Articles: a/an
Elementary level
Description
Main Aims
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To provide clarification and practice of the indefinite articles ''a/an'' in the context of jobs
Subsidiary Aims
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To provide process and product writing practice of a paragraph in the context of personal information
Procedure (43-60 minutes)
*On the whiteboard, I write up three sentences about myself. I get students to discuss in pairs/small groups which sentences they think are true and which is false. I mention that there is only one false sentence whilst there are two true sentences about myself. I listen to their answers and then reveal which are true and which is false.
(a game about jobs) Ask students who wants to act. Let students choose from cards with different jobs which card they want to act. Students act without speaking to let their colleagues find out which job is being acted. listen to them.
*Give the students a handout that contains the exercises. *Ask them to answer the matching exercise in the handout. *Give instructions: match the jobs in the following box with the pictures below. *Ask students to check their answers in pairs. *Let students listen to the audio. *Give feedback by demonstrating with them.
*Ask students to flip over the paper. *Write jobs on the whiteboard e.g.( police officer, doctor, actor, engineer) *Elicit from students by asking them what should I write before e.g. (police officer)? Do I say ''a police officer'' or ''an police officer''? *Ask a ccq: so a police officer means one police officer or more than one? *Drill 4 sentences: - He's a police officer. -He's an actor. -She's a singer. -She's an actress.(pronounce the sentences with linking). *Ask students why do you think I write ''a'' before ''police officer'' and ''an'' before ''actor'' and start to elicit by asking them what are the vowel letters and what are the consonant letters, OR ask students when do we use ''a'' and when do we use ''an''. *Ask students ccqs: -Do we use ''a'' with consonant letters? -Do we use ''an'' with vowel letters? *Write the form on the whiteboard.
*Ask the students to write four true sentences about themselves and their family using ''a'' and ''an'' as in practice 1 *Provide a model and demonstration first e.g: -I'm a teacher. -My father is an engineer. - My mother is a social worker. -My uncle's a lawyer. *Give the students time to write. *Teacher monitors and gives help if needed. *Ask them to check their answers in pairs. *Give the students feedback by asking them about any interesting information they have known about their friends and start to correct mistakes.
*Ask the students to write a short paragraph about themselves as in practice 2. *Give students time to write. *The students start to write individually. *Teacher monitors and gives help if needed. *Ask students to check their answers in pairs. *Divide the students into groups and ask them to tell you any interesting information about their colleagues. *Give them feedback by correcting their mistakes.
*Ask students to leave their chairs. *Stick cards with famous character on the students' back. *Provide a model and demonstration first by picking a card and tell them to say three sentences about the card. e.g. (He's an actor. He's from the USA. He isn't married.) (Leonardo DiCaprio). *Let them check each others' back. *Give them time to prepare. *Students start to mingle with each other. *Teacher monitors and gives help if needed. *Give them feedback by correcting their mistakes.