Using visual material in teaching Past tenses in 4th form

Управление  образования города Алматы

Алматинский государственный гуманитарно-педагогический колледж № 2 
 
 
 
 

Специальность: 0314002

«Начальное  общее образование»

Квалификация: 0314032

«Учитель  иностранных языков в начальной  школе» 
 
 
 
 

Курсовая  работа

По  предмету «Методика обучения иностранному языку»

«Using visual material in teaching Past tenses in 4^th form» 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Выполнила:

 учащаяся  группы И-47

Шаблакова А.В. 

Руководитель:

Мельникова  К.С. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Алматы

2011

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………..3

1. Theoretical aspects in using visual materialS in

teaching Past tenses.….…………………….…………………….…….5

1. The system of past tenses……………………………………………….…5
2. The role of visual material in language teaching ………………………8
3. The classification of visual material………………………………….…12
4. Visual material and their methodology…………………………………18

 
 

2. The practice of using visual materials in teaching past tenses. in 4^th FORM ….……………………………………………..20
1. Exercises for presentation a new material………………………….…..20
2. Tasks for revision …………………………………………………….….23

 

CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………….26

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………….27

APPENDIX ……………………………………………………..………………28 
 
 

 

INTRODUCTION 

     Verb in the grammatical structure of English is quite exceptional place - because of their widely ramified system and the large role that verb forms are in the construction of the proposal. Categories of time, expressed in forms of inflection and derivation, are grammatical criteria verb.

     The study group for the verb has not only theoretical but also practical significance. Beginning with the first English lessons, students meet with the proposals, which meet turnaround time of this group. Need for proper use of them in a speech presupposes knowledge of grammatical specificity of the formation of this class of words. They need some visual material which can help them to understand better the new language. This determines the relevance of the topic term paper.

     I have chosen this theme because I think that visual material is very important and useful for teaching. It always was the main attribute in studying. Through the aids pupils can know the world; they can understand what is it – earth, countries, feelings and everything else. Also I always wanted to learn in detail how to use Past tenses, employing the different visual materials and teaching techniques on the lessons

  Using visual material in teaching is actual theme in our education, because there are a lot of helpful teaching aids in the markets; also teachers can paint their own material, they can use internet and colored printing to create new exciting lessons.

     The purpose of this study is to investigate the helping methods of using visual material in teaching Past tenses; to expose of variety of challenging often interesting activities and techniques in using visual material at the lessons of English.

     Objectives:

1. To analyze scientific and define the mechanisms of formation of sentences expressing Past actions in the process of speech
2. To give useful information how Past tenses can be approached with the help of visual materials.
3. To present a variety of tasks provide effective practice with Past tenses learning strategies

     This course work is devoted to teaching Past tenses using visual material on English lessons according to their structural and methodological features, as well as the peculiarities of historical development. Course work consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion, bibliography and appendix. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1. Theoretical aspects of using visual material in teaching past tenses

1. The system of past tenses

     The past tense is a verb tense expressing activity, action state or being in the past. In English, there are following types of past tenses:

     Past Progressive

     Past Simple

     Past Perfect

     Past Perfect Progressive

     A past tense  is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system).

     In English, there are two verb forms which are commonly called "past tense", the so-called simple past, sometimes misleadingly called the preterite, which is a true tense, and the present perfect, which is generally considered an aspect rather than a tense. These combine with other aspects including the progressive (continuous) aspect to create several additional forms:

     Simple past is formed for regular verbs by adding -d or – ed to the root of a word.

     Examples: He walked to the store, or They danced all night. A negation is produced by adding did not and the verb in its infinitive form. Example: He did not walk to the store. Question sentences are started with did as in Did he walk to the store?

     Simple past is used for describing acts that have already been concluded and whose exact time of occurrence is known. Furthermore, simple past is used for retelling successive events. That is why it is commonly used in storytelling.

     Past progressive is formed by using the adequate form of to be and the verb’s present participle: He was going to church. By inserting not before the main verb a negation is achieved. Example: He was not going to church. A question is formed by prefixing the adequate form of to be as in Was he going?.

     Past progressive is used for describing events that were in the process of occurring when a new event happened. The already occurring event is presented in past progressive, the new one in simple past. Example: We were sitting in the garden when the thunderstorm started.

     Past perfect is formed by combining the simple past form of to have with the past participle form of the main verb: We had shouted. A negation is achieved by including not after had: You had not spoken. Questions in past perfect always start with had: Had he laughed?

     Past perfect is used for describing secluded events that have occurred before something else followed. The event that is closer to the present is given in simple past tense: After we had visited our relatives in New York, we flew back to Toronto.

     Past perfect progressive is formed by had, the grammatical particle been and the present participle of the main verb: You had been waiting. For negation, not is included before been: I had not been waiting. A question sentence is formed by starting with had: Had she been waiting?

     If emphasis is put on the duration of a concluded action of the past, since and for are signal words for past perfect progressive: We had been waiting at the airport since the 9 P.M. flight. / They had been waiting for three hours now.

1. Auxiliary verb "to be"

The past form of the auxiliary verb "to be" is:

For third person singular: "was"

For all others: "were"

Examples: She was always coming late for dinner!

You were always coming late for dinner!

She was always coming late for dinner!

You were always coming late for dinner!

2. The Present Participle

The present participle is of a verb is a verb form that appears with the present tenses. The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the verb.

talk + ing = talking

be + ing = being

3. Auxiliary verb "to have"

The past form of the auxiliary verb "to have" is "had":

Mary had finished her homework before Mike came home.

Mary has finished her homework before Mike came home.

Mary hads finished her homework before Mike came home.

4. The Past Participle

The past participle of a verb is a verb form that appears with the perfect tenses. The past participle can be either regular or irregular.

The regular verbs are formed by adding -ed to the verb:  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2. The role of visual materials in language teaching

      A development is going on from word - text - to 'image'. 'An image says more than a thousand words', applies to the teaching situation too. Think of the enormous expansion of multimedia. The computer is an outstanding tool to look for these images, to adapt them, and present them. Not only for the teachers but also for the pupils. In the age of the comprehensive school we already gained many positive experiences using visual material within the subjects of  Studies. In local studies too working with images turned out to offer many possibilities.

      In local studies too working with images turned out to offer many possibilities. Working with visual material gives pupils many more possibilities to express their feelings. In this way abstract concepts become much more clear. In 1994 pupils can hardly conceive concepts such as 'right' to strike, child labour, the role of the church in former times and consequences of the industrial revolution. With the digitalized pictures  it is much more simple for pupils to study and present the concepts learned. If we present the visual material after showing a video film, it will be easier for the pupils to reconstruct the contents.

      The teacher takes his video camera to the open-air museum. The visual material serves for the processing of information by the pupils during classes. The available slides are also used, but they are less accessible to pupils. The method of working is very suitable for all subjects participating in this project. Example: Images of a novel adapted for the screen. The images also serve to test the pupils' fluency, to interpret a story.

      As a teachers we are always looking for suitable visual material for the subjects within our curriculum. Education should not become just some sort of news column. However, supply turns out to be enormous. If it is not available, we will film or scan it ourselves!

      We do not exaggerate when we say that media literacy in its widest sense is as important to our development as was universal literacy in the 19th century. Then, the written word was the only passport to knowledge. Now, there are many more.  And the most insidious digital divide is between those equipped to understand that and those who aren't.

A teaching aid is a tool used by teachers, facilitators, or tutors:

• To help learners improve reading and other skills
• To illustrate or reinforce a skill, fact, or idea, and
• To relieve anxiety, fears, or boredom, since many teaching aids are like games.

     A method is a system for the teaching of a language that is based either on a particular theory of language or on a particular theory of learning, or (usually) on both. These theories will underpin choices of syllabus type, materials, and classroom activities. For example, audio lingual is a method that drew on a structuralist description of language (—«linguistics) and behaviorist views of learning. Accordingly, syllabuses for audio lingual courses were organized around a graded list of structures, and the main classroom activity was the drilling of the structures so as to install correct language habits. Other well-known methods are grammar-translation, the direct method, and the communicative approach.

     Method should not be confused with course book: a course book is simply the material support for a method. In fact, some methods, such as the Silent Way, do not have course books at all. Nor should method be confused with methodology, which is a general word to describe classroom practices, such as classroom management, irrespective of the particular method that a teacher is using. Some theorists distinguish between method and approach, as in the communicative approach or the lexical approach. 'Approach' denotes a more general theoretical orientation, while a method is just one way that the approach is realized in practice. Nowadays, the term approach is used almost exclusively, method having fallen from favor. This is due to a strong reaction, in the late twentieth century, away from the 'method concept', on the grounds that methods are too prescriptive and too insensitive to local contextual factors. It is now recognized that language learning is a more complex process than any single method can hope to address. Hence, there has been an attitude shift in favor of eclecticism and of customizing teaching approaches to suit the particular and local needs of the learners -sometimes called a post-method pedagogy. In practice, however, most teachers tend to teach using the method in which they were originally trained, supplemented by activities gleaned from course books.

     Materials in the language classroom include anything that is used to support the leaning process. This includes course books, workbooks, visual aids, charts, board games, Cuisenaire rods, audio and video materials, as well as the software that is run by computers, data projectors and interactive whiteboards. Nowadays, it is generally the case that learners will have access to a course book for classroom use as well as some from homework book (workbook). The course book itself will consist of texts, both spoken and written, with accompanying tasks, grammar and vocabulary presentations and exercises, speaking and writing tasks, and usually some form of grammar reference section at the back. Books are usually supplemented with recorded material, and, increasingly, a photocopiable resource pack as well as a CD-ROM of extra exercises, and access to a web page. Books for children come with even more components, including charts, games, and even puppets.

      The arguments in favour of materials are: they relieve the teacher of having to do copious preparation; they are the stimulus to language production; they provide immersion-like language exposure; they allow learners to continue studying outside class time; they provide  variety also caters for different individual learning styles. On the downside, an over-reliance on materials can create a materials-centered classroom, at  the expense of a person-centered one. It is important, therefore, to select and use materials judiciously, taking into account the learners needs and interests, so that the materials are a help rather than a hindrance. 

      "A good aid is like a window, it should not call attention to itself, it should just let in the light." Teaching aids provide a means of reiterating lessons, and they provide students with the opportunity to learn in a new light. More than classroom decoration, teaching aids are designed to teach, illustrate and reinforce lessons.