TDC 1Pedagogical GrammarClass 14

To Be- One of the first grammar points in any ESL/EFL book.

- It allows practice of a lot of new vocabulary (nouns, adjectives and prepositional phrases).

- Many inflections: 1) be, am, is, are, 2) was, were, 3) being, been.

Typical ELL Errors- I have hungry now.- Joseph and Mark no are in the car.- India and Pakistan two countries in Asia.- Mrs. Williams is a good store manager. Is my friend.- Does the weather is hot in your country?

To Be

What ELLs Should Know

- Subject – Verb Agreement (Joseph and Mark is in the kitchen.)- Irregular Omition. (India and Pakistan countries in Asia.)- Have ≠ Be. (The author of the book has 49 years old.)- Subjects are always needed. (My brother’s name is Kirk. Is 47 years old.)

Singular Plural

I am we are

you are you are

he/she/it is they are

Singular Plural

I was we were

you were you were

he/she/it was they were

Simple Present Simple Past

areare

is

He is

To BePresent Past

I am not I was not

you are not you were not

he/she/it is not he/she/it was not

Negative Form

Contractions - AffirmativePresent Past

I am – I’m I was - -----

you are – you’re you were - ----

he is – he’s he was - -----

she is – she’s she was - ----

it is – it’s it was - ----

we are – we’re we were - ----

they are – they’re they were - ----

Present Past

we are not we were not

they are not they were not

Negative Form

- Add not after the form of be.- Different negative form.

Contractions - Affirmative

- More common in spoken language, making the speaker sound more friendly.

- Only possible in the Present.

To BeContractions - Negative

Present Past

I am not – I’m not I was not – I wasn’t

you are not – you’re not / you aren’t you were not – you weren’t

he is not – he’s not / he isn’t he was not – he wasn’t

she is not – she’s not / she isn’t she was not – she wasn’t

it is not – it’s not / it isn’t it was not – it wasn’t

we are not – we’re not / we aren’t we were not – we weren’t

they are not – they’re not / they aren’t they were not – they weren’t

Contractions - Negative

- More common in spoken language, making the speaker sound more friendly.

- Two different forms in the present. One form in the past.

To Be

Forming Questions

- To form questions with be, just invert the subject and the verb.- In short answers, contractions with the negative form are

possible, not with the affirmative form.- ELL books normally start by presenting the students with yes/no

questions. Only later do they introduce information questions.- Both types of questions follow the rule above.

Forming Questions

yes-no wh-

Statement Mark is from Canada. Mark is from Canada.

Question Is Mark from Canada? Where is Mark from?

Short Answer Yes, he is. // No, he isn’t. Canada.

To BePortuguese Interference Common ErrorsIn Portuguese, there are two different verbs for to be – ser and estar. Students might get confused.Telling somebody’s age in Portuguese is done with the verb to have, not the verb to be.

1. “She has five years old.”

Portuguese speakers normally use phrases with to have to express hunger and thirst.

1. “I have hungry.”2. “He has thirsty.”

In Portuguese, verb forms frequently change according to the subject. Students might get confused.

To BePortuguese Interference Common ErrorsNegation in Portuguese is limited to putting não (no) in front of the verb.

1. “He no is a doctor.”

In Portuguese, questions with to be do not use invertion. There is only intonational change.

1. “You are American?”

In Portuguese, subject pronouns are sometimes omitted.

1. “__ Is raining outside.’2. “__ Is five o’clock.”

To Be – Lesson PlanObjective - Students will be able to tell their friends where they are from, as well as to ask and to tell each other about where famous people are from, using the correct form of the verb to be in the present.

Steps

1. The students will explore a picture of two people (a boy and a girl wearing a t-shirt with “Colombiana” written on it).

2. The students will listen to a dialog and answer some comprehension questions.

3. The students will complete a similar dialog with the forms of be, looking for the words in the first dialog.

4. The students will match the cards with photos of famous people to the corresponding cards with flags.

5. The students will pretend they are the famous people and have conversations similar to the one in the second dialog.

6. The students will have conversations about themselves.7. In the debriefing stage, the teacher will ask the students about their

friends (to force the use of 3rd person singular and plural).

Picture ExplorationQuestions

1. How many people can you see?2. Where are they?3. Look at her t-shirt. What can you read?

Listening – Comprehension Questions

Questions

1. What is the boy’s name? 4. Where is Ana from?2. What is the girl’s name? 5. Where is Hyun from?3. What is their teacher’s name?

TapescriptHyun: Excuse me? Are you in this class?Ana: Yes, I am. Hyun: Who’s the teacher?Ana: It’s Mr. Allen.Hyun: Oh... Hi, I’m Hyun.Ana: Hi, Hyun. I’m Ana.Hyun: Your shirt is cool. Are you from Colombia?Ana: Yeah.Hyun: Where in Colombia?Ana: Bogota. And you? Where are you from, Hyun?Hyun: Korea.Ana: Oh? Which city?Hyun: Seoul.

Controlled ActivityMark: Where ___ you from?Joanne: I ___ from England. What about you? ___ you from the U.S.A.?Mark: Yes, I ___. But my parents ___ from Brazil.Joanne: My favorite soccer player, Kaká, ___ from Brazil, too. Which city is he from?Mark: He and I ___ from Brasília. We ___ great players...

CardsThe names of the famous people and the countries will be read on the back of the cards... (just in case)

Homework

• Read Grammar Key 1: to be (pages 90-99)

• Read Grammar Key 2: verb tenses to express present time (pages 100 – 113)

• Close the Verb Tense discussion in the moodle platform. (We might have a quis next class!!!)