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Teaching Modals: Lesson Plans
Schedule for Teaching Modals
Day Two - part 1: The Present Continuous [Allow students time to take notes as you go along]
[Just as before, leave a space on the top left corner of the board. We will use this space later to label the category of modals that will go under it.]
- Begin by writing the modal should beneath the empty space and ask students to give you an example sentence with should in it. (help them along as needed.) [You can write the sentence to the right of the modal.]
should ex: Tom should study for the next test.
Then change this example into the present continuous modal form.
should ex: Tom should be studying for the next test.
Ask students if there is a difference in meaning. [There is]. Then ask them what the difference is. [should study means now or maybe in the future, but should be studying means right now.]
Ask them if should still means advice or suggestion? [It does.]
Write the word Advice at the top of the category.
- Next, substitute the modal ought to in place of should, and ask them if the meaning has changed. [It hasn't.] Write ought to under should in your list.
Advice:
should ex: Tom should be studying for the next test.
ought to ex: Tom ought to be studying for the next test.
At this point, we have enough information for students to try and come up with a formula for a present continuous modal. Elicit some suggestions based on the two examples they've seen.
Formula = modal + be + verb + ing
- Leave a blank space on the right side of the board under ought to
Add the modal had better to the list beneath ought to, and suggest the following example,...
had better ex: Jessica is in her room with the door closed. She has a big assignment due tomorrow. Her mother and father are in the kitchen washing dishes, and the mother tells the father... "Jessica had better be doing her homework."
Ask students if they think the meaning here is different from should or ought to. [It is.] If your group is a little more advanced, ask if anyone can explain how they are different. [This time it is more than just strong advice. There are two things going on in this situation...]
- Her mother wants Jessica to be doing her homework. [This is like a warning or a hope.]..., but
- Her mother doesn't know whether Jessica is doing her homework or not. [It's like she's hoping, but doesn't know.]
This idea that the speaker doesn't know if the action is happening or not is important to the meaning of had better in the continuous, and can be seen in the following example.
had better ex: Tom is in his English class and is eating a fried chicken dinner during the lesson. He has the chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuit, and a drink on the table in front of him. The teacher would not say "Tom, you had better not be eating in class."...because it's obvious to everyone that Tom is eating in class.
We could consider had better as a "hope and guess" modal. At this point, it's a good idea to check whether students are getting it or not. Give students another situation like the ones above, and ask them to write an example of their own in their notebooks. Then walk around and spot check whether they're using it correctly or not. Had better can be tricky to use, and tends to give students some trouble. As you check their examples, ask whether it meets the two criteria for had better [1. Is this something the speaker wants/hopes for? 2. Do they know whether it's happening or not?]
Another similar modal to had better in the present continuous is must. Suggest the following examples,...
must ex: You're in a classroom with no windows. You hear the thunder and the sound of water hitting the roof. You might sayIt must be raining.
must ex: Tom is not a good student, and he frequently over-sleeps and is late for class. This morning Tom is not in class which prompts the teacher to sayTom must be sleeping.
Ask students if must means command/order in these sentences. [Clearly it doesn't, so what does it mean? Elicit some suggestions.]
In the continuous form, must is an assumption. As previously mentioned, you can explain what an assumption is by expressing it as a percentage. For example, we are 90% sure that what we are saying is correct.
Negative Forms:
At this point, it might be a good time to briefly introduce the negative form for these modals. This can be done by writing a couple more examples on the board and asking students how they think we can make them negative.
should ex: Tom should be playing with an alligator.
ought to ex: Tom had better be swimming with the sharks.
had better ex: It's July, so it must be snowing.
With a little guidance and guessing, they're usually able to come up with the correct forms...[The not usually comes after the modal.]
should ex: Tom should not be playing with an alligator.
ought to ex: Tom had better not be swimming with the sharks.
had better ex: It's July, so it must not be snowing.
- To begin the next category, leave another space below must [to label the category], and write the modal could beneath it. Like the previous modals, provide a situation and elicit a sample sentence from students.
:
can ex: Tom is not in class this morning. Tom could be sleeping.
Ask what this means. [Try to get them to suggest the word possibility.]
Ask students how this is different from Tom must be sleeping.". [The difference is basically in how sure we are about what we're saying. With could, may, or might, we can say we're around 50% sure.]
Possibility:
could ex: Tom could be sleeping.
may ex: Tom may be sleeping.
might ex: Tom might be sleeping.
We can round off the "Possibility" category with the modal would. This modal is usually used within a conditional or with the word "but", and expresses the idea of a possibility that just won't happen...
would ex: I would be doing my homework, but.... - [Am I doing my HW? No]
would ex: I would be cleaning my room if I had time - [Am I cleaning my room? No]
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