ASSIGNMENT: LANGUAGE RELATED TASKS

NAME: Roua Mechergui

Marker sentence with target language underlined: When I arrived at the cinema, the film had begun. ( intermediate)
MEANING of target language: Anticipated problems & solutions of Meaning
Past perfect and past simple: Explaining a completed action P1: Students might get confused with which action comes
before another past action. Past perfect is used to make first. They might understand this meaning ‘ I had arrived
i
clear that an action happened before another. first and the film began later ‘instead.
ii
We call it ‘ earlier past ‘ and often used with a time
conjunction. S1: Ask CCQ 5 and clarify ‘ so did I arrive before or after the
beginning of the movie ?’ ( after).
Context: include a short, realistic situation/scenario which P2: Ss might not see the difference between using the past
leads directly to and includes the marker sentence. simple for both actions (simultaneous actions) . and using
Last night, my best friends invited me to go with them to past perfect for one of the actions . (sequencing events).
the cinema. I was a bit busy but I accepted the invitation. S2: Ask CCQs 4 and 5, write a sentence to show differences
(Guess what happened ?) well .. when I arrived at the And draw another timeline showing simultaneous actions.
cinema, the film ( try to elicit ) had begun. My friends were
really mad at me. P3: Ss might get confused with ‘when’. When means
Write the sentence on WB and ask… before, after or by the time?
iii
CCQs and Answers S3: Clarify that ‘when’ stands for ‘before’ in this sentence
1. Am I talking about the past? ( yes) and give more examples. Allocate time to each action ‘
2. How many actions are there in the sentence? ( 2) (arrived at 10.15 )and( had begun at 10.00 ).
3. Did both actions happen at the same time? (no)
4. So did one action happen before the other ? (yes)
5. Which action happened first? ( the film began )

Timeline (if applicable) draw on other side of this sheet

FORM: include target language structure Anticipated problems & solutions of Form
Past simple : Subject +verb+ ed P1: Ss might not know or recognize the irregular past
Past perfect : S+ had + past participle (v3) participle ‘begun’ and assume that is be+gone
When + S + past simple ,+ S+ past perfect . S1: Highlight form on WB and ask ‘is it one word or two
How will you help learners with form (board? Tables? words ?' then elicit the three forms of the verb ‘begin'
Elicitation? (if necessary draw a form table on reverse side began' begun.
of this sheet)
P2: Ss might get confused with the placing of the time
I will ask the Ss to look at the example and tell what are the conjunction when.
three main things we need in each clause to form such type S2: highlight form and show a possible reordering of the
of sentences. sentence.
When I arrived
The film Had Begun P3: Ss might assume that past perfect should always come
first because of its meaning.
And elicit form . S3: Clarify: you can have the past perfect at the beginning
___________ + __________________ + _____________ or the end of the sentence. Write on WB ‘ the film had
begun when I arrived at the cinema. ‘ = ‘ when I arrived at

1
 ASSIGNMENT: LANGUAGE RELATED TASKS

___________+ ___________________+ ______________________ the cinema, the film had begun.

PRONUNCIATION: include: Phonemic transcription (target
language only), word stress and/or sentence stress, weak
forms and linking etc
○ ○ ○ ○
/wɛn aɪ əˈraɪvd ət ðə ˈsɪnəmə, ðə fɪlm həd bɪˈgʌn/iv
REFERENCE: Please find references below.
Anticipated problems & solutions of pronunciation
P1: Ss might allocate sentence stress wrongly.
S1: Drill using gestures for main stress and show stress on
WB.
P2: Ss might stress had instead of past participle.
S2: show weak forms and drill. Monitor closely when
conducting oral practice.
P3: Ss might pronounce /bɪˈgʌn/ as / bɪˈgæn /
S3: show difference and drill.

i
Aitkan, R . (1992) Ideas for presenting and practising tenses in English. P47
ii
Swan, M. ( 2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press .p 420.
iii
workman, G (2005). Practical English Usage. Chadburn Publishing. 0HT 22
iv
https://tophonetics.com/
○ = sentence stress.