STEP 1: Presentation
What is it?
The presentation stage of the PACE Model is the most important. The Presentation stage of the model requires the teacher to essentially tell the students a story. This can either be a real-life story of an event in the teacher's life or a fictional story that is teacher-created. Also, fairy tales and other oral legends can be used as a way to tell a good story while integrating aspects of the target culture. However, there is more to this step than just telling a story.
Because the PACE Model is used for teaching grammar, it is critical that the grammar point being taught is incorporated into the story. The grammar point must appear very frequently so that the students can "catch" it. The grammar point needs to be salient* so that it "stands out" in the story. For example, if the lesson is designed to teach past tenses, be sure to include as many examples of past tense verb conjugations in the story as possible. That way, as the students listen to the story, they are hearing many examples of the past tense verb conjugations while at the same time, understanding that all of the events in the story happened in the past. The PACE Model works by allowing students to notice the patterns involved in language and grammar. Therefore, you need to include a lot of examples of the grammar point so that students can begin to pick up the pattern.
Making the Input Comprehensible
You might be thinking that students in a beginning-level class will never be able to understand a story without first explaining all of the grammar and vocabulary words involved. However, that is not always true. There are lots of ways to help make the story (and all language) comprehensible to the students. First, you can have a few quick prestorytelling activities to prepare the students. These activities could include going over some of the key vocabulary words or asking students about their own personal experiences regarding the theme of the story. This will activate the students' prior knowledge on the topic so that they are better prepared and have an idea about what they are about to see and hear.
To help make the story more comprehensible, visuals (such as pictures, maps, drawings, illustrations, etc), props, body language, gestures, puppets, or sound effects should be used. Create "characters" for your story by showing pictures of them or drawing them on the board, show a map of where the event took place or a calendar of when it took place. Use props when you can-- if you are talking on the phone in your story, use a phone; if you a driving a car, set up a desk that will represent the car. Simply telling the story in a monotone voice without the use of supporting materials or gestures will likely not be effective, thus compromising the effectiveness of the entire lesson. Instead, it is important to be animated, lively, and interactive! Use picture slideshows and props to help tell your story! Use anything that will help the students understand your story.
Also, include students in the story. Having students interact with the story helps it to be more alive. Have volunteers come to the front of the room, for example, and allow them to act out the story as you tell it. The more interactive the story, the more effective the Presentation phase will be.
As you tell your story, your students will be focusing on meaning* and not on grammar. This is good! Don't expect your students to be focusing on the grammar point! Let them first focus on the meaning of the story. However, be sure to keep using the grammar point while speaking clearly. Loading up your story with as many examples of the grammar point as possible will help the students to better acquire* it. However, make sure that the grammar point sounds naturally occurring. That is, don't add so many examples of the grammar point, that is sounds obvious that you are only telling the story to show them the grammar point. Make the story sound natural! Also, if the grammar point you are teaching has a lot of "exceptions to the general rule", it may be a good idea to avoid the exceptions in the initial Presentation stage. Because your students are beginning to make hypotheses about how the grammar point is formed, adding a lot of exceptions will not allow them to initially see the grammar point's pattern. You can bring up any exceptions to them later, after they have had an opportunity to first see the general pattern.
How it Contributes to Learning
The Presentation phase helps the students focus on the meaning of the language before focusing on the grammar. This is how we naturally acquire language in the real world. It helps the students make the connection between how the grammar point sounds and how it is used in real language. Also, it gives a context for the grammar. Too often, grammar is presented using disconnected and random sentences that are not at all related to a larger discourse. Using the grammar in a real story helps students to see what it means and how it works. This will be most helpful to them down the road when they will be expected to use the grammar point on their own to tell their own stories.
However, just hearing the story will not teach them how to form the grammar point. They still don't know the "rules" for how to create it themselves. Instead, they only know what it sounds like. Also, what if there are a few students in the class who did not "catch" the grammar point? What if they didn't pick up on it just by hearing it in the story? To be sure everyone is on the same page, and to begin to focus on the grammar point as part of the lesson, it is important to bring all the students' attention to the grammar. This is done in the next phase of the model: Step Two: ATTENTION.