OPA STYLE: A STRATEGY TO PROMOTE MASTERY OF PAST TENSE VERBS

Most of our pupils are not aware that whatever sentence they write there will be at least a verb in it. It is also a known fact that many of our pupils (UPSR, PT3 or SPM candidates) still have problems with verbs when they construct sentences. No doubt, pupils have to master all the basic verbs, however, this article will only focus on the mastery of past tense verbs. Depending on the essay question, pupils do have to write about activities or events which happened in the past.

I always have pupils who fail to master past tense verbs. As a result, they tend to mix the tenses when they write a story or give descriptions of an activity which happened in the past. I developed OPA Style which stands for "Ongoing Paragraph Style" with the aim of reducing errors when they use past tense verbs. In other words, I aim for better language accuracy when they construct sentences using past tense verbs.

What is the concept of OPA Style? What must pupils do? For further details, please kindly click this link for you to explore and understand more about OPA Style. In short, surely, I have been applying OPA Style in my ESL classrooms for years. It works. It can assist my pupils to improve their mastery of past tense verbs and definitely reduce errors in their writing.

I know OPA Style is just an option. It may not be the best option in your teaching context. However, perhaps to others, this strategy signifies an opportunity which should be considered for promoting learning among our pupils and improvements to take place. This small opportunity, if implemented on ongoing basis, will surely open more windows of achievement for our pupils.