Authentic Practice: Gerunds, Infinitives and Emergencies

Objectives:

• The learner will define lesson vocabulary. 

• The learner will identify infinitives and gerunds in emergency-related scenarios.

• The learner will replace gerunds with infinitives in written and spoken exercises.

• The learner will create and perform an emergency dialogue using gerunds and infinitives.

Duration:

    4 hours

Materials:

• 15-20 strips of paper cut from large, easel-sized pad of paper

• Gerunds and Infinitives reference sheet

• Gerund and Infinitive Review worksheet 

• "I Want to Report an Emergency" dialogue sheet

• "Talking About Emergencies" worksheet

• White board and markers

Activities:

1. Teacher allows for review of previous lesson by directing learners to complete Gerund and Infinitive Review worksheet; teacher forms mixed-ability pairs and learners compare answers. Learners read answers aloud. Learners review the definition of a gerund and an infinitive, plus the verbs used with each from the Gerunds and Infinitives reference sheet

2. Teacher asks class to identify the exercises that talk about emergencies or possible emergencies (nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8). Teacher explains that gerunds and infinitives are important when emergencies happen.

3. In a think-pair-share activity, teacher again forms mixed-ability pairs and asks learners to write all the "emergency" gerunds they can think of. Learners then do the same for infinitives. Teacher writes the responses on the board in two columns: gerunds and infinitives. Responses will vary: to faint/fainting, to fall/falling, to drown/drowning, to flood/flooding, to breath/breathing, to choke/choking, to bleed/bleeding, to have/having (a heart attack), to have/having (an allergic reaction), to help/helping, to cry/crying, to moan/moaning, to give/giving (CPR), to throw up/throwing up, to vomit/vomiting, to poison/poisoning, to overdose/overdosing.

4. Teacher directs learners to choose the verbs from parts A, B and C, Gerunds and Infinitives reference sheet that they could use in an emergency with either the gerund or the infinitives on the board (gerunds and infinitives: begin, cease, continue, start; gerunds only: stop; infinitives only: try, want). Teacher assists throughout as needed. As teacher approves each match, learners receive a 4 x 6 card on which to write their verb/infinitive or verb/gerund match (for example, "stopped bleeding," began to choke," tried to give CPR," etc. 

5. Teacher collects and shuffles 4 x 6 cards and distributes them to mixed-ability pairs. Teacher directs pairs to write complete sentences using the pronouns "she," "he," "they," or "we." Teacher works with each pair to write sentences that are as authentic as possible. Learners write sentences on sentence strips cut from large, easel-sized pad of paper. Teacher tapes sentence strips to a wall as learners finish them. Class reads and discusses sentence strips.

6. Teacher distributes "I Want to Report an Emergency" dialogue models to class. Teacher selects six students to read the three dialogues aloud. Teacher allows time for comments and definitions of unfamiliar words or phrases as needed.  Mixed-ability pairs choose one of the three model dialogues, selects as many sentence strips as desired, and writes a new dialogue on a sheet of large, easel-sized pad of paper. Teacher assists as necessary. Learners practice their dialogues so that they will act as naturally as possible during their presentations.

7. Each learner pair posts dialogue on the wall and reads it while standing in front of the class. Teacher allows time for comments. Following class, teacher types all dialogues and distributes them in a packet to each learner during next class.

8. Learners complete "Talking About Emergencies" worksheet and correct as a class.  

Assessment:

Teacher evaluates and records scores from Gerund and Infinitive Review worksheets, monitors and evaluates written and spoken quality of dialogues.