Standard English Verbs

EnglishGrammar & PunctuationAges 8–9

Use Standard English verb inflections in place of non-standard local forms

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Teaching Table

Set out your lesson

Use the requested Standard English verb forms in an invented formal written note without judging home speech.

Activity

Check that the learner can find the verbs in 'She has a bag' and 'We were outside'. If needed, name the subjects she and we and explain that some verb forms change with the subject. Use invented examples, not corrections to the learner's family speech.

Policy

Check readiness directly. Prerequisite availability is not attainment.

Use paper or speak first and then write. Explain the audience: these are practice notes for a school display that asks for Standard written English. No account of the learner's dialect or home is needed. Treat dialect differences with respect. Read the active prompt on screen and write on plain paper; no printer, cutting or purchase is needed. An adult may read instructions without naming target forms. Record reading help, verb hints and scribing separately. Oral answers can show language choices but do not show independent written composition or handwriting. Pause or split the lesson if needed. Adult-only. Keep all keys and scripts off learner pages. Share only the active Show solution. Put Show and Guided examples aside before Try. Do not show a future-stage key. Use invented characters and ordinary paper. Do not collect names, home-language samples or private family events. All rules, clubs and events are fictional.

Record the actual response and assistance. These tasks do not establish mastery.

Use the complete materials on screen or print only the current sheet. Keep adult guidance out of learner view. Retain an earlier model only when the current step supplies it as context.

Teaching limits and safe use

These are finite task opportunities, not proof of mastery. Record what was attempted and what support was used.

The exact canonical text uses non-standard local forms. It is preserved in provenance, but teaching does not label a community or child as deficient.
Only a few written verb patterns are sampled. No personal speech evidence is collected.

Record the actual response and assistance. These tasks do not establish mastery.

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Use the requested Standard English verb forms in an invented formal written note without judging home speech.

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Check understanding

Correct 'we was playing' to 'we were playing' and explain why the standard form is needed in writing
Choose the standard form in pairs such as 'I did / I done', 'she has / she have', 'they were / they was'
Rewrite a short passage replacing three non-standard verb forms with their Standard English equivalents

“If your child sometimes says "we was" or "they done it" in conversation, do they know to write "we were" and "they did it" in their schoolwork — using standard written English?”

Curriculum record

Type: Procedural
Subject: English
Domain: Grammar & Punctuation
Age range: Ages 8–9