ESL teaching
Assignment : Teaching Grammar to ESL Students
1. I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day. (a recovering alcoholic at an AA meeting)
STRUCTURE: ‘used’ structure
FORM: subject + used to + infinitive
B. FUNCTION AND MEANING It talks about an action that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens in the present.
.
C. PROBLEMS WITH…
Meaning: Students may think that he is talking about the present, rather than the past. Some learners may use ‘used to’ in place of the simple present (E.g. they might say ‘I used to speak Somali at home’; instead of saying ‘I speak Somali at home’.) students might not understand that used to was a recurring habit in the past rather than it happening once.
Form: Student may misunderstand the infinitive regular and irregular. For example, instead of ‘used to’ they may think that it is ‘use to’. Since many learners are familiar with this form to refer to habitual activity in the present, they may think that this is ‘be + used to + ing’ (e.g. I’m used drinking a bottle of vodka a day). It could be that they have not been taught properly or they forget which is which.
Pronunciation: students may not realise the pronunciation difference of use and used, for example; they may stress both words the same way ( juːz )instead of pronouncing used (juːzd) omitting ed. Or they may stress every word in the sentence instead of stressing ‘used’ and ‘drink’.
D. GENERATIVE CONTEXT: Two pensioners are discussing the activities they did when they were younger.
Model1: I used to ride a bike to work
Model2: I used to read a lot of books.
Model3: I used to play tennis.
E. CONCEPT CHECK QUESTIONS FOR Model __2_: I used to read a lot of books.
1. Is this a past or present action? (PAST/PRESENT) (Answer: PAST)
2. Does he still read a lot of books? (YES/NO) (Answer: NO)
1. I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day. (a recovering alcoholic at an AA meeting)
STRUCTURE: ‘used’ structure
FORM: subject + used to + infinitive
B. FUNCTION AND MEANING It talks about an action that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens in the present.
.
C. PROBLEMS WITH…
Meaning: Students may think that he is talking about the present, rather than the past. Some learners may use ‘used to’ in place of the simple present (E.g. they might say ‘I used to speak Somali at home’; instead of saying ‘I speak Somali at home’.) students might not understand that used to was a recurring habit in the past rather than it happening once.
Form: Student may misunderstand the infinitive regular and irregular. For example, instead of ‘used to’ they may think that it is ‘use to’. Since many learners are familiar with this form to refer to habitual activity in the present, they may think that this is ‘be + used to + ing’ (e.g. I’m used drinking a bottle of vodka a day). It could be that they have not been taught properly or they forget which is which.
Pronunciation: students may not realise the pronunciation difference of use and used, for example; they may stress both words the same way ( juːz )instead of pronouncing used (juːzd) omitting ed. Or they may stress every word in the sentence instead of stressing ‘used’ and ‘drink’.
D. GENERATIVE CONTEXT: Two pensioners are discussing the activities they did when they were younger.
Model1: I used to ride a bike to work
Model2: I used to read a lot of books.
Model3: I used to play tennis.
E. CONCEPT CHECK QUESTIONS FOR Model __2_: I used to read a lot of books.
1. Is this a past or present action? (PAST/PRESENT) (Answer: PAST)
2. Does he still read a lot of books? (YES/NO) (Answer: NO)
Bibliography: Martin Parrot .Grammar for English Language Teaching, Second edition ( 2010) Roymond Murphy. English Grammar in use Third edition (2007) Michael swan & Bernard smith. Learner English, second edition (2001)