• Main
    • About our Curriculum
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Charities we Support
  • Adult Curriculum
    • Beginners
    • High Beginners
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced
    • Textbooks and Curriculum FAQ
  • Children’s Curriculum
    • Children’s ESL Textbooks
    • Children’s ESL Graphic Novels
    • Children’s Curriculum FAQ
    • Try a Free Sample of Our ESL Curriculum
  • Listening and Speaking
    • English Practice Questions
  • ESL Tests
    • IELTS
    • TOEIC
    • TOEFL
  • 中国
    • 像应对托福TOEFL, 托业TOEIC or 雅思IELTS考试一样应对ESL考试?
    • 想提高你的词汇量吗?
    • 雅思
    • 托业
    • 托福
    • 阅读理解 练习题
    • 选择题的秘诀
  • Online Courses
    • Listening Comprehension (Intermediate to Advanced)
    • Reading Comprehension (Intermediate to Advanced)
  • ESL Activities
    • Future Progressive Tense – Free Teaching Activity
    • ESL Grammar Activity – The Past Tense
  • ESL Teaching Tips
    • English Test for Beginners – with full Audio
    • Motivating Young Children to Learn English
    • How to Improve your Teaching
    • Maintaining Students Interest in the EFL ESL Classroom
    • Get Kids Interested and Excited About Learning English
    • Reading Comprehension Practice for Advanced ESL Students
    • Developing Listening Comprehension in Children
Learning English Curriculum
  • Main
    • About our Curriculum
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Charities we Support
  • Adult Curriculum
    • Beginners
    • High Beginners
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced
    • Textbooks and Curriculum FAQ
  • Children’s Curriculum
    • Children’s ESL Textbooks
    • Children’s ESL Graphic Novels
    • Children’s Curriculum FAQ
    • Try a Free Sample of Our ESL Curriculum
  • Listening and Speaking
    • English Practice Questions
  • ESL Tests
    • IELTS
    • TOEIC
    • TOEFL
  • 中国
    • 像应对托福TOEFL, 托业TOEIC or 雅思IELTS考试一样应对ESL考试?
    • 想提高你的词汇量吗?
    • 雅思
    • 托业
    • 托福
    • 阅读理解 练习题
    • 选择题的秘诀
  • Online Courses
    • Listening Comprehension (Intermediate to Advanced)
    • Reading Comprehension (Intermediate to Advanced)
  • ESL Activities
    • Future Progressive Tense – Free Teaching Activity
    • ESL Grammar Activity – The Past Tense
  • ESL Teaching Tips
    • English Test for Beginners – with full Audio
    • Motivating Young Children to Learn English
    • How to Improve your Teaching
    • Maintaining Students Interest in the EFL ESL Classroom
    • Get Kids Interested and Excited About Learning English
    • Reading Comprehension Practice for Advanced ESL Students
    • Developing Listening Comprehension in Children

Teaching Tips

  • Home
  • Teaching Tips
  • Teaching the Simple Present Tense with the Negative

Teaching the Simple Present Tense with the Negative

  • Posted by Brian
  • Date March 18, 2015
  • Comments 0 comment

Negative questions are more difficult

tibet-class-w

When ESL beginners learn to answer questions with positive answers they progress without too much difficulty. The negative answers, however, are more complex because the pattern is different with the use of “to be” and “to do”.


Generally the structure of an answer to a question using “to be” is straightforward, as we can explain that “not” is placed after the verb.

Examples:
Are you thirsty? No, I am not thirsty. / No, I’m not thirsty.
Is he hungry? No, he is not hungry. / No, he’s not hungry.
The problem arises when students need to form a negative sentence using a verb other than “to be”. Then they must use “to do + not” and put it in the correct tense while putting the main verb in its root form.

Examples:
I do not walk. / I don’t walk.
He does not walk. / He doesn’t walk.
They do not walk. / They don’t walk.

Examples

I do not walk. / I don’t walk.
He does not walk. / He doesn’t walk.
They do not walk. / They don’t walk.

Students find this very difficult. As this must be taught within the first few lesson of a beginner’s program, it is a problem to explain it to them when their English is so limited.

 What are some ways that this structure can be presented?
– Provide the students with an outline of the negative using “to do”.

Example: Singular
I do:  I do not = I don’t
You do: you do not = you don’t
He does: he does not = he doesn’t
She does: she does not = she doesn’t
It does: it does not = it doesn’t

Plural
We do: we do not = we don’t
You do: you do not = you don’t
They do: they do not = they don’t

Click for Larger

Team Activity

Divide the class into two teams. Have them ask each other questions that often require negative answers.

Click for Lager
Click for Larger

Small Group Activity

Another approach is to divide the class into groups of three or four. Give them a set of questions with the answers written in small print in a box at the side. Tell them to try to find the change in structure. In this way they can check their answers as they work together. This approach will produce a number of questions about the difference in the structure.

Written by, Brian Stocker MA., Complete Test Preparation Inc.

Date Published: 2015-03-18
Date Modified: 2019-03-07
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin

Tag:teaching ESL, teaching grammar

  • Share:
author avatar
Brian

Previous post

ESL Bingo Games!
March 18, 2015

Next post

Suggestions for Cutting Costs in Providing Your Children's ESL Curriculum
August 3, 2015

You may also like

Classroom_at_a_seconday_school_in_Pendembu_Sierra_Leone-300×196
How to Improve your Teaching
13 September, 2018
Nepal2
Get Kids Interested and Excited About Learning English
9 July, 2018
Giraffe-w-300×300
Building English Language Confidence in Children
30 August, 2015

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Menu

  • Home
  • Curriculum
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Listening and Speaking English
  • Practice Questions

Contact Us

Company

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • About our Products
  • Charities we Support
  • Teaching Philosophy

Links

  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Teen Adult Textbooks Curriculum FAQ
  • Children’s Curriculum FAQ
  • Beginners
  • High Beginners
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
  • History of Flight
  • Children’s Textbooks
  • ESL Graphic Novels for Children
  • Try a Free Sample of Our ESL Curriculum

  • Privacy
  • Copyright Notice