A first example of a teaching idea for the present simple tense will be a classic activity called 'Find someone who'. Here, we will be trying to find someone who has a general truth such as the ability to play a musical instrument or the fact that they have a brother and a sister. This results in students going around the room asking questions in the present simple tense, such as 'Do you play a musical instrument?' 'Are you a teacher?' 'Do you have a brother and a sister?' The answers resulting will also be in the present simple tense. They will be generally 'Yes I do,' or 'No I don't.' The students will go around trying to find somebody who fits the general truth and when they do, they will write their name in the appropriate space. The students will mill around the room for generally five to eight minutes depending on your timing of your class. When the teacher feels it's appropriate, he'll have the students sit down and begin feedback. Feedback will also be in the present simple tense resulting in questions such as: 'Who goes to bed before 11 o'clock?' Students will raise their hand and also report in the same tense saying the name of a student in the class, such as 'Jim goes to bed before 11 o'clock.' During the feedback, the teacher can also expand upon these general truths. When the teacher hears that Jim goes to bed before 11 o'clock, the teacher can ask 'Why do you go to bed before 11 o'clock?' 'Do you always go to bed before 11 o'clock?' The same can be done for musical instruments: 'What musical instrument do you play?'
Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next.
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