Task 1: Describe how you would show the meaning of the structure in the

following sentence to the intermediate class

1. After I had left a small village in the south of France, I drove on to the next
town.

Grammatical structure selected: PAST PERFECT

(1) Lead-in

 T gives Ss the reading text below.

T: “Last night, my friend and I got together to watch a movie after he had
finished his work. We picked out some snacks and selected a movie when he
arrived here. I made popcorn while he moved the sofa in front of the TV. After we
had finished getting ready, we started watching the movie.”

 T writes on the board one example from the reading text in order to
introduce the structure in contexts.

“Last night, my friend and I got together to watch a movie after he had
finished his work.”

 T asks Ss to find other occurrences of the same pattern.

“After we had finished getting ready, we started watching the movie.”

 T introduces the lesson

T: today, we’re going to study “past perfect”

(2) Present meaning

 The teacher shows meaning of the structure: PAST PERFECT by giving

students a dialogue and asking some questions to check their understanding.

T: Listen, class. We have a dialogue between A and B talking about what they did
last night.

A: What did you do last night?

B: I did my homework, then I had dinner. What did you do last night?
 A: I watched TV, then I went out for a walk.

B: Did you do your homework?

A: Actually, I completely forgot to do the homework.

T: Now, I have some questions for you. Did A do his homework last night?

Ss: No, he didn’t.

T: Then what did he do?

Ss: He watched TV and went out for a walk.

T: What did he do first? Watched the TV or went out?

Ss: He watched TV first.

T: Yes, he watched TV first. It means that he watched TV then he went out. So, we
can put this in one sentence, “After he had watched TV, he went out for a walk.”

T: Listen. After he had watched TV, he went out for a walk. After he had watched
the TV, he went out for a walk.

Ss: listen and repeat the sentence about two or three times.

 The teacher says the structure and writes them on the board, then underlines
the “fixed” part of the structure.

After he had watched the TV, he went out for a walk.

T: We use this structure to clarify which activity have been done first.

(3) Giving other examples

The teacher gives students some examples below to practice and derive the rule
from the examples themselves.

1. They came back home after they had finished their work.
HOW WOULD YOU SHOW THE MEANING OF THE STRUCTURE IN
THE SENTENCE?

“IF I WERE YOU, I WOULD GO TO SEE A DOCTOR.”

SHOW THE MEANING = lead-in + present the meaning

Task 2: Design two mechanical practice for the structure in each of these
sentences:

1. She was too tired to walk any further.

2. Kate finished writing the report early.

Mechanical practice for the structure: “S + be + too Adj to V + O” for an

intermediate class.

(1) Repetition
T: Class, repeat after me.

T: She was too tired to walk any further.

Ss: She was too tired to walk any further.

T: She was too tired to do this exercise.

Ss: She was too tired to do this exercise.

(2) Substitution
T: Use the structure: “Too adj + to V” to say a propriate sentence in each
situation

T: She is young. She can’t go swimming alone.

Ss: She is too young to go swimming alone.

T: He is short. He can’t play basketball.

Ss: He is too short to play basketball.