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Teaching Modals: Lesson Plans
Schedule for Teaching Modals
Day Four - part 1: Past Continuous Modals [Allow students time to take notes as you go along]
The basic formula for making a past continuous modal = Modal + Subject + have + been + verb + ing
[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.]
- The good news is that meanings for the past continuous modals are really no different than for the simple past. They just tend to express a more continual action though this difference is negligible in most cases. Thus, we can explain the meanings of past continuous modals with the use of situations just as we did with the simple. Because of this, the students tend to get the concepts pretty quickly, and at the same time, going through some examples serves as a review and helps reinforce and clarify concepts.
For example: Yesterday Tom was eating too many burgers at McBurger, got sick, and threw up on Jessica's shoes...
should ex: Jessica yells at Tom saying...You shouldn't have been stuffing so many burgers in your mouth!.
It's too late for Tom to change what happened, so she's criticizing or blaming Tom. She's basically telling him how much of a pig he was.
- 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.
Note: Tom can blame himself, and we call that regret.
Criticism/Blame/Regret:
should ex: Tom should not have been eating so much.
ought to ex: Tom ought to have been eating more slowly.
Tom says... ex: I should not have been drinking the soda too. [regret]
- Next, leave another space below ought to [to label the category], and write the modal had better beneath it. As with the previous modals, ask students to provide an example based on our situation.
had better ex: Jessica had better not have been wearing her new shoes or Tom had better have been apologizing to Jessica.
Had better in the past continuous is quite similar to its use in the simple past and the present continuous in that two criteria have to be met:
- We hope the thing in our sentence has (or hasn't with negative) been happening.
- We don't know whether it was happening or not. [It's like we're hoping, but don't know.]
We hope wasn't wearing her new shoes, but we don't know if she was or not. As with the simple past, this idea that the speaker doesn't know if the action happened or not is important to the meaning of had better in the past, and can sometimes cause problems for students. This concept can be seen in the following example.
had better ex: Tom threw up on Jessica's shoes. We would not say "Tom had better not have been throwing up on her shoes"...because it's obvious that Tom already did throw up on her shoes, and we know it.
We can still 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 another example of their own in their notebooks. Then walk around and spot check whether they're using it correctly or not. 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 happened or not?]
- Next, leave another space below had better [to label the category], and write the modal must beneath it. As with the previous modals, elict or provide a sample sentence based on our situation.
:
must ex: Tom must have been eating fast because he was hungry.
Ask students what the word must means in this sentence. [They'll probably quickly suggest the word guess or assumption.]
Write the word Assumption at the top of the category. Just as with the simple past, must means we are 90% sure about something.
Past Assumption:
must ex: Jessica must have been getting angry.
- To begin the next category, leave another space below must [to label the category], and write the modal may beneath it. Elicit or provide a sample sentence based on our situation.
:
may ex: Jessica may have been hitting Tom after this.
Ask students what the word may means in this sentence. [They'll probably suggest the word possibility.]
Past Possibility:
may ex: Jessica may have been hitting Tom after this.
Substitute the modal might into the example and ask students if the meaning has changed. [It hasn't]
might ex: Jessica might have been hitting Tom after this.
Now substitute the modal could into the example and ask students if that changed the meaning. [It didn't]
could ex: Jessica could have been hitting Tom after this.
Note on the Negative Forms: [The negative word "not" basically goes in the same places in the past continuous as in the simple past modals- usually comes after the modal. However, the same special case occurs with the modal could as can be seen in the following examples...]
could not have ex: Tom could not have been eating at Taco Bob's because he was at McBurger's. [Tom was not able to eat at two places at the same time. It was impossible due to this situation.]
could have not ex: Tom could have not been eating so many burgers. [This means that Tom had a choice, but made the wrong decision. He had the choice to not eat so much, but he chose to be a pig anyway.]
We can round off the "Past Possibility" category with the modal would. Like in the simple past this modal is usually used within a conditional or with the word "but", and expresses the idea of a possibility that just didn't happen. [Follow the same pattern of eliciting or providing a sample sentence for the students...]
would ex: Tom would have been eating at Taco Bob's, but McBurger was cheaper. - [Did Tom eat at Taco Bob's? No. Why not? because he wanted to be cheap on his date.]
would ex: Tom would have been eating at Taco Bob's if he had gotten a better job. - [Did eat at Taco Bob's? No. Did Tom get a better job? No.]
Note: Would with if in the past is basically a
past unreal conditional
sentence and requires a past perfect tense in the dependent clause. This is a good reason to teach past modals after students have learned the perfect verb tenses and before they learn the unreal conditionals.
Practice: Using situations is a good way for students to practice using past modals and also a good form of assessment because they provide a context that can show you whether or not they really understand the meanings of these modal forms. These situations can be used in written formats or in oral formats such as role plays in which they are Tom or Jessica's parents, teachers, friends, etc.... Just make sure the situations are clear, and don't be afraid to infuse a little humor.
Directions: In each of these situations something bad has happened. Write a simple past modal sentence and a different past continuous modal sentence about the situations below. Use each of the modals from class at least once.
ex: Jessica always loved shopping. One day she saw an ad on the internet for a product that was supposed to make her skin softer and more beautiful. It cost $65, but after she used it for the first time, it turned her skin green and her hair fell out.
a) simple past:
b) past continuous:
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