Dilber Dilber

Comparatives and Superlatives
Upper-intermediate level

Description

In this lesson students will review comparatives and superlatives. They will practice using them in speaking and writing.

Materials

Main Aims

  • To provide review and practice of comparatives and superlatives in the context of describing people and places

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide fluency and accuracy speaking practice of degrees of comparison in interactive games

Procedure

Lead-in (2-3 minutes) • To create interest in the topic of the text

The teacher shows pictures of 3 things/ people in the order of their height, money value, size, etc. Then he elicits information from students by asking questions: What's the difference between these items/ people? How can we describe them? How do we call these forms of adjectives? When do we use them?

Task #1 (5-6 minutes) • to check their understanding of the material

The teacher gives cut-ups of comparatives and superlatives and some examples to students to divide them into 2 groups. The ss work in pairs for 2 minutes. Then the teacher projects the right answer on the board. He asks clarifying questions on the construction of degrees of comparison: What's the general rule here? For comparatives we add -er at the end of the word and for superlatives we add - est. Why is easier had a different ending than tallest? When the word ends with -y, it turns into - ier. What about interesting, popular? Why are there 2 words? Because when the adjective is long, i.e. has 3 syllables or more, we put more/most in from of it. What about good, bad, much, little? Why are they different? Because they are irregular adjectives and have special forms of degrees of comparison. Question about meaning: Do bigger and biggest mean the same? What's the difference in meaning? Drill the endings and the structure using substitution drills: T: tall-taller-tallest SS: tall-taller-tallest T: hard SS: hard-harder-hardest T: famous SS: famous-more famous-the most famous T: bad SS: bad-worse-the worst T: good SS: good -better-the best

Controlled practice (4-5 minutes) • to prepare ss for the freer practice

The teacher gives fill-in gaps task. The students have to choose an appropriate form of the adjectives in the brackets and write in the provided space. SS work individually. After everyone is finished, let them check in pairs and then give the answer key.

Speaking practice #1 - Language game "Superlative strips" (4-5 minutes) • To further improve their speaking skills

Divide the class into groups of four. Give each group a set of cut up question cards. Tell the students to place the cards face down on the table in front of them. The students take it in turns to pick up a card and ask a question to someone else in the group. At the end of the activity, each student tells the class the most interesting thing they found out.

Task #2 (5-6 minutes) • To provide semi-controlled speaking practice

The teacher chooses 4 students and gives the two of them pictures. They stand back to back, two of them facing the white board. The ss that can't see the white board have to describe the pics they have in their hands. The ss facing the board need to draw what they heard. The teacher takes notes of the mistakes.

Controlled writing practice (3-4 minutes)

The teacher tells the ss to rewrite the underlined part of the sentence, using the comparative form of an adverb from the list.

Pyramid discussion (10-12 minutes) • Freer speaking practice

1. The teacher gives task in pairs to discuss the most useful invention. 2. Then he combines pairs to make fours; they need to reach an agreement. 3. Join each four with another four or with others. 4. When the whole class comes together, see if they can reach one class solution.

DEC (1-2 minutes)

The teacher writes any mistakes the ss did during the conversation on the board and asks students to make corrections.

Speaking practice #3- Language game (8-10 minutes)

If there is time, play another language game. Put the students into small groups of 3 or 4 and give each group the two sets of cards. Tell the students to place the Topic Cards face up on the desk and to shuffle the Adjective Cards and put them face down. Students take it in turns to pick up an Adjective Card and choose a topic. The student then has to make a comparative or superlative sentence using the adjective on the card. The sentence must be related to the topic. Each student gets one point for each grammatically correct sentence. If a student cannot make a sentence, the card goes to the next player and they try to make a sentence for two points. Play until all the cards have been used.

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