Page 92 - Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies 2009

Iwenttothe PAST cinema.
PRESENT
FUTURE
Chapter 5: Standing in the Spotlight: Presenting to the Class
71
Figure 5-1:
The spot marks when
Showing simple tenses
When you want to show that an action is in a simple tense (present simple, past simple, or future simple) you put an individual point on the timeline with an X or a spot and label it, as in Figure 5-1.
cinema
With a simple label you can elicit a statement in the past simple tense: ‘I went to the cinema’.
Likewise, you can demonstrate the simple future tense, as Figure 5-2 does for the statement, ‘I will go on holiday’.
Figure 5-2:
Showing the simple, but
hopefully PAST fun, future.
holiday X
PRESENT
FUTURE
Carrying through with continuous tenses
An action in a continuous tense (present continuous, past continuous and so on) should occupy more space on the timeline. You can emphasise the dura- tion of time by using continuous X’s or a wavy line as in Figure 5-3.
Figure 5-3:
XXXX I am speaking English now moreroom. PAST PRESENT FUTURE
Continuous tenses take