1974 study by William Condon and Louis Sander showed that within a few days, infants flex their limbs and move their heads in rhythms matching the human speech around them. By the time a child is three months old he has already been temporally enculturated, having internalized the external rhythms (called Zeitgeber, meaning "time giver" in German) of his culture. These rhythms underlie a people's language, music, religious ritual (the Buddhist mantra, for instance, is not only one's personal prayer but one's personal rhythm), beliefs about post-mortem fate, and their poetry and dance. These rhythms also serve as a basis of solidarity: humans are universally attracted to rhythm and to those who share their cadences of talk, movement, music, and sport. Thus socio-cultural systems can be likened to massive musical scores: change the rhythm-- such as putting a funeral dirge to a calypso beat--and you change the meaning of the piece. Cultures differ temporally, for example, in the temporal precision with which they program everyday events (ask any American businessman trying to schedule a meeting in the Middle East) and in the ways various social rhythms are allowed to mesh.