Teaching Tips

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Rinoceronte

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Sep 29, 2010
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English Teacher
Those who teach English to those in whose languages there is the category of aspect, might find the following recommendations helpful:

1. Look for the correspondences of English tenses in the target language. Although English is considered to be aspectless, in fact, what we know as Simple, Indefinite, Progressive (Continuous), Perfect and Perfect Progressive are aspects of English verb system. While what we know as tense is a correlation between time and aspect. Find the correspondences of Perfect and Imperfect Aspects among English aspects.

2. Don't let your students be misled by the names of English tenses. Several of them are extremely contradictory. Find the analogues of Present Perfect in other European languages and analyse the difference in the way they are named. Think about the contradiction within the "Perfect Continuous". Try to understand the reason why the term Progressive (Continuous) emerged in English grammar. Find its equivalent in international grammar (aspectful grammar).

3. After having established the correspondences of aspects, rethink the stative verbs rule. Rephrase it from the aspect point of view. Learn the biography of rule's introducer. Find out why he had no right to introduce such a rule.

4. List all the cases when Present Perfect is used to reflect an ongoing action. Analyse them deeply. Prove that Present Perfect can never be present.

Meanwhile you might want to entertain yourselves a bit by giving a hand to James Bond who seems to be out on a limb:
gobuentan.com/bond_eng.htm
 

Munch

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Joined
Aug 25, 2010
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English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Japan
Thanks Rinoceronte. This seems to be a topic you feel passionately about. Could you illustrate your points with some examples?

Although I am an English teacher, my knowledge of grammar terms is quite poor and my colleagues and students do not use English grammar terms at all. I would love to be able to discuss this with my colleagues and incorporate your ideas into my teaching.

Thanks in advance!
 

Rinoceronte

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Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Hi Munch!

Actually I don't know if Japanese language's verb system is based on aspects (you seem to be teaching English to Japanese people, right?). If you could shed some light on this, it would be simpler to come up with helpful examples. For now I would recommend any teacher who teaches to "aspectful" students keeps in mind the following: Simple/Indefinite tenses - both aspects (aspect is not seen here, it's indefinite, it can be understood only from the context), Continuous/Progressive tenses - imperfect aspect, Perfect tenses - perfect aspect, Perfect Continuous/Progressive - imperfect aspect.

Regards!
 

Rinoceronte

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Could you illustrate your points with some examples?
Also in the neighbouring thread on this forum (chapter "Linguistics") you will find an article of mine which concerns the issues you expressed your interest to. It might be helpful as well. Feel free to ask questions, discuss or criticize.
 
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