Gerunds
Pre-Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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To provide clarification of gerunds in the context of sharing personal ideas of what happiness is
Subsidiary Aims
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To provide gist reading practice using a text about different activities in the context of sharing personal ideas of what happiness is
Procedure (33-45 minutes)
T shares screen to show the question, "What brings you happiness?" T models an answer before sending Ss to breakout rooms: "For me, cooking brings me happiness because I get to be creative. I also get happy when people say my food taste good." T tells Ss: "Answer this question with a partner in breakout rooms for 2 minutes." T sends Ss to breakout rooms. T monitors Ss in breakout rooms while they talk to each other. After 2 minutes, Ss return to the main room and T calls on students to share: "(Student), what brings you happiness?"
T shares screen to the reading material and gist activity (Google Form). T says: "By yourself, read this article and choose the best summary of its main idea among the available choices. Click 'submit' when finished. You have 2 minutes." Ss read and answer the Google Form individually. T monitors Google Forms to confirm all Ss submitted their answers. T tells Ss: "In the chat box, send your answer in a private message to another person. I will tell you who to send it to." T proceeds to assign partners to Ss. Afterwards, T asks Ss: "What is the main idea of the article?"
T shows the first sentence (Happiness is making soup) and asks Ss CCQs: Is someone making soup right now? (no) Is “making soup” an idea or an action happening now? (idea) Is ‘happiness’ the same as ‘making soup’? (yes) T shows the second sentence (I love using leftovers in the fridge) and asks Ss CCQs: Am I using leftovers right now? (no) Is “using leftovers” an idea or action happening right now? (idea) Am I sharing my opinion? (yes) T shows the third sentence (There’s something magical about making something delicious out of nothing) and asks Ss CCQs: Am I making something delicious right now? (no) Am I sharing my opinion? (yes) Am I describing or making something? (describing) After establishing meaning, T shows all three sentences together and asks Ss: "What do the underlined words have in common? (they are verbs with -ing)" After eliciting the correct answer, T says: "These look like verbs, but are they used as verbs in these sentences? (no) What are these words used as? (nouns)" Afterwards, T goes through each sentence to go over form: (Happiness is making soup) T: "Is 'making soup'" used as a noun, verb, adjective?" (noun) T: "Can this sentence be switched to 'Making soup is happiness?'" (yes) (I love using leftovers in the fridge) T: "Look at the word before 'using.' Is it a verb, noun, adjective?" (it's a verb) T: "You have to memorize specific verbs because gerunds do not follow after all verbs" T: "Other examples include 'hate' and 'enjoy'" (There’s something magical about making something delicious out of nothing.) T: "Look at the word before 'making.' Is this a noun, verb, adjective, preposition?" (preposition) T: "If a verb is used after a preposition, it is always a gerund (v + ing) form" After going over form, T moves onto pronunciation. T: "I will say the sentence three times, don't repeat." T models the first sentence. T: "Now repeat after me." Ss repeat after T. T calls on a few students to say the sentence. T: "Where is the stress in this sentence?" T repeats this process for the other two sentences.
T shares screen of Google Form and tells Ss: "In this activity, fix the sentences using gerunds by changing the verb forms. If it applies, write whether the gerund comes after a verb or after a preposition. Let's do number 1 together" T proceeds to do number 1 with the class: "In this sentence, what word should I fix? (eat--eating) Does this follow a verb or a preposition? (yes, verb) In the next sentence, what word should I fix? (eat--eating) Does this follow a verb or a preposition? (no) Since it doesn't, just write the corrected word" Ss work on this for 4 minutes T: "Discuss your answers in breakout rooms for 2 minutes" T sends Ss to break out rooms and monitors Ss. Ss return to the main room and T goes over the answers in class by calling on Ss for their answers. T writes in the answers on the shared screen.
T projects the prompt: "Talk about what you love doing and what you hate doing." T tells Ss: "In breakout rooms, talk to your partner about what you love doing and what you hate doing. You have 4 minutes " T sends Ss to breakout rooms and monitors Ss. Ss return to the main room and T picks Ss to share what they love/hate doing. T provides DEC and elicits Ss responses to correct any errors.