TP8 - Using Future Perfect and Future Continuous in Fictional Storytelling
Upper Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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The main aim of this lesson is to introduce and practice the future perfect and future continuous tenses in the context of fictional storytelling. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand and use these tenses to describe future events or states of affairs.
Subsidiary Aims
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The subsidiary aims are to foster students' creative writing skills, enhance their comprehension of futuristic or time-travel themes in literature, and promote collaborative learning through group discussions and peer feedback. Additionally, the lesson seeks to improve students' pronunciation of specific language features associated with the future perfect and future continuous tenses.
Procedure (32-41 minutes)
I. Lead-in (5 minutes) Activity: Initiate a discussion about favorite books, movies, or TV shows that involve futuristic or time-travel concepts. Ask students, "How do the characters talk about the future? How does the author convey events that will happen?" Visual Aid: Interactive whiteboard with a selection of popular futuristic fiction or time-travel themes. Examples: "By this time next year, Paul Atreides will have become the leader of the Fremen." Explanation: This is an example of the future perfect tense, which is used to talk about an action that will be completed between now and some point in the future. "In the distant future, the inhabitants of Arrakis will be continually fighting for control of the spice Melange." Explanation: This sentence uses the future continuous tense to describe an ongoing action that will occur in the future. "The Bene Gesserit will have been manipulating bloodlines for centuries by the time of Paul's birth." Explanation: Here we have a combination of future perfect and future continuous tenses, indicating an action that starts in the past or the present and continues until a certain point in the future. Visual Aid: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1CwRB5wkA3HA9vwInr2EK8px1a55Xn5ufb1234jl47fY/viewer?f=0
II. Text-work (8 minutes) Activity: Share a few examples of sentences using future perfect and future continuous tenses from different books. Let students read them briefly. Ask a few comprehension questions related to the sentences to ensure students understand the purpose and effectiveness of each tense. 1. Introduction to the topic (1 minute): Briefly introduce the topic of future perfect and future continuous tenses. Explain that these tenses are often used in storytelling to talk about future events. 2. Presentation of sentences (2 minutes): Present the sentences one by one, reading each aloud. You might even use visuals from the respective movies or books for a more engaging presentation. 3. Comprehension questions (2 minutes): Ask the comprehension questions for each sentence. For example, "What does the future perfect tense tell us about Harry's age when he gets to Hogwarts?" or "What does the future continuous tense suggest about Jon Snow's rule in the North?" Encourage short, quick responses to keep the pace moving. 4. Brief Overview of Meaning & Form (3 minutes): Future Perfect: Explain that the future perfect tense is used to describe an event that is expected to happen before some point in the future. Future Continuous: Explain that the future continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the future. Harry Potter (Book/Movie): "By the time Harry gets to Hogwarts, he will have turned 12." Game of Thrones (TV Show): "Jon Snow will be ruling the North at this time next year." The Lord of the Rings (Book/Movie): "Frodo will be carrying the ring to Mordor until it's destroyed." Star Wars (Movie): "By the end of this saga, Luke will have become a Jedi." The Matrix (Movie): "By this time next year, Neo will have discovered he is The One." Stranger Things (TV Show): "The kids will be exploring the Upside Down all summer." Marvel Cinematic Universe (Movies): "Peter Parker will have graduated from high school by the time he fights his next villain." The Hunger Games (Book/Movie): "Katniss will be participating in the Hunger Games until she wins." Future Perfect (The Matrix): "By this time next year, Neo will have discovered he is The One." Explain that the future perfect tense is used to describe an event that is expected to happen before some point in the future. Here, Neo's discovery happens before the stated future time. Future Continuous (Stranger Things): "The kids will be exploring the Upside Down all summer." Explain that the future continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the future. Here, the kids' exploration of the Upside Down is expected to be ongoing throughout the summer. "By this time next year, Neo will have discovered he is 'The One.' While he'll be learning to control his abilities, he will also be leading the rebellion against the machines. Morpheus and Trinity will have taught him all they know, and Neo will be applying their teachings in his battles. By the end of the year, he will have defeated the agents and saved Zion." Morpheus and Trinity will have taught him all they know - Future Perfect By the end of the year, he will have defeated the agents and saved Zion. - Future Perfect and Neo will be applying their teachings in his battles - Future Continuous 4. Explanation of Future Perfect and Future Continuous (3 minutes): Future Perfect: Explain that this tense expresses an action expected to complete in the future. Use "By this time next year, Neo will have discovered he is 'The One'" as an example. Here, the action of Neo discovering that he is "The One" is expected to be completed by "this time next year". Future Continuous: Explain that this tense is used to express an ongoing action in the future. Use "While he'll be learning to control his abilities, he will also be leading the rebellion against the machines" as an example. Here, the action of Neo learning and leading is expected to be ongoing in the future. 5. Analysis of Sentences: Guide the students to identify the future perfect and future continuous tenses in the paragraph. Discuss how these tenses predict future events or states. Hint: -ing will be continuous Visual Aid: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11gnyrOG1fzySozSez-pSodBPfjo0a8SzpoCiR3noiEE/edit#slide=id.g223ed3e3755_0_10
III. Language Clarification (12 minutes) Activity: In this section, students will delve deeper into the structure, usage, and pronunciation of future perfect and future continuous tenses. They will analyze sentences from a new paragraph and practice pronunciation, focusing on sentence stress and intonation. 1. Introduction and Paragraph Reading (1 minute): Introduce the activity and let the students read the paragraph. The paragraph could be something like: "By the end of the year, John Connor will have assembled a team of resistance fighters. They'll be battling the machines day and night. Skynet will have launched more terminators, and they'll be hunting for survivors. By the time the war is over, John will have saved humanity, and the machines will have been defeated." 2. Pronunciation Practice (5 minutes): Start with the future perfect example: "John Connor will have assembled a team of resistance fighters." Emphasize the pronunciation of "will have" - it often contracts to "will've" in natural speech. Have the students repeat this sentence after you, focusing on the contraction. Next, take the future continuous example: "They'll be battling the machines day and night." Here, emphasize the pronunciation of "battling", focusing on the "-ing" ending. Again, have students repeat this sentence after you, paying particular attention to the "-ing" sound. Now, focus on sentence stress. In English, not all words in a sentence are pronounced with the same emphasis. Typically, content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) are stressed, while function words (prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, determiners) are usually less stressed. Practice this with the students using the sentences from the paragraph. For example, in the sentence "By the end of the year, John Connor will have assembled a team of resistance fighters", the stressed words could be "end", "year", "John Connor", "assembled", "team", "resistance fighters". Have the students repeat the sentence after you, mimicking your stress and intonation. "John Connor": The "J" sound in "John" and the "r" sound in "Connor" might be difficult as these sounds are different in English and Spanish. "assembled": The "b" sound in the middle of the word and the "ed" ending might be challenging. "resistance": The "s" sounds like "z" and the "ce" at the end sounds like "s", which could be confusing. "fighters": The "ght" combination might be hard to pronounce, and the "r" sound at the end might be difficult. "battling": The "tt" sounds like a "d" in American English, which could be confusing. "machines": The "ch" sounds like "sh" and the "s" at the end sounds like "z", which could be confusing. "Skynet": The "y" sound might be difficult. "launched": The "au" sounds like "aw" and the "ed" ending might be challenging. "terminators": The "r" sounds and the "or" at the end might be difficult. "survivors": The "v" sound and the "or" at the end might be difficult. Visual Aid: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HGMrrX5TRBHWuUj5j8COzvyC4bTbd6u124YywfkFt7w/edit#slide=id.p
IV. Controlled Practice (8 minutes) Activity: Create a controlled practice task (e.g., gap-fill) to provide controlled practice of the future perfect and future continuous tenses. The learners do this individually and then check in pairs, followed by Open Class Feedback (OCFB). The questions will be movie-related to keep with the theme. "By the end of the movie, the hero ________ (defeat) the villain." (will have defeated) "The characters ________ (travel) through time for most of the film." (will be traveling) "In the sequel, the protagonist ________ (discover) a new world." (will have discovered) "The aliens ________ (invade) Earth throughout the entire movie." (will be invading) "By the time the credits roll, the mystery ________ (be, solve)." (will have been solved) "The sidekick ________ (provide) comic relief during tense scenes." (will be providing) "By the end of the trilogy, the characters ________ (go) through many adventures." (will have gone) "The audience ________ (watch) the romance unfold over the course of the film." (will be watching) "By the time the sequel comes out, the original movie ________ (become) a classic." (will have become) "The characters ________ (fight) the villain's minions throughout the movie." (will be fighting) This set of questions provides a variety of contexts for the use of future perfect and future continuous tenses, and the movie theme makes it engaging and relevant for the students. The increased number of questions should also help to fill the full timeframe for the controlled practice section. Visual Aid: Teacher: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nC9-h53jq-RvA6-vmfpCA4Wy-5jxXU2H8hHlh2p58NI/edit Student: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGtubNYc-NqGXbCHV3oNxa3qRYZzV6Kn0NbJkgXlfa4GDhrA/viewform?usp=sf_link
VI. Freer Practice (5 minutes) Activity: Students write a short story or a paragraph based on their futuristic or time-travel scenario, focusing on the use of future perfect and future continuous tenses. Visual Aid: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C7Fxr9We72ZpZV9KDqJZ6-W9dc6IkLfb_ru-_ESx5l8/edit VII. Feedback on Content & Language (5 minutes) Activity: Conduct open class feedback. Ask students about any upcoming movies, TV shows, or books they are really looking forward to. Highlight effective use of future perfect and future continuous tenses, promoting peer correction. Follow this with Delayed Error Correction (DEC), addressing any common errors or misconceptions and offering suggestions for improvement. This lesson plan focuses on the use of future perfect and future continuous tenses in creative writing. The activities aim to engage the students in a fun and imaginative context, provide practice in the target language, and offer opportunities for peer feedback and correction. Extra: Visual Aid: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1afHNG4zVHbPmI2P38dAha1XNL3U9vdOakLkmyEIFkZg/viewer