Lesson plan

Date: 14th of November, 2009 Mentor: Claudia Leah Student: Silviana Secara School: Faculty of Letters Class: 1st year MA Level: Advanced Title of the lesson: Verb Aspects Type of lesson: Grammar lesson Number of students: 25 Time: 50 minutes Objectives: By the end of the lesson students will be able to: define the term aspect; mention the verb aspects and the verb tenses used for every aspect; say when the main tenses are used and how they are formed; Teaching materials: blackboard, handouts. Modes of interaction: teacher-whole class student-whole class group work

Stages of the lesson/time

1.Warm-up 1

Objectives

Teachers activity

Students activity

Mode of interaction
Teacherwhole class Studentwhole class

To organize students Handout 1 To check students homework

Good morning. How are you today? Are you ready for a grammar lesson?

Students answer: Good morning, teacher! Yes, we are.

2. Lead in 4

To introduce the new context

Teacher gives the students a sheet of paper containing a joke (handout 1). The teacher says: Look at the joke, especially at the bolded words and try to tell me the tenses of the verbs and mainly the aspects.

Students receive the handouts and read the text quietly. Ss: The tenses are: Was- Past Indefinite, indefinite aspect Had been running- Past Perfect Continuous, continuous aspect Are you running- Present Continuous, continuous aspect Was trying- Past Continuous, continuous aspect Hasmoved- Present Perfect Indefinite, indefinite aspect

Teacherwhole class Studentwhole class

3. Presen tation 15

The T gives the Ss handout To make students be aware number 2, where they can find of certain key concepts the information the teacher is that are vital for the presenting. students to understand the meaning and the use of grammar structures

Teacherwhole class Ss pay attention or take notes.

3. Practice 20

To revise and consolidate students knowledge of the grammar structure

The T groups the Ss into six teams. Each team has two tenses (Present Tense Indefinite/ Present Tense Continuous, Present Perfect Indefinite/Present Perfect Continuous, Past Tense Indefinite/Past Tense Continuous, Past Perfect Indefinite/Past Perfect Continuous, Indefinite Future/Future Continuous, 2 Future Perfect Indefinite/Future Perfect Continuous) of which they

Teacherwhole class GW Studentwhole class Ss work for five minutes and then one person from the group mentions the required things. (annex 1)

A joke
Mention the tenses and the aspects of the bolded verbs:
Roger's face was very red because he had been running up the street as fast as he could. As he came into the house his mother asked: Why are you running? I was trying to stop a fight. Who was fighting? Me and the big boy who has just moved into the house at the bottom of the street!

Handout 2 The Aspect is a grammatical category of verbs which implies the duration of the action or of the state it expresses. tenses. The indefinite aspect denotes an action without stressing the idea that it develops in time. It stresses the idea that the action is complete. The continuous aspect is always formed of a tense of the auxiliary verb to be and the indefinite participle of the verb to be conjugated. It does not describe the whole event. The continuous aspect indicates an action or a state in progress at a given moment. There are some cases when the continuous aspect is not used: The verb to be is used in the continuous aspect only to express a temporary Verbs of perception (to see, to hear, to smell, to taste) state: He is being mean to us. Verbs like to smell, to taste, to fell may be used in continuous forms when they imply a voluntary action: I am smelling the flower. I smell your perfume. dislike. Sometimes, to denote temporary feelings, some of them may be used in continuous forms: Im loving your painting. Verbs expressing wish: to wish, to want, to desire: I wish to see the film. Verbs expressing mental activities: to know, to think, to understand, to believe. I think you are right. (Cred ca ai dreptate.) I am thinking of you. (Ma gandesc la tine.) Verbs denoting feelings, attitudes: to like, to hate, to love, to prefer, to Indefinite or common aspect Continuous or progressive aspect Frequentative aspect

Some grammarians add another aspect: the Perfective aspect, which includes all perfect

Therefore, when the verb to think means a gandi it may be used in continuous form. Auxiliary verbs, link verbs, modal verbs and also verbs like to belong, to possess, to owe, etc. He has a phone. When these verbs imply a certain emotional force they may be used in continuous forms, but usually accompanied by adverbs like always, forever. You are always keeping secrets from me! The frequentative aspect denotes a repeated action. Will/would + short infinitive When the cats away, the mice will play. This part of speech, which is the verb, is a very complex matter and aspect comprises all moods and tenses. Regarding the indicative mood, the following chart summarizes tenses used in indefinite aspect and continuous aspect.

Indefinite Aspect, Indicative Mood

I
Present Indefinite Present Perfect Indefinite Past Tense Indefinite Past Perfect Indefinite Indefinite future Future Perfect Indefinite

Continuous Aspect, Indicative Mood Present Continuous

Present Perfect Continuous Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous Future Continuous

Future Perfect Continuous

Regarding Conditional mood, there are tenses which are used in indefinite aspect and others used in continuous aspect. In indefinite aspect we encounter: Present Conditional and Past Conditional. Tenses like Conditional Present Continuous and Past Conditional Continuous are used in continuous aspect. Present Conditional denotes an action whose fulfillment depends on the fulfillment of a condition. Past Conditional denotes an action whose fulfillment depended on the fulfillment of a condition. The Conditional Present Continuous denotes an action in progress while Past Conditional Continuous denotes an action in progress in the past.

Indefinite Aspect, Conditional Mood

Present Conditional Should/would + short infinitive I should ask.

s
Past Conditional Should/would + short perfect infinitive I should have written.

Continuous Aspect, Conditional Mood

Present Conditional Continuous conditional present of to be + infinitive participle I should be writing.

Past Conditional Continuous conditional past of to be + indefinite participle I would have been writing if I had not been so busy.

The Subjunctive mood is mainly represented by the following forms: Present Subjunctive, Past Subjunctive and Perfect Subjunctive. They are in indefinite aspect.
Indefinite Aspect, Subjunctive Mood

Present Subjunctive Short infinitive Long live the queen!

Perfect Subjunctive HAD + past participle I would have learnt if I had been you.

Past Subjunctive 2nd form of the verb I would learn if I were you.

Aspect is to be found also in non-finite verbal forms like infinitive. For example, the verb to go has the form of long infinitive, indefinite aspect, while the form to be going is used in continuous aspect.

Handout 3. Present Indefinite or Present Continuous?

Present Perfect Simple or Present Perfect Continuous?

Which of the Past Tenses?

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Handout 4

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Annex 1 Present Tense Indefinite refers to: general truths or statements (Water boils at 100oC) habitual actions: I often read a good novel. permanent state or characteristic: He lives in London. to denote actions of short duration: What are you reading now? to denote actions or states stressing the idea of repetition: He is always doing that. to show an action that occurs at the moment of speaking: I am watching TV. To refer to a future action: I am leaving you. to denote an action that began in the past and may still go on at the moment

Present Tense Continuous is used:

Present Perfect Tense is used: of speaking: I have opened the book. Present Perfect Continuous is used: to denote an action that began in the past, and continues in the present but stressing the idea of duration: I have been waiting you for twenty minutes. Past Tense Indefinite is used: came home. Past Perfect Indefinite is used to denote an action begun and finished in the past, before another action in the past: He wrote his homework after he had finished the classes. Past Perfect Continuous is used to denote continuous actions in the past before another action in the past: She had been writing for two hours when her mother came. Indefinite Future is used to express an action in the future: I will keep my promises. to express actions that happened in the past: I wrote a short story yesterday. to express a continuous action in the past: I was watching TV when she Past Tense Continuous is used:

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Future Continuous denotes an action in progress in the future: Tomorrow I will be working all day long. Future Perfect Indefinite expresses an action that will occur in the future before another future moment, or an action begun before a future moment and still going on at that future moment: We will have known each other for two months by the end of the year. Future Perfect Continuous denotes an action begun before a given moment in the future and continuing: When you come back, I will have been waiting for you for more than half an hour.

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