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CHAPTER 13 -

When thc students have read the text and shown that they havc understood it by answering comprehension questions, we can then ask them to say what they think happens next. What is the light? What has happcned lo thc space station and why? The objęci is to get them to be creative with language and with their response to the text.

We now ask the students to list things that people did that were 'bad’ or ‘not sensible’ and write them on the board (sec Figurę 10).

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a)    Rosie was rucie to Cathy.

b)    Cathy didn’t look at thc record book.

c)    Cathy didn’t tell thc others wherc she was going.

d)    Rosie ignored the red warning light.

e)    Tim owito hed off his radio.

f)    Tim d\dn^rt do onything about the captain‘s cali.

g)    Mitch was ivearing his spacewalk-man.

h)    Cathy cłidn’t ciose thc station cxit door.

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figurę 10: Spaco sentences

We then ask thc students if they can make a sentence about event a) using should not to elicit the sentence Rosie shouldn't have been rude to Cathy. We may write should (not) have DONE on the board. We then encourage students to make sentences about the other‘silly’ actions, using the same construction. We may get students to cotne up to the board and write lite sentences so that the board ends up looking like Figurę u.

5l\e słmltdn^ kcwe bec-y. rude io

SAa jAou/eł M.I/C toop&d a-e tAs f&c-oCcł boop-

SA? h*ve Md the oiher$ where <A* wuj t&M. L

ęi*e ShaJd*\t i-XXV* L^rWeJt the <~ed tv5vr«VLrg

We. StvCVdcAr\' + ^\Oj/e Swi-fck>ei.A off Kis »T)u^io.

He ihoulć hare dos/e Ao/ncthi/tg cU>oiA <t. i4e. sfotĄ&tdi'    fow. vteófv/j> Ivs    ^ i

stauiłd 'rOsia c'os«d ł-V»a qxi+ aco**.

a)    Rosie was rude to Cathy.

b)    Cathy didn’t look at the record book.

| c) Cathy didn't tell thc others where ehe was going.

d)    Rosie ignored the red warnirig light.

e)    Tim switehed off his radio.

| f) Tim didn’t do anything about the captain’s cali.

g) Mitch was wearing his spacewalk-man. i h) Cathy didn’t close the station cxit door.

I • ■    -    ...    • •. ---------- ■    - • -    - -

figurę 21: Students’ responses

If students are having trouble pronouncing any of the parts of the sentences, we may model those parts and possibly have students repeat them either chorally or individually. For example we may focus on /'Jodov/ and /'/odntsv/, showing how the phrases are stressed and contracted.

Students are now in a position to tell stories of things in the past which they should/ shouldrft have done (/ should have done my homework on time/I shouldn’t have left thc car imlocked), perhaps after you have toid personal stories to demonstrate what is e.xpected.

Discovering grammar

In the following examples, students are encouraged to work out for themselves how language forms are constructed and used. They then go on to do exercises using the language they have uncovered. It is highly possible that they have seen the language before, of course, but (his may be the first time they have studied it properly.

Example 5: Ćomparative adjectives    Language:    word formstion;

comparative adjectives Age:    any

Level:    eiementery/pre-intermediate

In ihis examplc, students havc listened to a dialogiic in whicfa people have been comparing things. Before moving on to make their own sentences, the teacher wants to draw their attention to the way that we make adjcctives comparative. She could have done this by giving ruies, or perhaps jusl by ignoring such lechnical information and hoping that students wouid ‘notice the various possibilities. Instead, she chooses to put them in pairs and givc them the exercise in Figurę 12.

Look at thisl old —> older new —» newer light —» iighter big —» bigger thin —* thinner noisy —> noisier silly —» sillier

expensive —> morę expensive beautiful —> morę beautiful

Now work these out!

a)    How do we make one-syllabie adjectives into comparative adjectives?

b)    Why are big and thin different?

c)    What has to change when we make words like noisy and silly into comparative adjectives?

d)    What is different about expensive and beautiful?

Why?

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figurę 12: Work it out

When they have finished, she checks through the answers, making surę they understand that one-syllable words which end with a vowel and a consonant double the last letter, that -y becomes -i and that longer words are preceded by morę but otherwise stay the same.

She now moves on to a practice exercise. For example, she can put a group of words (see Figurę 13) on the board. One student draws an arrow between any two of the words and the other students have to come up with sentences, such as An elephanl is bigger than a spider, A cat is cleverer than a dog.

There are two potential problems with the way the start of this sequence asked students to discover facts about comparative adjective forms. Firstiy, it is not always easy to give a complele grammatical picture. The exercise above, for example, does not give all the necessary

elephant

crocodile

dog

cat

^fly>

spider

figurę 13: Animal comparison

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