References

Woodward, R. (2011, June 14). Present vs. progressive tense. Retrieved from http://www.grammar.cl/Games/Present_vs_Progressive.htm

Graham, C., & Walsh, M. (2005, June 24). What are some major problems esl learners have with grammar?. Retrieved from http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/Teacher/sectionone/aboutlanguageq3.html

González, M. (Producer). (2008). English grammar lesson- verb forms and verb tenses. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQy38-_rtL0

Check Your Comprehension

After seeing tutorial videos, reading relevant information and playing games about verb tenses, now is time to check your comprehension!!! Visit the following sites, practice and check your comprehension...

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs1.htm

http://www.verbs-online.com/english-verbs/english-verbs.htm

Let's Practice

Have fun while practicing what you learned!!! Visit the links below to play fun games while practicing verb tenses…


                http://www.grammar.cl/Games/Past_Irregular_Verbs.htm

                http://www.grammar.cl/Games/Present_vs_Progressive.htm
               
                http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/pasttense.htm

The Sequence of Verb Tenses

This handout explains and describes the sequence of verb tenses in English. Reading this handout will help you to clarify any doubts you may still have. Once you finish, select 5 verbs and express them in the six tenses emphasize in this page.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/

Lessons for each of the 12 basic tenses

In this link you will find lessons for each of the 12 basic tenses. Travel trough this web page dedicating more time to the tenses in which you still have doubts or the ones that are harder for you to work with. Once you are done, select 3 verbs. Then, write a sentence for each tense of the selected verbs.
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses.htm

Learn the Basics of Verb Tenses

This videos offer a very detailed explanation of verbs forms and tenses.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQy38-_rtL0
      
 
            http://www.knewton.com/blog/gmat/2011/02/01/video-understanding-verb-tense-errors/

Learning Verb Tenses

     Next to nouns, one of the most relevant parts of speech is verbs.  Verbs are the action in the sentence, which tells what the subject is or does.  Have you noticed that they have the same definition in English and Spanish?  Yes, they have the same meaning and job than in English.  Most pupils do not have problems with regular and irregular verbs in present tense and often they are easy to learn.  However, when an irregular verb is put in the past and future tense, it might become problematic. 
    In the classroom, the teacher tells students that they have to memorize all irregular verb of common use.  This is partially true, but how can a pupil translate that knowledge to real life?  Besides texts and isolated exercises, we present a series of modules, videos, worksheets, and other instruments to practice this concept and make learning meaningful.

Check this YouTube tutorial to review the verbs.
Verbs: A Tutorial

Why A Blog?

     There are countless of resources that a teacher can use in a classroom in order to vary the traditional ways to present material.  Nevertheless, there are few of them that decide to take a step ahead and be innovative in order to make the teaching-learning process interesting and fun.  A blog is a great tool to incorporate in a classroom, especially if one is presenting a difficult material.  The purpose of this instrument is to give to educators of English as Second Language (ESL) and its learners a novel way to impart the lesson of verb tenses. 

    A very important detail is that to make it interesting, the reader has to participate in the discussion and evaluate the resources presented.

Enjoy, have fun, and learn.

Ms. Acevedo and Mrs. Rodríguez

Verb Tenses in ESL Learners

     Many ESL (English as Second Language) learners confront the unpleasant task of knowing correctly the verb tenses.  Moreover, various teachers of this second language say that this is achieved by memory and overt instruction.  Although this is true, there has to be a connection between the native language and the new one to compare and contrast the concept.  One of the key ingredients when learning a second language is to have a strong basis of the first one.  Keeping this in mind, what happens if the student has not acquired correctly the material in Spanish?  Finally, how can the student learn them in English?
    This blog can be an excellent tool to help both teachers and pupils to clarify doubts about the material, learn new strategies to acquire the material and to teach it, and react about the experiences in the teaching-learning process.

     We invite you to follow this link for more information about this particular that keeps many educators preoccupied and students frustrated. (Focus on the verb part.)

What are some major problems that ESL learners have with grammar?