Grammar Galore by tan mei mei

2-10

1 2

3-5 6-8 9-11 12- 14 15-17

18-20 21-23 24-26 27-29 30-32 33 34-38

TOPIC: Nouns (Abstract nouns)

Activity type: Guess the word! (Charades) and constructing sentences.

Learning Objective: Students should be able to, construct sentences using the abstract nouns from the Charades activity on a sheet of coloured paper.

IMPORTANT ASPECTS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT

Preparation to do before the lesson:

1. Teachers should prepare a list of abstract nouns according to the number of students in a class. 2. Print them out and stick one abstract noun on each card. 3. Make sure the coloured papers are enough to be distributed for the entire class.

Few examples of abstract nouns stuck on cards. These are just examples, you can definitely have more. Make sure you have enough for the entire class. 4

Steps to carry out during the lesson:

1. Each student will be given one card which has an abstract noun as well a sheet of coloured paper. 2. They will take turns silently acting out their word (abstract noun) while the class guesses what it is. 3. Each student will be given 1 minute to act out the abstract noun given. 4. If students are not able to act it out within 1 minute then they will just have to read out the abstract noun. 5. After every act, all students should be writing down the abstract noun. 6. Once the students have guessed all the words, they should then create sentences for each word on the sheet of colour paper given.

Rational: Setting a time limit is a good way to challenge their thinking to act out based on the word given as it requires them to react faster which enhances their psychomotor domain.

TIPS!! 1. Do not provide easy abstract nouns only. To enhance their learning, try giving them tougher ones. 2. This activity can be very noisy as students might shout out to give the answers, hence make sure the classroom is managed well and the activity should go smooth. 3. Give them examples up front because students can get stumped with certain words such as generosity, advantage and etc. 4. This activity is best as a main or closure activity for a lesson. As it engages everyone and transmits knowledge in a fun way. 5

Topic: Adjectives (Comparative Adjectives) Activity Type: Flashcard

Learning Objective: Students should be able to compare objects with comparative adjectives using flashcards by comparing different images.

Make sure there are enough of flashcards for all the groups. This is to make sure none of the students are left out during the activity. 6

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Create flashcards with pictures of different objects which could be household items, shopping items, school items etc, OR fictional characters that students can be described. You can have a theme if you want, but be sure to have at least 2 of the same category/ object for them to compare. 2. Cut out small pieces of coloured paper for them to write out their adjectives. You will need a lot so prepare as many as possible. (At least 20 to a group) 3. Make sure to bring sticky tack and whiteboard markers for the activity. 4. Refer to the template below for ideas on how to design your flashcards.

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1) Students are to get in to groups of 3.

2) Each group will be given 4 flashcards each with 2 objects & 2 fictional characters randomly, and several small pieces of coloured paper. 3) In the groups, ask the students to stick the flashcards on the whiteboard using the sticky tack and write down on the coloured paper pieces adjective to describe it. 4) Once they’re done, bring the attention back to the front of the class and get two groups to bring their flashcards and adjectives in front and stick it on the whiteboard using sticky tack.

Put two objects together or fictional characters, side- by-side with the adjective (pieces of coloured paper) just below it, one from each group and get them to write down on the board as many “comparative adjectives” using the adjectives.

6) It is now a race between two groups to see who can come up with the most comparative adjectives in 20 seconds. Do this with the remaining groups and discuss what they have written afterwards. Rationale: 1) According to (Budden, 2017), “Flash cards are a really handy resource to have and can be useful at every stage of the class.” 2) By using the whiteboard as a medium for them to come up with the comparative adjectives, the other students as well as the groupmates can observe and also help out as they would also be learning and searching through their vocabulary. 3) This activity caters for all visual, kinesthetic and auditory learners because they move around the classroom, and they are given pictures as visuals and will hear what their friends have to say.

• Show them examples of comparative adjectives at the front of the class as a guide. • You may even put a guideline of the form of comparative adjectives like; (adjective), (adjective)-er, (adjective)-est and more/less (adjective)

Topic: Pronoun-Relative Pronoun Learning objectives: 1. Identify relative pronoun and its function. 2. Choose the suitable relative pronoun to complete a sentence. Activity type: Word Pong. (Game)

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1.

2. 3.

Prepare 7 plastic cups and label them with the relative pronouns (which, that, whose, whoever, whomever, who, and whom) Prepare a set of fill-in-the-blanks questions for each relative pronoun and put them in respective cups. Provide a ping pong ball for the word pong game

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Get the students to form a group of five and instruct them to stand in lines. 2. They are required to run across to the other side of the classroom where the plastic cups are placed.

4. Then, students will fling the ping pong ball into one of the plastic cups. 5. Next, they would take a question slip from the cup and answer the question. 6. Then, they complete the questions by writing the answer on the whiteboard and run back to their team members. 7. The team who can give out the most correct answers within 30 minutes wins. Rationale: 1. It cultivates cooperation between students while they are playing the game. 2. It caters for different learners: (a) Visual learners: They are able to see the questions on the question slips. (b) Auditory learners: They are able to listen to the questions being read by students. (c) Kinesthetic learners: They are able to move around by flinging the ball and answering questions. Revise this game as an assessment activity 1 Get the students to gather around and brief them through the instruction of the game. 2 Then, the students will fling the ping pong ball into the plastic cups and take a question slip from the cup. 3 Distinctly, the students would read the question out loud and choose the most suitable relative pronoun to complete the sentence. 4 Teachers will correct the students if the answer given is not suitable. 10 5 Hence, the students can learn along with others.

This is an illustration on how the game will be carried out in the class. Then, teachers places a set of question slips according to the relative pronoun in respective plastic cups. 11

Topic: Verbs (Transitive Verbs) Activity Type: Gamecootie catcher

Learning Objectives: 1. Construct sentences with transitive verbs 2. Apply the appropriate object accordingly with the transitive action verbs

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Start with a blank cootie catcher template. 2. As shown in the diagram, fill in the area, according to the colours. (a)Blue area - places *example: park (b)Purple area - voice type *example: alien voice (c)Pink area - transitive verbs *example: kick * Example: Juan is kicking a ball at the park

3. Cut out the template and fold it into a cootie catcher.

Refer to the diagram below for illustration of the cootie catcher. 5. Prepare markers and a mini whiteboard

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Get the students to form a pair and distribute a cootie catcher for each pair. 2. Then, instruct the students to construct 10 sentences by manipulating the cootie catcher. 3. After constructing a sentence, the students have to write their sentence on the mini whiteboard. 4. Lastly, the students are required to present their sentences accordingly with the voice type on the cootie catcher.

Rationale: 1. It promotes cooperative learning. - As students are interacting with each other to connect each component on the cootie catcher to construct sentences.

Instead of constructing sentences, teachers can instruct the students to create a short story with the transitive verbs on the cootie catcher along with the place. Finally, instruct the students to present their story with one type of voice which is written on the cootie catcher. Teachers can also encourage students to draw a picture about their story, as a visual for the narration.

TOPIC: Connectives (Cause & Effect)

Activity type: Grab the words. (Interactive game)

Learning Objective: Students should be able to, construct a proper sentence using the connectives on the Mah-jong paper.

Some aspects that should be taken into account

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Teachers have to prepare the connectives as big as possible in an A4 size paper. 2. There should have 6 connectives which are because, so, therefore, thus, consequently, as a result of and since. 3. Teachers can laminate the materials for future use. 4. Next, teachers have to prepare 6 sentences or more using those connectives that will be used in class. 5. Teachers should construct the sentence by having a blank place for the students to put their connectives in. 6. This can be done in a mah-jong paper. 15

7. An example of sentences are : - Since school was cancelled, we went to the mall. - When water is heated, the molecules move quickly, therefore the water boils. 8. The picture below, shows how students will be holding the cards.

SINCE

THEREFORE

BECAUSE

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Students will be taught the introduction of the cause and effect connectives 2. The class will be divided into half. One half of the class will be divided into two groups 3. After the introduction, 10 of the students from the class will represent the cause and effect connectives. 4. The 10 students will represent one connective in a piece of A4 paper. 5. The remaining students will be divided into groups of 3. 6. The groups will be given a variety of incomplete sentences. 7. Students will have to choose the correct and appropriate connectives which will be represented by the 10 students. 8. They connectives that will be taken should match to make a meaningful sentence. 9. Lastly, each group will present their sentences and teacher will monitor and correct the sentences if needed to be corrected.

TIPS!!

You can have a sentence with 2 connectives involved. This will challenge the students. A great activity to use as a revision before starting a new topic or subtopic.

Rational: Students will be able to relate the connectives learnt in their real life conversation.

CAUTION !!

Teachers have to ensure that students understand the meaning of the connectives. This is because, student tends to get confuse and assume some connectives might have the same meaning of it.

TOPIC: Adverb (Adverb of Degree) Activity type: Mix and Match (Game)

Learning Objective: Students should be able to, identify and arrange the words to form a proper and meaningful sentence using the words given in the envelope.

The number of sentences and envelopes should be determined according to the number of students in a class.

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Type up several groups of five to ten sentences using adverbs of intensity. Print more sets as it has to be distributed to few groups. 2. Print them out and cut up the sentences. 2. Mix all the cut up pieces together to form a puzzle. 3. All the cut up pieces should be kept in few envelopes so you don't lose pieces. Make sure in each envelope there are 5-10 sentences. 4. You can use these type of envelopes to put in your sentences:

Example of sentences in one envelope : 1. She is absolutely the funniest teacher in the school. 2. Miss Nadia is absolutely wonderful. 3. John says she is extremely smart. 4. Maria thinks the teacher is very beautiful. 5. The new Spiderman movie was totally worth watching. *note that these are just examples, you can come up with more creative sentences. Remember to cut them out and put them in the envelopes.

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Students will be divided into groups of 4-5 (according to the class size). 2. Students will be given an envelope which contains 5-10 sentences. 3. The sentence are all mixed up. 4. In their groups, students will have to rearrange those words to form a meaningful sentence. 5. Students should include 1 or more adverb of degree in each sentence while they are rearranging the words to form a sentence. 6. Students must piece together the sentences in a given time limit. For instance, within 1 or 2 minutes.

TIPS!!

1. This activity focuses on correct word order, understanding of particular adverb of degrees, teamwork, and sentence structure. 2. Have fun with your descriptions, and include a few student and teacher names or famous people the students like. 3. Before you do this activity in class, have another teacher to test it out so you can see how many interesting or funny variable sentences you have. 4. Be sure to note the original sentences so you can supply students with the solutions to each puzzle. 20

Topic: Connectives (Correlative Conjunctions) Activity Type: Spinner (Game) Learning Objectives 1. To construct sentences using the conjunctions from the spinner with either clauses, phrases or words. 2. To design a poster using the sentences they have formed on a manila card.

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Prepare 2 spinners, one with correlative conjunctions on it, one with the words/clauses/phrases. Depending on how many groups you have, 2 spinners (1 of each) to a group. 2. Bring manila card and coloured markers for the poster creating part of the lesson. 3. This is an example of Spinner that can be used in the lesson.

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Get students to form groups of four and assign two spinners (1 correlative conjunction & 1 words/phrases/clauses), manila card and coloured markers each. 2. Then, instruct them to come up with 10 sentences, by spinning the spinners each time they create a new one. 3. Once they have all 10 sentences, they have to design a poster and include all those sentences with their own creativity 4. The students can present their finished designs to the class and discuss how they used the conjunctions. Rational: The spinners allow them to take their chance on different conjunctions to see which they end up getting and construct their sentences TIPS!! creatively. 1. For the words/phrases/clauses spinner, teachers can change the words into pictures of food or animals. Hence, students are given an opportunity to use their creativity to construct different sentences with the same picture. - Teachers can also limit the spinnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words/phrases/clauses into three certain words/phrases/clauses. 23

Topic: Preposition (Preposition of Place)

Learning Objective: To be able to use different type of preposition of place in sentence that relates to their daily life.

Type of Activity: Game use different type of preposition (Dice Game)

Preparation to do before lesson:

Teachers need to prepare a board for them to play the game. The shape of the board will be as shown. All sides should be the same length. On the board there will be 6 boxes and on each boxes, teachers can write any preposition that they want to emphasize on theday on the squares. Students will need to make the dice by themselves. Therefore teachers need to prepare A4 sized papers, scissors and glue for the students to make the dice.

An example of a template for the board.

Steps to carry out during the lesson:

Rationale: Students 1.Teachers need to ask students to be in will be able to relate it groups of 3 or 4. to their real life as the 2.Next teachers have to provide them with materials that they are the papers, scissors and glue and ask them going to use are from to be creative to make the dice. the classroom itself. 3. After students are done making the dice, Moreover by doing the teacher will have to present the board this activity, students that they had made for them. Teacher will will be able to work on now explain how to play the game. their Interpersonal 4. Students will have to throw the dice on skills. When they work the board and where the dice stop, the rest with group, they will of the group will make a sentence and the student will have to carry out the task given their social abilities to understand every by the group. aspect of the game. 5. For example is the dice stop on â&#x20AC;&#x153;inâ&#x20AC;?, then the rest of the group will have to make a phrase like "on the table". The student have to make a sentence from the phrase as well as to act out that sentence that he/she made. 6. The first group that is able to finish the task given will win.

TIPS & CAUTION!!

1. This game can be a revision exercise to help learners recall materials in an entertaining way instead of giving them worksheets. 2. The class can go out of hand during this activity. Therefore before starting the class, teachers can introduce an attention signal. It can be a bell, or hand gesture, make sure that your students know when they see or hear it, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to refocus. 26

Topic: Preposition( Preposition of Time) Type of Activity: Game(Timetable dictation)

Learning Objective: To be able to use different type of preposition of time in studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; conversation.

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. Teachers have to prepare any train timetable for the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reference in the game. 2. The number of timetable copy that teachers should have depends on how many students are there in a class. 3. Teachers can laminate the paper for future use as this activity can boost their grammar usage. Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Teachers must first paste the timetable on the walls of the room. 2. Then, divide your students into groups of 3 students. 3. One student from each group stands by the timetable. 27

Steps to carry out during the lesson: 1. Teachers must first paste the timetable on the walls of the room. 2. Then, divide your students into groups of 3 students. 3. One student from each group stands by the timetable. 4. The second student must run and listen to the information relayed to them by the first student by the timetable 5. Then the student must return and pass on the details to the third student, who must now take note of the information accurately. 6. Students must then create a sentence with that information. Note: Only accurate sentences will get points. This will be judge by the teacher itself. 7. For example: Student A: What time is the train from Madrid to Barcelona? Student B: It leaves at 10.00 every day. Student C: (writes) The train from Madrid to Barcelona leaves at 10.00 on Thursdays. 8. When complete, give teams a few minutes to review their sentences. 9. Now, get feedback on each groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sentences and award points for each correct one. 28

An example of a train timetable

This activity will make students active in class. Moreover, students will be able to relate it to their real life as they need to learn how to use preposition of time when they are in the outside world. Children at that age learn better when they are actively engage in an activity. Moreover this activity provide language practice in various skills. For instance speaking, writing, and listening. TIPS!! 1. If they still need practice, get students to create their own timetables and have some more fun. 2. Teachers should make it motivating and challenging. 3. This can be a short warm up activities when the students are tired of sitting for a long time.

Topic: Punctuation- Quotation Marks: Say it Loud! Learning Objectives: Activity Type: Comic Strip & Roleplay

1. Students will be able to identify that quotation marks are the exact words of a speaker. 2. Students will be able to use quotation marks to form a dialogue.

Preparation to do before the lesson: 1. You need to print out comic strips with blank speech boxes for your students. 2. Prepare to bring mah-jong paper and markers for the class. 3. Bring some props that are related to the comic strip scenarios for them to use when acting out.

Steps to carry out during the lesson: -Firstly, get the students to pair up. - The students will be given the comic strips with empty speech bubbles and then they must start filling up the speech bubbles with dialogue. - Once they are done, proceed by giving them mah-jong paper and markers. Then, ask them to stick the comic strips on the mah-jong paper and transcribe the conversation/ dialogue. - Example: “I love eating pizza” said Jane. “Oh really! So do I.” exclaimed Mary. “Then, we should definitely go and have pizza together one day.” replied Jane to Mary.

- Now, the fun part of the class begins where the students are given 10 mins to prepare a roleplay version of their comic strip. They can use their creativity to make the dialogue more interesting. - Once all the pairs have performed, the class can recap on how quotation marks are used in a sentence. 31

Rationale: - The comic strips with empty speech bubbles allow students to think creatively to imagine the scenario they are given. - For the visual learners, the comic strips help to give them a reference to understand the correlation between quotation marks and a dialogue activity. Kinesthetics and auditory learners learn best with the roleplay. Therefore, all learners are able to enjoy this activity.

TIPS!!

You can display in front the quotation mark checklist as a guide for the students.

References: Britishcouncil.org. (2017). Five fun activities to teach prepositions | British Council. [online] Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/five-funactivities-prepositions [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017]. Budden, J. (2017). Using flash cards with young learners. [Online website] Teaching English | British Council | BBC. Retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-flash-cards-young-learners

Child 1st Publications. (2017). The Fun (and Effective) Way to Teach Quotation Marks. [online] Available at: https://child1st.com/blogs/resources/113138631-the-fun-andeffective-way-to-teach-quotation-marks [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017]. ESL KidStuff. (2017). Comparing Things (Comparative Adjectives) Lesson Plan for ESL Kids Teachers. [online] Available at: https://www.eslkidstuff.com/lessonplans/comparative-adjectives.html [Accessed 14 Nov. 2017].

English Language Syllabus 2010 Primary &amp; Secondary (Express/ Normal [Academic]). (2008). Available at: https://www.moe.gov.sg/docs/defaultsource/document/education/syllabuses/english-language-andliterature/files/english-primary-secondary-express-normal-academic.pdf (Accessed on 10 November 2017) Joyce B. (2007). 3 Very Active Exercises for Describing Degrees. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://busyteacher.org/15101-adverbs-of-degree-3-very-active-exercises.html Mrs. Warner's 4th Grade Classroom. (2017). Dialogue - Quotation Marks. [online] Available at: http://mrswarnerarlington.weebly.com/dialogue---quotationmarks.html [Accessed 1 Nov. 2017].

Pinterest. (2017). High School Teaching. [online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/116952921556837310/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017]. Simmons, R. L. (n.d.). The Correlative Conjunction. Available at: http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/correlativeconjunction.htm (Accessed on 10 November 2017) Verner, S. (2017). 4 Excellent Activities for Using Comparatives and Superlatives: The Best and the Brightest. [online] Available at: http://busyteacher.org/14341comparative-superlative-activities-how-to-teach.html [Accessed 7 Nov. 2017].

Voxy. (2017). Are Flashcards an Effective Learning Tool? [INFOGRAPHIC]. [online] Available at: https://voxy.com/blog/2011/05/are-flashcards-an-effective-learningtool-infographic/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2017].

Appendix: This is the template for the objects and fictional characters for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flash my Featuresâ&#x20AC;? for grammar item Comparative Adjectives

This is the template for the cootie catcher that refers to the activity for transitive verbs 35

This is an example of the board template for preposition of place. 36

This is a template of a printable comic strip for the dialogue activity for the grammar item Punctuation: Quotation Marks â&#x20AC;&#x153;Say it Loudâ&#x20AC;?

This is an example train timetable that can be use for grammar item â&#x20AC;?Preposition of Timeâ&#x20AC;?.