Introduction: 

This is an activity for students to identify and practise the pronunciation of ‘ed’ in the past simple/past participle forms of regular verbs. Students brainstorm vocabulary in groups, divide the verbs into three categories and write a short description of the holiday they went on using the verbs in question. I have done this activity with one of my adult classes and it worked really well. You give students ownership by letting them choose the verbs instead of providing them with a list that might be irrelevant to their needs.

Level: A2+

Time: 50 minutes

Objectives:

1. To practise the pronunciation of ‘ed’ in the past simple/past participle forms of regular verbs.
2. To write and read a short description of a holiday the students went on using regular verbs.

Materials:

1. A board

Procedure:

1. Put students in groups of 2 or 3, and ask them to think of a holiday they really enjoyed. As they describe it to each other briefly in teams ask them to write down the REGULAR verbs others use when speaking. As a result students immediately have a reason to listen and something to concentrate on.
2. Divide the board into three sections: / ɪd /, / t / or / d / and ask them if they know that there are three ways of pronouncing ‘ed’ in the past simple/past participle forms of regular verbs. For more information go to: bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1413_gramchallenge26
3. Explain to students what the rules are and provide some examples to get them started.
4. Put the students in the same groups of 2 or 3 and ask them to now divide the verbs from their verb list into three groups depending on the pronunciation of ‘ed’ in the past simple/past participle forms of these verbs.
5. Check as a class and write students’ answers on the board adding them to your examples.
6. Now individually ask students to WRITE a short description of the holiday they talked about at the beginning using the regular verbs from the board.
7. When the students are finished they read their pieces to each other. Ask other students to look at their lists and tick off the verbs used.
8. Correct when necessary, ask other students to help you identify the mistakes first though.

Fast finishers:

1. Ask students to look for three new verbs they could add into each category. Make sure you tell them to write down the meaning of the new words, a great opportunity to enrich their vocabulary, and if time allows, write down an example sentence with each verb as well.

Recommended podcast:

http://activateyourielts.libsyn.com/

Check out my friend’s podcast. This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by her. We talked about learning a foreign language from scratch and I think it makes for a great episode. Enjoy.