Stage 1: Present examples
Get a clock, make one from cardboard, or draw one on the board.
Set the time and mime an action, e.g. six o’clock and waking up. Say: ‘I wake up at six o’clock.’
Repeat with different times and actions, e.g. get up, wash, have breakfast, catch the bus.
Ask a learner a question, e.g. ‘Portia, what time do you go to bed [mime action]?’
After the answer, say: ‘Portia goes to bed at eight o’clock’. Repeat with other learners and different actions.
Write the list of actions on the board, e.g. wake up, and ask: ‘What time do you __________?’
Say: ‘Work in pairs. Ask your partner questions using this form. Remember their answers.’
After 1–2 minutes, say: ‘Portia, tell me something about your partner’.
Elicit a sentence in third person, e.g. ‘Eric goes to bed at 7.30.’ Repeat with other learners.
To help learners you could:
- create and use flashcards for each action
- ask learners when they do these actions (= every day)
- write model sentences on the board.
If learners forget third person ‘s’, write it in a different colour on the board, or say the wrong form with a rising intonation (e.g. ‘he go?’).
Stage 2: Take feedback
Ask learners to share their feedback on what they have noticed in the example sentences. Here are some key points you might want to share with them or write on the board.
Use
We commonly use present simple to describe daily routines. For example:
- They watch television every day.
- I get up late on Sundays.
- She doesn’t take the bus, she walks.
Other uses of present simple include:
- describing habits, e.g. She goes shopping every Saturday
- situations that don’t change, e.g. She only eats fish. He’s a teacher
- fixed arrangements, e.g. The class starts at nine o’clock
- to express future time, after when, after, before, as soon as, until, e.g. I’ll tell her when she arrives.
Form
I/you/we/they go to school every day. She/he goes to the market every Saturday.
The question form: Do I/you/we/they + eat fish? Does she/he + eat fish?
The negative form: I/you/we/they don’t like football. She/he doesn’t like football.
Stage 3: Use the grammar
Group game
The first player says, for example: ‘I eat my dinner at seven o’clock.’
The second player says, for example: ‘Gregory eats his dinner at seven o’clock. I eat my dinner at six o’clock.’
The third player says, for example: ‘Gregory eats his dinner at seven o’clock. Rejoyce eats her dinner at six o’clock. I eat my dinner at 6.30’, etc.
If a player forgets, they have to start the game again.
Guess my picture
Choose two pictures on two different pages in the textbook.
Put learners in pairs. Tell learner A to look at their page; learner B can ask no more than ten yes/no questions to try to guess the page.
Example questions:
- Is there a man in the picture?
- Does the man look happy?
Then it’s learner A’s turn. The learner who guesses using the fewest questions is the winner.
Who am I?
Learners write the name of a famous person on a small piece of paper. They fold it and give it to their partner. Their partner asks yes/no questions to find out who they are.
Example questions:
- Am I a woman?
- Do I play football?
- Am I alive?
What am I?
Learners choose an animal and write five sentences.
Example sentences:
- I live in the desert.
- People don’t like me.
- I’m dangerous.
- I eat small animals.
- I’m long and thin.
They work in groups and take turns to read their sentences. The first learner to guess the animal wins a point.
Or learners can choose an object, e.g. a ball or a chair.