This document outlines an English activity for 8th grade students focusing on past and present tense. It includes 4 tasks: 1) copying and filling in a passage with correct tenses, 2) writing a paragraph highlighting tenses, 3) preparing a short story in groups highlighting tenses, and 4) underlining and identifying tenses in a given text. It also discusses characteristics of authentic activities, noting how this activity provides real-world relevance, allows students to work collaboratively and use resources, and creates a polished final product. The activity aims to help students understand and identify tense usage in writing.

1. Activity brief
Grade: 8
Subject: English
Mrs. Masilela
Past and present tense
Task 1
Activity 1
In your classwork book. Copy the following passage and write the correct tense in
the open spaces.
Early this morning before I to school, I and heard my neigbourabout her mother in
law. On my way to school, one learner the road without, the carher by accident, then
the driverand out of his car toifthe learner fine. She thento the hospital. It was so
shocking, because it all so fast.
Activity 2
I. Write your own paragraph in your classwork book
II. Highlight the past and the present tense with two different colours.
Task 2: projectDue date: 25 May 2013
In groups of 5. Prepare a short story, where you as a group will write down a short
story.
 Discuss what your short story will be about.
 Write down your ideas.
 Formulate your ideas. (Your story should have a title in a form of tense e.g.
“trapped”, 5 characters and obviously an ending, but most importantly it
should be well structured. You can also use short story books to have an idea

2. on how to write your short story. You can also use dictionaries to check your
spelling and you are welcome to use other sources that will help).
 After writing the story, as a group, highlight the past tense with a green
highlighter and the present tense with a blue highlighter.
Task 3
In your groups of 5.
 You will write down the present and the past tense that you have highlighted,
on a big chart.
 Then write the present tense that you highlighted with a blue colour in your
short story on the chart and give the past tense of these words, then do the
same with the past tense that you highlighted with a green colour and write
the present tense of those words.
 You will then divide those words amongst yourselves and then as a group,
each member will do a presentation on the tense that you highlighted in your
short stories.
Task 4
In the given text underline the words that are in past tense and the present
tense.
Write those words which you have underlined in your classactivity book.
Then write the past tense of the words in the present tense that you have
underlined and then write the present tense of those words that are in the past
tense.

3. Characteristics of authentic activities
1. Authentic activities have real-world relevance- learners go home and find
resources to help them with their project. This helps with their vocabulary, in
terms of speaking, they will know what tenses to use in a sentence.
2. Authentic activities are ill-defined, requiring students to definetasks and
subtasks needed to complete the activity- learners write their own paragraphs
and then identify the present and past tense that they found in their
paragraphs.
3. Authentic activities comprise complex tasks to be investigated by
students over a sustained period of time- I have used it by the learners having
enough time to complete their project task, by this I have taken into
consideration that they need time to find the needed resources to guide them.
4. Authentic activities provide the opportunity for students to examine
the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources- in the group
project, learners can use a variety of resources to help enrich their
assignment. The reason why I used this in my activity, because I want the
learners to do the right thing and giving them time to do the project will lead to
them achieving it. I have used this in my activity, because I want the learners
to use the resources as a guide.
5. Authentic activities provide the opportunity to collaborate- I know that when
learners work with each other they bring different ideas and they interact and
think critical, when sharing information.
6. Authentic activities provide the opportunity to reflect- I used this in my
activity, so that the learners combine their information (team dynamics), as a
group then give me an oral representation for me to see if they understand the
content or the meaning of the project.
9. Authentic activities create polished products valuable in their own
right rather than as preparation for something else- I used this characteristic,
so that my learners prepare themselves for the group project and have an
idea on how they must do, when I give them the project task.