method for teaching simple past

[flyeogh]

As I'm sure everyone here is aware there are quite a lot of steps and rules relating to Simple Past.

1. Regular simple past creation (rules: ed, d, consonant+y, vowel+y)
2. Exceptions: double the last letter (e.g. control + led) and additional 'k' (e.g. picnic -> picnicked) and associated rules.
3. Pronunciation of 'ed' and associated rules.
4. irregular verbs and associated rules.

So my question is what do you teach in each lesson and in what order? What things do you combine or do you go one simple step at a time?

Just looking for guidelines here. For example:
Do you merge 1 and 3 at the start as it seems a bit difficult to teach anything in silence?
Do you teach the process by demo and leave the rules till later?
Do you try and elicit the rules?
Do you introduce irregular mixed in with the regular?

For me my groups are private students of 2 to 6. I guess the approach might change in a class of 30 not so focussed individuals.

cheers for any thoughts or experiences.

[Susan]

I do number 3 before 2. I get students speaking before writing.

Susan

[flyeogh]

Tx Susan. Pity this place is rather void of participants but your input is very welcome. Personally, based on my spanish adult students I'm going to go for:

Show timeline with present (already covered) and past.
Teach 'to be', 'to go' and 'to do' past. [My thought is that is where I started with simple present.]. Practise.
Explain regular past with endings 'ed' and 'd'
Get them to create 20 common and useful verbs (some already covered when teaching present, nearly all can be mimed) of regular past to show how they can recognise and create the simple past (even if they do not understand the whole phrase or even the verb).
Elicit the ending sounds and work on pronunciation.
Introduce the time element as expressed by 'last year', 'last Wednesday', 'yesterday', 'an hour ago', etc.
Introduce and practise: question, reply affirmative/negative. [thus we can do something useful and practical in pairs and groups, and expand vocabulary and improve fluency almost by accident].
More work on pronunciation. [My Spanish students find it tricky].
Introduce rules for words ending in ‘vowel + y’ and ‘consonant + y’. Practise.
Introduce rules for the doubled last consonant. Practise.
Lots of practise (role play, games, themed work) with 'to be', 'to go' and 'to do' mixed in.
Have a break before moving on to irregulars.

Anyone any thoughts on the order of things and how many lessons to spread this over?

[Susan]

Looks good.

I think you need to spend a lot of time on negatives and questions.

Think about how to deal with the verb to be because it's different to other verbs.

Susan