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ELT LIST: PARTIAL LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS

WRITING LESSON: DIAMOND POEM

LEVEL: Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. identify opposite ideas
2. give examples of antonyms, adjectives, and -ing verbs (participle)
2. write nouns, adjectives and verbs to complete a diamond poem
3. illustrate their diamond poem

MATERIALS: board, chalk or whiteboard marker, bond paper, pencils, strips of paper for the language games, crayons or colored pencils, ruler

TIME FRAME: 90 minutes (can be broken down into two sessions of 45 minutes each)

PROCEDURE:

1.) Play language games in preparation for the diamond poem.

1.1 Noun Game (opposites)—Have two teams if the class size is small and more than two teams if the class size is bigger. All members will take turns giving the answers by writing the answers on the board within 3 seconds. Show prepared nouns one at a time. The students will give the opposite of or in contrast to the noun being flashed. Model how to do it first. For ex., the opposite of boy is girl.

Suggested nouns: parents (children), teacher (student), king (queen), water (fire or sand or land), sun (moon or rain or wind), land (sea or sky), summer (winter),
man (woman), pants (skirt), hands (feet), food (drink), father (mother)

1.2 Adjective Game — Retain the same teams or reshuffle the class. The same rules apply. Flash the same set of nouns but this time, the students will give an adjective appropriate to this noun. For ex., an adjective for boy is handsome.

1.3 Verb Game (-ing)—The students will try to give verbs ending in –ing to describe the nouns being flashed. For ex., an –ing verb to describe boy is growing. The same rules apply.

2.) Tell the class they will help you make a diamond poem based on the words they have given you during the language games. Ask a student to pick a noun and prompt them so they can give you the answers to complete a diamond poem. Ask the class after the composition of the diamond poem why it is called a diamond poem (because of the shape).

Line 1—A noun (the subject)
Line 2—Two adjectives describing the subject
Line 3—Three verbs ending in –ing that describe the subject (participle)
Line 4—Two words related to the subject and two words related to the opposite
subject (line 7)
Line 5—Three verbs ending in –ing that describe the opposite subject (line 7)
Line 6—Two adjectives describing the opposite subject
Line 7—Opposite subject (a noun)

(Note: This can be the end of the first session.)

3.) Pair off the students. Each pair will write and illustrate their diamond poem. They can choose from the set of nouns used during the game or they can make their own. Ask them to make a rough draft first before transferring the final product to a piece of bond paper. If a student wants to work independently, give him or her that freedom. Move around to help each pair or individual.

4.) Before the reading of the diamond poems, tell the class that they will vote for the most interesting diamond poem by using a ballot. Ask the pairs and individuals to read their respective diamond poems.

5.) Let the students cast their votes anonymously and tally the results. It is up to you to decide on the form of reward you would like to give the winning pair or individual (e.g. candies, bonus points, token prizes, teacher-made certificates to show to their parents, etc.). In case of a tie, reward all winners.

GRAMMAR LESSON: PAST TENSE OF REGULAR VERBS

LEVEL: Elementary

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. identify verbs
2. identify the past tense of regular verbs
3. give the past tense of selected regular verbs

MATERIALS: Flashcards of selected regular verbs in their past tense, masking tape, board, Grammar Worksheet on Past Tense of Regular Verbs, chalk or white board marker, bell, scratch paper

TIME FRAME: Around 45 minutes

PROCEDURE:

1.) It is assumed that the students know what verbs are. Ask the class to define what a verb is.

2.) Play a game with the students. Act out selected verbs and let the class guess the verb. Write their answers on the board (Write the words vertically for the matching type later on). Make sure that the verbs you will use are all regular verbs. If some of the words are hard to guess, you can give them the answers.

Selected Words: smile, dance, jump, kick, push, climb, open, point, erase, wipe

3.) Let the class read all the words on the board. Then, use a TPR (total physical response) activity by asking the class to stand up and to act out the words on the board that you will point to.

4.) Tell the class that the words they see on the board are called regular verbs.

5.) Show them a set of flashcards. Tell them that this set shows the past tense of each regular verb. Choose students who will match the verb with its corresponding past tense. Ask them to tape the flashcards beside the verbs on the board. It is okay for them to commit mistakes.

Past tense: smiled, danced, jumped, kicked, pushed, climbed, opened, pointed, erased, wiped

6.) Read the past tense of each word aloud with the class. Ask them what happened to the words (-d or -ed was added in the end to form the past tense). Give them time to copy the list on the board.

7.) Give them the worksheet for this lesson. Explain how they will do the worksheet. Give them a time limit.

8.) Ask the class to check their work as you give the correct answer.