Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition

Lesson 3
Phase 1
In our third classroom the teacher has just announced, ‘This
morning we are going to learn about the Simple Present
Tense in English. The forms for the verb “to be” are these.
Copy them down.’ He writes on the blackboard:
Simple Present Tense ‘to be’ Positive Declarative
Example:
1st Person Singular
I am
I am a teacher.
2nd Person Singular
you are
You are a pupil.
3rd Person Singular
he, she, it is
He, she is a pupil.
It is an elephant.
1 st Person Plural
we are
We are people.
2nd Person Plural
you are
You are pupils.
3rd Person Plural
they are
They are elephants.
He comments as he writes up the forms for the third person
singular, ‘Note that “he” is used with masculine nouns,
“she” with feminine nouns, and “it” with neuter nouns.’ He
continues writing:
The Negative Declarative is formed by placing ‘not’ after
the verb thus:
Example:
1st Person Singular
I am not
I am not a teacher.
2nd Person Singular
you are not
(At this point he
3rd Person Singular
he, she, it is
suggests ‘I think you
not
can all complete the
1st Person Plural
we are not
remaining examples
2nd Person Plural
you are not
here.’)
3rd Person Plural
they are not
He waits at the front of the classroom while pupils write. The
blackboard is almost full so he points to the first paradigm
above and asks, ‘Can I rub this out now?’ A few heads nod,
so he erases it and continues writing:

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In the Classroom
21
The Positive Interrogative is formed by inverting the order
of the verb and subject thus:
Example:
1st Person Singular
Am I?
Am I a teacher?
2nd Person Singular
Are you?
etc. etc.