TeachingEnglish
Order of teaching tenses
Submitted by vijayalakshmi k... on 18 October, 2009 - 06:51
In which order should tenses be taught? Should it be first all the present tenses:simple present, present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous. then the past tenses and then the future time reference. Or, is it better to do simple present followed by simple past and then future. Could some language expert please tell me which is more effective from the learner's point of view.
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Present simple -> Past simple -> 'Going to' future -> Present perfect -> Present continuous
Present simple -> Past simple -> 'Going to' future -> Present continous -> Present perfect
I'm not much of a supporter of grammatical syllabuses, but if I had to choose and do it this way, I'd choose one of the two above options for the following two reasons:
So they seem to be very common and very useful.
Interesting to note, that present simple is one of the most difficult to master, due to the third person singular 's'...
Hi Heath
Thank you for your suggestions. I too feel that grammar should not be emphasised much, but my learners who are adults feel that grammar is essential. I tell them that grammar should be used only for correcting those minor mistakes which creep up because of the differences between our native languages and English. It is only to make one's language more effective.
Dear Mrs Vijaya Lakshmi,
Strictly speaking, there is no order for teaching tenses in English. There is no one to one correspondense between tenses and time in English. Some grammarians argue that there are only two tenses in English.Tense refers to only the aspect of time in English. So it poses many problems to non-native learners of English. For example, the sentence 'He will be at home now' is in 'future tense' but it refers to the present time. On the contrary, the sentence 'My father retires next month' is 'present tense' but it refers to the future time. I can give a number of examples to drive my point home. However, I would like to say that teaching of tenses or grammar may not help our students speak English well, though it may help them to pass the exam or write better to certain extent.
Anyhow I say 'I taught English yesterday. I am teaching now. I have taught English today I will teach English tomorrow. I teach English everyday'.
Of course there are no hard and fast rules for teaching tenses or grammar. We should make it as natural and as enjoyable as possible. We should never teach grammar for the sake of grammar. It is only a means to an end. It is not an end in itself. Happy teaching!
With kind regards.
Yours sincerely.
J.V.L NARASIMHA RAO
Ah, yes, good point JVL Narasimha Rao... It was silly of me to put the tenses without saying what use I meant. More on that below.
As for 'tenses' in English, while it is true that grammarians and linguists say there are only two tenses in English (strictly speaking) 'tense' is a very useful general term for teachers, I think. When talking about linguistics, I'm happy to talk about tense, aspect and whatnot, but for the sake of grouping past/present/future, simple/continuous (or progressive)/perfect, active/passive under one umbrella term, I think 'tense' is as good as it gets (and lets me save 'structure' for all those other complicated grammatical patterns).
Take 'future tense' for example. I have to introduce to teachers the idea of 'be going to' future and 'will' future, as opposed to 'future tense' all the time... and equally all the time, teachers then ask, "what about 'future continuous' or 'future perfect'" etc, which they come across in coursebooks all the time. So I think it's fine to use tense as an umbrella term, for teaching purposes.
Anyway, to clarify the meaning/use behind the structures I suggested earlier:
My preference only... and I usually put more emphasis on other things at Ele (lexis, functions, listening & reading) anyway.
Good to read about 'tenses' in English. There is no doubt that we should not teach grammar. Let students discover rules for themselves. Tense and time are altogether different. Tense and aspect are not to be seperated. Presenting tense in simple structures is easy. But how to teach Conditionals? How to show the difference between If I were and if I had been, I would get and I would have got. In case of students in need of such complexities structural presentations will be of use. How to incorporate and present in context and communication?
I think that when we teach adults. it's important to teach grammar. I take no longer than 10 minutes per class in grammar. Another teacher and I have developed a program that follows this order.
1. Identification Singular (Affirmative)
2. Identification Singular (Negative)
3. Identification Singular (Questions)
4. Description (Affirmative and Negative)
5. Description (Questions)
6. Identification at a distance in Singular (Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
7. Possession (My, Your in Affirmative and Negative)
8. Possession (My, Your)/Review
9. Identification Plural (Affirmtaive and Negative)
10. Identification (That in Questions) and (Those in Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
11. Description (Adjectives and Subject Pronouns in Affirmative and Negative)
12. Description (Adejctives in Questions)
13. Possession (His, Her in Affirmative and Negative)
14. Possession (His, Her in Questions)/ Commands
1. Possession (Our, Their, Its in Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
2. Nationalities (Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
3. Professions (Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
4. Ability and Opportunity in Present (Affirmative and Negative)
5. Ability and Opportunity in Present (Questions)
6. Actions Now (Affirmative and Negative)
7. Actions Now (Questions)
9. Simple Present (He, She, It in Affirmative and Negative)
10. Simple Present (He, She, It in Questions)
11. Simple Present (I, You, We, They in Affirmative and Negative)
12. Simple Present (I, You, We, They in Questions)
13. Existence in Singular
14. Existence in Plural
1. Origin
2. Frequency Adverbs with Action Verbs
3. Frequency Adverbs with verb “To be”
4. Verb “To be” in Past (Nationality, Profession, Description in Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
5. Verb “To be” in Past (Existence in Affirmative, Negative and Questions)
6. Simple Past with Irregular Verbs (Affirmative)
7. Simple Past with Irregular Verbs (Negative)
9. Simple Pas with Irregular Verbs (Questions)
10. Object Pronouns
11. Idiomatic Future (Affirmative and Negative)
12. Idiomatic Future (Questions)
13. Short Answers
1. Cause and Effect (Affirmative and Negative)
2. Cause and Effect
3. Recommendations (Affirmative and Negative)
4. Recommendations (Questions and for Future Actions)
5. Opinions
6. Obligation and Necessity in Present
7. Obligation and Necessity in Past
9. Simple Past with Regular Verbs
10. Simple Past with Regular Verbs
11. Possessive Pronouns
12. Past Continous (While)
13. Past Continous (When)
1. Passive Voice in Present
2. Passive Voice in Present
3. Comparatives (Inequality)
4. Comparatives (Equality)
5. Passive Voice in Past
6. Passive Voice in Past
8. Future Actions (Will, Won´t, May)
9. Future Actions
10. Passive Voice in Future
11. Passive Voice in Future
12. Quantity Expressions
13. Quantity Expressions
14. Conversation Class*Formal and Polite Events (Good Manners)
1. Conditions and Results in Future
2. Conditions and Results in Future (Will have to)
3. Superlatives
4. Superlatives
5. Future Continous
6. Future Continous
8. Indefinite Pronouns
9. Indefinite Pronouns
10. Passive Voice in Present Continous
11. Passive Voice in Past Continous
12. Reporting Information
13. Reporting Commands
Seventh Level
1. Reflexive Pronouns
2. Reflexive Pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns
4. Actions that Began in the Past and Continue
5. Actions that Began in the Past and Continue
6. Reporting what People Said and Told Us
7. Reporting what People Said and Told Us
9. Actions at an Indefinite Time in the Past
10. Phrasal Verbs
11. Phrasal Verbs
12. Present Perfect vs Present Perfect Continous
13. Present Perfect Continous
1. Ability and Opprotunity in Past
2. Ability and Opportunity in Past
3. Deductions in Present
4. Deductions in Present
5. Past Perfect (Two Actions in the Past)
6. Past Perfect (While, When)
8. Deductions in Past
9. Deductions in Past
10. Cause and Effect with a Past Consequence
11. Cause and Effect with a Present Consequence
12. Ability and Opportunity in Future
13. Ability and Opportunity in Future
1. Requests
2. Reporting Requests
3. Expressing Criticism and Regret
4. Expressing Criticism and Regret
5. Modal Auxiliaries (Review
6. Modal Auxiliaries (Review
8. Passive Voice with Modals
9. Passive Voice with Modals
10. Naming Activities
11. Sate and Beginning of the State
12. Uncertainty in the Past
13. Uncertainty in the Past
1. Integration of Reported Speech
2. Integration of Reported Speech
3. Verbs of Sensation
4. Verbs of Opinion
5. Verbs of Opinion about Others
6. Prefixes full & less
7. Review
8. Embeded Questions
9. Too-to/So-that
10. Until
11. Relative Clauses
We are nowin the process of developing lesson plans for this program.
I very much agree in the syllabus frame of books.
For it is important to distinguish the use of simple present and present continuous.
that followed by past simple and present perfect simple...