1: Lesson Plan (Present Tense “Sort”) The name of the lesson: Simple Present vs. Present Continuous

The L1 language group and age: Pre-Intermediate, age 11

The materials needed: Board, chalk, worksheets, paper, pens or pencils

A description of the lesson warm-up: Ask students, “What do you do in the day?”—the Engaging phase (2 minutes). This opens the discussion to what routine activities students perform. These are listed on the board (eat, dress, sleep, etc).

A description of the presentation of the material to the class: Give examples of sentences using both simple present and present continuous and show how the verb conversion alters the sentences on the board. Give the students an opportunity to create their own examples using routine activities that they do throughout the day. Go over their examples in class, sharing them and allowing them to write them out on the board. Identify the parts of speech to build on prior learning and incorporate the present lesson.

Sorting out the forms: Underlining the verbs and marking them on the board as simple present or present continuous and then listing them under their respective categories.

Open-Ended Practice: Provide a worksheet with sentences that have both simple present and present continuous. Have students underline simple present and circle present continuous. On back of...

That is why it is so helpful that they see the sorting out process on the board. Then they can go and, having learned by example, do the assignment given them on their own. They will be able to identify the different tenses, sort out simple present and present continuous and then create their own sentences and write them on the back of the worksheet for reinforcement. Identifying other parts of speech in class also helps to consolidate this new information with prior knowledge.
2: Identifying an Action Research Area of Focus

Area of focus: This action research project will explore whether sentence diagramming instruction is helpful for teaching ELLs how to identify verb tenses.

Variables: Independent variables will be the proficiency level of the students (beginner) and the subject matter (identifying various verb tenses). The dependent variable is the mode of instruction (sentence diagramming method).

Research questions: Do students master how to identify verb tense form more quickly when the teacher uses sentence diagramming instruction? Does the identification of verb tense forms carry over into appropriate usage of verb tense forms in written and oral…