Test-Teach-Test

The test-teach-test (TTT) methodology is not my usual style of teaching, and most days, I lean more towards PPP (presentation/practice/production) or task based teaching.

However, for simple grammar concepts or vocab that students have probably studied before, TTT could work very well, so I decided to give it a try with "Be" in the past and other regular/irregular past tense verbs, since my students should already have a decent grasp of the basics.  The unit in my book that I was covering was 4 Corners 2, Unit 9.  And here is the "test" that I prepared, with some vocab/names of people thrown in from the previous unit:  The Past Tense Test.  In addition, I pointed out the pages in the book that they could refer to if necessary.  I gave the students about 10 minutes to work on it and then we checked answers together (teach phase).  I went quickly over the easy ones, and pointed out some of the tricky stuff (ie: negatives/questions actually use the present tense verb).  

Then, for the final "test" phase, I made a Past Tense Board Game, which the students played in small groups (again recycling vocab from Unit 8 in the book).  And, of course, I walked around the class checking for accuracy.

Overall: it went well!  ALL the students, even the ones who don't actively participate in class seemed to enjoy the board game and they put in a good effort on the test and were referring to the relevant pages in their books, etc. Success!  I'll definitely be doing it again for easy things that the students probably already know, but just need a bit of review on.

Check out Jeremy Harmer's "The Practice of English Language Teaching" for more details on methodologies.