Briton: I’ve been to Paris.
American: Paris, France?
Briton: Oh dear.
Statement of form
subject + have /
has + past participle
subject + have /
has + been + verb_ing
Students really need to know
There are several
meanings:
Life experience…
“I’ve slept
with Lucinda Braithwaite.”
“Yeah, she said.”
Actions in the past,
connected with the present…
“He’s only lost
his chuffing keys.”
“Perfect”.
Actions still going
on now…
“We’ve been
living in Quito for 10 months now, and quite honestly it’s the only realistic
city in the Americas if you’re serious about engaging with Latin culture.”
“Yawn”.
Or not still going
on…
“You look rough.”
“Cheers. For your
information, I’ve been delivering twins.”
Students struggle with
The concept of
unspecified time…
“I’ve met
Sepp Blatter”.
“Lucky thing!”.
“Him or me?”
… as opposed to
specified time…
“I met Sepp Blatter
the other day.”
“Lucky thing.”
“Yes, he was.”
The whole concept
of ‘linked to now’ – compare these:
“The referee blows
his whistle and it’s finally all over: England have won the World Cup
after a 52 year wait!”
And, one hour
later, in a hairdresser's in Hampstead: “What happened in the
Final?” “Oh, England won.”
The speakers in the
second example know perfectly well the "past event" – England winning – is "linked to now" (delirious mayhem in Trafalgar Square, for example). Yet they choose the past simple. We can let the grammar books argue over why. The point is, it's not straightforward. Be ready for your learners to get it wrong. A lot.
Using ‘since’: ABBA "Fernando" ..."since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand." Enough said.
Simple or
continuous? With the continuous, we're usually referring to the doing of,
or duration of an action, not the completed action:
Mavis: “Have you
planted the rhubarb like I told you?” (completed?)
Johnny: “Are you
joking? It's been raining all day.” (duration)
Note, we don't know if it's still raining, or it stopped a short time ago. It doesn't
matter, because that's not what's on Johnny’s mind. So, when deciding between
simple and continuous, questions about whether the action is finished or not
are not always helpful:
“I've lived here
for 10 months.” (not finished)
“I've planted the
rhubarb.” (finished; same tense)
Generative situations
For life
experience. Bucket List. Establish with the class the idea of a list of things
you want to do before you die. Then:
either present students
with your own - make sure it’s got eight to ten things on it the students will
understand and presumably appreciate, e.g.
ride a horse, visit China, travel to Machu Pichu, play
football at Wembley Stadium; write a book.
or elicit from the
students a kind of agreed class list. Either way, look at the list and show the
class that you’ve done one or two things, by ticking them off. See if anyone
else can tick off an item (tick it and write the student’s name next to it.) Be
sure to ask – or get the class to ask – one or two questions about the
experience, to make sure everyone understands it’s been done rather than
waiting to be done.
Then use the ticked
items on the list to elicit present perfect sentences:
“I’ve ridden a
horse. Tarkan has written a book. Manuela has visited China.”
Don’t forget to
elicit some negatives, using the rest of the list:
“I haven’t written
a book. I haven’t played football at Wembley Stadium; Hamid hasn’t ridden a
horse.”
Using these
examples, go on to highlight the meaning (i.e. the person did it, and therefore
knows something about it, but we don’t know or really care when it happened),
pronunciation and form.
(Note that this
would be a very useful way of introducing a lesson on present perfect with “yet”,
as you have several things you anticipate doing but have not done yet.)
Fun practice
Shake up. Start by
revising the words for the contents of the classroom: desk, table, chair, bag,
books etc. Also go over useful verbs like “put”, “place” (sthg) somewhere; “move”,
as well as revising basic prepositions of place: “on”, “under”, “next to”, “behind”,
and so on.
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