Beatriz Martine is a certified 7-12 Mathematics teacher currently working in the Roosevelt Union Free School District. She has had the experience of teaching in the 7th and 8th grades for four years and is looking forward to teaching many more. Beatriz has found a love in working with ENL students because of the predominantly high ENL population in her school district. She is currently pursuing her Masters in TESOL at Touro College to better support her students. Beatriz is hoping to continue her studies and work towards her Bilingual extension after graduating with her Masters.
Here the questions for the Discussion Board of our Touro online learning environment with Ms. Martine’s answers. Ms. Martine has given express permission to use her discussion board postings in my blog.
Why do you think learning correct prepositions, articles and when a noun needs an article or not takes so long to learn? Is this also true for native speakers?
I think the reasons why learning correct prepositions, articles and when a noun needs an article or not takes a long time to learn is that the rules are complex, have many exceptions, and in certain situations interchangeable. Most of the time, practice is the key to learning these grammatical components. Tara Arntsen explains in Gerund vs. Infinitive, that “it takes a lot of practice to recognize which words this applies to and there is no rule to help,” referring to specific words that must be followed by infinitives or gerunds (2011). Prepositions are hard to learn because they have multiple meanings. Take the preposition on, for example, we can use this for different situations: to be in physical contact with something (on a shelf) or to participate in something (on a team). There are also instances where depending on where you are geographically, prepositions are used differently (standing in line vs. standing on line). Prepositions can also be interchangeable. When someone is waiting inside a restaurant, they can be in or at the restaurant.
Create a short worksheet requiring your students to demonstrate their proficiency in the use of prepositions, infinitives and/or gerunds. Post this on the discussion board for your colleagues to address.
I would use this as a Do Now for a succeeding lesson on when to use gerunds or infinitives.
Name: __________________________ Date: ________ Period: _____
Gerund vs. Infinitive
Directions: Fill in the blank with the correct gerund or infinite
1. I enjoy (play) ________________ hide-and-seek with my friends.
2. My teacher always says, “Keep (try) ________________, next time you’ll get it right!”
3. I need (clean) ________________ my room this weekend, it’s a mess.
4. I don’t like (go) ________________ to the store with my mom, she takes forever!
5. When my mom walks in my room, I pretend (sleep) ________________ but I’m really on my phone!
Post two, thoughtful and insightful questions about grammar proficiency for your colleagues to discuss.
1. Does anyone have a good classroom resource for practicing gerunds and infinitives?
2. Matthew Lubin explains, “It’s easier to explain to an ESL class that gerunds sound more natural than infinitives when used as subjects or complements of a sentence” (2017). How would you model this to your students?
References:
Arntsen, T. (2011, August 22). Gerund vs. Infinitive: How to Explain the Difference. Retrieved from https://busyteacher.org/4123-gerund-vs.-infinitive-how-to-explain-the.html
Arntsen, T. (2016, October 30). How To Teach Prepositions Of Place (8 Simple Steps). Retrieved from https://busyteacher.org/3630-how-to-teach-prepositions-of-place.html
Lubin, M. (2017, July 27). How to Teach Gerunds and Infinitives to ESL Students Without Confusing Them. Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-gerunds-and-infinitives/
Dr. J's Education Blog 
I find this topic of great interest. In grade school, I always tended to test higher by several grades in reading skills, but I always got Cs, Ds, and rarely Bs. As for writing, I was okay, but the rules confused me as with most of my friends. For some reason, during college, I made a point of learning how to write well by comparing my writing with those of real writers (i.e. library and store novels). I figured, if these writers were getting paid, some huge amounts, then if it works for them, it must be good, rules or not. Interestingly, over the course of a year or two, I understood the rules (without knowing the name of the rules) and when they were broken. I learned you can break the rules if you know why you’re doing it, for some situations (as in people speak) require it, or even in expressions. Then, when I decided to go into teaching, instructing the students in grammar became easier and easier. All I had to do, based on hours of my own writing practice, was understand the grammatical concept, then it was easy to teach the students through explanation and practice. Of course, for many, it takes time, so we practice writing weekly to work on writing skills.
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