Resource centre - English grammar - Be used to / Get used to
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Be used to
Causative Have
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Few and Little
First Conditional
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Get Used To
Have and Have Got
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Used to
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Zero Conditional
be used to + noun or gerund
get used to + noun or gerund
How do you teach Be used to and get used to? Add your idea ยป
Have you ever lived or worked
abroad? If you have, you probably went through culture shock. I have spent a
year teaching in Africa and two years teaching in Japan. I can tell you, it took
me a long time to get used to some of the local customs.
(I then give some examples)
It was difficult getting used to having no electricity or running water when I
was living in Africa.
In Japan, I had to get used to bowing all the time, every time I met another
teacher or anyone to whom I had to show respect.
I had to get used to travelling in terribly crowded trains and being pushed on
the train by a professional pusher with white gloves.
I had to get used to putting my hand in front of my mouth every time I smiled,
as it is rude for women to show their teeth.
I had to get used to eating with chopsticks!
Students share their culture shock experiences. This can be widened to any new
life experience, living alone after living with one's parents, moving from a
village to a town, getting married, having a child. These can also be explored.
I teach "be used to" and "get
used to" together, because "get used to" is much easier to explain straight
after setting a context for "be used to".
I use the context of being used to driving on a different side of the road. So
if you're British and are teaching in a country where they drive on the right,
then you're in luck. Likewise, if you're American and are teaching where they
drive on the left - you get the idea. (If not, just use "Jimmy" as your example,
rather than yourself).
First, ask your students which side of the road they drive on in their country,
and in the UK. Then ask them what it was like for you (or Jimmy) when you first
arrived in (let's say) Spain. You want to elicit "strange" or "not normal".
Now tell them that you've been living in Spain for a year, and ask them if it is
still strange. Here of course you want to elicit that now it's normal for you.
Okay, now that you've established that, draw a timeline on the board, with
"PAST" on the left, and "NOW" on the right. Draw a cross to show when you
arrived in Spain, and reiterate that it wasn't normal for you to drive on the
right. You can even write "not normal" on the timeline. Reiterate also that now
it's no longer strange (write normal on the timeline under NOW).
Then present the target language: "Now, it's normal for me to drive on the
right. I'm used to driving on the right." When they're happy with this, repeat
with the past: "One year ago, it wasn't normal for me to drive on the right, I
wasn't used to driving on the right."
Give some other example at this stage, get them to come up with some of their
own, until they're quite comfortable with using "be used to "in different tenses
and situations. Then you can introduce "get used to". Refer to your timeline,
and elicit or present the idea of a change between a year ago and now. Elicit or
present this change as "get used to" - "During this time I got used to driving
on the right".
And that's pretty much it for the presentation. I find it takes a lot of
practice for students to be totally comfortable with it.
I teach 1st-year Japanese
university kids. Generally, they've had a lot of prior grammar instruction but
little practice in meaningful use. My task is to activate, or to establish links
between patterns they know and how to create meaning.
For 'get used to', I introduce it by talking about my experiences of Japan.
While doing so, I draw a timeline on the board. On the left-hand side of the
timeline, I write 'Then' and on the right, 'Now'. As students know the past
simple, example sentences like, 'When I first saw natto, I thought that it
looked funny'. (I accompany this with the appropriate 'yucky' gesture, which
usually gets a laugh.) I write 'natto' under 'Then'. I tell my students that 'I
had natto three times last week. I like natto.' Under 'Now', 'Like natto' gets
written. This forms the basis for the target sentence, 'I didn't like natto at
first. Now, I'm used to eating it.'
I repeat this example with others. 'Hardly ever ate rice -- eat it every day' /
'use chopsticks rarely -- use chopsticks with every meal'. And so on.
As students are in their 1st year, they are often not used to university life in
all respects. Some are living alone for the first time. I ask them to think
about life as a high school student and life now as a university student.
Students are asked to copy the timeline from the board and to add their own
examples. They produce the target sentence a few times using their examples.
Then, students get in pairs to ask and answer the following question: "How has
your life changed since coming to university?" They are encouraged to develop
their dialogues into conversations.
When I teach be used to
and get used to I prefer to share practical examples because it helps
the trainees to understand the concept better. For example...
"Manish is from a village so obviously he is not accustomed to living in noisy
and crowded areas... if he moves to a city he will get frustrated. Why? Because
he is not used to living in a city."
Now the trainer can add more to that and continue further with the same
example...
"If Manish starts living in the city he will get used to living
there..."
So here I can help students to understand that when you get into a habit of
doing something you use
get used to along with the -ing form of the verb to express a habit of
doing something.
For conversation based adults:
When teaching be used to I usually introduce it in the lesson after
used to (past). In the used to lesson we look at a familiar movie
that has a Cinderella transformation. A current example that is internationally
popular is
Slumdog Millionaire. We talk about what the lead characters used to do
(live in the slums) and what we imagine they do now (live in a mansion).
Jamal used to live in the slums, but now he lives in a big house.
Jamal used to have to steal food, but now he has plenty of money.
In the next class we talk about what the characters had to get used to
and what they probably are used to now.
Jamal had to get used to the paparazzi. Now he is used to the media
attention.
Especially with adults, they're usually pretty eager to talk about a film that
they've just seen or that is very popular, and therefore the conversation isn't
forced. In other words, it requires minimal creativity from the students.
Depending on the grammar level, you can mix in verb forms.
You can teach "be used to" and "get used to" by talking about marriage and how it changes one's life. Show pictures representing the "habits" you have or had. E.g. I am used to getting up late, I'm not used to washing someone else's clothes, etc. Then, show what "new" things and activities they'll need to adapt to; for example "When you get married, you'll need to get used to your husband's habits.
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