Present Perfect Movies Lesson

Level: Intermediate & above.

Time: Very much depends on your class. From 50 mins to an 1hr 30.

Mats: None.

Aim: To introduce and practise present perfect when compared to simple past with finished time adverbials. 

Notes: This lesson is designed for a class with a number of students for a 1-1 adaption see: PPMovies1-1

Procedure: Stage One

T: Write instructions on board including structure you want students to practise i.e. “Have you seen...?”

Ss: In pairs think of and list 5 movies that they think EVERYONE (including T) has seen. Each pair is a team. They score 1 point for each person who has seen 1 of their movies. 

Once they have their list they go round the class and ask everyone if they have seen each of their films. 

Stage Two

T: Write up team names on board.

Ss: One S from each team writes up their list of movies complete with their scores. 

Guided by the T the class checks the spellings of the various titles. 

The team with the highest score wins. In the case of a tie each team thinks of another film. 

Stage Three 

T: Write instructions on board. 

Ss: Form new pairs, in which each partner has seen a movie that the other has NOT seen. They tell each other the stories of the movies and what they thought about them. 

Notes: By stage three the students are nicely warmed up. As they have been thinking and talking about movies it is natural to continue this with a free speaking activity. If one was to skip stage 3 & move straight onto the grammar section this could easily spoil the dynamics of the lesson as the Ss have not been given the opportunity to “let loose” as it were, with their thoughts and opinions about a given movie. 

First 50 mins of the lesson is over, students take 2 minute break.

Stage Four

T: On board write:

“Have you seen Titanic?”

“Yes, I have seen it.”

“No, I haven´t seen it.” 

Ask Ss what they can tell you about the grammar they have been practising/using. See if they can tell you what it´s called and how it´s formed.  

If they don´t know give them the name (present perfect) and the form (present form of ´to have´ with past participle - or verb 3). 

Write on board:  “Did you see Titanic when it was at the cinema?”

Ask Ss why we use present perfect in the 1^st sentence and simple past in the second. 

T: If they don´t know, point to the second question and ask the concept question, “Is Titanic on at the cinema now?” followed by “So, can you go and see Titanic at the cinema now?”

Point out that the the second question using the simple past expresses the concept of finished time i.e. when Titanic was on at the cinema, and it´s this information that is important.

Ask Ss what´s important in the first question. 

If they still don´t know point out that the time is irrelevant, it´s not an issue. What´s important is whether or not they have seen the movie.

Beneath 1st question write:

“Yes, I saw it            last night.”

                                last year

                                last week

                                yesterday

                                this morning*

                                this afternoon*

                                when it was at the cinema.  

Ask which tense is being used.

Ask why you have put a star after “this morning” and “this afternoon”. 

If they don´t know give further examples such as: 

“Have you been to the shops this morning?”

 (i.e. you can still go to the shops because the morning isn´t over yet) 

or

“Did you go to the shops this morning?” 

(i.e. the morning is over so you can no longer go to the shops in the morning).

So what did you think? How did it go? Let me & others know at the Efl Alt Message Board!

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