Teaching the Adjective
We discussed the various aspects of the Noun in my last post.
It's time to move to the Adjective.
In this post, I will explain the rationale of my approach and present the structure of the unit on the Adjective: Lesson plans and practical examples of activities, texts and exercises to be used when teaching or reviewing the unit.
The Adjective
The Adjective will be taught in context using appropriate, relevant texts.
Unit Structure – Junior High
In Junior High, I would suggest spending about 3 – 4 lessons on the Adjective.
Lesson 1
a. Oral Activity:
Let's talk about a friend, a teacher, a politician, an actor or a singer, using as many adjectives as possible.
You may wish to ask two or three students to describe one of their classmates and the class will have to identify who that student is.
You may wish to describe a certain actor or singer. Those who like him will use appropriate adjectives to describe him. Those who don't like him will use other adjectives. You may have a class discussion between the two groups. Another option would be to have one student describe the positive aspects of that well known actor or singer and another student describe the negative aspects. The rest of the class would have to guess who that person is.
b. Grammar Review
Function of Adjectives
Position of Adjectives in the sentence.
Lesson 2
a. Presentation of a text including many examples of Adjectives.
Sharon is a very arrogant girl. She has a very high opinion of herself. She thinks she is beautiful. She considers herself extremely intelligent. She spends hours in front of the mirror admiring her long blond hair and her large blue eyes. She thinks she has a wonderful voice and a great talent for music. Sharon plays the piano and often sings for hours. Unfortunately, her neighbors do not appreciate her musical talent and often complain about the noise.
Sharon has a low opinion of almost everybody else. Most of the boys she knows are either too short or too fat. Their eyes seem too small or too big. She thinks their voices are unpleasant and their behavior – impolite. However, she is not worried. She knows that one day a charming young prince on a white horse (or in a black cadillac) will come riding into her life.
Suggestions
Underline all the Adjectives.
Elicit the rules and sum up.
b. Grammar Review
Function and position of Adjectives
Lessons 3 and 4
Comparative and Superlative Forms
a. Reading Passage
We often tend to compare ourselves to our neighbors and friends. We often think our neighbors are richer and more successful than we are. Their car is newer and faster than ours. Their house is bigger and more comfortable, their jobs seem more interesting, their salary is probably higher, etc.
When we go to a party, it often seems that the others look better than we do. Their clothes are more elegant than ours; in short, they look younger, happier, etc.
When a student gets an exam back from his teacher, he immediately compares his grade to those of the others. "Why did David get a higher grade than I did? I am sure he studied less and yet did better than I did. That is definitely unfair. Why is he luckier than I am?" he often wonders.
The truth is that although we are not the finest and luckiest people in the world, we are not the most unfortunate either. We are certainly not the most beautiful, most intelligent, most elegant or most successful people in the universe, but we are surely not as unlucky as we tend to believe. We should try to accept ourselves as we really are and make the most of it.
Suggestions
Underline and analyze the different kinds of Adjectives.
Elicit the rules and sum up.
Grammar Review:
er, est, more, most, exceptions
How would I approach the issue in High School?
Assuming this subject has been studied in Junior High, I would review the unit for remedial purposes and reinforcement – 2 lessons.
How would I plan one of the lessons? The other lesson might follow a similar structure.
1. Oral Activity– about 10 min.
Suggestions (Suitable subjects for class conversation):
Compare this class to your class in Junior High.
Discuss different careers you may wish to choose. Which profession seems more interesting, more promising, etc.?
2. Presentation of a Text including many examples of the structure I intend to teach or review– Adjectives, Comparative and Superlative Forms – about 15 min.
Suggestions
Underline and analyze the different kinds of adjectives.
Elicit the rules and sum up.
3. Class practice: exercises, role-plays, writing activities – about 10 min.
4. Homework – carefully guided activities – about 5 min.
And that's about all for today. In my next post, we will be talking about the Adverb.
For more explanations, please see:
דקדוק אנגלי לדוברי עברית, עמ' 195 – 205
For exercises, please see:
The New Language Guidebook and Workbook, p 302 – 310