Should And Shouldn’t

Hi Everyone,

What are modal verbs? When do we use them? Well, modal verbs are a group of auxiliary verbs used to express possibility, obligation, advice, permission, and ability. Some common modal verbs we all know are :

One thing to remember is that since modal verbs are “auxiliary” verbs they always require another verb in a sentence. For example: They should study harder to get good grades! Here is the review and practice of modal verbs we did together. 

Our focus yesterday was on giving advice using should and shouldn’t. Here’s the practice worksheet we worked on using should and shouldn’t to create some dialogues. 

A. My English is not very good.

B. You should practice speaking and listening more!

 

 

So, today we have a lot of stuff to get done! (stuff means things). We talked about all the stuff we need to do at work, at home, at school, on vacation, etc. But sometimes the stuff doesn’t get done….why? Well, the main reason is procrastination? Huh, what’s that? To help us understand what procrastination means we watched this funny video, which is a comic strip called “Procrastination”. Take a look at it here:

After watching and talking about what was going on with this guy, we came up with a definition of procrastination (noun)- the action of delaying or postponing something. Someone who procrastinates (verb) is a procrastinator (noun).

We talked about all the activities that the guy in the video did, but, he didn’t get any of his “stuff” done! Are you a procrastinator? Why? Some of us admitted to procrastinating because the “stuff” or task may be difficult; confusing; lack information; boring;unpleasant; or lots of other reasons. So how do we procrastinate? Check out Facebook or Instagram or Twitter??? Read a book, take a walk, work in the garden for a few minutes…. Maybe our day looks like this:

So we all procrastinate at some time or another, and we watched this next video in which the narrator defines procrastination and shows over 40 ways to procrastinate! Take a look here

This is a clever and amusing view of procrastination, and we also agreed that we too have done some of these things! At the start of the video he talks about procrastination as “avoiding something”, and “not being able to get started”.

Then after listing all the activities he says at the end that procrastination is not being able to decide what way to do something; over complicating things for yourself; being afraid to finish something; not knowing when to finish something; not knowing how to finish something……

We talked about advice we would give to a procrastinator. You should do the task first thing in the morning. You should prioritize the job. You should make lists of what to do. You should work with a partner. You should get advice and help when you need it. You should reward yourself. You should’t multitask. You shouldn’t distract yourself.

Procrastination may even be beneficial, in that it allows you to de-stress from a situation or project, and may allow you to relax and refresh, and even give you a different perspective, so you can get all your stuff done!

Remember to relax and practice!