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RESURSĂ EDUCAŢIONALĂ DESCHISĂ

Denumire: Teaching Obligation and Modality

Autor: Delurințu Carmen Mihaela

Unitatea de învăţământ:

Colegiul Național Vocațional

„Nicolae Titulescu” Slatina

Disciplina: Limba engleza

Scopul materialului propus: de

documentare pentru cadrele didactice

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Aspects of teaching modals

1. Some issues and implications

The teaching of foreign languages in our schools is a complex

process. In comparison with the teaching of other subjects, in foreign

language teaching, the teacher is confronted with a large number of

problems, belonging to different scientific fields, such as linguistics,

psychology, pedagogics etc. each of them being distinguished by peculiar

features. On one hand, the teaching of a foreign language means the

transmission of a certain amount of knowledge strictly selected and graded,

as well as the formation of certain skills and habits in the practical use of the

language under study. On the other hand, these skills and habits must be

acquired under the peculiar conditions in which the student adopts a new way

of thinking and a new means of communication.

The methodology of foreign language teaching is a didactic subject.

It endeavours to establish an efficient system of methods and procedures and

it applies, develops and enriches with the help of its specific means, the

general rules of didactics in accordance with the characteristics of each

subject of study. We must emphasize the fact that although foreign language

methodology is based upon a number of general fundamental principles, the

teaching of each modern language has certain specific features. They are

determined, on one hand, by the peculiar characteristics of the foreign

language under study and, on the other hand, by the correlation between the

foreign language under study and the native language of the learners.

While teaching grammar, the teacher’s role in this process is very

important. He/ She can act as a source of information for the new grammar

pattern, organizer and manager of the activities and counsellor for error

correction.

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Teaching grammar is a three level process. The teacher first

introduces the grammar structure, then, the students practice the new

structure, and the last stage is the use of the new structure in activities.

When we ask students to concentrate on specific aspects of

language, teachers usually choose some way to explain the form and

meaning of hat language before asking the students to repeat, as a part of

controlled practice phase of the lesson. The explanation, repetition and

practice are all part of the study. Sometimes teachers spend a lot of time on

language focus and students are involved in quite a few minutes of repetition.

Once the students’ attention has been drawn to the language in question, they

may be able to move to a stage where they can be able to talk about their

lives. The teacher has to spend on every item of language as much time as

necessary depending on the students’ level and on the difficulty of the

language item.

Many people have contrasted two approaches, deductive and inductive for

introducing students to specific aspects of the language.

In a deductive approach, students are given explanations or

grammar rules based on these explanations on rules; they make phrases and

sentences using the new language. In an inductive approach, things happen

the other way round. Instead of going from rules to examples, students see

examples of language and try to work out the rules. Thus, after students have

read a text, the teacher might ask them to find examples of different modal

verbs and say how and why they are used. J. Harmer calls it the boomerang-

type lesson that means that all the elements occur in the sequence engage –

activate – study. The inductive approach and the discovery techniques are

closely connected. The latter asks students to do the work rather than having

everything handed to them by a teacher or a course book.

Discovery techniques suit some students very well because they

enjoy doing things on their own. It is sometimes considered that the

knowledge learnt by making some cognitive effort is sometimes more

powerful. Anyway, not all students feel comfortable learning this way. This

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category feels more confident if they are given the information. This thing

depends a lot on their level, as it is generally easier for advanced students to

use the discovery techniques than for the beginners. The boomerang type of

lesson is often more appropriate with the students that already have a certain

amount of language available to them for the first stage while discovery

activities are better suited to the students who are looking at the construction

of a certain language structure for the second time.

Explaining a language construction can be done in several ways. By

using modern technology, an overhead projector or an interactive whiteboard

can draw attention to grammar constructions by enlightening them or circling

them. Another way of demonstrating the grammar sequence is to write words

on individual cards, which can be moved around. For example, the teacher

can write on the cards the means of expressing obligation and necessity or

the uses of a certain modal verb (must, for example). Finally, it is sometimes

easiest for the teacher to explain the language construction. For example, if

we want students to understand the formal characteristics of the modal verbs,

the teacher can enumerate them and give examples for each of them. The

only thing the teacher should pay attention to is to explain the construction of

the language easy to do and to use the right language so that the students can

understand.

Students get used to saying or writing a certain construction by

practicing the language they are studying. While doing this, the teacher may

correct them if they make mistakes. The practice helps the students to move

the newly acquired information from short-term memory to long- term

memory. Once-only study session is not enough. The teacher needs to ensure

that students see phrases and grammar repeatedly. Repetition work but this

does not mean that repetition takes place as controlled practice when students

first meet the language. It needs to be brought back over time and at spaced

intervals so it gradually becomes part of our students’ long-term memories.

Free practice and controlled practice are both means of activating students’

pervious knowledge of language forms.

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Sometimes the teacher may decide that students need free practice.

Free practice is concerned with the passage from language study to activation

that means the correctness of the language constructions and the use of

language. This is often the case of the advanced level where students have

understood the explanations of meaning and language constructions. In such

situations, the teacher might just say something like: Let’s talk about the

things you can and you can’t do! This is a way to personalize practice and

thus, the teacher can find many mistakes so that she/he might return to the

explanations of meaning and constructions.

Controlled practice deals with repetition, which can be either choral

or individual. For choral repetition to be effective, it is important to keep the

rhythm and keep the chorus clear. If the students got enough choral

repetition, the teacher may ask individual repetition nominating the students

in a random order. Another type of controlled practice is a quick cue-

response session. For example, after teaching means of expressing obligation

and necessity, the teacher shows the students cards with different signs that

they would expect to find in the airports, restaurants, offices, libraries and

they are asked to write for each sign a sentence about the rules expressed by

the signs. Cue-response drills are an efficient way of getting the students o

say the new language in a way that can be invigorating and challenging.

The practice stage must be followed by various communicative

activities, in which students are made to use the new structure in an

interactive way, to exchange information and negotiate meaning. To

encourage students and involve them in a task, the activities must be

imaginative and enjoyable and exploit the students’ personal experience.

For example, the teacher may use a series of pictures to set up a

story and then asks the students questions that oblige the students to use them

in their own answers. The students are asked to continue the story according

to their imagination, using the new structure in at least five sentences.

Conversational exchanges contribute to even further to turning the new

structure into a habitual and functional item in learners’ language.

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Here is an activity designed for teaching the modal verbs. One way

of teaching grammar is to use, plain and practice procedure. For example, if

we want to teach the polisemy of the basic modal verbs to intermediate and

advanced students, especially older ones, we can use a comparative

presentation. It can be the most straightforward way to the students’ mind.

For example:

• May – permission and possibility

• Must - obligation and probability

• Can – ability, possibility

The teacher explains that the same modal verb to express different kinds of

modality.

e.g. May he borrow he book?

(Poate el sa imprumute cartea?)

MAY – permission

e.g. He may be at home.

(el poate fi acasa.)

MAY - posibilitate

e.g. He must read the book.

(El trebuie sa citeasca cartea.)

MUST – obligation

e.g. He must be at home.

(El trebuie sa fie acasa.)

MUST – high probability

e.g. He can/can’t read the book.

(El poate sa citeasca cartea.)

CAN - ability

e.g. He can’t be at home.

(Precis ca nu e acasa.)

CAN – low possibility

As understanding an issue is far from knowing it the teacher asks

the students to translate simple sentences based on modal verbs. Students

usually have difficulties to identify the correct answer. That is why the

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teacher must show them a logical path. Then, the teacher asks the students to

practice the newly acquired knowledge. They have to do a multiple-choice

task or a fill in exercise.

When the students have learned to distinguish among the different

meanings and uses of the modal verbs, the teacher must proceed with other

types of activities that should allow the students to practice and use the new

structures until they can deal with modality in actual linguistic situations.

e.g. 1. All children....... learn the history of their ancestors.

• Can

• May

• Must

2. He must......... have worked in sales all his life.

• Must

• Can

• May

3. The child ..... play in the garden. The grandparents allowed them to.

• Must

• May

• Can

As far as grammar is concerned, there are a couple of ways of

teaching it. With the communicative focus on meaning and interaction, the

structure itself becomes less important than the meaning it carries. “that is

why grammar must be approached by a functional perspective”, Adriana

Vizental in her Strategies of Teaching and Testing English as a Foreign

Language. She also explains that the notion of functional grammar goes

back to Saussure’s model who considered linguistic communication as a

three level process: form – structure - meaning. The three levels correspond

to the three branches of linguistics: phonology, grammar and semantics and

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grammar is further broken down in morphology and syntax. While the

traditional linguistics views language as a system of forms to which

meanings is attached and consequently, the study of language goes from

form to meaning, the modern linguists’ approach (the Functional Sentence

Perspective – Halliday (1985/1994) – An Introduction to Functional

Grammar) is upside down, from meaning to form. Instead of asking him

what a meaning a certain item carries, the functional linguists tries to assess

how the speaker puts his ideas into forms.

As far as the meaning is concerned, modality is a sector that offers

the speaker a wide choice of forms. There is a variety of functions that can,

may, must can express. CAN(’T) can be used to express (in)ability or

(im)possibility., MAY – can express permission or possibility, MUST – can

express obligation or probability. On the contrary, various forms can express

each function. Take for example probability. The speaker can show that he

views a situation, event, action as probable by using:

• Must, ought, should, will

e.g. He must be at school.

You ought to have done it.

They should be the guilty ones.

He will be the winner of the competition.

• Be sure/ certain /positive

e.g. I’m sure he is telling the truth.

I’m certain he has finished it by now.

I’m positive they have already left.

• Obviously, apparently, certainly

e.g. Obviously, they are lying.

Apparently, they are out of town.

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They have certainly did it.

• Be likely

e.g. It is likely to happen sooner than we expected.

Obviously, the choice of a certain form instead of another is

constrained by the context in which the form is used. In other words, there

are two types of constraints: accuracy - the choice of one grammatical

category instead of another and appropriacy - the choice of register.

In what concerns the form, it is important to show how the structure

and voice can be manipulated to convey different meanings.

The speaker begins the sentence with what is considered to be the

most important element while the rest of the sentence comes on the second

plan.

e.g. Children must obey their parents.

Children mustn’t cross the street on the red light.

In the first case, the accent falls on the idea of obligation while in

the second one, the stress is on the idea of forbiddance .In this case, the

intonation plays a very important role. The speaker can modulate the

intonation to convey the meaning if the sentence.

Obviously, the speaker is not always aware of the way he/she uses

the voice and that is why teachers should warn students of the dangers of

uncontrolled voice and they can help them understand how to use intonation

to convey a favourable attitude. This can be done especially by practicing

communicative interactions.

In case of writing, form is equally important because each type of

disourse has its own layout, which the learner should respect when the tasks

require.

Here are some activities focussed on meaning and on form:

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Activity 1 – focussed on meaning – Where is Bill?

Language: the meaning of the modal verbs

Age: teenagers

Level: intermediate

One of the main uses of the modal verbs is to make guesses about

present or past states. If the teaches gives the students a paradigm, he / she

can further ask students to make sentences using the pattern.

e.g. Pattern: Someone is vawing to me.

Weak inference - That could/ might be John.

Stronger inference – That may be John.

Strong inference – That should be John.

Very strong inference – That must be John.

Situations:

• She is not at work today. (ill)

• The baby is crying. (tired)

• The student is absent minded. (in love)

Activity 2 – focussed on form and meaning – Can vs. will be able

Language: Can vs. will be able

Age: young learners

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Level: intermediate

In this example, the students have read a text in which the new

language occurs and they have done comprehension work on text. They now

look at a grammar issue that arises in the text.

e.g. Study the examples:

Why is it necessary to use will be able rather than can in wo o them?

• My Spanish is very poor but the teacher tells me that after

a couple of years of study I’ll be able to speak nd write

very well.

• She is at work today but perhaps she can see you

tomorrow.

• This newspaper says that we’ll be able to travel to he moon

very soon.

• You’re young and healthy and you can find a job if you

want to. You really can!

The teacher wants to know if students can make a difference

between something that hasn’t happened but which the speaker can already

do and an ability purely in the future - that needs something else to happen

first.

Exercise:

In which of these sentences is it possible to use can? In which of

these sentences is it possible to use will be able to?

• He lost a leg in the accident but with a new artificial one

he ..............to walk again.

• If we go to the theatre tomorrow, we ........ see the new

play.

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• Do you think that someday people ............ live and work

on the other planets?

• After a few more lessons, I think you ..... skate very well.

The teacher can ask the students to work in pairs on exercise 1

before checking it with the class. The focus is entirely on the meaning and

form of the language. The teacher asks the students for their conclusions

before letting them do exercise 2. If necessary, the teacher can spend some

time on an explanation stage and even conduct an accurate reproduction

stage using can and be able to.

Activity 3 – focussed form – Find someone who.....

Language: the production of modal verbs in questions

Age: young learners

Level: elementary

This communication activity can be used for practice in the

production of modal verbs in questions. Each sentence should use a modal

verb.

e.g. Find someone who can run very fast.

Find someone who might spend the holiday abroad.

Find someone who must write two exercises.

Find someone who thinks that I should speak louder.

Each student has a worksheet with a list like the above and moves

around the classroom asking questions to their classmates. When he finds the

person who fits the description, he writes the name down.

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In this example, the language to be studied is presented students in a

text.

Activity: Can I make the right choice?

Language: can, could – ability and possibility modals

Age: teenagers

Level: elementary

The sequence starts when the teacher asks the students what they

would like to become after graduating secondary school. The students

discuss in large groups about their future careers and after that, they report it

back to the class.

The students now look at the first paragraph of the text and try to

decide what the text is about. When they have done this, the teacher checks

their answers. The students now read the whole text and say if they agree

with the author choice.

“Where can people learn new things? Each person can have a

different way to choose their major. Some people can decide their career

instantly, and on the other hand, others can discover their interests in

college. It can be easier to find one’s field when people can try different

subjects. Educational institution is an environment where students can

develop their life-skills. I believe that people can learn by themselves if they

like to learn. Education and a major can be a part of their goal for some

people, but for other people, their career is more important.

I had this similar problem when I was deciding my major in

sophomore year. I could major in voice, but I couldn’t think of a job I can get

because there are many very talented singers in Japan who can’t get a job.

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So, I ended up studying business but never liked it. Therefore, my grades

were not very pleasant even though I could get A in all voice classes.”

The students now match questions, such as:

• How can some people decide their career?

• What can educational institutions develop?

• Could the author decide what to do?

• What can’t talented people do in Japan?

• What couldn’t the author think of?

Then, their attention is drawn to the modal verbs can and could and their

uses. The teacher explains to the students that could is the past form of can

and introduced the formal characteristics of the modal verbs. Then, the

teacher asks the students to underline each modal verb and discusses with the

students about their meaning. She shows them that they can both express

ability and possibility.

e.g. can - affirmative form, interrogative, that means the

inversion with the subject; it expresses present possibility.

The students are asked to fill in the following grammar chart using examples

from the text:

Modal verb Ability Possibility

Can

Could

Some people „pick up” second languages without going to classes.

Others go to language classes and study the language they wish to learn. The

former category refers to the ability of acquiring language naturally and

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subconsciously. The latter refers to the students’ organising their learning

and applying their learned knowledge to their task. As the American linguist

Stephen Krashen underline, the difference between acquired language and

learnt language reflects on the quality of used language. The spontaneous

language, learnt probably by exposure to a target-language community with

no attention to language study, is the language that we use in conversations

because it is anxiety free, but is it not always grammatically correct. On the

other hand, the learnt language, the one studied as grammar and vocabulary,

may lack the spontaneous communication as they are monitoring their

sayings. No matter what the means of getting to master the English language

may be, students always have problems in expressing modality.

In these respects, this work is meant to be as an answer given to all

those learning English, confronting with difficulties of understanding, and

consequently using, modal verbs. It is a more detailed approach of modal

verbs expressing necessity and obligation, both on account of their form and

meaning, in order to find ways of dealing with modality.

In order to become competent users of English, students need to

know the auxiliary verbs and their uses so that they can form correct and

complex language structure. They need to know the characteristics of the

modal auxiliaries, the relationship of the modal auxiliaries to each other and

their meaning. To avoid students’ making mistakes, teachers tend to

introduce grammar gradually, starting with the structures that can be

presented and understood easily. Some of the auxiliaries are essential so they

are taught at the first level.

There are a number of ways that teachers can help their students

master the complexities of modality. First, particularly for lower-level

students, they can design activities that allow students to explore and get

comfortable with the formal properties of modals and semi-modals. When

designing these activities, teachers should be mindful of the fact that the

formal properties of one semi-modal will not necessarily transfer to the next.

In fact, many of the mistakes that students make with semi-modals come

from over-generalising formal properties.

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Although great attention has been paid to the new national curriculum,

there are still aspects of the language that are rather neglected or not studied

thoroughly. It is the case of modal verbs and their power to help students

cope with many aspects of the language due to their various pragmatic and

semantic characteristics.

Students need to learn the formal properties of the various modal

auxiliaries and semi-modals and learn how to manipulate those properties

appropriately. Moreover, they not only have to learn three categories of

modality (epistemic, deontic, and dynamic), and the uses of the various

modals and semi-modals for each, they need to learn to distinguish between

the three categories.

Consider the different meanings of can’t in these three sentences:

e.g. You can’t be Laura’s brother – she’s an only child (epistemic,

certainty)

I’m sorry, you can’t leave yet (deontic, permission)

You can’t swim (dynamic, ability).

Students also need to learn about the pragmatic considerations of

modality, such as the difference between can and may when giving

permission.

When developing activities that focus on the meaning of modals and

semi-modals, teachers can make sure that there is a strong connection

between the words and the meanings. One example of this would be to

present students with a sentence containing a modal together with possible

meanings:

e.g. You should study French.

This sentence talks about 1) advice 2) obligation 3) permission

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At higher levels, such an activity could ask students to choose between

categories:

e.g. She must be the new French teacher.

Do you think this sentence talks about 1) certainty 2) obligation 3) advice?

Or students could be asked to rephrase a sentence using an appropriate

modal:

e.g. Diane has the ability to speak French.

Diane__________________________ (can speak French).

Most students become familiar with the most obvious formal

characteristic of modal verbs, namely that there is no -s ending for the third

person singular present. But there are other determining factors on a formal

level. The first is that the modal auxiliaries have no non-finite forms. The

second is that you cannot chain modal verbs together in a sentence. There are

also a number of formal characteristics that modals share with other

auxiliaries. These criteria include

1) inversion with the subject in questions ,

2) forming the negative with -n’t

3) verbal ellipsis

4) emphatic stress ( Palmer, 1990).

Many students seem to learn better if they are asked to think about

the language they are coming in contact with. Thinking about the sentence

allows students to use their knowledge. The practical implications of this

view are quite clear. Instead of explicitly teaching the modal verbs, for

example, we could expose students to examples of it and hen allow them,

under our guidance, to work out for themselves how it is used. One powerful

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reason for encouraging language students to discover things from themselves

is the complex.

2. Strategies for teaching the modals expressing

obligation and necessity

Apparently, the basic aim of foreign language teaching is to “teach

the language”, that means, to provide the students with vocabulary and

grammar and endow them with linguistic competence. However, language is

a living body that adapts itself to the communicative context and situation, so

that the educator, who wants to produce competent users of English, must

target the students’ communicative competence. Consequently, students

should be able to interact with the other members of the social group, to

share information and negotiate the meaning, to use the language

functionally and strategically to achieve the desired effect.

To achieve this, the teacher must target simultaneously a variety of

language areas and skills, so that vocabulary and grammar, listening and

speaking, reading and writing must be taught in an integrated way.

Nevertheless, present day theories of language teaching suggest that, for

pedagogical reasons and classrooms practice, communicative competence

should be broken down into language skills and each skill to be taught and

practiced separately.

When teaching grammar, the teacher’s choice of strategy largely

depends on three factors: on the grammar item to be taught, on student’s age

and language proficiency and on their personal characteristics. It is according

to these features that the teacher decides upon the best techniques and the

most appropriate teaching material to be used:

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• relevant texts; dialogues that illustrate the grammar pattern,

text that present the new item comparatively with one that

is already known to the students,

• auditory material, visual demonstration; detailed

explanations, tapes, situational pictures, hands and arrows,

grids, charts.

The teaching of a grammar item must be done by isolating it and

lying special emphasis on the item, so that the student’s attention should not

be distracted. The teacher must proceed - explain and illustrate it – so that the

students should get a clear view of its meaning, form and use. Then, the

students use the structure in exercises.

Whatever student’s age or type may be, visual demonstration can be

very useful to explain and teach grammar, as visuals provide a concrete

equivalent and palpable support for abstract matters. Gestures, icons, arrows,

time lines, patterns, make grammar problems palpable and memorable. With

young students, it is not wise to use too much theoretical presentation – they

learn better when they have some concrete support: pictures, songs,

movement. Thus, it is easier for them to understand simple grammar

problems. More advanced learners may prefer patterns to clarify or

systematize the complex items.

Grammar teaching sometimes happens as the result of other work

students are doing. When they study language in a text or when a grammar

problem presents itself unexpectedly in the middle of a lesson they need to

deal with it immediately.

In a recent article, Leech has drawn attention to the changing status

of modals in present day use. He says: “According to an exploratory

investigation we have undertaken, the English modal auxiliaries as a group

have been declining significantly in their frequency of use”, and explicitly

recommends “to those involved in the teaching of English as a second or

foreign language” not to “waste hours of valuable classroom time teaching

shall and ought to”.

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Modal verb teaching, just as any other grammar structure, may grow

directly from the tasks students are performing or the course books we are

using may help us. Most teachers have their own favourite course books and

grammar presentation. The modals can be introduced in a number of ways

and we’ll see some examples but students may also want to work out for

themselves and see how the language is constructed. We should also offer

students opportunities to practice the grammar points and play grammar

games.

• Introducing grammar:

Language: Learn the modal forms 'have to' and 'must', Grammar

introduction/review, talking about daily routines and interview game

Age: teenagers

Level: lower level

Many students often confuse the usage of the modals 'must' and

'have to'. While meaning is generally maintained in incorrect usage in the

positive forms, a mix-up in the negative forms can cause confusion. This

lesson uses daily routines and an interviewing game to help students master

these important modal forms.

Outline:

• Ask students to talk about their daily routines. Have them make

a list of five things that they have to do every day.

• Introduce the grammar by having the students take a look at the

grammar sheet below.

• Discuss the differences between 'have to' and 'must' in the

positive form. Make sure to point out that 'have to' is used for daily routines

while 'must' is used for strong personal obligation.

• Discuss the differences between 'don't have to' and 'mustn't'.

Make sure to stress the idea that 'don't have to' expresses the idea that the

person isn't required to do something but may do so if he/she would like

while 'mustn't' expresses the idea of prohibition.

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• In order to encourage students to favor the use of 'have to',

spend the rest of the lesson focusing on daily responsibilities in the following

exercises.

• Ask students to take out the list they created earlier and re-write

the list using 'have to'.

• Ask students to choose a job from the list provided (you might

want to first check that students are familiar with the jobs listed) and think

about what a person working in that profession has to do.

• Once you have given students a chance to think a while, play a

variation on the 20 questions game. You can begin by choosing a profession

and having students ask you 10 or 15 questions about what you have to do in

this job. Questions can only be answered by 'yes', 'no' or 'sometimes'.

• The student who guesses the name of your profession should be

the next to be asked the 15 questions. Another variation on this game is for

students to play the game in pairs.

Have to - Must

Study the Use of 'Have to' and 'Must' in the Chart Below

Must / Have To - Mustn't / Not Have To

Listed below are examples and uses of must / have to / mustn't / not have to

Example Chart

Examples Usage

We have to get up

early.

She had to work

hard yesterday.

They will have to

arrive early.

Does he have to

go?

Use 'have to' in the past, present and future to express

responsibility or necessity.

NOTE: 'have to' is conjugated as a regular verb and

therefore requires an auxiliary verb in the question form

or negative.

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I must finish this

work before I

leave.

Must you work so

hard?

Use 'must' to express something that you or a person

feels is necessary. This form is used only in the present

and future.

You don't have to

arrive before 8.

They didn't have to

work so hard.

The negative form of 'have to' expresses the idea that

something is not required. It is however, possible if so

desired.

She mustn't use

such horrible

language.

Tom, you mustn't

play with fire.

The negative form of 'must' expresses the idea that

something is prohibited - this form is very different in

meaning than the negative of 'have to'!

Did the have to

leave so early?

He had to stay

overnight in

Dallas.

IMPORTANT: The past form of 'have to' and 'must' is

'had to'. Must does not exist in the past.

Choose a profession from the list below and think about what a

person doing that job has to do every day.

Professions and Jobs - What do they have to do?

accountant actor air steward

architect assistant author

baker builder businessman /

businesswoman / executive

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butcher chef civil servant

clerk computer operator /

programmer

cook

dentist doctor driver bus / taxi / train

driver

garbage man (refuse

collector)

electrician engineer

farmer hairdresser journalist

judge lawyer manager

musician nurse photographer

pilot plumber police officer

politician receptionist sailor

salesman / saleswoman

/salesperson

scientist secretary

soldier teacher telephone operator

• Discovering grammar

Activity: Rules and freedom

Language: functions expressing obligation (can’t / have to / must / allowed)

Age: adult

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Level: intermediate

In this example the students are going to look at the obligation

language, some of which they may have encountered separately.

The teaching sequence starts when the students discuss what rules

they expect to find in places such as airports, bars and pubs, beaches,

hospitals, libraries. They then look at a list containing a certain number of

different signs and say where they would expect to see them and what they

mean.

Staff only e.g. shops, restaurants,

bars, hospitals,

No diving

Cyclists and pedestrians only

No mobile phones!

Please, have your boarding card and passport

ready for inspection

Dress regulations: NO DENIM!

NO T-SHIRTS

Smoking area

Wet paint

NO DOGS! NO FOOTBALL!

No parking!

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Now, that the students are properly warmed up and engaged with the topic,

the students are asked to look at the messages again and tell which of the

express the idea of forbiddance and tick the right answers.

Staff only

No diving

Cyclists and pedestrians only

No mobile phones!

Please, have your boarding

card and passport ready for inspection

Dress regulations: NO DENIM!

NO T-SHIRTS

Smoking area

Wet paint!

NO DOGS! NO FOOTBALL!

No parking!

Once the teacher has checked that the students have been able to complete

the analysis chart, she / he can get them to do a fill-in exercise where they

have to discriminate between have to, don’t have to, should, shouldn’t, are/

aren’t allowed. Then, they can make their own sentences about what rules are

in places from the first exercise and read them to their classmates who have

to guess what they are talking about.

e.g. Which sentences from above do the following relate to?

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1. You mustn’t smoke in the smoking area

You are allowed to smoke in the smoking area.

You can smoke in the smoking area if you want to?

2. You mustn’t leave your mobile on.

You can’t use your mobile.

You shouldn’t use your mobile.

3. You have to be careful of the wet paint.

You don’t have to be careful of the wet pain.

You ought to be careful of the wet paint.

• Practicing grammar

Activity: Matching sentences halves/ contexts

Language: expressing obligation and necessity

Age: young learners

Level: intermediate

One of the best ways of making students think of sentence

constructions and sentence meaning is to get them to match sentence halves

or sentences with a context.

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The teacher gives the students two lists that they have to match up. This can

be done in pair or by students working on their own. For early stages, this

activity can be more fun and interactive if the teacher puts the sentence

halves on cards. Each student gets a card and has to walk around the room to

find his pair. For the advance stages, students can do this thing without

showing their cards one another so they have to read them aloud and then

discuss which pairings are possible or not.

•

It is prohibited to take photos here.

•

They must pay in

advance.

•

Paying in advance is obligatory at this

school. •

They must obey the

regulations.

• Wearing a uniform is not obligatory.

• They mustn’t take photos.

•

If they don’t obey the regulations, they’ll

get a fine. •

They needn’t wear a

uniform.

Another types of exercises that can help students are multiple choice, fill in

the blanks, etc.

1. I ....... go to see the doctor last week because I was very ill.

(a) must (b) must to (c) had to

2. I ....... go now because I am already late for my class.

(a) must (b) had (c) have

3. Do you ....... clean the house every day or every week?

(a) must (b) have (c) have to

4. They ....... do their homework today because it is a holiday at the school.

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(a) must not (b) don't have (c) don't have to

5. I may ....... go to Paris next week because there is a very big exhibition

there.

(a) have (b) have to (c) had

• Grammar games.

Activity: Zoo animal

Language: Introducing vocabulary - Zoo animals, Colours, patterns and

colour combinations Modals – can, must, mustn’t (as piece of vocabulary

not as a grammar focus)

Zoo verbs – buy, touch, feed, listen, watch, eat, run, shout, stroke…

Age: young learners

Level: elementary

Children love learning about animals, especially ones that are big,

scary, colourful, wild, and potentially dangerous! Once you have them

captivated by the subject the teacher will find that they are more than eager

to learn the English vocabulary needed to talk about it. There are hundreds of

language focus points that teachers can develop, when doing topics on zoo

animals. Here are just some ideas to get started.

Materials

• Map of the world

• Silhouette coloured stickers of zoo animals (buy by the bag in

craft shops)

• A3 copies of a zoo diagram

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• Zoo animals flashcards

• Scarf to blindfold

• Blu tack

• Coloured card

Rules at the zoo

The teacher elicits students’ brainstorming dos and don’ts at the

zoo. The ideas can include the following:

1. You can feed the ducks.

2. You mustn’t feed the lions.

3. You mustn’t touch the elephant.

4. You must buy a ticket.

With young students, it is not wise to use too much theoretical

presentation – they learn better when they have some concrete support:

pictures, songs, movement. Teachers can easily demonstrate the difference

with how stern or relaxed theylook when saying ‘You can feed the ducks’

(raise eyebrows and smile!) ‘You must buy a ticket’ (nod head and wag your

finger) ‘You mustn’t feed the lions.’ (look horrified, shake head and pull a

stern face!)

Consequently, it is easier for them to understand simple grammar problems.

So, the teacher will pre-teach verbs such as - feed, touch, buy, run, watch,

shout, eat, stroke, etc. but there is no need to go into the complex difference

between all the modals.

Students, guides by the teacher, can make a class poster of rules.

This idea can also be adapted for more advanced pupils and make up

opposite, rebel rules such as ‘You must eat lots of ice-cream.’ ‘You must

stroke the lion!’ The teacher has to make sure they understand that these are

opposite rules though! To help explain the teacher can take the rules already

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created and make them into opposites before letting the children use their

imagination.

In order to practice vocabulary, the young learners can design their

own zoo. The teacher asks them the following questions:

• If they ran the zoo, what changes would they make?

• What animal should go where?

• Should the bears go next to the fish?

• Why shouldn’t the snakes be in the same cage as the birds?…

The teacher can draw a simple plan of a zoo with the word zoo

written at the bottom, middle of the page on a gate. Then around the page,

s/he can draw several cages, photocopy onto A3 and distribute to small

groups or pairs. Each pair should have cut outs or stickers of animals that

they can move around the page until they are satisfied with their allocation of

animals into the cages. They should think about noises each animals makes,

what they eat, whether they need a very cold cage or a very hot cage etc.

Listening, speaking, reading, and writing can all be vehicles for

guided practice activities. For example, drills and dialog substitutions

involve listening and speaking. Conversation cards require reading as well as

listening and speaking, and grids involve all four language skills. These and a

selection of other popular activities are described in this section.

Drills can help adult learners commit grammar patterns to memory.

They also provide students with practice in pronouncing new patterns,

helping them to become comfortable articulating the target language forms.

Drills fall into two categories, mechanical and meaningful.

Mechanical drills require minimal comprehension of content on the part of

students and serve only to reinforce patterns. In a “backward buildup” drill,

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for instance, the teacher leads and students usually respond as a whole group.

They are practicing the pronunciation of the negative form of the modals.

e.g. Teacher: mustn’t

Students: mustn’t

Teacher: oughtn’t

Students: oughtn’t

Teacher: needn’t

Students: needn’t

In contrast, meaningful drills require students to understand the

language in order to respond correctly, but the activity is tightly controlled

because only one answer is possible. The following is an example of a

“substitution” drill focusing on obligation and forbidance:

e.g. Teacher: (holding up a picture of a child crossing the street on the

red light)

What mustn’t he do?

Students: He mustn’t cross the street on the red light.

Teacher: (holding up a picture of a child playing with matches)

What mustn’t he do?

Students: He mustn’t play with matches.

To focus on form and meaning, the teacher can set up a drill like the

following. S/He writes on the board the words:

- POSSIBLE

- IMPOSSIBLE

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- CERTAIN

The teacher says different phrases and shows how the sentence changes

depending on if it’s possible, impossible or certain, e.g.

e.g. We go out. (point to CERTAIN) We’ll go out.

We stay at home. (point to IMPOSSIBLE) We can’t stay

at home.

We go to the cinema. (point to POSSIBLE) We might go

to the cinema.

The activity continues with the teacher giving other cues. These cues could

be spoken, or written on cards, which can be shown to the students, e.g.

1. I have a drink. (CERTAIN)

2. I have coffee. (IMPOSSIBLE)

3. I have tea. (POSSIBLE)

4. We work tonight. (POSSIBLE)

5. You work tonight. (IMPOSSIBLE)

6. I work tonight. (CERTAIN)

Dialog substitutions are short conversations (usually two to four

exchanges) that students repeat, each time substituting different vocabulary

but repeating the target grammar. In the following example, focusing on must

used for external authority, students look at pictures of people doing different

thing, which are forbidden. They read and practice the model. Then, working

in pairs, they repeat the conversation, replacing the boldface words with the

numbered cues.

e.g. Student 1: John is walking on the grass!

Student 2: John, You mustn’t walk on the grass!

1. Brian / open the zebra’s cage

2. Lee / feed the animals

3. Ali / eat with dirty hands

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4. Lisa / climb fences

5. Andrea / ride the bike among the flowerbeds

6. Ray / pick flowers

An advantage of dialog substitutions is that students are practicing actual

conversations that may be applicable to their daily lives.

Grids (also called charts) present information for students to use in

forming questions and answers. Grids differ from dialog substitutions in that

the cues for speaking require reading rather than recognition of pictures. At

higher levels, grids may have significantly more print, as in this guided

exercise for practicing obligation and necessity.

Make the appropriate

sentence for each item MUST DO MUST NOT

DO

DON’T

HAVE TO

DO

a. improve your English

b. enter the classroom after

the lesson begins

c. be in time for school

d. do your homework

e. buy expensive clothes

f. go swmming

Using the cues, students produce sentences like these:

e.g. I must improve my English.

We mustn’t enter the classroom after the lesson begins.

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Conversation cards are index cards (or strips of paper) that provide

cues for guided conversations between two students. For example, cards like

these can be used to practice the modal verbs expressing obligation and

forbiddance.

Each student receives a card. Students stand up and move around

the room, pairing up with any classmate they meet. Student 1 asks a question,

which remains constant; Student 2 answers according to the information on

his or her card. The students then switch roles:

Name three things you must not do

in a library

Name three things you must do in

your country to obtain a driver's

license.

Name three things you must not do

in a hospital

Name three things you must do to

be accepted to a good school.

Name three things you must not do

in an airport

Name three things you must do to

get a good job

Name three things you must not do

in this class

Name three things you must do to

have good, true friends

Name three things you must not do

in a prison

Name three things you must do to

become a pilot

After both students have practiced the question and the answer, they

exchange cards and each moves on to talk to a different classmate. In

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addition to reinforcing the target grammar, conversations based on

conversation cards expose students to a wide range of vocabulary items.

Students also enjoy the opportunity to interact with a variety of classmates.

Word strips are sentences cut up into words. Students arrange the

words to form questions or statements. These two examples provide practice

with the modal verbs.

e.g. The guard shouted that everybody must give the password.

The password / shouted / must /the guard /that / give / everybody

She must have dialled the wrong number.

The number / must /wrong / she / have / dialled

Word strips are especially effective with kinesthetic learners –

students who learn best by moving or manipulating objects. The strips also

reinforce the connection between spoken and written English.

Information transfer activities require students to take information

presented in one form and put it into another form. For example, this is in

activity designed for practicing prepositions of location (next to, across from,

between, etc.) and modal verbs expressing advice, obligation and necessity.

Students are given both a short narrative reading that describes the locations

of places in a neighbourhood or give instructions about how to get there and

a map of the neighbourhood with the names of the locations omitted. Using

the information from the reading, students write the names of the places in

the appropriate locations on the map.

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Information gap activities usually consist of two worksheets

labelled A and B. They contain some information that is the same, but each

worksheet is also missing some information that is found on the other sheet.

Partners must ask each other questions in order to get the information

missing from their respective sheets. In this example, students practice the

‘obligation and permission' modals, can, can't, have to, must, don't have to,

mustn't and asking and answering questions using the modal verbs. The first

item in each student’s worksheet is filled in as an example.

e.g. Student 1: Must we do our homework? Student 2: Must we do our

homework?

Student 2: Yes, you must. Student 1: No, you needn’t.

Student 1

We don't have to do homework

We mustn't smoke in the classroom

We have to respect the teacher (even the worst groups come up with

this one)

We can watch films in class

Student 2

We have to get out of bed at 4:00.

We mustn’t answer back or ask questions.

We don’t have to wear a uniform.

We have to run after dinner

The students are presented four schools and they are asked to

identify which are the two whose rules they have found. As a further activity,

the students are to choose a school from the four described. They must

consider the pros and cons of all four and have reasons for their choice.

• School no. 1

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This is a positive school which believes in student independence.

There aren’t a lot of rules. You can do many things that you can’t do in other

schools. For example, you don’t have to go to lessons if you know the

information from that lesson. You don’t have to come to school in the

morning if you have no lessons, and you don’t have to go to assembly if you

prefer to do private study in the library.

But there are some responsibilities too. Students have to wear

uniforms and they must wear a tie (even for sport).

Students don’t have to study 12 subjects if they don’t want to but

they must study at least 9 and have to do lots of homework for each subject

every week. They must show that they are learning or they have to go back

and repeat the year.

• School no. 2

This school is a very fair and happy school. All the students want to

stay in the school when they are 18 and don’t want to go to university. They

must leave, but because they don’t want to, the school has to pay very big

strong men to move the students out of school on their last day.

Why is it so popular? Well, it’s simple. Students have to come to

school, OK, but when they are there they don’t have to study grammar, they

don’t have to read boring stories by old writers who are famous but terrible,

and they don’t have to listen to the teacher talking and talking all day. They

learn because the teachers understand that people learn when they want to

learn and when they are interested.

But they have to keep quiet when the teacher is talking.

• School no. 3

This school is where Bill Gates went. The school is very proud of

this, so they are now an IT school, where students have to do all their work

over the internet. So, students don’t have to go to school. They must be

online from 8:00 until 12:00, and from 1:00 to 4:00 with a Skype connection

with their robot teacher. They don’t have to go to the school building, but if

their computer has a virus, they have to buy a new computer or their

education suffers.

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They only have to study three subjects, Information Technology,

Computer Science and Computers in Society. In reality, this is the same

subject, but because of this, students don’t have to do more than one lot of

homework every night.

The big rule, students MUST NOT download music from the

internet.

• School no. 4

This school has a reputation for having the toughest students on the

planet! They’re as hard as nails. We can see why.

Every morning, the students have to get out of bed at 4:00 and run

ten miles in bare feet. Then they can go for breakfast, which is one apple.

After breakfast they must do their homework, five hours, and then

they have to go to class, where the teachers shout at them instead of teaching

them. The students mustn’t answer back or ask questions.

Then, they have to run another ten miles, and at 8:00, after their

dinner, another apple, they must go to bed and they can’t read or talk to

each other.

It’s a tough school, but they don’t have to wear a uniform.

Though guided, information gap activities mirror real-life

interactions in that listeners do not know the missing information until their

partners supply it.

3. Types of exercises

Teachers tend to talk about the way we use language in terms of

four skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening. These are often divided

into two types: receptive skills and productive skills. On the other hand, it

makes little sense to talk about skills in isolation. Work on language skills is

often the previous step before working on various aspects of language

39

construction. The ideal learning sequence will offer both skill integration and

also, language study based around a topic or other thematic thread.

Here are some examples of developing the four skills while using

the modal verbs of obligation and necessity

A 1. Developing listening skills

Aim: practicing listening skills, the uses of: must, mustn’t and needn’t

Course book: Solutions, Oxford

Level: pre-intermediate

Students have to listen and complete the text with: must, mustn’t and

needn’t.

How to be polite at a Chinese meal

You ….. start your food until the host picks up his or her chopsticks. In

general, if the host offers you food, you …. accept it. (It is better to leave it in

your bowl than refuse it.) Periods of silence during a meal are not considered

embarrassing in China, so you … talk just to fill the gaps. As the Chinese

proverb says: “Your speech should be better than silence. If not, be silent.”

After completing the answers in the listening exercise, they have to complete

the rules with: must, mustn’t and needn’t.

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• We use ………… to express necessity (something that is very

important to do)

• We use ………. to express lack of necessity (something that isn’t

necessary but isn’t against the rules to do)

• We use ……. to express prohibition (something that is against the

rules to do)

A.2. Developing speaking skills

Aim: practicing speaking skills, the uses of: must, mustn’t and needn’t

Level: pre-intermediate

Students are asked to work in pairs. They have to think about the customs in

their country when they visit somebody’s house for a meal. They can use the

following ideas:

• Arrive exactly on time

• Belch at the table

• Bring flowers

• Take your shoes off when you enter the house

• Eat everything that you are given

• Eat your fingers

• Eat with a knife and fork

A.3. Developing writing skills

Aim: developing writing skills, the uses of: must, mustn’t and needn’t

41

Level: pre-intermediate

Students are asked to write a short note to somebody who is visiting their

country. They have to explain how to be polite when you go to somebody’s

house for a meal. They can use the ideas from the previous activity or some

others of their own:

• Arrive exactly on time

• Belch at the table

• Bring flowers

• Take your shoes off when you enter the house

• Eat everything that you are given

• Eat your fingers

• Eat with a knife and fork

Hi ____________,

Here’s some advice about how to be polite when you go to somebody’s

house for a meal.

You must________________

You mustn’t _______________

You needn’t ________________

Best wishes

_____________________

A.4. Developing reading skills

42

Aim: developing reading skills, using must and mustn’t

Level: pre-intermediate

Rules and regulations - Pictionary

The class is divided into four groups. Each group receives a sheet of paper

with a list of things that are forbidden. Each group has to draw signs

illustrating the rules below. Then they exchange the sheets of paper so that

they can guess what the rule is (they don’t have to use exactly the same

words):

Group 1.

1. You aren’t allowed to chew gum

2. You aren’t allowed to fly remote control planes and helicopters

3. You shouldn’t push the revolving door

Group 2

1. You should hold onto the escalator handrail

2. You mustn’t jump up and down in the lift (= elevator)

3. Do not put your feet on the toilet seat

Group 3

1. Drinking in the street is banned

2. You mustn’t throw litter (= rubbish = garbage) in the street

3. You aren’t allowed to urinate (= go to toilet) in the street

Group 4

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4. You can’t smoke while you are walking

5. Dogs are only allowed if you carry them in a bag (= Dogs must be carried

in a bag)

6. Horses aren’t allowed on the highway.

As far as the modal verbs are concerned, there are some other types

of activities that can focus on their meaning, form or use or on a combination

of some of them.

A.5. British and American business etiquette

Aim: developing reading skills, using modal verbs for business rules and

conventions

Level: upper intermediate

This activity is extremely useful for the ESP students. It is meant to focus

both the grammar structures, in this case the modal verbs, and on business

English. It can also be considered as a sort of test for checking the students’

knowledge about the differences between the American and British culture.

The students are given the following statements and they are asked to use

modal verbs to fill in the gaps so that the statements are true.

• You … call a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish person

“English”.

• You ... call the managing director of a company the

“CEO”.

• In America, you … mention your achievements in a job

interview, but in the UK you ….

• In America, you … say how proud you are of your

children’s achievements, but In the UK you …

44

• The British often make critical comments about their

country. You … join in by making other negative

comments about the UK.

• In the UK, you … say sorry to someone who has bumped

into you, even though it isn’t your fault at all.

• In the UK, you … pay for each round of drinks and take

turns paying.

• You … smoke in a British pub.

• In the UK, you … bring humor into every meeting,

presentation and conference speech.

• You … be exactly on time for a British business meeting,

but you …. arrive ten to twenty minutes late for a dinner

party at someone’s house.

• You … use first names with all but the very top managers

of your company in both America and the UK.

The activity can be continued by asking the students to discuss in groups on

the following topic: What things above are different in your country?

A.6. Accommodation rules guessing game

Aim: travel English (vocabulary connected to accommodation Hotel, youth

hostel, dorm, university halls, B and B, and host family rules) , modals

Level: upper intermediate

A: Choose and circle any one of the rules below and see if your partner can

guess which one you have chosen by asking yes/ no questions, e.g. “Are there

any special rules about the bathroom?” or “Do I have to do anything at any

particular time?”

B: Circle one more rule. The rule you have circled is one of the rules of the

accommodation that you are the owner of. Your partner can choose if they

45

are looking for a youth hostel, host family, university halls (dorm), hotel or B

and B (bed and breakfast). Take questions from your prospective guest and

try to persuade them to stay in your accommodation. You can try to avoid

telling them any bad rules you have, but you cannot lie about it.

• You are supposed to vacuum your room after you have finished

staying in it.

• You are only allowed one shower a day.

• You mustn’t shower for more than 10 minutes.

• You are supposed to pray before you start eating.

• There is a 10 pm curfew (= you can’t go in or out after 10 pm.)

• You aren’t allowed to invite people of the opposite sex into your

room after 8pm.

• You have to bring your own towels.

• You have to bring your own bedding (sheets, pillowcase, duvet

cover etc.)

• You can’t enter your room from 10 am to 3 pm.

• You have to sleep in bunk beds.

• You have to clear away your dishes after you have finished eating.

• You have to take all your rubbish with you when you leave.

• You aren’t allowed to flush the toilet after other people have gone to

sleep.

• You have to turn the lights out by half past ten at night.

• You have to use a communal shower (= a big shared shower)

• You are allowed to keep a pet, but only one that can hold its breath

underwater for at least 6 minutes.

• You aren’t allowed to cook meat in the saucepans provided.

• You aren’t allowed to swear (use bad words)

• You can’t dye your hair in the shower

Discussion questions

All the rules above are true somewhere. Have you ever stayed anywhere with

any of these rules?

46

Which ones do you think are the best and the worst rules? Why do you think

they exist?

In pairs, one person take the role of a host parent and one person take the

role of a student staying in their house. Negotiate the house rules.

A.7. Past Modals Advice

Aim: expressing advice in the past

Level: upper intermediate

What advice would you give the following people?

• “I started smoking just in the evenings when I went out drinking

with my friends, who all smoke, but now I think I am addicted and

smoke 20 a day”

• “I left the country because I didn’t believe in doing military service,

but that now means I can’t visit my family without being arrested”

• “I have 30,000 dollars of student loans to pay back, but with the bad

economy I can’t get a well-paid job”

• “I was hungry and had no money to buy food, so I stole a sandwich

from the corner shop. I thought I had escaped but the shopkeeper

had seen me and I have been arrested for shoplifting”

• “My parents refused their permission for me to get married when I

was 17, so we went across the border to Scotland and got hitched.

Now my family won’t speak to me”

• “My crazy ex-boyfriend was following me around and making

threats, so I started carrying a gun to protect myself. Unfortunately,

the police stopped me for speeding and found the gun”

47

• “I brought home a fish I had caught and gutted it in the kitchen

when my son was there, but he was so disgusted that now he refuses

to eat fish or meat”

• “Before my mother went into hospital she had signed a statement

saying that if she lost consciousness she wanted us to switch off the

life support machine, but now I think she might have already had

Alzheimer’s when she signed that document”

• “I worked 50 hour weeks to finish a big project on time because I

thought I would be able to take it easy for a while because there

wasn’t much to do after the project finished, but now my boss and

colleagues are making pointed comments about me taking long

lunch breaks etc”

Change partners and discuss what advice you would give again, but this

time only discussing what they should have/ could have/ shouldn’t have done

in the original situation (rather than what they can do now to react to the

consequences) or what you would have done if you had been in that

situation.

A.8. Modals and idioms

Aim: travel English (vocabulary connected to accommodation Hotel, youth

hostel, dorm, university halls, B and B, and host family rules) , modals

Level: upper intermediate

With your partner, choose the verb which you think matches the situation

best. There is often more than one possible answer, depending on what you

think the best action is and cultural differences.

• If your latest project blows up in your face, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/

should/must quit your job as soon as possible.

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• If you are on the crest of a wave at work, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/

should/must quit and use that experience to get a better job elsewhere before

something goes wrong.

• If the share price has dipped, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must sell

your stock.

• If you get off on the wrong foot with your colleagues, you mustn’t/

shouldn’t/can/ should/ must tell your boss about the problem and ask his or

her advice.

• If you’re glad to see the back of your boss, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/

should/ must tell everyone you feel that way once he or she has left.

• If you are sure there is something wrong with the latest business plan but you

can’t quite put your finger on it, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must

mention your concerns in meetings about the plan.

• If a member of your family joins the same company as you, you mustn’t/

shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must keep them at arms length at work.

• You mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must keep your subordinates on their

toes at all times.

• You mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must use rules of thumb in most

business situations.

• If you’ve had to lay someone off due to overstaffing, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/

can/ should/ must say “You’re fired”.

• In Britain, if they all give you a big hand at the end of a meeting, especially a

small one, you mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must look embarrassed by

their praise.

• In Britain, if you can’t eat any more when you are someone’s guest, you

mustn’t/ shouldn’t/ can/ should/ must say “My eyes were bigger than my

stomach”

Do you think the advice for the last two would be different in your country or

the USA?

Do you know any other cultural differences between America and the UK?

49

A.9. Modals in the kitchen

Aim: modal verbs expressing absence of obligation and necessity

Level: intermediate

Making an Omelette

Making an omelette is easy. You … be a great chef to do it. Here are some

basic instructions:

1. First, break some eggs into a bowl. Break them carefully. You … let any

of the shell get into the omelette!

2. Next, mix up the eggs. You … use a special food processor — mixing

them with a fork is fine.

3. Then, heat some oil in a pan. Olive oil is best, but you … use olive oil.

You can use ordinary corn oil if you want. You … let the oil get too hot, or

it will start to burn.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and mix it a little.

5. When the egg mixture gets a little hard, fold it in half. It … be very hard

— just enough so that you can fold it.

6. After a couple of minutes, turn the omelette over. Be careful! You …

break it.

7. When the omelette is cooked, serve it immediately. You … let it go cold,

or it will taste horrible.

A.10. Advice to New Recruits

Aim: modal verbs expressing obligation and absence of obligation and

necessity

Level: upper - intermediate

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The following note comes from an army booklet, "Advice to New

Recruits." Complete the instructions by filling in the blanks with suitable

modals.

Welcome to Ranor Barracks!

Follow the rules, accept the advice and you will find your life in the

army interesting and fulfilling. You _____ have your hair cut very short in

the first month. After that you ________ grow it longer but it ______ never

touch your collar. Your uniform ______ be kept clean and tidy. Boots and

buttons __________ be polished daily. You ______ use cell phones on the

campus but you _______ switch them off during the training sessions. Before

joining you _____ have a medical check-up. You ________ undergo medical

examinations once a year during service.

A.11. The Environment Monitor

Aim: modal verbs

Level: upper - intermediate

In some schools the student - council members are assigned duties at

the beginning of every academic year. Write a job description to be given to

the newly elected Environment Monitor of your school. You may do this

individually. Later your class as a whole can come out with one duty list to

be displayed on the soft-board. You may use the words given below.

can, may, can't, mustn't, must, should, have to.

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One of the most direct methods for providing experience with

modals is to ask to students to re-phrase sentences. This can be done either as

a speaking or as a writing exercise, and offers an advantage over more

traditional cloze exercises in that the context is not open to interpretation.

Such interpretations of context are common and make it difficult to evaluate

whether the student is using the modal correctly (i.e., is he using should

because he thinks that the sentence refers to a suggestion or because he

thinks should is used to express obligation?).

Generally, with re-phrasing, students are given a sentence that

expresses modality without using a modal. They are then asked to re-phrase

this sentence, using the appropriate modal.

e.g. There is no need to live in Canada to study at the University of

Victoria. You can take a course by Internet.

………………. live in Canada to study at the University of Victoria.

You can take a course by Internet. (You needn’t))

However, there is no reason the presentation cannot be reversed,

with students being asked to re-phrase a sentence that contains a modal.

A variation, which might be helpful for lower-level classes, would

be to give students a choice of three possible answers / re-phrases

e.g. 1. You … buy the text book for this course. You can borrow mine.

a. You mustn't buy ..

b. You don't have to buy …

c. You should not buy …

2 This bus is free! You … buy a ticket.

d. You mustn't buy ..

e. You don't have to buy …

f. You should not buy …

3. You … pass a test to ride a bicycle.

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a. You mustn't pass ..

b. You don't have to pass …

c. You should not pass …

Fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice and so on, are as many means of

practicing the use or the form of modals expressing obligation and

necessity.

e.g. Choose the right answer

1. According to the law, drivers … at stop signs.

a. must stop

b. must to stop

c. must stopping

2. When a police officer asks to see your driver's license, you … to him/her.

a. must to show it

b. have got to show it

c. have got show it

3. If Richard wants to become a professional musician, he … every day.

a. has to practice

b. have to practice

c. haves to practice

4. Son: Mom, I don't want to clean my room. … it right now?

Mother: Yes, right now.

a. Do I have to clean

b. Do I must clean

c. Have I to clean

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5 Friend: … pay to see the doctor?

Brother: No, she … because she has medical insurance.

a. Do your sister have to / don't

b. Must your sister / mustn’t

c. Does your sister have to / doesn't

e.g. Fill in the blanks with a suitable form:

1. New drivers … take a test in order to get a driver's license. They have no

choice.

2. A: … go to work today? B: No, I don't because it's Sunday.

3. John … finish the report quickly because the deadline is today at 4 pm.

4. A: Jennifer lost her passport. … get a new one? B: No, she …. .She found

it in her purse.

5. I'm sorry, Mom. I … call you back later. My cell phone battery is dying.

4 Analysis of typical errors

The child's acquisition of his mother tongue coincides with the

development of his thinking power whereas at school, the development of his

native language coincides with his intellectual development.

When the pupil begins the study of a foreign language, at the age of

8 or 9, the habits of correct expression he has already acquired in his mother

tongue will obviously exert an important influence upon the new habits he is

expected to acquire in the foreign language.

That is why, on the one hand, the pupils will make a number of

pronunciation, lexical and grammar mistakes under the negative influence of

the native language and, on the other hand, certain common sounds, words

and grammatical structures in both languages will have to be turned to good

54

account through their transfer from the native to the foreign language. The

background of foreign language learning consists of certain linguistic habits.

These habits have been acquired during the acquisition of the mother tongue

and the acquisition of certain linguistic habits does not repeat in an identical

manner the child's acquisition of its native language.

In the process of learning, two linguistic systems are struggling

against each other in pupil's mind: the old system deeply rooted in his mind

which is used in the communication process in his native language and the

new system of the foreign language under study.

At first the learner of foreign language endeavours to approach the

foreign language starting from the phenomena in his mother tongue. The

greater the number of similarities between the two languages, the easier for

the young learner, the transfer of linguistic knowledge and habits. In fact, in

most cases, there are a great number of deep and essential differences

between the two languages.

A contrastive study of the two languages should not confine itself to

the major differences between two given languages. Similarities between two

linguistic systems are as important as the differences.

The complete linguistic material should be graded in such a way as

to ensure a more rapid and accessible assimilation of the foreign language.

The contrastive study of the foreign language and the native language should

precede the teaching process. Contrastive analysis will show the language

teacher the best procedures and techniques he must make use of in each

concrete instance, in order to present and cure the possible false analogies

inherently established by the pupils in their minds during the learning

process.

Some authors doubt whether pupils’ difficulties may be anticipated

from a comparison between the foreign language and their mother tongue.

Other authors hold the view that all languages are structural and systemic. In

other words, the ease of the difficulty of learning any pattern of a foreign

language rests not upon the intrinsic characteristics of the foreign language

55

itself but rather upon the structural characteristics of the native language

which child has learnt first and uses in thinking.

English modal verbs are regarded as one of the most difficult

subjects when students learn English grammar. Celce-Murcia & Larsen-

Freeman’s mentions that modal auxiliaries are among the more difficult

structures ESL/EFL teachers have to deal with. One of the reasons for this is

the form of modals. Some of your students, who have been told repeatedly

that present tense verbs with third person singular subjects require an –s

ending, over-generalize this rule to modals

e.g. She cans play tennis. (incorrect)

This overgeneralization results in errors because in English modal

auxiliaries (can, may, shall, will, etc.) are distinguished from other auxiliary

verbs (be, have, do) as well as from ordinary verbs by their lack of tense and

their resultant lack of subject-verb agreement; that is, modals do not inflect.

Also, specialists point that the different grammatical forms between

English modal verbs and ordinary verbs are responsible for the learning

difficulty in students. However, students seldom make such errors as adding

–s to modal verbs, combining two pure modal verbs in one sentence, or

inserting “to” between modal verb and main verb, because the grammatical

characteristics of modal verbs are as easy as those of ordinary verbs. What’s

more, when teachers teach modal verbs, they always emphasize the

grammatical differences between modal verbs and ordinary verbs. Thus,

students won’t have much difficulty learning the form of modal verbs.

Since the form of modal verbs is not the major reason that causes

learning difficulty in students, then, the main factors may lie in the meaning

of modal verbs. Each modal can have more than one meaning and each

meaning is a member of an inter-related system. When the student chooses to

use one modal, s/he is deciding not to use any of the other modals, thereby

indicating the degree of stress. Summing up, I could say that associating the

right modal with the right meaning represents the real touchstone. Students

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memorize the modals with their accompanying meanings, but they may have

no idea of the subtle social and cultural information each choice conveys.

Teachers can design activities that allow students to explore and get

comfortable with the formal properties of modals and semi-modals. When

designing these activities, teachers should be mindful of the fact that the

formal properties of one semi-modal will not necessarily transfer to the next.

In fact, many of the mistakes that students make with semi-modals come

from over-generalising formal properties.

In other words, modality itself is rather complicated in meaning.

The English modal verbs used to express modality are also complicated in

meaning. As is discussed above, each modal verb has epistemic and deontic

meanings. Besides, different modals can share the same meaning, but there is

subtle difference among these modals. For example, should, ought to, can,

may, might, and could all have the meaning—possibility.

A: Someone’s knocking at the door.

• B: It should/ought to be Henry. High certainty

• B: It can be Henry.

• B: It may be Henry.

• B: It might/could be Henry. Low certainty

Examples (1) to (4) all denote the speaker’s guessing about who is

knocking at the door; yet, there’s a logical possibility hierarchy among them

as shown above. According to Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, should

and ought to represent the highest possibility of all. As for can and may, the

speaker uses the former to show a higher certainty about his own inference.

If the speaker uses might or could, what he intends to convey, is a relatively

uncertain assumption. Hence, a speaker can convey different degrees of

certainty about something with different modals according to evidence

available in the real world or the belief he holds.

In sum, on one hand, every English modal has more than one

meaning; on the other hand, different modals can have the apparent same

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meaning. These features of English modal verbs contribute to a considerable

learning burden for the students because they don’t know which one they can

use in a certain kind of situation. Moreover, other grammarians point out that

the problem lies in the recognition and proper use of the meanings

underlying the English modal verbs.

Another learning difficulty in students lies in associating the right

modal verb with the right meaning or the right situation. Specifically,

students may use modal verbs grammatically correctly; however, it is not

proper or appropriate in the situation.

Last, but not least, another problem with modal verbs arises from

their spelling and punctuation i.e. modals are often treated on the pattern of

a full verb especially when it comes to the negation and the place of the

modal in the sentence

The reason why they make mistakes when working with modals, is

that their knowledge about this is probably wrong and incomplete and that

there are many differences between English and Romanian language.

For example, mustn't causes problems for many students. It may be

substituted, as the opposite of must for:

- needn't, meaning no obligation: ‘I mustn't be in by ten o'clock’ for ‘I

needn't be in by 10 o'clock’

- can't meaning logical impossibility: ‘You mustn't be the plumber.’

Have (got) to is in many instances synonymous with must,

expressing obligation or high probability:

e.g: You must/have (got) to be home by midnight.

Somebody must/has (got) to know the answer.

Students are not always aware that must meaning 'obligation' is

preferred when the will or authority of the speaker is involved (e.g. when

giving an order); have (got) to is preferred when the obligation derives from

some external authority or circumstance not identifiable with the speaker's

will.

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A further difference between must and have (got) to in their

'probability' meaning, hardly noticeable by the students, is that have (got) to

is more emphatic. In the second example above, this difference is not

discernible, but in some contexts, the emphatic tone of have (got) to would

be inappropriate.

e.g.:

(The doorbell rings)

"That must be the plumber. We've been expecting him."

(Addressing a stranger)

"Oh hello! You must be the new typist.

In negative sentences, don’t have to expresses lack of obligation or

necessity, but this is not what was meant in :

e.g. I don't think that a worker has to earn the same as a doctor.

Here the speaker is expressing an opinion about the desirability of a

hypothetical situation (whether or not a worker should earn as much as a

doctor), which requires should.

Here are some examples of errors often made by my students

regarding the misuse of the modal verbs:

1. The art school is too far away. It must be easier to reach.

2. For an unwed mother, I think a legal abortion must be possible.

3. When a couple is sure from the beginning that they don't want a

baby it must be legal to abort the fetus.

4. It should be larger or there must be another one like it.

5. But she must have the decision, not some unknown doctor.

6. When the husband earns a lot of money, the wife must not work.

7. I must not pay for my cigarettes. That's why I smoke.

8. The author means you must not be intellectual to learn a foreign

language.

9. Young people are glad that they themselves must not cope with the

problems of retirement.

Students’ understanding of the differences in meaning regarding

must, should , ought to, is sometimes very little. Obligation, necessity,

desirability are notions that are very closely related.

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Must is used in senses parallel to should, but more emphatically or

categorically. That means that where should or ought to indicate desirability

and moderate probability, must expresses necessity or obligation and high

probability.

The examples l -5 describe situations that do not exist but are

desirable, so should or ought to is the most appropriate form. It is true that

the desirability of a state of affairs can sometimes be expressed emphatically

or rhetorically by expressing it as a necessity or obligation, in which must is

conceivable. Must normally requires that the speaker is the person in

authority, the one who is imposing the obligation. For example, a sentence

like Unemployment must be eliminated! would be assumed to have been

uttered by a politician, or member of a political party, who would

conceivably be in a position to exert some influence on the situation. This

implication of the speaker's authority is not appropriate in l -5.

A particular error, frequently made by my students, is that they

express the lack of obligation and the negative obligation by the same means:

must not - the obligation not to do something:

lack of obligation - You don't have to go.

- You needn't go

negative obligation - You mustn’t go.

- You can't go.

In 6 -9 lack of obligation is the intended meaning, for which don't

have to or needn't/don't need to is the correct expression.

Another problem concerning the modals is their past and future

meanings and forms. Learners find it hard to use apparently past and

perfective forms for future reference or having once learnt this, to apply the

form to past or present reference. On the other hand, if students recognise a

'past' form modal they may fail to recognise it as having future meaning or be

unwilling to use it in this way.

For example, the perfect infinitive is usually added to must to

express a past reference but also an inference on the part of the speaker.

Students can also find occasional examples where must + perfect infinitive

is equivalent in meaning with “this should already have been done”.

e.g. You must paid your instalments to the bank before getting another

60

loan. INSTEAD OF

You must have paid your instalments to the bank before getting

another loan.

It must have been quite a surprise.

For future time reference, students should use am/are/is, which also

expresses a command or an instruction issuing from the speaker or an

external authority. The error they make is to use will before the modal verb.

e.g. You will must to hand in the paper tomorrow.

INSTEAD OF

You are to hand in the paper tomorrow.

Aside from the complicated meanings of modal verbs, which result

in learning difficulty, the teaching resources such as teachers and textbooks

or grammar books may also contribute to learning difficulty. Sometimes,

secondary school teachers ignore the semantics of modal verbs. They only

focus on the grammatical characteristics without noticing the subtle different

meanings of each modal verb. Nor do they emphasize the appropriate use of

each modal verb. The lack of complete description aggravates the learning

problem. Similarly, textbooks and grammar books only emphasize that

modal verbs are auxiliaries but do not focus on their semantics and functions.

In addition to all the reasons mentioned above, there is still one

more important factor that causes learning difficulty — the interference of

students’ native language. Another source of difficulty with the form of

modals, of course, may be your students’ native language(s).That is because

not all languages have modal auxiliaries.

All in all, English modality is somewhat complex for EFL students.

The form of English modal verbs is not that difficult. The real difficulty lies

in:

61

(1) Each modal verb has more than one meaning—epistemic and

deontic meaning. Besides, several modal verbs share the same meaning but

have fine differences.

(2) Students have difficulty associating right modal verbs with

right meaning in the right situation.

(3) Textbooks or grammars books do not provide complete

description and teachers don’t teach modal verbs in context.

(4) Students’ native language(s)’ modality system is different from

that of English, and this results in learning interference. Students can learn

the appropriate usages of modal verbs and apply them in the right situations.

5 Analysis of English textbooks

English is the world’s most widely used language; it is used as an

international medium of communication among speakers, all over the world.

The first results of its worldwide spread character was that specialists from

different domains (linguists, socio-linguists, psychologists) focused their

attention on the study of English and a new methodology developed,

combining old and new theories of teaching English. They have

authoritatively analysed and described the language, its workings standard

and sub standard varieties.

Given the new position of our country in the democratic world and

international institutions, English has become a top priority in the learning

agenda of most Romanians. Eventually, virtually any professional will be

required to possess good mastery of English in order to be able to care with

their duties. Fortunately enough, both learners and officials became aware of

this quite quickly, which explains the learners’ increased interest in the study

of English, as well as the undeniable efforts made by the Romanian Ministry

of Education to modernize the process of teaching and learning English in all

its aspects.

62

Although great attention has been paid to the new national

curriculum, there are still aspects of the language that are rather neglected or

not studied thoroughly. It is the case of modal verbs and their power to help

students cope with many aspects of the language due to their various

pragmatic and semantic characteristics.

Many of the course books are structured around a series of language

forms. Teachers and students focus on them one by one because they are on

the syllabus. This is often called focus on form because the chief organising

principles behind a course is learning these forms. Some grammarians

consider this very effective. It is also considered as being very effective the

method of allowing students to notice the form. One way of coming across it

is through instruction. That means that the teacher draws students’ attention

to it. On the other hand, students can notice the forms easily in general

contexts of the daily life, in music, advertisements, music, TV programmes.

e.g. Can I help you?

How dare you?

You must listen to me.

These are only a few constructions that students usually meet all around them

and their acquisition is very easy.

When modals are tackled in the EFL classroom following the design

of most textbooks, they are treated as a grammatical category. Their form

and function are presented on a pair with the form and function of other

auxiliaries, for example be for the construction of the passive voice, or

progressive aspect. However, the criteria used to classify and introduce them

are not based on their grammatical behaviour but on their semantic capacity

to express notions such as possibility, certainty, obligation, permission and

so on. The indiscriminate combination of this double criterion brings

confusion to the subject, for the formal simplicity of modal verbs clashes

with the semantic complexity of the modality phenomenon.

63

That is more, most textbooks and grammars generally opt for a

sentential environment or, at best, a much-controlled discourse context to

practise questions concerning meaning and use, thus increasing the feeling of

imprecision during the learning process. This widespread situation gives

evidence of the strong indeterminate grammatical semantic tie that is at work

when modals are taught in the classroom and of the complications that may

derive from this situation. To verify the treatment of modals in the EFL

classroom, I will analyze a reduced but representative sample of course

books which enable us to show some of the problems that may derive from

the inappropriate unconscious use on the part of the teachers of the

pedagogical material.

The textbooks selected are upper intermediate level and have been

chosen at random among a number of books that have been recently used as

textbooks in our English classes or that have been considered potentially

valuable for use in these classes. In all cases, explanations and practice on the

use of modals are found scattered throughout the grammar sections of these

books; they appear together with other varied grammatical aspects such as

tenses, passive voice, the use of the article, transitive and intransitive

constructions, and the like.

However, in the case of modals, this grammatical affiliation is

invariably based on their meaning, as little mention is made, with very few

exceptions, of their grammatical behaviour and formal peculiarities. Some of

the books consulted do not even identify modal verbs as such; they turn

directly to the semantic values they represent although this is done in the

grammar parts of the units.

The five textbooks contrasted are:

• PROSPECTS, 2003, Ken Wilson, James Taylor, Deirdre

Howard – Williams

• STRAIGHT FORWARD, 2007, Philpp Kerr, Ceri Jones

• UPSTREAM, 2003, Bob Obee, Virginia Evans

• LINK, 2002, Rachel Finnie

64

• MISSION, 2007, Virginia Evans, Jenny Dooley

Out of the five textbooks that have been contrasted, three of them – LINK,

UPSTREAM, STRAIGHT FORWARD - consistently talk about modal verbs

in the sections they devote to them. LINK distributes the uses they study into

three blocks: modal verbs 1, modal verbs 2, and modal verbs 3, nonetheless

attending to customary semantic criteria, as has been said above. In modal

verbs 1 they consider those forms expressing ability, obligation necessity; in

modal verbs 2 they deal with possibility and certainty; modal verbs 3 focuses

on advice. UPSTREAM follows a similar organization and present a section

entitled modal verbs that is divided into three: modals dealing with

obligation, necessity, modals dealing with possibility and impossibility and

modals dealing with ability and permission and a section entitled past that

deals with the past forms and past modals. The third one, STRAIGHT

FORWARD, divides the modal verbs into two categories: modals of

speculation and modals expressing prohibition, obligation and permission.

Each of the three five books has a grammar reference section and

students are sent to the end of the course book for additional information or

just for reminding certain structures. The only course book that has a

language section at the end of each unit is STRAIGHT FORWARD, thus

making it easier and handier for students to look for the information they

need. They include under the double label speculation and deduction can and

might for probability, could for deduction and must or certainty.

While the values covered in the three books are coincident, it seems

of interest to illustrate the potential instability of the semantics of modals that

the authors of STRAIGHT FORWARD, Philpp Kerr and Ceri Jones choose

to include the common values of probability and certainty under the more

general denomination of modals of speculation and deduction. These may be

seen as an indication of the subjectivity and flexibility that is found not only

in the actual use of modals in real discourse but also in the theoretical basis

adopted for their description.

Contrary to the above three mentioned, MISSION never discusses

these auxiliary verbs. It is pretty much a vocabulary based course book. Even

65

if the authors consider that the use of English sections are provided

throughout the book, to enable students to use English effectively, there is, in

fact, only one mention of the modals. The mention is connected to a

rephrasing exercise. There are no grammar explanations or using suggestion

made anywhere except in the grammar reference section where there is a

very short overview of the main modals uses and meanings. In this sense,

they indirectly draw attention away from their grammatical status as a

distinctive formal category.

As far as PROSPECTS is concerned, it fuses both approaches. It

refers to modals merely as forms and therefore, it speaks directly of could

and was/were able to in unit 9; have to and must in 13. The only reference

about the modals is made in unit 17. This unit is about means of expressing

the past and there is a mention about modal verbs in relation with modals in

the past.

It should be mentioned that, one way or another, the problem of the modal

verbs is tackled in all the five textbooks. On the other hand, the teacher is the

one who has to add, adapt and replace, if necessary for the grammar structure

to fit the level or the interests of he students. For example, when we talk

about MISSION, the teacher enjoys the freedom of doing whatever s/he

considers necessary during the grammar classes.

With a good course book, there is a good possibility that the

language content and sequencing in the book will be appropriate, and that the

topics and the treatment of the different language skills will be attractive.

Using course books creatively is one of the teacher’s premier skills. The way,

in which teachers get students do exercises, read texts or solve puzzles, is

extremely important. Another very important moment is at what point at the

lesson the teacher get the students open the books. If the moment is not

appropriate, that means before giving instructions, students won’t

concentrate on what the teacher has to say. Furthermore, do not go through

the book line by line. They use parts of that are the most appropriate for their

class and make suitable changes to the material so that it is exactly right for

their students. For example, if the teacher feels that students need more

66

explanations about modal verbs, or any other grammar structure, s/he can

explain as many times as necessary for the students to be capable to use

correctly the form and to employ the right meaning.

In conclusion, I can say that whatever the quality and quantity of

information may be presented in a course book, the teacher’s duty is to do the

best so that the students get the best understanding and consequently, the best

results.

CONCLUSIONS

Although some of my students have a fairly good understanding of

the form and meaning of the modals, they are very far from understanding all

there is to know about their uses. Modal verbs can be used in very subtle

ways, to try to advise or control others, to express positive and negative

affect, to mark attitude or show authority any they can be considered to be a

very intricate structure.

The work starts form the premise that teaching modern languages is

a very complex process which requires a lot of patience and imagination. We

must emphasize the fact that although foreign language methodology is

based upon a number of fundamental principles, the teaching of each modern

language has certain specific features. These features are determined on one

hand by the peculiar characteristic of foreign language under study and, on

the other hand, by the correlation between the foreign language under study

67

and the native language for the learners. When the pupil begins the study of a

foreign language at the age of 8 or 9, their habits of correct expressions he

has already acquired in his mother tongue will obviously exert an important

influence upon the new habits he is expected to acquire in the foreign

language. Later on, students will become aware of the fact that they need to

master English correctly to communicate properly. The teacher’s job is to

present the students with clear information about language – meaning and

form, and to find the most attractive contexts.

What we say is, in the end, governed by rules – grammar rules,

pragmatic rules, semantic rules, pronunciation rules. There are rules for every

facet of the language. If the teacher can deepen his / her understanding of

those rules, then s/he can articulate to students why it is that we say what we

say. And that is something that rarely leaves people dissatisfied.

Both the student and the teacher can sense the inherent complexity

lying beneath the surface. Capturing that complexity and repackaging it in a

form that students can use to internalise the complexity into their own

language is one of the most interesting, and rewarding, challenges ESL/EFL

teachers face.

The balance normally required in pedagogical grammars when

presenting material that is simplified enough for students to understand, is

double magnified in the modal system. The teacher is required to present an

extremely intricate system with enough complexity to illustrate the

relationship of the modal auxiliaries to each other and their place in a

semantic system. It is never easy to package complexity into the meaningful

pieces of information teachers present to their students. And modals are very

complex indeed. At the formal level we form modal auxiliaries and

determine whether to treat a word as a modal or as another part of speech. At

the semantic level, we not only have to deal with the meanings of the various

modals, but the different classes of modal found in English. Syntactically, the

question is whether all modals are auxiliaries. Since a whole class of modals

is used interpersonally, the pragmatics of modal use must be considered.

68

The biggest problem my ESL students face with modals is their

meaning. Each modal can have more than one meaning and each meaning is

a member of an inter-related system. When the student chooses to use one

modal, s/he is deciding not to use any of the other modals, thereby indicating

the degree of stress. Summing up, I could say that connecting the right modal

with the right meaning represents the most important achievement.

When designing activities connected to the modal verbs, teachers

should be mindful of the fact that the formal properties of one semi-modal

will not necessarily transfer to the next. In fact, many of the mistakes that

students make with semi-modals come from over-generalizing formal

properties.

As far as exercises are concerned, “variety is really the key” says

Michael Swan in his article How to teach grammar: Three Golden Rules.

“There's nothing wrong with mechanical exercises – gap-filling, sentence

transformation and so forth. These can help learners to grasp the form of a

complex structure at the outset without having to think too much about the

meaning. But it's important to move on to activities where the structure is

used in more interesting and realistic ways. The structure-oriented problem-

solving activities and quizzes, games, picture-based work, text-based work,

role-play are exercises that get students using the structure to talk about

themselves and their ideas, exercises that combine grammar practice with

vocabulary learning, and internet-exploration activities, to name just a few

approaches.”1

In these respects, this work is meant to be as an answer given to all

those learning English, confronting with difficulties of understanding, and

consequently using, modal verbs. It is a detailed approach of modal verbs

expressing necessity and obligation, both on account of their form and

1 Swan, M. 7 February, 2011, How to teach grammar ,

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/michael-swan/how-teach-grammar-0

69

meaning, in order to find ways of dealing with modality and it displays a

wide variety of exercises and activities that can be used in teaching this topic.

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