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Past Tense Question – 2
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4 thoughts on “Past Tense Question – 2”
I’ve read now in a few places, and it makes sense to me, that storytelling often employs the past tense, and that the past tense versions of verbs are often higher frequency than present – because they’re used to report on events that have already occurred, Once Upon a Time……so my Q is why don’t we start with the past tense right away in our storytelling? If higher frequency and more flexible/practical for stories (more concrete – actions already happened!) … As long as we do the pop up to distinguish meaning between past/present, it seems like getting the past in right away alongside the present does our kids a great favor, (plus proficiency tests are looking for variety in tense, but I digressED…)
I started experimenting with this right before break when I did a tale with my third third and fourth graders:
There was a lady
She had a dog
He was hungry
She didn’t have dog food so
She made gingerbread men
The gingerbread man escaped from the oven
They ran after him
He said, run, run as fast as you can…
We added funny details, acted it out, the works. We noticed that verbs in the past in Spanish often have an accent at the end of the word; we noticed similarities between the past and present versions (ie roots) , etc- classic pop up. I want them to hear and see the past early on… Especially if it’s more hi freq. It (Spanish preterite) has an auditory rhythm to it that only multiple reps can embed.
Thoughts or past posts? I scanned but didn’t find…
I fully agree with you Alisa.
I found some links to previously published articles on this topic here on the PLC. Perhaps those interested can read some of them, then make their own best decision about what is right for them in their classrooms:
https://benslavic.com/blog/on-use-of-tenses-in-stories-and-readings/
https://benslavic.com/blog/?s=verb+tenses
https://benslavic.com/blog/question-on-use-of-verb-tenses/
https://benslavic.com/blog/tense-use-in-tprs/
https://benslavic.com/blog/past-vs-present/
https://benslavic.com/blog/verb-tense-question-again/
https://benslavic.com/blog/12048/
I read this article that you recommended to Alisa again…
https://benslavic.com/blog/past-vs-present/
… and it makes so much more sense now. I first read this article over a year ago when I first was diving in to TPRS/ CI. I’m so glad I read it again. The big take-away for me here is how you said, Ben, that reading should be easy and writing the readings in the present tense generally makes it easier for the students. That’s a big take away. My readings need to be easier for my kids.
We ourselves welcomed a challenge when we learned our languages. The more complexity, the better. But most kids just want a grade and not to be confused. That is my own big takeaway from all these years of teaching. Make it easy for them. They will learn more.