Yesterday I gave a lesson on the future tense, explaining the difference between ‘I’m going to ~’ and ‘I will ~’
To set the scene, I first decided to revise the past tense, so asked the students very simply what they had done the previous weekend. In this class there are a few more students willing to volunteer than in others, but they were still a little slow to get started. I reminded them that they could get reward stamps for volunteering, at which point the hands started to go up.
Most of them talked about how they practised their instruments or played sports, but one boy raised his hand and with a cheeky smile said ‘I did nothing.’
‘Oh really?’ I asked, moving towards him. If students don’t give full enough answers I have a habit of questioning them further until I’m satisfied they’ve tried their best. I could see from my angle that he had his leg up on a chair too, so I decided to make him really work for his stamp. ‘Why didn’t you..’
I stopped in front of him. The foot that was on the chair next to him was encased in the most enormous plaster cast I have ever seen, with his toes poking sadly out the end. He grinned and pointed at his leg.
‘What did you do??’ I asked, the shock evident on my face.
‘Broken’ he replied.
‘How?’ I persisted, more from curiosity than from any desire to stretch his English. He clenched two fists together and made a snapping-twig gesture, accompanied by a crunching noise.
‘Aaargh!’ I yelled, the class erupting in laughter. ‘Yes but.. how? Football?’
‘Rugby,’ came the answer. I stamped his card and went back to the front of the classroom.
So on I went with the lesson, explaining the grammar and tailoring the questions accordingly. ‘What are you going to do this weekend?’ I asked the class.
Up went the hand of the broken-foot student. ‘I’m not going to do anything,’ he began, pointing melodramatically to his foot. ‘I can’t!’ Another stamp.
‘Any volunteers to read the dialogue?’ I continued. The broken-foot student volunteered himself and his friend.
‘Okay, stand up then.. no no, not you! You can sit down!’ The students normally stand up to read out loud and he wouldn’t be told to sit down if his friend was standing, preferring to balance precariously on one foot. Another stamp.
Every second time I asked for volunteers, he was there, reminding me that he was injured but still soldiering on. Twenty stamps or so later, I came to the final grammar point; using the present tense – ‘I am ~ing’ – to talk about the future.
‘What are you doing after school today?’ came my final question.
‘I’m going to the hospital’ shouted broken-foot student, pointing one last time to his cast.
Okay kid, I get it!!
