Examples of Past Perfect Tense

I’d like to provide some examples of Past Tense verb usages.

Most of my advanced ESL students avoid using the Past Perfect, although they have studied it and could use it if pressed to do so. ESL and EFL learners don’t have the opportunity to practice the tense and since they don’t have to use it, they will often avoid it. They will often use the Simple Past instead.

Here are some examples of the Past Perfect tense:

He had been at the party for an hour before I got there.

She had enjoyed the movie before some noisy people sat down.

They had studied the Past Perfect tenses before moving onto the Past Perfect Progressive.

We had already eaten by the time she arrived.

You'll notice that all of these sentences could be rewritten using only the Simple Past. This is what my ESL students tend to do, so I try to reinforce the usage of the Past Perfect whenever possible.

More info on Past Perfect lesson plans.

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Teaching the Future Continuous

Teaching the Future Continuous can be a little tricky because there are two ways to form this verb tense. The first way is like this: subject + will be + -ing. The second way is like this: be going to + be + -ing.

The ESL Future Continuous (or Future Progressive) is used to talk about an activity that will be in progress at a certain point in the future. For example, “I will be eating dinner when you get home,” or “She will be teaching an ESL class at 6:30 p.m.,” or “I’m going to bed at 11:30, so I’m going to be sleeping at midnight,” or “They’re going to be playing tennis in the afternoon.”

Sometimes, the Simple Future can be used instead of the Future Continuous with little or no difference in meaning.

See ESL Future Continuous for a thorough discussion of the ESL Future Continuous and ideas for teaching adult ESL students this advanced verb tense.

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Teaching Future Simple Tenses

The Simple Future or the Future Simple using “will” is a fairly simple verb tense to teach ESL students. It’s formed by adding “will” in front of the base form of the verb. The formula is subject + will + base verb. For example, "I will write about the Simple Future tense."

The other way to form the Simple Future is using “be going to.” For example, "I’m going to read about verb tenses tonight," or "She's going to study English as a Second Language."

Teaching ESL students verb conjugation is only part of the lesson. You also have to teach verb form (affirmative, negative, yes/no questions, short answers, wh- questions) and verb function. The other thing you need to teach is when to use “will” and when to use “be going to.” This is a little more challenging for ESL students.

Here’ more information about Future Simple Tenses.

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“Going to” and the Future Tense

The Simple Future tense is formed by adding “will” before the base of the verb. For example, “I will study the Simple Future next week,” or “She will help me learn the Simple Future.” It doesn’t matter what the subject is; just put “will” after the subject and before the base form of the verb.

However, there is another way to talk about the future. I can use the Present Progressive form “to be going to” to talk about the future. I can say, “I’m going to study the Simple Future tense next week,” or “She’s going to help me study the Simple Future tense.”

What’s the difference? Sometimes the difference is so slight that either way can be used to express the future. Generally, however, “will” is used for future predictions. “Going to” is used when there is a definite plan. For example, “I’ll get home at 8 p.m. tonight.” This is my prediction. Traffic may delay me. “I’m going to meet friends after work.” This is a plan. Things may change, but it is still a plan that I’ve made.

These two uses are often confusing for ESL learners, especially since sometimes either one is correct. The most firm rule is that English speakers use “going to” to talk about plans they have already made. Most other expressions of the future can use “will.”

See Will and Be Going To for more info.

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Editing Work for ESL Tutors

In addition to teaching adult ESL students one-on-one, another way that I make use of my training and supplement my income is by editing students’ papers. These students normally aren’t my tutoring students, although I do occasionally edit some papers written by my students for their college courses. I don’t advertise as an editor (I only advertise on craigslist.org offering tutoring services), however, I have frequently received responses to my ads asking if I would be willing to edit someone’s paper. It could be a 2-page essay or a much longer term paper.

Before agreeing to edit a paper, I always ask for two things. I ask that the student send me the draft as soon as possible and I ask what the turnaround time is. Before I make a commitment to edit the paper, I want to see how much work will be involved and I want to know how much time I would have. On more than one occasion, I’ve had people send me very lengthy papers that need to be done overnight. I almost always say no to these offers. I refuse to take on someone else’s headache and make it my own. Also, I always agree to a price beforehand. I don’t give an hourly rate. Students always think that editing will take less than it actually does, so I want to avoid any disagreements.

I try to provide exceptional work. I make corrections, offer suggestions, and point out things that need clarification or that I totally cannot understand. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many times the student and I have to send the document back and forth, I always make sure that they are satisfied with the outcome.

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Prepositions and Dictionaries

“I’m on it.” “Get on with it.” “I can’t talk now, 'Ugly Betty' is on.” “I don’t know if I can carry on.”

Ugh! Prepositions have so many uses. They are in idioms and phrasal verbs, and even when used as a simple preposition, they can have so many different meanings. ESL cloze exercises can be used to help students reinforce some uses of prepositions, but for some uses, they will simply have to be memorized.

A useful tool I just (re)discovered for teaching ESL students about the various uses of prepositions is Longman Advanced American Dictionary. To pass the time the other day while I was waiting for a student, I started “looking up” (a phrasal verb) some prepositions. There was a ton of stuff. I focused on the preposition “on.” There was really a lot of useful information. I am continually pleased with how much information Longman provides. I highly recommended this dictionary to all my students, and I think it’s also very useful for ESL teachers and tutors preparing lesson plans.

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ESL and Life Skills

As a private ESL teacher, a significant part of my job is teaching students certain life skills. In addition to cultural norms students have to learn, students living or staying in the U.S. for a any length of time also have to learn basic life skills (the American way), like writing checks. That’s what I helped a student with today. Writing a check with a “carbon” copy.

Writing a check seems so basic to most Americans, even though we probably use debit cards more often now. But if you look at some checks, it’s not entirely clear what goes where.

Any time an ESL lesson plan can incorporate useful spoken or written language (like “pay to the order of”), students will benefits even more. An ESL tutor who is able to teach life skills will be more helpful overall. Of course, you need to look at the student’s needs and decide if it’s appropriate or not to incorporate life skills.

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