The Internet TESL Journal

Helping ESL/EFL Students Find Employment while Teaching the Past Simple Verb Tense

Errol Pitts
errolpitts {(at)} hotmail.com
Hanseo University (Seosan, South Korea)
Using an inductive approach, students will learn one of the most common verb tenses, the past simple. Additionally, students will learn about job searching techniques aimed at helping them to secure employment. Receptive and productive activities are described in detail. Examples of materials are provided. Extensions for learning outside of the classroom are supplied.

Introduction

Adult immigrant and international ESL students have a variety of pragmatic needs. Finding a job is one of these practical and often necessary needs. A job provides financial income to support living and academic expenses such as, housing, food and textbooks. ESL teachers working with settling students can effectively assist them in searching for a job within the provision of English language training. This lesson demonstrates an example of helping Immigrant and International ESL students to find a job while simultaneously teaching one of the most common verb tenses, the past simple verb tense in an inductive manner. Students will work with job searching techniques and the past simple verb tense in receptive and productive activities.

Time Required

Objective(s)

Materials and Equipment

Pre-lesson Preparation

  1. Choose six or seven regular verbs that are commonly used when searching for a job. For example:
  2. Write a personal letter. This letter should be written from the perspective of an adult immigrant or International ESL student describing his/her job searching experience to a friend or family member. This letter needs to include and briefly describe the five techniques of searching for a job. Also, the verbs you selected in step one need to be used in the personal letter. The letter should be written with student proficiency in mind. See Appendix A for an example.
  3. Create a ‘fill in the gap’ worksheet. This worksheet should be similar to the personal letter. The worksheet needs to have students write the selected verbs in the past simple verb tense. See Appendix B for an example.
  4. Photocopy the personal letter and the fill in the gap worksheet onto overhead transparencies. Ensure that the font size is bold and large. If there is access to an LCD projector and computer, have the two items saved and accessible via a word processing file instead of using an overhead transparency.
  5. Make five small simple job searching technique posters. Find photos or clip art from the internet, print the images and paste them onto the poster paper. Label each poster. Examples of labels are using the internet and looking in the newspaper. Make sure to respect copyright laws for any photos you copy from the internet.
  6. Photocopy one personal letter for each student. Put each letter in a standard size envelope.
  7. Create a small chart with five columns. Write one job searching technique in each column. Photocopy one chart for every student. See Appendix C for an example.

Procedure

Lead-In

In a large classroom discussion, ask the students questions that make them think about how they have found jobs. For example, “How did you find your job?” Record the specific job searching experiences on the whiteboard (some rephrasing may be necessary) and make sure to use and underline the verbs in the past simple tense. For example, (student name) - looked in the newspaper, (student name) - talked with her friends. If students are having trouble providing examples, give some help by using questions such as, “Did you find your job in the newspaper?” “Did a friend tell you about the job?” You may need to use a personal experience of your own as a first example. Write enough examples to demonstrate all five job searching techniques and try to utilize the selected verbs.

Presentation

  1. In a large classroom discussion ask the students questions that assist them in identifying the five job searching techniques. For example, “What are different ways of looking for a job?” If necessary, provide some help by pointing to the examples written on the white/blackboard and point to key words such as ‘friends’ or ‘newspaper’ on the white/blackboard. After the students have identified all five job searching techniques show the ‘job posters’ to the class. Say the names of each of the job searching techniques out loud and have the students repeat. Acknowledge the students who have used each technique. For example, “(student name) - looked in the newspaper”. Ask students, “What is the best way to find a job? Why?” and discuss this briefly. There is no correct answer to this question. The purpose of this question is to make the students think about the positives and negatives with each technique.
  2. Draw a long line on the board. Mark an ‘X’ in the middle of it. Write the word ‘past’ on top of the line to the left of the ‘X’. Say ‘past’ out loud and have the students repeat it. Write ‘present’ on top of the ‘X’. Say ‘present’ out loud and have the students repeat it. Write ‘future’ on top of the line to the right of the ‘X’. Say ‘future’ out loud and have the students repeat it.
    image-of-the-line
    In a large classroom discussion ask students whose responses are written on the board this question, “When did you ___?” Fill in the blank with “talk with their friends, look in the newspaper, use/search the Internet” etc. Write their responses on the timeline.
  3. Explain the concept of past. Ask students, “When did (student name) look in the newspaper?” “In the past, present or future?”, “When did (student name) talk with her friend?” “In the past, present or future?” etc. Repeat until all the student’s examples have been discussed. Ask students, “When did they all look for their jobs?” If necessary, provide help by pointing to the word ‘past’ on the time line. Write ‘past’ on the whiteboard or blackboard.
  4. Point to the underlined words and ask the students, “What kind of words are the underlined words?” If necessary, provide examples such as, noun, adjective and verb. If further assistance is still required, give examples of nouns, adjectives and verbs and provide definitions. Write ‘verb’ on the whiteboard or blackboard.
  5. Ask students, “What do all the verbs in our examples end with?” If necessary, point to the –ed endings. Write ‘–ed’ on the whiteboard or blackboard.
  6. Ask students, “What kind of rule can you make about verbs that happened in the past?” If necessary, point to the words ‘verb’ ‘past’ and the suffix ‘-ed’ written on the board.
  7. Write on the board, ‘Use –ed at the end of verbs that happened in the past.’ Be prepared to share some irregular verbs if students ask about them (i.e. deal-dealt, do-did etc.).

Accuracy Activity - 1 (Receptive)

Announce

“You just received mail from a child/friend/relative living in a different city.” Show students the envelope.

Demonstration

Tell students, “Read the letter and underline any verbs written in the past simple verb tense.” Using the overhead projector, show students the personal letter. Tell students, “I am going to read a few sentences. When you hear a verb in the past simple tense, raise your hand.” Read the first two sentences of the letter and underline verbs in the past simple tense as the students indicate. If necessary, use cues to help the students such as, slow down your speech or look at the students as your read a verb in the past simple tense. When the students raise their hands and indicate the answer, give praise.

Comprehension Check

Ask students, “What are you going to do with the letter?” If necessary, provide help by pointing to the underlined verbs.

Distribute

Pass out the envelopes to the students. Tell the students to start.

Teacher Feedback

Walk around the room and provide immediate correction.

Peer Correction

Tell the students to find a partner and check each other’s work.

Self-correction

Using the overhead projector, show students the answer sheet and tell them to check their answers. Give students time to check their answers.

Questions

Ask the students if they have any questions and answer them.

Accuracy Activity - 2 (Productive)

Announce

Tell students “Complete this ‘fill in the blank’ worksheet”. Show students the worksheet.

Demonstration

Tell students, “You can work with a partner to complete the worksheet. You will need to use the letter (show students the Personal Letter) to complete the worksheet. The answers are on the letter”. Using the projector, show students the fill in the gap worksheet. Read question one out loud and write the correct answer on the blank line. Read question two and ask the students to choose the correct answer. If necessary, provide help by pointing to a few choices. Write the correct answer on the blank line. Provide praise when appropriate.

Comprehension Check

Ask students, “What are you going to do with this ‘fill in the blank’ worksheet?” Show students the worksheet. If necessary, provide help by pointing to the words in the box and the personal letter.

Distribute

Pass out the worksheets to the students and tell them to start.

Correction

Walk around the room and provide immediate correction.

Class Correction

Using the projector show students the worksheet and ask students for their answers. Give praise when appropriate. Give students time to check their answers.

Questions

Ask the students if they have any questions and answer them.

Fluency Activity

Announce

Tell students, “You are going to do a fluency activity. Ask five classmates three questions and write down what job searching technique he/she used on this chart.” (Hold up the fluency chart See Appendix C) Write these three questions on the whiteboard. Read the questions out loud and have the students repeat.

Demonstration

Using a volunteer student, ask him/her “What is your job?”, “How did you find that job?” (Insert a check mark in the correct column of the fluency chart and show the class) “What do you think is the best way to look for a job and why?” Switch roles with the volunteer student. Respond to the volunteers questions using the past simple verb tense.

Check for Understanding

Ask students, “What are you going to do in this activity?” If necessary, give help by pointing to the questions and hold up the fluency chart.

Distribute

Pass out the fluency chart and tell the students to start.

Teacher Feedback

Walk around the classroom and offer correction only when asked or when communication fails.

Classroom Discussion

Ask these questions, “Who found someone for each of the five techniques?” and “What is the most popular way to find a job?”

Conclusion

Review the past simple verb tense and the five job searching techniques. Using the projector, show students five statements. Each statement needs to include a selected verb written in the past simple tense and a job searching technique. For example, Ask the class, “Who can come up to the front of the class and underline the verb written in the past simple tense and the job searching technique?” If necessary, complete one example for a demonstration. Provide praise when appropriate.

Assessment

Assessment can consist of the personal letter and/or the fill in the gap worksheet. However, in order to use these materials for assessment, students must be told to use a pen to make any mistakes obvious. A checklist can be used in the fluency activity.

Extension/Homework

Ask the students to talk with their family or friends about job searching and report next class. Here are some examples questions that can be assigned.

Appendix

Appendix A

Hi Mom and Dad,

I have been very busy looking for a job. On Monday morning, I talked with an Employment Counselor. He helped me write my resume. On Tuesday, I phoned the local grocery store and talked to the store manager. He asked me to email my resume to him. On Wednesday, I walked to the shopping mall and looked for job opening signs. I want to work at the shopping mall because it is close to home. On Thursday, I talked with my friend. He said there is a job at his workplace I might like. On Friday, I looked at an Internet job site. I think the Internet is a great way to find a job because the job advertisements have lots of information. On Saturday, I looked in the newspaper. I don’t like using the newspaper because the job advertisements don’t give you a lot of information. Wish me good luck!

Sincerely,

Name

Appendix B

Job Searching Techniques and the Past Simple Verb Tense

Name_______

Date ________

walked talked looked helped

asked phoned talked

talked looked looked

Instructions: Choose a word from above and write it on the blank line.

1. On Monday morning, I ___________________ to an Employment Counsellor. He ______________ me write his resume.

2. On Tuesday, I _____________________ the local grocery store and _______________ to the store manager. He _______ me to email my resume to him.

3. On Wednesday, I __________________ to the shopping mall and _____________ for job opening signs.

4. On Thursday, I__________________ with my friend. He said there is a job at his workplace I might like.

5. On Friday, I ____________ at an Internet job site. I think the Internet is a great way to find a job because the job advertisements have lots of information.

6. On Saturday, I __________ in the newspaper. I don’t like using the newspaper because the job advertisements don’t give you a lot of information.

Appendix C

1) What is your job? 2) How did you find your job? 3) What job searching technique do you think is the best and why?

Newspaper

Internet

Networking

Employment

Counsellor

Job Opening Sign
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 3, March 2010
http://iteslj.org/
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Pitts-PastTense/