Present perfect with a mixed-level adult class: rule-giving versus concept-checking
In a 60-minute general English class of 12 adults (A2–B1; L1s: 5 Chinese, 3 Arabic, 2 Portuguese, 2 Japanese), you are teaching present perfect for experience. The coursebook presents a timeline and a rule box ('have/has + past participle; use for experiences; not with finished time'), followed by a gap-fill. You planned a deductive explanation, then the gap-fill, then a 'find someone who' activity. In the warm-up, learners produced 'I have visited London last year', 'She has went to Paris' and 'I am here since 2019'. One learner asks, reasonably, why 'yesterday' is wrong if the action is finished. Another says they learned 'since' with present simple. You have 15 minutes before the practice stage.
1. Evaluate the planned deductive presentation in the light of the warm-up errors. What would you change and why?
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The rule box is not wrong, but it is doing too much at once and it arrives before the learners have a felt need for the contrast. The errors are not all the same type. 'I have visited London last year' is a conceptual mapping problem: the learner associates present perfect with a finished past time. 'She has went' is a form error. 'I am here since 2019' is a state-plus-duration problem involving present perfect with 'since'. A single deductive explanation followed by a gap-fill will not address all three.
Change the order: elicit two or three personalised examples, establish the contrast between finished time ('I went to London in 2019') and indefinite experience ('I have been to London'), then use concept questions before the form focus. Keep the form focus short and separate: 'have/has + past participle', with 'been' and 'gone' as a quick check. Do not abandon the 'find someone who' activity; it gives the meaning a communicative purpose. The 15 minutes should be used for guided discovery and concept-checking, not a longer explanation.
2. Write four concept-checking questions for present perfect for experience and explain what each one tests.
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- 'I have been to Japan.' Do we know when? – Tests indefinite time. The answer is 'no', which distinguishes experience from a finished-time past simple.
- 'I have been to Japan.' Is it possible I will go again? – Tests that the experience is located in a life period that is still open. This is the core meaning, not the form.
- 'I went to Japan in 2019.' Is the 2019 time finished? – Tests the contrast with past simple and the finished-time restriction.
- 'I have been here since 2019.' Did I start in the past? Am I still here? – Tests the state-plus-duration use of present perfect with 'since', separating it from the learner's 'I am here since 2019'.
Each question checks meaning, not metalanguage. Avoid questions like 'Do we use present perfect for experiences?', which test terminology and can be answered without understanding. Ask learners to answer with 'yes/no' or a short reason, and listen for the reason.
3. How would you handle the two errors and the mixed level during the practice stage?
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Separate the errors by type. Treat 'I have visited London last year' as a conceptual error: use the contrast questions above, then a short sorting task with time expressions ('yesterday', 'last year', 'ever', 'never', 'since 2019'). Treat 'She has went' as a form error: a quick retrieval check of irregular participles, handled briefly and not turned into a long table. For 'I am here since 2019', use a personal timeline and contrast 'I started here in 2019' with 'I have been here since 2019'; this is a different use of the same form and should be flagged, not conflated.
For mixed level, tier the practice. Weaker learners do a controlled gap-fill with a word bank; stronger learners do a personalised 'find someone who' with follow-up questions ('When was that? Would you go again?'). Pair a stronger with a weaker learner in the information-gap, and monitor for the three target errors. Note errors for delayed correction rather than interrupting fluency. Finish with three or four items on the board for the class to correct together.