Intermediate-Level Writing Activity

Objective: Practice identifying verb tenses and using the past tense

1.  Lead-In:

·  Provide students with a model text and read it together as a class

·  Point out usage of grammar tense in the text and demonstrate how it can be changed

·  Discuss the meaning of any unfamiliar vocabulary used in the exercise

·  Ask CCQs

2.  Break students into pairs/groups

3.  Have students copy the text onto another piece of paper and then have them change verb tenses from the present to the past simple tense.

For example:

“The sun shines brightly and the cattle graze in the field. The farmer finishes his breakfast and puts on his boots. His children get ready for school, as his wife takes her shower and prepares their lunch boxes. It is the first day of school.”

Transforms to:

“The sun shined brightly and the cattle grazed in the field. The farmer finished his breakfast and put on his boots. His children got ready for school, as his wife took her shower and prepared their lunch boxes. It was the first day of school.”

4.  During the activity, the teacher should be monitoring each group, ensuring each student participates, and offering any assistance where needed

This activity can be adjusted by providing various forms of text, or by gradually having students replace more and more parts of the text until they are able to recreate their own text, only using the example text as a model.

*NOTE: Keep in mind, there may be several variations/ways to adjust and/or add to this exercise according to the teacher's goal of the lesson and specific skills their students need to develop, including the following suggestions:

o  Summarize the text

o  Extract unfamiliar vocabulary words, define them, and then use them in their own sentences

o  Remove verbs from the text and have students fill in the blanks using the correct tense

o  Remove articles from the text and have students fill in the correct article (the, a, an)