Johanna Kuhn Johanna Kuhn

Grammar lesson on possessive 's
Elementary level

Description

Students learn about the form, meaning and use / pronunciation of the possessive 's in the context of family relationships; in particular referring to the material discussed in the previous lesson on Shakespeare's plays. I begin with an exercise based on the family relations in Shakespeare's plays to introduce the topic of possessive 's that encourages students to work out the rules by themselves. This is followed by an exercise to deepen their understanding of the form and use of the grammar; in the third exercise they will be able practice this some more. The last exercise is a freer and interactive grammar practice of possessive 's. In the final activity students are given the opportunity of free speaking practice of the target language.

Materials

Main Aims

  • To provide clarification and practice of the possessive 's / ' in the context of family relations and Shakespeare's tragic families

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide fluency speaking practice in a conversation in the context of telling stories about other families

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (3-4 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Give them handout 1 – first exercise: fill in the gaps with the missing letters. Remind the students of the context of the last lesson. Can you guess the name of the play? Look at the text from the previous lesson if necessary. PPT1: Text from the previous lesson

Exposure (5-6 minutes) • To provide context for the target language through a text or situation

GE p31 ex1: I will put up the family tree on page 30 as a PPT 2 (with all the people's names added to the diagrams); tell them to look at the text from the previous lesson as well to help them. Work in pairs to answer the questions using this information from the previous lesson. I show them an example on the WB: Question: Who is King Lear? Answer: He’s is Cordelia's father. (underlining 's) They have 3 (up to 4) minutes to answer the questions in whole sentences. I nominate students to give me the answers. The correct answers are then highlighted on the PPT 3 as students give their replies. On the PPT the 's parts of the words are again underlined.

Highlighting (7-8 minutes) • To draw students' attention to the target language

Put up the grammar box from p31 first (PPT 4) - 's or s' parts are omitted. Ask the Ss what is missing. What is missing? Where is it missing? First example: King Lear’s daughters. Who is King Lear? Does he have daughters? They are King Lear’s daughters. What does the ‘s mean? Can I put it here (after daughters’s)? Why not? Ok let’s look at this one: Her parents’ names are Lord and Lady Capulet. Is it the same as before or is it different? What is different here? (underline the previous example ‘s and this s’ again – now they should understand why it is different). How many people are they? (parents – daughters) How many people here? (King Lear) Underline last letter in each word. There is already an s. So for the possessive when the word ends with an s we just add ‘ and not ‘s. (if necessary: put up image on PPT 5 which highlights the difference between 's and s'. Ask questions to check the Ss understanding.) GE p31 ex2: Work in 4 groups (A-B-C-D). There are 4 ‘s missing in the text, find them. Work in your groups and distribute the 4 's. Work for 2-3 minutes. Now each of the groups gets one 's card and some blue tack. I display the text on the PPT / WB and ask each of the groups to place their 's card in one of the places where it is missing. I ask the others if they are happy with the choice.

Clarification (4-5 minutes) • To clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language

WB p17 ex1B: Work in pairs and fill in the gaps. Distribute second handout. Demonstration sentence 1 on WB. Best display it on PPT to save time writing it down by hand. Ask the class, which is the right one? Your _______ is your uncle. (cousin / father) Do the exercise (2 minutes). Check in your group if your answers are correct. Now one volunteer gives the first answer. This volunteer should nominate the next student for the answer of the following question. I display answers on PPT. (2 minutes).

Controlled Practice (8-9 minutes) • To concept check and prepare students for more meaningful practice

Final grammar exercise: GE p141 ex1: Again work in 4 groups. Distribute cut up sentences. Give example on PPT 8: The friend of my daughter -> My daughter's friend. They also get a large sheet of paper and some glue. They have to bring the sentences in the right order and also paste the additional 's which is missing. (4-5 minutes) When they are done, give each group a red pen and ask them to hang their sheet to the wall. Ask them to look at the sheets of the other groups and correct mistakes. Demonstrate how to correct on the board (circle). (4 minutes) Then show the correct answers on the Powerpoint. Collect common mistakes.

Semi- Controlled Practice (12-13 minutes) • To provide students with semi-controlled practice of the target language

Hand out 6 story cards / pictures (each student gets one), with 3 keywords. Ask them to think of 3-4 sentences relating to the picture, and including these 3 keywords. (4 minutes) Tell them to get up and ask them to tell their stories to each other - at least 3 other people. (5 minutes) Delayed error correction (5 minutes)

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