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Teaching Modals: Lesson Plans
Schedule for Teaching Modals
Day Two - part 3: Questions With Present Continuous Modals [Allow students time to take notes as you go along]
The basic formula for making a present continuous modal question = Modal + Subject + be + verb+ing
- Label the category something like "Questions". Just like with the simple modals, there are a couple different approaches for teaching question modals. You can just chose a few common ones [like: can, could, may, & would] and make sample sentences. However, it may prove more beneficial to explain modal questions by organizing them by the tasks they do. For instance:
- ask for permission [not common--so skip it]
- make a request [also not common--so skip it]
- ask about ability/possibility
- ask for advice
- ask about a requirement
Ask about Ability/Possibility [Usually done with....
Ask students to give you examples of ability/possibility questions with Can, Could, and then Would. If none are forthcoming, help them out with one to start with...
Can ex: Can he be telling the truth? His story sounds unbelievable [present ability]
Could ex: Could he be running behind schedule? [past ability]
Could ex: Could he be going to Miami next week? [possibility]
Could ex: Would he petting that dog if he knew it already ate two people? [possibility]
Ask for advice
Ask students to give you an example of an advice question with Should
Should ex: Should he be feeding that alligator?
ex: Should I be looking for a new car?
Ask about a requirement [Do they have to be doing that?]--usually said in annoyance
Ask students to give you an example of a question with Must about something annoying someone is doing
Must ex: Must he be shaking his leg all the time?
Practice:[Pairwork or homework] As with the simple present modals, pictures can be a good source for practice as well as for tests. click here for some examples.
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