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Time passing
I was listening Grim Farmer |
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Witchy
whispers: "I don't like to waste
the magic of this simple poem with a lesson on past
continuous but,
unfortunately, I can't forget the teacher
inside
myself,
under
my skin, in my bones... In fact I'm going to give you an example
of how a brain-friendly teacher would explain the
past continuous tense!." |
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A dialogue in a brain-friendly class: Teacher's question: "Why do we use past continuous instead of past simple?" Student's answer: "I really don't know!! Probably because you teachers want to make things more complicated for us... " Teacher: "Read the poem "Time passing" again and imagine if there was - I listened - instead of - I was listening - How would it change? Close your eyes, breathe deeply and see what happens... " Student: "Uhmmm... I just can't imagine all those things passing before my eyes..." Teacher: "Now go back to - I was listening to - and tell me what happens!" Student: "I can hear clocks ticking, I can see cups passing before my nose, I can even touch candles and smack kisses but I still can't understand what - shuffled fingers dripping slyly- mean!" Teacher: "Don't worry about that! I see you can *feel* the language now. Past continuous tense gives you the sensation of experiencing NOW that moment as it exactly happened in the past. Now you're ready for an exciting multiple choice exercise on the use of past continuous! (Right hemisphere versus left hemisphere)..." Quiz on past continuous tense!
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Poems