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Simple Present. Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative forms

Presentation / Objective

Wedding Traditions and Customs around the world

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Everybody knows traditions exist. They seem to be inherent to our development as a society. Nonetheless, few people are aware of its authentic significance and what tradition involves. In 2015, Frank Sonnenberg –an American writer, author of many books and socially-shared leadership blogs- mentions seven reasons why tradition matters:

Traditions represent a critical piece of our culture. They help form the structure and foundation of our families and our society. They remind us that we are part of a history that defines our past, shapes who we are today and who we are likely to become. Once we ignore the meaning of our traditions, we are in danger of damaging the underpinning of our identity.

  • Tradition contributes a sense of comfort and belonging. It brings families together and enables people to reconnect with friends.
  • Tradition reinforces values such as freedom, faith, integrity, a good education, personal responsibility, a strong work ethic, and the importance of being selfless.
  • Tradition provides a forum to showcase role models and celebrate the things that matter in life.
  • Tradition offers a chance to say “thank you” for the contribution that someone has made.
  • Tradition enables us to showcase the principles of our Founding Fathers, celebrate diversity, and unite as a country.
  • Tradition serves as an avenue for creating lasting memories for our families and friends.
  • Tradition offers an excellent context for meaningful pause and reflection.

Taken and adapted from Sonnenberg, F. (2015) 7 Reasons Why Traditions Are So Important. Blog. Retrieved on 2017, June 6 from http://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/7-reasons-why-traditions-are-so-important/

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Imageneserick (2015) dude [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 6 from https://pixabay.com/p-788284/?no_redirect

And this is precisely what we will be doing throughout this lesson, a pause for meaningful reflection about traditions. Mostly, wedding traditions. However, you might be thinking: why wedding traditions? If they seem to be archaic these days since people are deciding not to get married. But believe or not, wedding traditions are still as important as ever, and it is incredible the way each culture unveils the beauty of its traditions and rituals. At the same time you learn about traditions, of course, you will practice your English. Did you realize the tense Frank is using to write his note?

Exaclty! Simple present! We are sure this is not the first time you review this tense; in fact, you may be a master of simple present. However, it is important to know you can use it to describe, not only everyday facts, but also facts. Actually, simple present is commonly used as a narrative tense.

Objective

At the end of this topic, you will:
• Identify the use of present simple structures to express facts and everyday events throughout the reflection about traditions and customs in different countries in comparison with your own.

It is fundamental to reach our objective in completing all the activities. It is not useless to say that you can go back to the lesson or exercises at any time, as many times as you consider it necessary, ok? Ready to start this learning experience? Here we go, then!

Content

 

Look at the next picture and answer the next questions:

Traditional Wedding in some cultures

More Weeping (2013) Traditional Korean Wedding [photo] Retrieved on 2017, August 8 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/moreweeping/10555325413/sizes/l

Do you know which culture is shown in the photograph?

Is this wedding ceremony similar to or different from the marriage ceremonies in your country?

Some people marry for love, convenience, and some others marry for family arrangement.

Here is a Traditional Korean Wedding. How much do you know about marriage cultures around the world? Try, answer exercise 1 and test your knowledge! Do you know other reasons why people get married?

 

Content

 

As you have seen in the previous picture, there are different ideas behind marriage, depending on the culture. In the following exercise, you will identify some traditions, the countries and cultures they belong to.

Exercise 1

Marriage Customs around the world

 

Content

 

How was exercise 1? How much did you know about world marriage traditions?

Awesome! Although modernity is changing many of these customs, the best part, is the idea these traditions are showing us about other cultures.

Now, it is time to go straight to our lesson objective: Simple Present. Did you notice the boldfaced sentences in the quiz? Good to know you did! That’s right! The customs are expressed in the simple present tense because they are referring to events or facts that usually happen.

Simple Present Review

Let’s have a quick review about the different uses of this tense. Check the information below.

Verb TO BE

The verb to be is the most important verb in the English language. It is difficult to use because it is an irregular verb in almost all of its forms. In the simple present tense, the forms are:

  • am
  • is
  • are

Example:
The goal of marriage is to produce sons in some cultures.

In negative and questions you use am, is, are or am not, isn’t, aren’t.

Example:
Getting married for love isn’t allowed by the family.
Is this wedding ceremony different from ceremonies in your culture?

VERBS

In affirmative sentences we form the present tense using the base form of the infinitive (without the TO), e.g.:

Parents use a match maker to find a spouse.
Men and women usually follow their romantic feelings.

In 3rd person (he, she, it) or singular nouns (marriage, having babies, love), you must add and ‘S’, ‘ES’ or ‘IES’ (check spelling rules if you need).

Getting pregnant allows a woman to show fertility.
This group practices polygamy.

In questions and negative, you must use auxiliaries DO or DOES –DON’T, DOESN’T- and the verb in infinitive form. In negative the position is: subject +negative auxiliary + verb in infinitive. In questions, inversion is necessary (auxiliary+ subject+ verb in infinitive). Look at the examples:

Do you know other reasons why people get married?
Parents don’t want their girls to marry just for romantic reasons.
In some cultures, a girl doesn’t decide her partner on her own.
Does the father decide who his girl should marry?

When the subject is he, she, it or singular nouns, you must add does or doesn't between the subject and the verb to make a negative sentence or a question. Notice that in both cases, the letter ‘S’ at the end of the verb disappears because it is included in the auxiliary. The verb doesn’t need it anymore.

The simple present has different functions or ways of using it:

  1. Repeated Actions:
  2. Simple Present is used to express that an action is repeated or usual. It is to show that an action is a routine, a habit, a hobby or an event that always happens. Also it can show something a person forgets regularly or never does:

    People love keeping traditions.
    She always forgets names of new acquaintance.
    The bus does not pass through your street.

  3. Facts or generalizations
  4. The Present Simple can also show that the speaker believes a fact is true. It is also useful to make generalizations.

    Tradition contributes a sense of comfort and belonging
    Italians love cooking.
    English people do not like travelling to cold places.
    Do you eat fish?

  5. Scheduled events in near future
  6. Present simple can be used to talk about scheduled events in the near future. This is usually used in time tables, arrival or departure times, but it can be used with other scheduled events, especially if there is a fixed time which is referred to in the sentence.

    The wedding ceremony starts at 6:00.
    The party begins at 9:00.
    The flight for the honeymoon leaves at 7:00 the next day.

Subject- verb agreement

This is very important that you recognize the agreement between the subject and the action so you decide to add ‘s’ or not. Pay special attentions to irregular plurals (people, men, women, teeth, children, data, mice, etc.) or with countable or uncountable nouns, if they are plural or singular.

Spelling rules for the ‘s’

You need to pay attention to the rules to apply the ‘s’ in third person. If you are not sure about it, please check the link above.

Irregular ‘s’ verbs (have/has)

Verbs such as ‘have’ show an irregular form to express the third person: Have—has
NOT
Haves


 

Content

 

Once you have reviewed the simple Present Structure, let’s practise some grammar. Good luck! You can try these exercises as many times as you need it.

Exercise 2

Grammar Practice
Identify the use

As you have seen so far, there are tons of things to learn about culture around the world, when you learn a language you have that possibility, to deem inside how others think about a significant event such marriage.
You also had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about present simple form and its characteristics. Now let’s go and learn more about it through the practice of language skills.

Pujari, V. (2017) Indian wedding [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://pixabay.com/en/indian-wedding-mi-vida-en-la-india-2352277/

Reading

Activity 1

Before Reading: What happens when we get married?

As mentioned before, traditions are an essential part of any culture, and a wedding is always an important event. Mexico is a big multicultural country, so we have tons of different traditions, and even if you’re not about to get married, you may know many of them. Think and keep them in mind when you start reading the text.

Reading

Activity 2

The strangest wedding traditions

Let’s find out about the strangest wedding traditions around the world.

Image references
GDJ (2016) Mauricio flag [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://pixabay.com/es/mauricio-bandera-mapa-geograf%C3%ADa-1758964/
GDJ (2016) República democrática del Congo [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://pixabay.com/es/rep%C3%BAblica-democr%C3%A1tica-del-congo-1758948/
Jack (2005) India geo stub [photo] Retrieved on 2017, june 21 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_geo_stub.svg
LokalProfile (2007) France flag map [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:France_Flag_Map.svg
OwnWork (2013) Flag map of China and Taiwan [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_map_of_China_%26_Taiwan.png
OwnWork (2015) Flag-map of Jamaica [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag-map_of_Jamaica.svg
QyD (2006) Cuba flag [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 21 from https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Cuba_flag.png

Listening

Activity 3

A traditional Mexican wedding

As we have been learning, there are thousands of different wedding traditions. Let’s find out about what happens in a traditional Mexican family in the US.

Listen to the following audio and answer the next True/False exercise. Remember you can listen to the audio as many times as necessary.

Now that you finished listening to the audio answer the following exercise. According to what you hear in the audio decide if the following statements are True or False by choosing the appropriate option. You can know your score at the end of the exercise.

Getting to know your culture

Writing

Activity 4

Vocabulary

Weddings are very visual. There are so many people to watch and so many events to see. You can enjoy a wedding even if you don’t understand the language. However, it is essential to follow certain vocabulary elements in wedding rituals.

The following activity will help you understand some basics.

Perez, M. (2016) Bride [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://pixabay.com/es/novia-el-amor-de-la-boda-pareja-1520821/
Dsearls (2006) Groom waiting for bride [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Groom_waiting_for_bride.jpg
Nelson, L. (2007) Groom & best man [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lulieboo/3544372835
Ball, M. (2005) Bride & Maid of Honor [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/madprime/3981390256
Unknown (N.D.) Summer Cute Flower Girl Portrait Headbang [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/Summer-Cute-Flower-Girl-Portrait-Headband-877466
Garzo (2005) Choirhabit [photo] Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choirhabit.jpg

Writing

Activity 5

A different wedding

Imagine you’re inviting someone from a different culture/country to a wedding in your family.
You’re going to write him a letter to tell him what people usually do at weddings in your family.

For your text, follow the guidelines:

  • Explain how people get ready for the wedding (two hours before the wedding).
  • Explain what people do during the ceremony.
  • Explain what people usually do after the wedding ceremony.
  • Tell him if in your family you have any specific tradition about weddings.

Your text must be of around 120-150 words long:

  • Task accomplishment (mail format, number of words).
  • Use of English: simple present usage according to the level.
  • Vocabulary: use of vocabulary checked in the lesson.
  • Organization of text

Before starting to write, have a look at the rubrics that we included to know what is necessary for your composition for a self-evaluation. In this link, you can read an example. Below, there is an example that can be useful to you.

Speaking

Activity 6

What do people do in other cultures?

Undoubtedly, the wedding reception (the party) is what people most enjoy! But just how different is our culture from others?

As you know, Scotland is an English speaking country part of the United Kingdom. Scottish culture is fascinating!

Let’s see what happens in a traditional Scottish wedding! Search videos about a Traditional Ceilidh Dancing at a Scottish Wedding.

After watching the video, you will make a recording explaining what happened in the video. Click here to listen to an example of a wedding from another culture.


  • Describe what happens at a wedding in your culture?
  • Talk about one particular tradition your family does
  • Describe in detail what happens in the video
  • Explain your opinion about the tradition
  • Do you find it strange? Why / why not?
  • How is this Scottish tradition different from what you do?

Your recording will be evaluated, considering:

  • Use of English: simple present according to level
  • Organization
  • Task accomplishment
  • Fluency
  • Pronunciation

Self-assessment

How much Simple Present did I master!

After the entire lesson, it is time to check your ability to recognize simple present tense. We are sure that you will do great!!

References

Basic

Sonennberg, F. (http://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/blog/7-reasons-why-traditions-are-so-important/
Barton, L. & Dupaquier, C. (2015) NorthStar 3. Reading and Writing. 4th ed. New YorK: Pearson Education.

Complementary

Wibel, B. (2011) Traditional cEILIDH dancing at a Scottish Wedding YouTube Video. Retrieved on 2017, June 26 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62sim5knB-s.