Tuesday, August 7, 2012

You will enjoy messing with verb conjugation. Maybe

 I don't know about you but as a native English speaker I don't pay that much attention to conjugating verbs. Maybe I should now that I blog.  

Kenneth Beare does a great job explaining and supporting such things as verb conjugation on his website, http://esl.about.com/b/2012/05/16/verb-conjugation.htm?nl=1 This is just one of the many lessons that are great support to ESL and mainstream classroom teachers. 

I have copied a very helpful chart from this lesson on verbs just to give you an example of what you will find when you explore his work.

Verb Conjugation Grid


Simple Tenses Simple Tense Example Progressive Tenses Progressive Tense Example Perfect Tenses Perfect Tense Example Perfect Progressive Tenses Perfect Progressive Tense Example
Present Present Simple Jack usually takes a bus to work. Present Progressive Alice is writing her report at the moment. Present Perfect Bob has purchased three cars in his life. Present Perfect Progressive The students have been writing for twenty minutes.
Past Past Simple We drove to Yellowstone last Past Progressive Daniel was ironing at seven o'clock. Past Perfect They had completed the report by the time he requested to see it. Past Perfect Progressive My neighbors had been working outside for a few hours when their daughter telephoned with the news.
Future Future Simple I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. Future Progressive Tom will be making his presentation this time next week. Future Perfect We'll have the job finished by six o'clock. Future Perfect Progressive Mr. Jones will have been teaching for eight hour straight by the time he finishes.

Full of Hot Air

Today is hot! Very hot and dry. My yard looks like we have tried to kill the Queen Anne's lace but got the grass instead. Patches of white, long, scrawny,  plants cover my yard. The only thing I can do and still be positive is to admire how delicate and graceful they look. Find the beauty in the weeds, the good in the bad.

As I write this, I am working in the waiting room of the car dealership that is fixing the AC in my car. Thanks to the deer who thought it would be fun to crash into my car, I've had a slow leak in my AC that finally became a huge leak. No cool air during the hottest part of the summer. The good in the waiting is that I've been able to work on a grant report, answer emails, read articles on RTI and ESL, and write my first blog post in months.

Thank goodness for technology and the great new book I brought to read, "English Language Learners At School, A guide for Administrators", Else Hamayan and Rebecca Freeman, Caslon Publishing, Second Edition, 2012.

71 contributors have answered many questions that need short, direct answers. A book like this is important for every school administrator who has ESL students in their building. In Iowa that should be about every district in the state.