Teaching Gerunds: An Introducing ESL Lesson Plan

1. G1.1 - Introduction to Gerunds Lesson 1/11 ESL Lesson Plan

2. Thank you for downloading your free Off2Class lesson plan! This teacher-led lesson plan is designed using the communicative approach - perfect for teaching students online or in any screen-enabled classroom. To access the Teacher Notes and Answer Key, or to assign homework, click here to set up your free Off2class account. Don’t forget to join the discussion on Facebook to get access to other great tools for online ESL instruction.

3. What is a gerund? When a verb ends in -ing, it may be a gerund or a present participle. It is important to understand that they are not the same! When we use a verb in -ing form as a noun, it is usually a gerund: fishing is fun

4. How do you form a gerund? Typically, we can just add -ing to the verb: work working learn learning When the verb ends in -e, we drop the e and add –ing: come coming have having

5. How do you form a gerund? For one-syllable verbs that end in consonant + vowel + consonant, we double the consonant before adding –ing. swim swimming stop stopping If the verb ends in -ie, we change the ie to y: lie lying die dying

6. Change the verb to its gerund form 1. write ________ 5. sit ________ 2. get ________ 6. live ________ 3. hold ________ 7. run ________ 4. meet ________ 8. dance ________

7. Many activities are written in gerund form swimming hiking running Which other activities can you express in the gerund form?

8. Make sentences …will help you when camping. She enjoys running… Knowing how to start a fire… …is a challenging, but fun activity. He thinks that hiking… …dancing with her friends. …on the trails behind her house. Travelling can… …teach you a lot about the world. She really likes…

9. Like nouns, gerunds can be the subject, object or complement of a sentence Smoking is bad for your health. Here the gerund is the subject of the sentence.

10. Complete the following sentences with a gerund of your choice, as a subject 9. ________ makes me nervous. 10. ________ is boring. 11. ________ is one of my favorite things to do. 12. ________ is good for your health. 13. ________ is dangerous.

11. I don't like writing Here, the gerund is the object of the sentence. Complete each sentence with a gerund as object: 14. She’s worried about __________. 15. He dislikes ___________. 16. I look forward to _________. 17. My mom loves __________. 18. I enjoy ________ in the morning.

12. My favorite hobby is reading Here, the gerund is a complement. Complete each sentence with a gerund as a complement: The hardest thing about English is _________. 19. 20. My least favorite chore is _________. 21. My dad’s hobby is _________. 22. My cat’s favorite activity is _________. 23. His chores are _________.

13. Like a verb, a gerund can take an object In this case, the entire expression (gerund + object) can be the subject, object or complement of the sentence: I don't like writing letters. Smoking cigarettes costs a lot of money. My favorite hobby is reading detective stories.

14. Add an object to these sentences 24. I love reading _________. 25. Eating _________ is bad for your health. 26. Practicing _________ is a lot of fun. 27. One of my favorite hobbies is watching _________. 28. He doesn’t like playing _________. 29. Drinking _________ gives him a headache.

15. Gerunds after prepositions If we want to use a verb after a preposition, it is usually a gerund. I will call you after arriving at the office. Please have a drink before leaving. She dreams about travelling around the world. Please have a drink before your departure. I will call you after my arrival at the office. She dreams about world travel. Notice that you could replace all the above gerunds with ‘real’ nouns!

16. Complete with a gerund or a gerund phrase 30. Don’t forget to close the windows before __________. 31. She was so happy after __________. 32. He is responsible for __________.

17. Complete with a gerund or a gerund phrase 33. She loves to talk about __________. 34. He is afraid of __________. 35. You won’t get better without __________.

18. A verb sometimes follows another verb Often the second verb is in the infinitive form I want to eat. to verb infinitive But sometimes the second verb must be in gerund form I enjoy eating.

19. What do these people enjoy doing? A B C D

20. When we use a verb in the -ing form as either a verb or adjective… …we call it a present participle. This is a little different than a gerund, but it has the same form. Anthony is fishing. It was an exciting game.

21. Gerunds frequently form compound nouns Compound nouns are formed by joining two or more words. These words can be nouns, adjectives and verbs. Here we look at compound nouns with gerunds. horse riding horse riding

22. Gerunds frequently form compound nouns Match the beginning of the compound noun with its ending decision flying kite processing problem collecting solving stamp data making

23. Here are some more compound nouns! cleaning water drinking school shooting star wheel driving living pool steering room swimming lady

24. Gerunds can follow possessive adjectives Gerunds can follow my, your, his, her, its or their… My cooking is the best in the family …And gerunds can follow possessive nouns too... Gran’s cooking is the best in the family.

25. Make sentences My grandma’s driving… …his singing in the shower. My dad’s dancing… …my neat handwriting. My teacher loves… ...embarrasses me. …scares me. I can’t stand…