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TLE 2 -ING VERB ENDINGS

Toni Bell
EDUC 540B: Practicum in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Languages
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Dr. Serena Gould
June 5, y

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Classroom Setting and Background

Teacher: Toni Bell
Host Teacher: Shindale Seale
Lesson Title: Teaching ING
Topic: L/R Pronunciation Exercises, -ING Verb Endings (Progressive, Gerunds, Participles),
Listening
Learner Level: Advanced Beginner & Intermediate
Age: 8-45
Location: Los Angeles Public Library Overland Branch.
Number of Students: 5
Countries represented: China, Iran, Vietnam
Date: 5/11/2015
Duration: 2 hours
Pre-Planning Conference
I met with my host teacher via phone to go over the lesson for the week. In the previous
weeks, one of the students from France said she wanted to learn about ING verb endings.
Prior grammar instruction has focused primarily upon sentence structure. The students practiced
making sentences using subjects, verbs, and a variety of compliments. This lesson was unique
because it was so specific. Also, in order to teach ING verb endings a variety of grammatical
terms would have been addressed: verbs, gerunds and participles. I knew the students had
extensive practice with sentence structure primarily with subjects, verbs and compliments. This
was going to be a more complex grammar lesson.

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As I am just learning how to teach grammar, I was somewhat concerned about teaching
this lesson. However, I took the time to look through grammar books as well as several online
resources to effectively explain the different parts of speech.
Ideally, I believe that the most effective way to teach grammar is through the inductive
method that involves the presentation of, samples of language toget [students] to work out
the principle or rule for themselves (Nunan, 2003, p. 158). At all of my prior observation sites,
this inductive methods of teaching grammar where favored over deductive. Most of those
teachers had years of ESL teaching experience. They also had course materials and textbooks
written in this matter.
The host teacher at my current site creates her own course materials. Attempting to create
a plan to teach this lesson made it very clear how difficult it can be and the still needed to create
inductive procedures to teach a grammar lesson. Unfortunately, I am still becoming comfortable
with teaching grammar and am not comfortable with the inductive approach as of yet.
I knew that I would be able to explain the concepts and sentence structure to the students.
However, I was concerned about possible follow up questions from students. With such a
detailed grammar lesson and knowing this group of students fairly well after so many weeks, I
knew they would have question. I wanted to be able to provide a better answer than, It just
sounds right when you say it that way. With the host teachers help, I made an effort to
anticipate possible questions and made a list.
Theoretical Background
Teaching English language verbs can be complicated. ING verbs can particularly
challenging for the ESL learner. Depending upon the construction of the sentence the words
learning or studying can be either a verb, a noun, or can act as a modifier. ING verbs do

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have their equivalents in other languages. However, in these other languages the only take one
or two of the three forms they take on in English. For example in Arabic, ING equivalent acts
as gerund. In Korean, -ING acts as a participle. In Hebrew, it acts as a progressive verb. While
in Japanese, it acts as a progressive verb and a participle. When considers that sentence structure
can vary from language, determining what part of speech a word with an ING verb ending is
can be complicated.
Cognitive learning theory posits that for information to be stored into working memory
it must be attended to. Students are also motivated to learn when new knowledge is connected to
prior knowledge. Finally, students most be taught explicit learning strategies to manage their
learning. For the past few weeks, students have been creating their own sentences using the
SUBJECT+ VERB + COMPLIMENT construct. The students already have established prior
knowledge of English sentence structure. This framework will be used as a foundation to teach
words with ING verb endings, their usage and functions.
Andersons ACT model states that, practice [leads] to automatization [and] enables
declarative knowledge (i.e. knowledge that something is the case) becomes procedural
knowledge (i.e. knowledge how to do something) (Mitchell & Myles, 2004, p. 102). In the
lesson, I will engage the cognitive stage where I will go over the procedure to be learned, i.e. the
sentence structure for the use of words with various ING verb endings. The students will then
engage in the associate stage where they will create their own sentences inserting words with
ING verb endings. (2004)
Learning Outcomes/Objectives

Students will be able to pronounce and distinguish the difference between L and R.
Students gain knowledge of new vocabulary terms.
Students will be able to read a passage and point out the L and R sounds.

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Students, via their recordings, will be able to hear their own errors, compare that with the

teacher pronunciation, and correct their mistakes.

Students will learn how to create ING verb endings.
Students will be able to identify the parts of speech of a sentence.
Students will be able to identify via listening certain vocabulary words.
Students will be able to dictate sentences read to them that contain the sounds L and R
and ING verb endings.
Materials Required

Handouts

L/R Pronunciation
-ING Verb endings,

iPhones and other recording devices

Pencils
Scratch Paper
Laptop
Instructional Procedure
Introduction (10 minutes)

Students discuss their weekend. New students introduce themselves.

Teacher goes over agenda for the day.

Part A (10 minutes)

Teacher and students engage in pronunciation exercise L/R

Part B (10 minutes)

Teacher reads passage

Students in groups of two read the passage to one another.
Teacher monitors student speech.
Class comes back together to focus on common errors and review pronunciation
mistakes.

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Part C: (10 minutes)

Students record themselves reading the words from Part A.

Students listen to their recording.
Teacher asks one of the students to volunteer to play their recording.

Part D: (10 minutes)

Students record themselves reading the passage from Part B.

Teacher asks one of the students to volunteer to play their recording.
Teacher asks students to record her reading the words from Part B and the passage from
Part C.

Part D: (50 minutes)

Teacher will explain ING verb endings (progressive, gerunds, participles).

Teacher will go over examples of all three ING forms individually.
Students will create two to three sentences of each ING forms individually.
Students will read one or two of their sentences out loud to the class.

Part E: (10 minutes)

Teacher will read a series of vocabulary words.

Students will circle the words they hear.
Teacher will review words spoken and compare with student responses.
Teacher will read sentences three students will students dictate what they hair.
Teacher will review sentences and compare with student responses.
Informal and formative assessment
Assessment will be primarily informal. The teacher will correct student speech and

pronunciation of L and R sounds. While students write ING verb ending sentences, teacher will
check work individually. The teacher will have students share their individual sentences and use
those opportunities to make suggestions to the class as a whole. For the listening portion of the
lesson, the teacher will verify understanding by confirming the correct words are circled. The
teacher will offer correction and clarification accordingly.
Extension Activities

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Extension activities include an at-home audio review of the recordings from Part A and
Part B. Students will compare their own recordings with that of the teacher. Students will be
instructed to focus on their errors to improve pronunciation. Students will be asked to identify
ING verb ending words and their parts of speech in English text that they read or hear.
Differentiation
The class includes advanced beginner and intermediate students. I differentiated
instruction based on the following: language group and time that the student entered class. The
teacher will confirm understanding and clarify any confusion amongst the various ING verb
forms. The students created their own sentences. Differentiation of instruction was tailored to
correct student errors or point out unique features of student sentence that should be explained to
the class as a whole. I also opted to use my laptop to type certain sentences that were relevant to
teachable moments or for clarification when it appeared it wasnt being understood.

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Analysis

There were several strengths and weaknesses to my lesson. The students were motivated
and actively engaged. The pacing of the lesson was effective. For the most part, I was able to
stay within the time frames I assigned during my original lesson plan. However, I could tell that
my choice to begin the lesson with a deductive explanation of the ING verb endings did began
to wear on the students. I began the lesson by going over sentence structure. Then, I explained
the ING verb endings according to their placement within sentence structure. Once we got past
this portion and the students began making of their own sentences, the students livened up a bit.
The examples were modeled effectively. There were also several teachable moments. For
example, one student wrote the sentence, I like playing skateboard. This gave me the
opportunity to explain how sports are referenced in sports in regards to ING verb endings. As a
result a second student created the sentence, I love surfing, to further illustrate the point.
One student when we were practicing writing gerunds was confused about the sentence
structure. She was putting the gerund in the place of the place of the progressive or continuous
action verb. I helped her to recreate her sentences as true gerunds. However, I wasnt clear if she
understood the sentence structure. I went back to the beginning of the lesson. I know the student
has a concrete knowledge of sentence structure based on her work in pervious classes. My only
explanation for her mistake would be some possible L1 interference. However, I didnt enough
about the specifics about her L1 and equivalent ING endings to offer a different and more
precise definition.
I would like to gain more knowledge about L1 interference that is specific to ING
endings and related sentence structure. From general research, Ive discovered that there are
ING equivalents in a variety of languages. Some of them correspond directly to English

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equivalents others do not. Having specific knowledge about ING endings in other languages
would help to be better able to teach students.

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References

Mitchell, R. & Myles, F. (2004). Second language leaning theories. New York:
Oxford

University Press.

Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English language teaching. New York: McGraw

Hill.

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APPENDIX A PREVIOUS DAY LESSON MATERIAL

See attachments

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APPENDIX B CURRENT LESSON
See attachments

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