“Good evening, everybody!” said the teacher, Donna. “Where everybody?” That was sort of a daily joke Donna. Usually the class started with only two three students present, and then filled up as minutes went by. It was summertime. Summer school only eight weeks long. Class attendance was always than during fall and spring semesters.

“I don’t , teacher. Maybe they late or no come,” said student. “Maybe watching TV football tonight.”

“Is there soccer game tonight? It seems like there’s a game every night. Oh, well. Let’s get started, ? We’re on page 36 in the workbook. Tonight ’re studying participles as adjectives. Students are always confused they learn about the present and past participles, we will practice this a lot. Tonight, we’re going to practice the present participle.

“The present tells us what emotion or feeling the subject causing. For example, ‘Grammar is boring’ means that subject—grammar—causes an emotion of boredom. If we say, ‘ movie is interesting,’ we are saying that the causes a feeling of interest. If we say, ‘ roller coaster is exciting,’ we are saying that roller coaster causes a feeling of excitement. Any so far? Am I confusing you? Is everyone ?”

The classroom was quiet. Donna looked at blank . They were confused. She knew this would take while. But eventually, the faster students would grasp , and then they would help the slower students. the end of the evening, most of the would feel comfortable using the present participle.

Donna the board and put some new examples on . She loved guiding her students through difficult topics this one. She always felt a little bit when the look of understanding came to their .