Sarah Abdel Hady Sarah Abdel Hady

Countable and uncountable nouns with indefinite articles (a/an, some & any)
Elementary level

Description

In this lesson, Ss learn about countable and uncountable nouns and how they're used with a/an, some and any. Ss also will be revising various food vocabulary and improving their fluency and accuracy through pronunciation practices. Ss gain opportunity to improve their social communication skills through conversation with their peers and activate the TL through a variety of grammar exercises based on a model provided through guided discovery approach. T starts with a personalized discussion by demonstrating visual pics about a common local supermarkets and food groceries then asking Ss to discuss in pairs from where they usually buy their food, which supermarket they go to and why, how often they go to the supermarket. T scaffolds Ss by displaying these additional questions for 2 minutes oral discussion, while monitoring closely, then T nominates students to speak about their partners as OC feedback. After eliciting from Ss' responses, T starts with diagnostic stage to estimate Ss' previous knowledge of food lexis & grammar structure through fill-in gaps and completing activities in which Ss could recognize (singular and plural) countable and uncountable nouns. When eliciting the model/marker sentences, T models and drill the pronunciation. Finally, writes MS with highlighting the TL on board. T pre-teaches some new vocabulary such as (fast food, healthy, luxury, ice cream, fruit, vegetables, biscuits, lettuce, pineapple) and introduce any ambiguous vocabulary then elicits what's in each basket, models and drills pronunciation before matching activity. After that, T demonstrates with them first example using open pair technique, monitors and provides private assistance for weak Ss if it's needed. This's followed by matching task where different food personalities are introduced, then Ss are noticing the grammar rule after circling exercises. Through teach stage, T elicits TL from Ss asking CCQs, models and drills the pronunciation, then displays the marker sentences on board as a written-record to highlight the grammatical form and pronunciation features. Ss are asked to underline the TL in the marker sentences (the given examples). For controlled practice, Ss complete the rule exercise individually then check in pairs before OC feedback, this's followed by freer productive speaking practice where T divides the class into 2 groups, invites Ss to a board activity (tic, tac, toe). Xs group needs to tell 2 sentences (+/-) forms like the given examples correctly about food stuff in one of 3 baskets and Os group guesses which basket it is, if the choice right O' student writes on the board (O) then the turn goes to Xs group, the winner team who complete a column with X or O. T gives clear and simple ICQs, demonstrates 1st example first as an open pair. Or it could be assigned for PW, SA has to make affirmative and negative sentences using (there's/are) they learnt in previous lesson and asks SB "which basket?", and SB has to say which basket it is. Ss continue in pairs taking turns to make sentences, T monitors closely then gives content/linguistic feedback by praising good examples and correcting errors anonymously.

Materials

Abc Missing letter HO1
Abc Complete column HO2
Abc Matching characters with baskets HO3
Abc Circle activity HO4
Abc Controlled practice/complete the rule HO5
Abc Speaking task/freer practice HO6

Main Aims

  • To provide clarification of meaning, form and pronunciation of Countable and uncountable nouns with a/an, some and any in the context of Food

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide review and clarification of Food lexis in the context of Food

Procedure

Lead-in (3-5 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Greet Ss with warm smile and eye-contact to establish positive rapports. 1) I starts with a visual demonstration of local grocery stores and supermarkets posing a question, "from where you usually buy your food?" and give them a personalized example; "I usually buy my food from Carrfour, do you know why? because it has everything and different things with low price (food varity and sale) , as I like to buy vegetables, fruit, meat , bakery and dairy from there." 2) Then, I let Ss to discuss in pair while monitoring closely. 3) Finally, I get OC feedback by nominating Ss to tell what their partners said.

Test #1 (Diagnostic stage) (8-10 minutes) • To gauge students' prior knowledge of the target language

I assign the first two activities (write missing letters and matching words with correct columns) to test Ss' current ability and get an idea of what they already know about TL and what they need to learn. 1) I introduce the pic and ask Ss to look at the number and write the missing letter of each word. I'll demo with Ss example No1 and allow 1 min to do this exercise by their own, then pair up to compare their answers before OC feedback. 2) Then I divide Ss into pairs and ask them to match these words with correct column, before that I demo 1st example using open pair technique. 3) I give OC feedback by writing the answers on the board as marker sentences I need in the up coming (clarification) stage. I might correct mispronounced vocabulary orally.

Teach (10-15 minutes) • To clarify areas of the target language where students had difficulty in the first test stage

1) Introduce new vocabulary related to the matching activity, I write on the board the word "food" ask Ss what words/adjectives come in front of "food" to describe different kind of food, I elicit from their responses e.g. fast food, healthy food, unhealthy, etc. 2) Pre-teach difficult ones in the activity: Luxury /ˈlʌkʃəri/ (n/adjective) Definition = something very expensive you enjoy but you don't really need. Context "I was invited to a very expensive dinner in a 5-star hotel", what can we say instead of "very expensive"? Elicit the word, model, drill and highlight the stress syllable on the board with different marker color 2) Draw Ss' attention to the three baskets, elicit what's in each basket and pre-teach the difficult vocabulary items in each basket, e.g. vegetables, ice cream, lettuce, mineral water, smoked salmon, steak, biscuits etc. Ss might mispronounce some of these words so I make sure to do some drills (corals and individual) and highlight the stress syllables in color-marker on board. 3) I show Ss pic of cartoon characters and introduce one by one to them till eliciting which type of food each one. 4) Divide Ss pairs to match the characters with the baskets, then nominate for OC feedback. 5) This's followed by independent exercise where Ss need to circle what's in each basket by using (there's/there're), Ss notice TL in bold (some, any, a/an), I elicit from their answers, model, drill TL pronunciation features and write the marker sentences/given examples on board as a written-record. - There's some ice cream. - There isn't any fruit. - There aren't any vegetables. - There're some biscuits. - there's a lettuce. To convey the meaning, I draw Ss' attention away from board, then I elicit the meaning of TL through asking CCQs: a) MS (there's some ice cream) What is in basket 2? (some ice cream) Is it singular or plural noun? (singular) Can you count ice cream? (No) Is it positive (+) or negative (-) form? (Positive form +) b) MS (there're some biscuits) Look at basket 3, what's in it? (some biscuits) Is it positive (+) or negative (-) form? (Positive form +) Is it singular or plural noun? (plural) Can you count biscuits? (yes) what's the singular of it? (a biscuit) c) MS (there's a lettuce) What's in basket 1? (a lettuce) Is it singular or plural? (singular noun) Can you count? (yes) d) MS (there aren't any vegetables) Is this sentence positive or negative form? (Negative) Can you see vegetables in basket 3? (No) So there are no vegetables in basket 3? (Yes) What can we say instead of it? (There aren't any vegetables) When do we use any? (With negative sentences) Ask a question? (Are there any vegetables?) can we use (any) in questions? (Yes) Model and drill sentences to clarify pronunciation (linking, weak forms, etc.) and highlight TL as color-coded. To elicit the form of TL, I ask Ss what parts of speech each word, then I write in different color the grammatical structure underneath the example sentences on board. E.g. "there are some vegetables in basket 3." Subject pronoun+ V. to be + some/any + Noun (C/U)

Test #2 (Controlled practice) (3-5 minutes) • To test what Ss have learnt from teach stage and check their knowledge improvement of TL

1) I assign completing exercise by their own in which Ss need to complete the rules with some, any or a/an. First, I chest the HO, demonstrate first example, then ask Ss ICQs: 1- How many sentence you have to complete? (Three) 2- What (+) means? (Positive sentence) 3- what (-) means? (Negative sentence) First they answer individually, then check in pairs before giving OC feedback. 2) If there's enough time, I'd go through more complex completing activity (WB, p.58) where Ss need to write sentences in negative (-) or positive (+) form to test how they're improved. Ss do these 3 sentences individually ( No. 4,6,7), I demonstrate 1st example and ask ICQs: How many sentences you 're going to rewrite? (three) Do you rewrite in positive or negative form? (Both) Then compare their answers in pairs before I go over the answers as a whole class.

Free practice (10-10 minutes) • To provide students with free practice of the target language

Ss practise the TL through speaking activity, as I divide them into pairs (or GW to be more challengeable) : SA has to say affirmative and negative sentences about the basket, SB needs to guess which basket it is. They swap roles. I demonstrate first using open pair technique, monitor closely, get content/linguistic feedback from their responses. provide on-spot error correction and praising the good ones.

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