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November 5 lessons

Before the event

This is an interesting example of a news story written just before the events it describes take place. As is typically the case in such stories, you will find several ways of referring to the future, e.g.,

"A section of the Chao Phraya river and some major downtown roads will be closed to traffic today for the royal barge procession."

"Pol Maj-Gen Phanu Kerdlarppol, the deputy Metropolitan Police chief, said river traffic would be halted between the Somdej Prachao Krung Thonburi bridge and the King Rama I memorial bridge from noon until 8pm."

"He (His Royal Highness) is scheduled to arrive at the Wasukri pier at 3.30pm and the barge will reach the temple about 4.15pm."

"Members of the public can watch the spectacle, the 16th during His Majesty’s reign, through a live television broadcast or from designated viewing points arranged along that stretch of the river."

As an excercise, you might want to have your students make a list from the story of all the things that are supposed to happen today related to the Royal Barge Procession. To simplify things, I would have them change the statements in indirect speech to direct speech. There is no need to mention the policemen who is the source of the statements. Your students will be writing a list, not a news story.

Most of the statements will use the modal auxilliary "will" but the students might want to say that the Crown Prince "is scheduled to arrive" because it is always possible he will be a minute or two late or the schedule could change.

If you have the background and the interest, you could use this story as an example of why linguists say there is no special future tense in English. Here are several sources to help you:

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/30793-there-future-tense-english.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_tense

http://english-jack.blogspot.com/2006/08/no-future-tense-nonsense.html

Even if you don't teach this story today, save it because you might be able to use it together with tomorrow's story for a "before and after" lesson.

Risky strategy

Emergency rule in Pakistan is liable to be a very big story for the foreseeable future. I would use today's story to help students gain the background they need for following this story. Thus, like the story we read last Friday about the French aid workers in Chad, I would have them try to reconstruct what has happened using information from the text. You will probably want to use the questions I raised in my introduction to help them.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 09:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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Words in the News General News Business, Economics, and Technology News Business Words in the News Teaching with the Bangkok Post Feature Focus From the Weeklies Mainly for Fun Hey kids! Weekend Practice Lessons on H.M.the King 60 years ago World Cup English About Site General suggestions for teachers Building your vocabulary Suggestions for learners Suggestions for parents Who is Acharn Terry? Who is Acharn Jon?	Teaching with the Bangkok Post November 05, 2007 November 5 lessons Before the event This is an interesting example of a news story written just before the events it describes take place. As is typically the case in such stories, you will find several ways of referring to the future, e.g., "A section of the Chao Phraya river and some major downtown roads will be closed to traffic today for the royal barge procession." "Pol Maj-Gen Phanu Kerdlarppol, the deputy Metropolitan Police chief, said river traffic would be halted between the Somdej Prachao Krung Thonburi bridge and the King Rama I memorial bridge from noon until 8pm." "He (His Royal Highness) is scheduled to arrive at the Wasukri pier at 3.30pm and the barge will reach the temple about 4.15pm." "Members of the public can watch the spectacle, the 16th during His Majesty’s reign, through a live television broadcast or from designated viewing points arranged along that stretch of the river." As an excercise, you might want to have your students make a list from the story of all the things that are supposed to happen today related to the Royal Barge Procession. To simplify things, I would have them change the statements in indirect speech to direct speech. There is no need to mention the policemen who is the source of the statements. Your students will be writing a list, not a news story. Most of the statements will use the modal auxilliary "will" but the students might want to say that the Crown Prince "is scheduled to arrive" because it is always possible he will be a minute or two late or the schedule could change. If you have the background and the interest, you could use this story as an example of why linguists say there is no special future tense in English. Here are several sources to help you: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/30793-there-future-tense-english.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_tense http://english-jack.blogspot.com/2006/08/no-future-tense-nonsense.html Even if you don't teach this story today, save it because you might be able to use it together with tomorrow's story for a "before and after" lesson. Risky strategy Emergency rule in Pakistan is liable to be a very big story for the foreseeable future. I would use today's story to help students gain the background they need for following this story. Thus, like the story we read last Friday about the French aid workers in Chad, I would have them try to reconstruct what has happened using information from the text. You will probably want to use the questions I raised in my introduction to help them. Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 09:48 AM \| Permalink \| TrackBacks (0)
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November 05, 2007

November 5 lessons

Before the event

Risky strategy