If you ask native English speakers how many verb tenses there are in the language, chances are that most won’t get the number right. Yet they speak English fluently. It doesn’t matter if they know that there are 12 verb tenses in English for them to communicate effectively. But ESL(English as a Second Language) learners and those with learning disabilities and language impairments may need more support to get a good grasp of such grammar concepts.To make things easier for such learners, we may need to find novel ways for teaching verb tenses that complement the conventional methods.
Present progressive tense, Past perfect tense, Future perfect continuous tense – these can be intimidating terms for English learners. Truth be told, these terms can be confusing for any child. So, how can we teach grammar to children without scaring them away? Colour coded charts, tables, infographics, etc can definitely engage kids. But such resources can be labour intensive and can be found lacking when it comes to keeping children focused and interested.
Do you wish there was an exciting way to teach verb tenses? Well, then you need not look further than Avaz FreeSpeech. Thanks to some amazing technology (that runs complex algorithms), Avaz FreeSpeech gamifies various aspects of grammar learning. Powered by the world’s first grammar prediction engine, Avaz FreeSpeech is a revolutionary app that helps learn grammar and build language in a fun way.
What are Verb Tenses?
Verb tenses in English is a combination of Time and Aspect. Time indicates when something happened (past, present, future). Verb aspect indicates whether the actions are repeated, continuous, or happen in a single block of time. Here are the 12 verb tenses:
- Present Simple
- Present Continuous/Progressive
- Present Perfect
- Present Perfect Continuous/Progressive
- Past Simple
- Past Continuous/Progressive
- Past Perfect
- Past Perfect Continuous/Progressive
- Future Simple
- Future Perfect
- Future Continuous/Progressive
- Future Perfect Continuous/Progressive
Present, Past, and Future
Let’s analyze how the app helps learn verb tenses:
For example, you compose the sentence, ‘She do homework’, the app automatically recasts it to the grammatically correct sentence, ‘She does homework’, which is in present tense. If the child is not sure of how to talk about the action in the past tense, all they have to do is to tap on the ‘PAST’ button. The message box immediately displays the sentence, ‘She did homework’. Similarly, tapping on the ‘FUTURE’ button displays the sentence, ‘She will do homework.’
More Verb Tenses
If you want to use Present Continuous, use the combination of ‘PRESENT’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’ buttons.
If you want to use Present Perfect, use the combination of ‘PRESENT’ and ‘COMPLETED’ buttons
If you want to use Present Perfect Continuous, use the combination of ‘PRESENT’, ‘COMPLETED’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’ buttons
Similarly,
If you want to use Past Continuous, use the combination of ‘PAST’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’ buttons.
If you want to use Past Perfect, use the combination of ‘PAST’ and ‘COMPLETED’ buttons.
If you want to use Past Perfect Continuous, use the combination of ‘PAST’, ‘COMPLETED’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’ buttons.
If you want to use Future Continuous, use the combination of ‘FUTURE’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’
If you want to use Future Perfect, use the combination of ‘FUTURE’ and ‘COMPLETED’ buttons.
If you want to use Future Perfect Continuous, use the combination of ‘FUTURE’, ‘COMPLETED’ and ‘CONTINUOUS’ buttons.
Here’s the app in action powering through all the 12 verb tenses:
As you can see, Avaz FreeSpeech provides a simplified way of teaching verb tenses. It makes the task easier for the teacher or parent and lets the child learn at their own pace. What’s more, you can also create custom challenges so that children can get enough practice using all the tenses.
There’s a lot more you can do with Avaz FreeSpeech such as negation, questions, and other sentence manipulations. It can also help in expansion and recasting of language. The picture support and audio cues help in multi sensory learning and helps children of all abilities build language. Learn more about Avaz FreeSpeech here.