1. “What’s Up, Doc?”
Grammar with Cartoons
Prof. Minna Nilanont
nilanomx@pgcc.edu
Language Studies, English as a Second Language
Prince George’s Community College

2. Questions
What kinds of lessons with media do you remember?
What happened before, during, or after the media presentation?
What was the teacher’s purpose?
Did they achieve their goal?
How long ago was that lesson?

3. Personal Media Story
I remember films from...
Subject Topic Date
History The Donner Party elementary school - 1994
Home Economics Budgeting middle school - 1994-1997
Health Emergency First Aid middle school - 1994-1997
Health Interpersonal
Communication
high school - 1997-1998

4. Questions
What happened during these stages of the
media presentation?
before + Activating pre-existing schema with discussion or guiding
questions
during + Took notes
+ Fill out worksheet (teacher-prepared notes)
after + Review new learning and answer discussion questions

5. The evolution of media
Film
strips
TV Video Laser
Disc
DVD You
Tube

6. Today’s Learners
The web has created a “cultural and
technological wave” in which learners demand
“immersive educational experiences that are
socially rich and informationally engaging”
(Penrod, 2008).
Penrod, D. (2008). Web 2.0, meet Literacy 2.0. Educational Technology, 48 (1), 50-52.
Cited in Díaz-Rico, L. & Weed, K. (2010). The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook: A
complete K-12 reference guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Allyn and Bacon.

7. CALL
Computer-Assisted Language Learning
Videos and other media content are available for language
learning and provide opportunities for expanding,
supporting, and enriching instruction (Díaz-Rico & Weed,
2010).
Díaz-Rico, L. & Weed, K. (2010). The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook: A complete
K-12 reference guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Allyn and Bacon.

8. The numbers
How many videos are available?
Grammar 2,360,000
English Grammar 1,660,000
ESL Grammar 393,000 videos

9. Selecting Good Video Content
Why cartoons?
What criteria should we use to find video
content that aligns with course outcomes or
objectives?

10. Instructor Steps
1. Grammar
introduction/review
www.ego4u.com or
www.chompchomp.com
2. Model video and notes
activity
a. play the video for about
10 seconds.
b. record the sentences in
the correct boxes

11. Student Steps & Bloom’s Taxonomy/Activities
Steps Bloom’s Taxonomy - Students will...
1. Watching the Video - Give students
the option to write notes and
categorize them later on the second
viewing.
Remember/Understand: Identify tenses by
listening
2. After the Video - Think/pair/share
sentences
Remember/Understand: Report what
sentences were heard, Classify sentences by tense
3. Applying the Skills - Write a
letter/report/complaint using target
grammar
Apply: Use target grammar, Demonstrate usage
Create: Compose writing, Collaborate with peers
Evaluate: Share and correct writing as a class

12. Objectives and Agenda
1. Short grammar review using
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/
grammar/tenses
2. Watch Goldilocks
a. write example sentences of all demonstrated tenses
3. Graded Group Activity
4. Review

13. Present Perfect Simple and Progressive
Present
Perfect
Simple
A: He has spoken.
N: He has not
spoken.
Q: Has he spoken?
● putting emphasis on the result
● action that is still going on
● action that stopped recently
● finished action that has an influence on the
present
● action that has taken place once, never or
several times before the moment of speaking
already,
ever, just,
never, not
yet, so far,
till now, up
to now
Present
Perfect
Progressive
A: He has been
speaking.
N: He has not been
speaking.
Q: Has he been
speaking?
● putting emphasis on the course or duration (not
the result)
● action that recently stopped or is still going on
● finished action that influenced the present
all day, for 4
years, since
1993, how
long?, the
whole week

14. Past Perfect Simple and Progressive
Past Perfect
Simple
A: He had spoken.
N: He had not spoken.
Q: Had he spoken?
● action taking place before a certain
time in the past
● sometimes interchangeable with past
perfect progressive
● putting emphasis only on the fact (not
the duration)
already, just,
never, not
yet, once,
until that day
Past Perfect
Progressive
A: He had been
speaking.
N: He had not been
speaking.
Q: Had he been
speaking?
● action taking place before a certain
time in the past
● sometimes interchangeable with past
perfect simple
● putting emphasis on the duration or
course of an action
for, since, the
whole day,
all day

15. Group Activity
Objectives -- Students will...
(Tasks)
Watch the video twice
Take notes
Discuss with groups/complete notes
(Grammar Concepts)
Apply simple present and present progressive (facts/moment of speaking).
Apply simple past and past progressive to past events (specific past events).
Apply present perfect and present perfect progressive (context/experience).
Apply past perfect and past perfect progressive (order of events).

16. What did they say?
Write the sentences that you hear.
Simple Present
Present Progressive
Simple Past
Past Progressive
Present Perfect
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect
Past Perfect Progressive

17. What was said? Who said that?
https://www
.youtube.co
m/watch?v=
2JE1IHxFBp
I

18. What happened? What was said.
Simple Present “This bed is like (adj.) sleeping in heaven.” She eats everything without a care
Papa Bear: “It’s time to get mad.” Goldilocks: “It tastes like paste.”
Present Progressive Baby Bear: “She’s still sleeping in my bed.”
Papa Bear: “I’m going to eat everything.” (future sense)
Simple Past She went to the bears’ house. She jumped and fell through the chair.
She found the best bed for her. She got excited. She left her footprints on the floor.
Past Progressive She was standing on the chair and tasted the porridge.
Present Perfect Papa Bear: “Somebody has been here.”
Baby Bear: “We’ve got trouble.”
Present Perfect Progressive “Somebody has been lying on my bed.”
Moment of speaking: “Somebody has been messing with my porridge.”
Past Perfect She had broken the chair before she went upstairs.
Past Perfect Progressive The bears had been looking for the one who broke in.
Retelling: “Somebody had been messing with my porridge.”

19. The bears go to the police and fill out a report

20. The bears go to the police and fill out a report
I went to church. As I came back to my house, I noticed
that someone had broken my door, chair, windows and
messed up my house. When I was trying to open my room,
I saw a little girl sleeping on the bed. I decided to lock the
door and call the police.

21. The bears go to the police and fill out a report
I travelled out with my family to spend vacation with my uncle.
On my way back home, I found out that someone had scattered
things in my house and finished all of my food. I ran to the police
station and filled out a report.
I am very upset. I am going to have trouble sleeping tonight.

22. Practice/Evaluation
Show a clip of a folk tale or a popular show.
Goal: Students will write four sentences for each tense studied.
+ Write actions in the eight tenses that we have studied (2
sentences/tense).
+ Write a complaint/letter using the eight tenses (2
sentences/tense).

23. Sample Clip
1. Watch this clip
http://youtu.be/Olo923T2HQ4
2. Practice writing sentences
in the 8 tenses.
2. Pretend you’re one of the
pigs or the wolf and write a
letter to a friend about your
day in the 8 tenses.

24. What happened? Practice. Retell the story.
Simple Present
Present Progressive
Simple Past
Past Progressive
Present Perfect
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect
Past Perfect Progressive

25. Report/Letter to a friend

26. Sample HW
Test on Unit 3 & 4 on July 3
* Watch videos
* Do all exercises on www.myenglishlab.com
* Book: Unit 3 & 4 - do all exercises and check
with answer key in Course Content
* Do extra exercises on www.ego4u.com

27. Tracking Statistics
Did you know that…
When you post videos to Blackboard, you can
enable statistics tracking.
Implications: We can draw correlations
between viewership and success… or not?

28. YouTube Generation
The world has changed
because of the internet
and YouTube.
How will your teaching
change for today’s
learners?

29. Thank you!
Thank you for listening.
Good luck.
Cheers to the future of education.
There are many exciting things to come.