Countable and uncountable nouns
Elementary level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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To provide clarification of countable and uncountable nouns in the context of eating habits
Subsidiary Aims
Perhaps the most important element of any plan is the part where we say what our aims are.Jeremy Harmer in The Practice of English Language Teaching
Procedure (49-72 minutes)
Display 3 groups of 4 food pictures each (using PPT slides): Group A: apple – banana – tomato – rice Group B: cheese – flour – soup – egg Group C: carrot – hotdog – chocolate – water Ask students to work in pairs and look at each group. Ask: “Which one is different? Why?” “Can you say one, two, three…?”
Show slide 3 T says: "Now, read the text individually and find out: What food does she HAVE and what food DOESN’T she HAVE?" Then answer the following questions in pairs. ICQs: do you do it in pairs or yourself? read the text ....? and answer the questions ....? at first read the text or answer the questions?
T asks: Why does the text say “some cheese” not “a cheese”? Why can we say “two apples” but not “two milks”? Show flashcards (apple, water, rice, eggs, etc). Ask: “Can we count this?” Students respond with thumbs up/down, and then ask why? Slide: show a two-column chart: Countable | Uncountable “Why can we say two apples but not two milks?” “Why do we say some cheese and not a cheese?”
Use the chart created for highlight and clarify: Meaning: Countable = we can count (1 apple, 2 apples) Uncountable = we can’t count directly (milk, cheese) Form: Countables: can take a/an, can be plural (an egg, eggs) Uncountables: no a/an, no -s (some milk, not milks) Use singular verbs with uncountables (Water is cold.) Pronunciation: Drill difficult words: cheese, flour and etc. CCQs: Can I say “a water”? (No) Can I say “three apples”? (Yes) Do we say “milks”? (No)
Students receive flashcards, categorize the flashcards into countable/Uncountable boxes, and stick on the wall. (in pairs) ICQs: do you do it with your friend or yourself? what do you do with it? Then, for each item they say a correct phrase: bread → "some bread" eggs → "three eggs" cheese → "some cheese" T monitors and gives feedback.
Each group gets a board game template and some dice, rolls a dice and lands on a food item. They must say if it is c/uc and a sentence about their own eating habits to their partner: it’s uncountable. I eat some bread every day. ICQs: Are you telling about your own eating habits or someone else’s? How much time do you have? Peers confirm or correct each other with T support.
Give each student a handout: “Find someone who drinks milk every day.” “Find someone who eats an egg for breakfast.” “Find someone who doesn’t eat meat.” ICQs: Are you writing your name or someone else’s? can you use the same person for 2 or more answers? After completing, ask students: “Which of these nouns were countable? Which were not?”
Ask Ss for 3 examples of each group. Peer correction encouraged.
