CBI Lesson Plan on Verbs and Verbals

A CBI Grammar Lesson Plan on Verbs and Verbals

Year Level: 1st year High School

Time Allotment: 1 hour

This grammar lesson plan discusses identifying and differentiating

between verbs and verbals. Prior to instruction, the students are expected to know the

forms of the verb (base, -ed, -ing), subject-verb agreement, as well as verb tense and

aspect and the active and passive voice. The lesson is meant to be implemented in one

1 hour class session but the teacher can follow it up with additional lessons that focus

on one kind of verbal and its uses.

I. Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

a. General Objectives

1. Appreciate the culture and legends of the Australian Aborigines

2. Analyze the differences between verbs and verbals

b. Specific Objectives

1. Give their opinion about the Aborigine legend

2. Relate their own experiences to the experience of the other animals

in the story

3. Identify the verbs in sentences

4. Identify the words that function as verbs and verbals in sentences

5. Distinguish whether verbals function as nouns, adjectives or

adverbs

6. List down the differences between verbs and verbals

II. Subject Matter

a. Language focus

Verbs and Verbals:

I. Differences between the two

II. Identifying verbs and verbals

b. Other topics

Legends of Australian Aborigines

III. Materials

a. Text

Reed, A.W. (1980). The strange shape of animals. In Aboriginal

stories of Australia (pp. 15-16). New South Wales: Reed Books

PTY LTD.

Resture, J. (n.d.). Aboriginal Dreamtime. Retrieved from

http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_dreamtime/in

dex1.htm

b. Materials

Overhead projector, transparencies, white screen, OHP markers,

handouts, whiteboard and markers

c. Other references

Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (2002). Communicative grammar of

English. 3rd ed. London: Pearson Education Ltd.

IV. Procedure

a. Pre-reading

i. Motivation (2mins)

The teacher will present a transparency with pictures of

Australian wildlife: the kangaroo, emu, wombat, and platypus. (1)

Has anyone ever seen these animals before? Do you know

what they are called? (The students will answer. If there are

animals still unidentified, the teacher will provide the name.) What

do you think of their appearance? Does anyone know where these

animals are usually found? (Australia).

1. Motive Question

Yes, these animals can only be found in Australia. Today,

we are going to read a legend told by a native tribe in Australia, the

Aborigines. The legend tells about how these animals came to have

such strange appearances. According to the legend, these animals

were not contented with their appearance so they asked the gods

to change it. Later we are going to find out if you would do the

same.

ii. Activating Prior Knowledge (5mins)

The teacher will flash the transparency of Westernized

Australia and Aboriginal Australia. (2)

Whats the first thing that comes to your head when you

think about Australia? (Students might give references to famous

landmarks, famous people from Australia, or other facts about

Australia today.)

Most of the things youve mentioned are things about

Australia as it is now. You probably think its a country similar to the

USA or Britain. But, actually, the people who originally lived in

Australia had more in common with the tribes of Africa. They are

called Australian Aborigines. They have such a rich culture and a

wealth of legends, most of them about the Dreamtime. According

to them, the Dreamtime was the period before time itself, when

people still lived with gods, animals still had human form, and time

and life as we know it hadnt started yet. Aborigines had their own

sets of gods and goddesses, and the chief among them were

Baiame, the Great Spirit (similar to our Bathala), and Yhi, the sun

goddess. Do you know of any tribe or group here in the Philippines

who also have their own rich culture and beliefs? (The students

may mention the tribes in the Cordilleras.)

The story that we are about to read centers upon the

goddess Yhi and Baiamas animal creations. You see, there was a

time when all these animals became unhappy and restless. Were

going to see why.

iii. Unlocking of Difficulties (3 mins)

But first, lets tackle some of the words we will encounter in

the text.

The teacher will flash another transparency with the

vocabulary building activity below. The students will answer on the

transparency.

Underline the word on the right column that has a similar meaning to the word on the right

vague indefinite, false, certain

discontent pleasure, hate, dissatisfaction

surged crashed, searched, rushed

craved created, desired, disliked

bizarre weird, commonplace, extraordinary

transfiguration conception, change, ruin

wistful happy, uncaring, reflective

b. Oral Reading (10mins)

The teacher will hand out copies of the story to the class.

Students will be asked to read the story. (3-4)

c. Post-reading

i. Discussion (5mins)

1. What do you think about the story? Did you like it? Why/why

not?

2. Does the legend seem familiar? Have you heard a similar

legend or story coming from your province?

3. Pretend that you are one of these animals. Would you ask

the goddess Yhi to change your appearance too?

ii. Identifying verbs that act in the sentence (5mins)

Now Id like to see how much you understood the legend.

When I call your name (student) Id like you to identify a sentence in

the story that describes what an animal wanted to change in his

appearance and why he wanted to change it. Write the sentence

down on the board. Then I want another one of your classmates to

encircle all the words in the sentence that you think are verbs.

For example:

He was followed by Kangaroo, who wanted strong legs for leaping and a

tail with which to balance himself.

Okay, you encircled a lot of verbs here. But I want to know

which verb, among all the ones encircled, is doing the action in the

sentence. (was)

To make it easier to understand, lets pick out the main

clause of the sentence. Can anyone tell me what it is? (He was

followed by Kangaroo.) Right. This is because if you get rid of the

rest of the sentence, the idea would still be there; but if you get rid

of this clause, the sentence would not make sense anymore.

Now, what would happen if we got rid of was in the

sentence? Would it still make sense? Try to recall the basic

definition of verbs. (verbs are the words that do the action in a

sentence) Do you think was here functions as a verb?

iii. Identifying verbals (10mins)

Then again, if was is the only word that functions as a verb

in the sentence, what do all the other words that look like verbs

do?

The teacher will go through all the other encircled words in

the sentence and ask the students what their functions are in the

sentence.

1. followed functions as a past participle, together with the

verb was, it forms the passive voice.

2. leaping functions as a gerund, or a verb functioning as a

noun

3. to balance functions as an infinitive, also as a noun

d. Recapitulation/Summary (10mins)

As you can probably see, these words, even if they look like they

are verbs, actually function differently. These verbs that function as nouns,

or adjectives are called verbals. Dont they remind you of the animals in

the story who wanted to change their appearance? Why? The animals

wanted to change their appearance because they were discontented. But

why do you think we need to change the function of verbs? Why do we

need verbals? (They enrich the language and give us new ways to

express ourselves)

So how do you know if a verb in a sentence is actually a verbal?

The teacher will flash the next transparency of the table below

showing sentences where verbs are used as verbs and as verbals.

Verbs Verbals

Platypus could not decide on what he

wanted when Yhi was granting the other

animals wishes.

The goddess will listen to our requests.

Those animals who lived in the water

wanted to be on dry land.

Yhi knew that the granting of their wishes

would not bring contentment to her little

ones.

Yhi was patient enough to listen to the

requests of the animals.

The animals became unhappy when they

started to want to change their

appearance.

Yhi came back to find out why the animals

had become so unhappy.

The animals lives have changed because

of the changes they asked for.

Yhi knew the animals will never learn to

become contented with what they have

been given.

Changing their appearances may have

made the animals look strange, but they at

least they were happy.

She knew that the restless surge of life

that seeks and demands would take the

animals away from her.

Wombat longs for a body that could

wriggle into shady places where he could

hide.

All animals learn how to use their body to

adapt to their environment.

Yhi knew that the animals will never cease

to seek and demand for things they dont

have.

All the animals were seized with a longing

to change their appearance.

Pelican would have to learn to stand

motionless with his long legs in the water

before he could snap up an unwary fish.

Study the sentences in the table. On the left side, the underlined

verb functions as a verb. It is used as a verbal in the right column. Lets

see if we can identify what the difference is between verbs and verbals. By

studying the sentences, what are the things that a verb can do that the

verbal cannot? (Verbs can take inflections that come with tense [first set

of sentences], aspect [second set] and number [third set])

e. Practice or Review(5mins)

Okay, now lets try using creating sentences with verbs and

verbals. In your notebook, Id like you to write a short paragraph (no less

than three sentences) answering this question:

If you were also given the opportunity to change your appearance,

to look like someone else, will you do it? Why or Why not?

Be sure to use verbs and verbals in your paragraph.

The teacher can check their answers after the class.

f. Closure (5mins)

Ask a few students to read their paragraphs out loud.

(name of a student who wrote in the exercise that he wanted to

change his appearance) and the animals in the story wanted to change

their appearance for a reason. Its similar with these verbals. English

speakers dont just decide that they want to use verbs as nouns. They

have a reason for doing so. Do you still remember what it was?

g. Evaluation

The students will be given an exercise that they can answer in

class (if there is still time) or that they can answer at home.

Possible answers:

1. verb: realized, verbal: looking

2. verb: wanted, verbal: to be

3. verb: wished, verbal: to feel

4. verb: beckoned, verbal: to wriggle

5. verb: was tired, verbal: to support

6. verb: said, verbal: to fly

7. verb: would need, verbal: to remain

8. verb: came, verbal: to live

h. Assignment

Have the students write their own legend. It can be about the

origin of a place, animal or plant; anything as long as it the story is

original. Then they have to underline the verbs and encircle the verbals in

their story.

In the sentences below, underline the main verb and encircle one verbal.

1. Looking down in her slow crossing of the sky, Yhi realized that sorrow lay heavily on

the earth.

2. Those who lived in the water wanted to be on dry land.

3. Those who walked on the earth wished to feel the freedom of the sky.

4. She beckoned to Wombat, who craved a small body to wriggle into shady places where

he could hide from others.

5. Lizard was tired of wriggling on his belly and needed legs to support himself.

6. Bat said he wanted wings to fly through the air like a bird.

7. Stick Insect would need to remain unmoving for hours on the branches of trees till he

almost turned into a twig.

8. When men and women came to live in the great continent, they invented strange tales

to account for the habits of the creatures that Baiame had given to them.

The Strange Shape of Animals

When animals were brought to life from the frozen depths of earth by the

sun goddess, who shall tell what they were like? There are some who say that they had

the form of men and women, and others that they had many different shapes. We can

be certain of only one thingthat after a time they grew tired of the forms that Baiame

had given them, and were seized by vague longings.

Those who lived in the water wanted to be on dry land. Those who walked

on the earth wished to feel the freedom of the sky. There was not a single animal that

was not possessed by this strange discontent. They grew sad and hid themselves away

from Yhi. The cheerful sound of their voices was no longer heard, and the green plants

wilted in sympathy with their friends the creatures.

Looking down in her slow crossing of the sky, Yhi realized that sorrow lay

heavily on the earth. For the last time she descended from the sky and stood on the

Nullarbor Plain. From every direction a tide of animal life flowed in towards her.

She has come back! The goddess will listen to our requests, they

shouted.

Come closer, she called to them. Tell me what is troubling you.

A babble of voices answered her. Waves of sound surged around her.

She held up her hands.

Stop! Stop! she called. I cannot hear what you are saying when you

speak all at once. One by one, please.

She beckoned to Wombat, who craved a body that could wriggle into

shady places where he could hide

from others.

He was followed by

Kangaroo, who wanted strong legs for

leaping and a tail with which to

balance himself.

Bat said he wanted

wings so that he could fly through the

air like a bird.

Lizard was tired of

wriggling on his belly and needed legs to support himself.

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Poor Platypus could not make up his mind what he wanted, and ended up

with parts of many animals.

Yhi smiled as they came and made their wants known to her. She smiled

because their forms were so bizarre; she smiled because she realized that with the

transfiguration of their bodies, life would change for the little creatures.

Mopoke, who had asked for large, shining eyes, would have to hide in dim

places and hunt only by night.

Stick Insect would need to remain unmoving for hours on the branches of

trees till he almost turned into a twig.

Pelican would have to learn to stand motionless with his long legs in the

water before he could snap up an unwary fish.

She smiled wistfully because she knew that the granting of their wishes

would not bring contentment to her little ones. The restless surge of life that seeks and

demands would take them away from her. Other changes would come, suddenly or

slowly, in mysterious ways, and by strange adventures. The world was to be full of

change.

She dismissed them and watched them disperse to every quarter of the

earth before she rose up for the last time into the sky.

The story of these changes has been told round campfires for a thousand

years. When men and women came to live in the great continent, and saw the creeping,

crawling, jumping, swift-running, flying, burrowing wildlife on which they depended for

their food, they invented strange tales to account for the habits of the creatures that

Baiame had given to them. As we crouch round the embers with them, sheltered from

the wind by the low fence of woven branches, let us also listen to tales that have come

from the heart of a people who are closer than we are to the gods of nature.

Reed, A.W. (1980). The strange shape of animals. In Aboriginal stories of Australia (pp. 15-16). New South Wales: Reed Books PTY LTD.

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