Unit 12 The ing Form and Gerunds

Unit 12 The ing Form and Gerunds Introduction There is a tremendous amount of information here for students to process. Before you have students open their books, it might be wise to assure them that they are already using gerunds in their everyday speech and that, basically, a gerund is simply a verb form appearing as a noun, such as: The meaning of a gerund will be clear to you in no time. Since ing forms of a verb can appear as a verb, an adverb, an adjective, or a noun, it s important for students to study the descriptions of each usage with you and then to be able to form their own sentences with each form so they see how easy it really is. Student Book pages 184 185 Have students open their books to the Unit Introduction and go over the four possible parts of speech for the ing form of a verb. 1. Verb meaning Review the use of the ing verb form as a verb in the progressive or perfect progressive tense. After students look at the examples, ask volunteers to create an example of each progressive tense in a sentence. Respond to any questions. 2. Adverbial meaning Ask students if they remember what the difference is between a clause and a phrase. If they aren t clear on this, they won t understand this section. Again, ask for volunteers to give examples of adverbial phrases with the -ing ending. 3. Adjective meaning Verify that students understand the adjectives depressing, boring, amazing; then have them create their own sentences using ing adjectives. 4. Noun meaning Since gerunds are a focus of this unit, be sure to have as many students as possible volunteer a sentence using a gerund. Gerund as Subject or Object Gerunds work as subjects or objects of a verb or preposition, so students should study the examples and be ready to use gerunds in each aspect. After reading the examples in the Gerund as the Subject of a Sentence box, invite students to create sentences using the gerunds helping, drowning, failing, and laughing as the subject of a sentence. Have some students write their sentences on the board. Read the Gerund as the Object of a Verb box aloud to students and ask if they understand all the verbs that are used with gerunds. Read about each group of verbs separately, and then have students work in pairs to create sentences with recall, recollect, resist, risk, and tolerate followed by gerunds. Repeat the same activity with the verbs involving feelings or attitudes. Be sure students understand the verbs can t bear, can t stand, anticipate, prefer, regret, and resent. Have several students read their sentences aloud. When you have finished reading the section verbs that involve communicating, ask if there are any words students aren t familiar with. Ask them to use the verbs deny, discuss, and mention followed by a gerund in a sentence. Ask: Who knows another word for put off? What about get into, fool around with, or go over? What is a phrasal verb? Students should be able to point to these phrasal verbs as examples. Ask them to create sentences with the verbs fool around with and get over. Have a student read the examples in the Gerund as the Object of a Preposition box and other students create examples of their own for the class. Read the Special Uses of Gerunds box. A. Sports Idioms Since most people seem to have knowledge of international sports such as those listed, this should be easy for students to comprehend. They may not think of drinking and shopping as sports, but some people consider them as their sport or hobby. B. With give and get Read the words together and answer any questions about meaning. Have volunteers use each word in a sentence with a gerund. Student Book pages 186 187 Spelling Rules for ing Forms and Gerunds Remind students of the VC rule they learned in earlier units: If a one syllable word ends in one vowel and one consonant, students should double the final consonant before adding -ing. If a VC word has more than one syllable and the accent is on the last syllable, they also should double the final consonant before adding ing. If a word ends in -e after a consonant, they should drop the -e before adding ing. Read through the examples together before students do Activity 12-1. 76 The ing Form and Gerunds

n 12-1 Spelling This is students opportunity to see if they understand the spelling rules. They should be free to reread the rules in their book but should try, as much as possible, to figure out the correct spelling based on what they ve learned. When they have completed the exercise, have students write the correct ing forms on the board for everyone to check his/her answers. Ask: Are there any questions about any of the spellings? Depending on the proficiency of your students, you might want to ask why some of the words are spelled as they are to see how many of the rules they ve actually absorbed. Answer Key 1. giving 11. taking 2. stimulating 12. shopping 3. opening 13. researching 4. watching 14. digging 5. reading 15. biting 6. pacing 16. driving 7. singing 17. adding 8. playing 18. cooking 9. listening 19. fighting 10. running 20. calling n 12-2 Sentence Writing If there aren t enough different heritage languages in the class, simply form groups of two or four and have students follow the directions. It might be helpful to do the first two or three of the ing words as a class. You might also want to assign a column of words to each pair or group to allow more time for class discussion and the exchanging of sentences. Student Book pages 188 189 n 12-3 Description of the Collage Pre-Activity Discussion: Read the first paragraph with students. Ask: What do you think indigenous means? The paragraph talks about the traditions, culture, and beliefs of a group of people as sources of wisdom. What does that mean? Ask students if they know another name for the indigenous group referred to as Native Americans. How did they get the name Indians? If students aren t sure, provide a short history lesson on Columbus and his travels or challenge students to find the information on the Internet. A. After discussing what a collage is, students should study the collage and write a paragraph describing it. Have several students read their description aloud to see how many different aspects of the collage students have found. B. If students have lived in other parts of the United States before coming here, ask them to conduct research on the Native American tribe(s) in that area so you get as wide a picture as possible about early inhabitants. Have several students read their paragraphs aloud. If there is still an active Native American population in your area or a good museum representing aspects of their lives, it might be fun to have someone come in and speak to the class. n 12-4 Communicative Activity When students have finished reading the directions and sample questions silently, ask if there is any vocabulary they don t understand. Create groups of four so each person has thee people to interview and write about. Have several students read their paragraph aloud to the class. You might want to do a class graph on favorite ways to relax or to have fun. Student Book pages 190 191 n 12-5 Theme-based Discussion Pre-Activity Discussion: Before forming groups, have students read through the discussion questions. Respond to any questions, clarifying where necessary. When students are in their groups, tell them to choose a number from 1 to 4 so that they can move easily to the next groups. Remind them that they are all responsible for helping the group reporter to assemble notes for the group answers. A. Ask: What is a white lie? Do you have a similar concept in your native language? If no one is familiar with the concept of white lie, explain that it s the kind of lie people tell when they don t want to hurt someone s feelings. For example, if you don t want to go out with a person who has asked you, you might say you re sorry, but you re busy that night. After a few tries, the person will get the message. Or if someone asks if you like a new dress she s bought and you really don t, but you know it can t be returned, you might admire the color or style rather than hurt the person s feelings. When students have completed their discussion, have the reporters read their group s answers to the class. You might want to create a graph on when class members are most dishonest: in person, on the telephone, in e-mails, or in Internet chat rooms. Discuss why they think one medium is easier for lying than others. All students with the numbers 3 and 4 should then move to the group on their right. B. As students discuss this topic, it might be interesting for them to share with the rest class their conclusions about which element best suits someone else. Ask how many partners were in agreement with what their partner chose as the element best suited to them. Students 1 and 2 should then move to the group on their left. Creative Grammar Teacher s Guide 77

C. As students discuss their planning or lack of planning in choosing clothes, organizing drawers, etc., have them discuss whether they think this is important or not and their reasons for either choice. Sharing the reasons for their choices might give students insight into how much they are like their classmates or how different they are from them. How does that make them feel? Why? Students should then return to their original group. D. When groups have finished their discussion, open the questions to the class as a whole. Ask if their color choice for a car is the same as their color choice for clothing or for the walls of their living space. Are they affected by color? If so, how? Why do they think hospital walls or doctors offices are painted in the tones that they are? Does this affect them? How? Photo Alert The picture of the two friends was taken in the Old City in Molfetta, Italy. n 12-6 Communicative Activity A. After partners have finished discussing the relationship between the two women in the photograph, ask them what makes them feel as they do? How did they determine whether the women were close friends? B. Students should discuss the qualities that connect them to their best friend. How similar do partners find the qualities that connect them do they share similar feelings about what creates a true friendship? At the end of the discussion, ask the class what the number one quality is that they value in their best friend. Student Book pages 192 193 n 12-7 Error Correction Read the first sentence together after students have read the directions. Answer any questions students may have. Advise students to read each sentence at least twice before determining the error. The third time, they should underline the error, and then read the sentence again, deciding what corrections are necessary. Then students should rewrite the sentence correctly. Have them look at the example and ask any necessary questions. When they ve finished the activity, have volunteers write corrected sentences on the board. Answer Key 1. I will be playing soccer until I am 50 years old. 2. Laura is interested in going to China on vacation next year. 3. The movie was very exciting. I was very interested in it. 4. Eating three slices of cake is not good for your health. 5. While I was swimming, I saw two sharks and a dolphin. 6. After he goes to bed, Henry falls asleep right away, 7. When Narita s father tells a story, everybody falls asleep because he is such a boring speaker. 8. I was playing soccer when I was 15 years old, but now I only shop for soccer videos. 9. Freddy misses seeing his brothers and sisters every day. 10. I really apologize for hurting your feelings. I will stop doing that. I promise. 11. Professor Diaz advised taking history before taking anthropology. 12. My husband and I discussed taking a train to Chicago because it costs less money. 13. Oh really! We also talked about going to the Midwest on vacation. n 12-8 Sentence Stems Remind students that they are to use gerunds to complete the sentence stems. When students have completed the exercise, have volunteers write several sentences on the board while others read theirs aloud. Ask if there were any sentence stems that gave students trouble and talk about how to create sentences from those stems. Student Book pages 194 195 n 12-9 Cloze Before beginning this activity, it might be a good idea to review the spelling rules for gerunds. Suggest that students read through the entire story first before beginning to write. Do the first sentence with them to be sure they understand the task. When they have completed the task, have students work with a partner to see how alike or different their answers are. Then have students take turns reading a sentence out loud until the story is finished. Discuss any problems students encountered. n 12-10 Grammar Practice A. Read the words in the box and ask if there are any words students are not familiar with. Have volunteers explain the word(s) to the class. When partners have completed their sentences, tell them to look at Exercise B. B. Students should take turns reading their sentences to the class and discuss whether they all chose the same words for each sentence. Discuss any disagreements and ask students to listen carefully to each disagreement and try to decide which form is correct. 78 The ing Form and Gerunds

Student Book pages 196 197 n 12-11 The Writing Page A. Before starting to write, students should read the paragraph carefully and then follow the procedure they ve learned in previous units for making their point: They should create some kind of diagram or outline to put down their thoughts, involving at least seven of the verb pairs. They might start with a circle in the middle with dog at back door written in it and then have spokes coming off the circle with those verb forms they intend to use. That way, if they change their mind about the verbs, they can do so before they commit to a paragraph. There s a lot of thinking to be done here about obligation versus none of my business and what they think their role as neighbor and citizen should be. There are really no right or wrong answers. Have several students read their paragraphs aloud and, if there are enough differences of opinions, create two teams to debate the various choices they ve made and why they ve made them. B. Ask students how many of them have been in Tina s position or know someone who has faced this same dilemma. Again, they should create a diagram of some sort to help them use at least seven of the verb choices meaningfully. When they have completed their paragraphs, have several students read them aloud. Have students discuss what they think they might do in this situation. Does age have anything to do with their choice? Why or why not? 12-12 Description of the Photograph Photo Alert This photo was taken in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pre-Activity Discussion: As students study the photograph, ask where they think it takes place. Does Tango Argentino mean it must be in Argentina? If not, what does the title signify? (Obviously, it s the name of a dance style, but one that can take place anywhere.) A. Students should write a paragraph describing what is going on in the photograph. Tell them to study the expressions on the faces of the people involved, the style of dress, the surroundings, etc. Be sure they include a description of the musician. Does he seem surprised the two are dancing on the street? Are the dancers relaxed? Why or why not? B. Students should answer the question honestly, not being concerned with whether dancing is important to them or not. If their culture prohibits dancing or frowns upon dancing with members of the opposite sex, this would be interesting cultural information for others in the class. What influences whether students go dancing or not? money? time? Student Book pages 198 199 n 12-13 Unit Review Task: Write a three-paragraph essay describing your favorite pastimes and hobbies. Prewriting Following the directions, students should use idea maps like the ones in their book to help them focus on what they want to include in their essay. Students may not have much free time for leisure activities and may just wind down at the end of the day with television video games, etc. These activities should be included as pastimes or hobbies they enjoy. First Draft Read the directions with students, making sure they understand the various ways to use gerunds in their essay. They should follow their idea map to be sure they include all the important information. Ask: What will be in your first sentence? Make sure they understand that the main idea of each paragraph comes first. Students can refer to the model and create their first main idea sentence accordingly. Revision Remind students that before sharing their essay with a partner, they should read it again and check for the correct spelling of gerunds, a variety of gerund and ing ending forms, and most importantly, for the main idea and supporting details. Partners should read each other s papers, and then discuss ways they think the essay could be improved according to the bulleted checklist provided. Final Draft Say: This is the copy that will be submitted to me. You want to make sure it is as perfect as possible, with few, if any, grammatical or punctuation errors. Your main idea should be clearly expressed and proven in the body of the essay, with correct use of gerunds and ing forms. Students should incorporate the corrections their partners have suggested and proofread their essay at least twice before submitting it to you. Evaluation Students know they will be evaluated on the clarity of their main idea, the level of supporting detail, the use of gerunds and ing forms, and the appropriate use of special expressions that are followed by gerunds. With this in mind, they should pay close attention to their essay to see how well they have met these criteria. Creative Grammar Teacher s Guide 79

80 The ing Form and Gerunds

Name Class Unit 12 Writing Task: Write a three-paragraph essay describing your favorite pastimes and hobbies. Rubric Score 1 Score 3 Score 5 Needs improvement Shows progress Good understanding Clarity of main ideas; Main ideas not clear; Clear main ideas; Clear main ideas; level of supporting insufficient supporting only one detail in several details details details each paragraph Use of gerunds Two or more errors Only one error No errors and ing forms Use of special Two or more errors Only one error No errors expressions followed by gerunds Creative Grammar Teacher s Guide 81