Essay: English VI

Teaching gerunds to beginners

In this essay I will talk about how to teach gerunds to beginners in learning English. This doesn’t mean that all teachers have to teach this subject this exact way, but this is how I would do it.

          

To begin, I would prepare material. What would that material include? That material would include the grammar presentation and the grammar notes. Grammar presentation shows an example of the gerund being used as a subject or an object. The grammar notes explain the rules of the gerund use and also show examples.

A gerund is a verb+ing. I would begin by showing the learners a list of verbs, what are verbs? I would explain that verbs are actions and I would give examples of actions. We also have to explain that a gerund can be mistaken with a present-progressive form of a verb. What is a present-progressive form of a verb? As a teacher with a beginner you can’t just start a class with all these definitions. Do not use terms like present progressive or gerund, perhaps afterwards when they learn how to use gerunds you may tell them,” these are known as gerunds”, but not before they learn what a gerund is.

        

Use many images and pictures. In the case of gerunds you can use posters, or talk about hobbies. Make sure you know well your class and that you have everything planned out well. Gerunds are verbs that become nouns by adding “ing” at the end. Make sure everyone knows the differences between nouns and verbs.

            

You can check to make sure they’ve learned by putting them exercises. In my case, I wouldn’t make them create sentences for me using gerunds. I would make them read and article, that I know has many gerunds, and I would make them identify the gerunds and the present progressive form of verbs. That way I would know that they actually understand what a gerund is.

            

After the written exercises, I would start with the dynamic exercises. I would put them in pairs and make them talk to each other including gerunds. One pair at a time, of course, so I can identify when they make a mistake and correct them right away. If you don’t correct a beginner right away, they will think that there form is correct, and it will affect them as they learn more about the second language.