Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Chapter 5: Standing in the Spotlight: Presenting to the Class 83

To teach this lesson, follow these steps:

1. Have a soft drink on the desk but complain that it’s too warm. Ask stu-
   dents what to do. Then find out who likes ice in their drinks.


2. Have the students tell you the procedure for making ice and write the
   stages on the board:

1. 
   

   Put water into container.

   
   


2. 
   

   Place container into freezer.

   
   


3. 
   

   Leave for 2 hours.

   
   

3. Lead the students to get to the past participle of each of the verbs –
   put, placed and left. I talk about past participles in Chapter 16. It’s one
   form of a verb that you sometimes use when you speak about the past.


4. Ask students to identify the object of the sentence in step one – water.


5. Ask them to identify the verb – put – and highlight that there’s no
   person doing the action.


6. Set out the equation for the present simple passive form (the equation
   shows the necessary parts of the sentence in the right order): Object +
   the verb to be in the present simple tense (am, is or are) + past participle
   (+ by someone if you want to say who did it). I talk about the present
   simple tense in Chapter 16.


7. Complete the examples for each stage by eliciting the words and writ-
   ing them on the board:

Object + to be in present simple + past participle + where/how long

The water is put into a container

It is placed into the freezer

It is left for two hours

8. Demonstrate how to transform one sentence into a negative and one
   into a question on the board:

• Is the container placed in the fridge?


• It isn’t left for two minutes.

Check that your students understand the concept by asking:

✓ Who puts the water into the freezer. Is it important?

✓ Are the sentences in the past or present simple?

✓ What’s the difference between the present simple active and passive?