לומדים אנגלית / קוראים ספרי ילדים

The various aspects of teaching the Adjective were discussed in my last post.

 It's time to move to the Adverb.

In this post, I will explain the rationale of my approach and present the structure of the unit on the Adverb: Lesson plans and practical examples of activities, texts and exercises to be used when teaching or reviewing the unit.

The Adverb

The Adverb 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 Adverb.

Lesson 1 

a. Oral Activity:

Let's talk about a student or a teacher (how he walks, talks, dresses, sings or dances). Describe the way he acts in different situations using as many adverbs as possible.

You may wish to ask two or three students to describe how one of their classmates behaves and the class will have to identify who that student is.

e.g., He talks slowly, walks very quickly, etc.

b. Grammar Review

Function of Adverbs

Position of Adverbs in the sentence.

Lesson 2 

a. Presentation of a text including many examples of Adverbs.

Dr. Cohen is a well known dentist. He has been practising his profession for the past twenty years. He speaks politely to his patients and smiles at them encouragingly. He checks their teeth carefully and explains clearly what their problem is. He tries to cure his patient's toothache as quickly as possible. He works fast and well. He tries so hard to be nice and yet people hate their visits to Dr. Cohen. Can you tell the class why?

Suggestions

Underline all the Adverbs. Discuss the regular structure (adjective + ly) and exceptions.

b. Grammar Review

Function, structure and position of Adverbs

Lesson 3 

 Comparative and Superlative Forms

a. Reading Passage

Dafna asked her older brother Ilan to write a letter in English for her since he writes better than she does. Dafna is very weak in English because she does not read as many English books as she should. She finds it boring since she reads English more slowly than Hebrew. Her brother keeps telling her that she will never master the language unless she tries harder.

Ilan refused to help his sister write a letter to her American pen-pal. He wanted to teach her a lesson. Dafna sat for hours trying to compose the letter. Her brother thought she had better turn the music off and concentrate on what she was doing. Dafna said that she worked best with the radio on. Finally, the letter was completed and Dafna slipped it into an envelope. Only then did she remember that she had lost her pen-pal's address.

Suggestions

Underline and analyze the different kinds of Adverbs (regular, comparative, superlative).

Elicit the rules and sum up.

b. Grammar Review:

er, est, more, most, exceptions

Lesson 4

Linking Verbs

a. Reading Passage

Uri is a perfectionist. He always wants everything to be absolutely perfect. Whenever things are not the way he expects them to be, he gets angry, he becomes irritable and his voice sounds furious. Basically, he is a nice boy, but most people do not realize that he is so nice because he seems angry about everything and everybody most of the time. Little things, which most people would not even notice, get on his nerves. If the cake his mother baked does not taste as good as he expected, if the flowers he has bought do not smell wonderful, if his friends do not appear delighted the moment they see him, he feels miserable, keeps silent for hours and may stay unhappy for days. Uri will have to learn to take it easy and accept things as they are. After all, life is not perfect.

Suggestions

Look at the verbs in bold. Are they followed by Adjectives or Adverbs?

Elicit the rules concerning Linking Verbs and sum up.

b. Grammar Review:

Linking Verbs

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 lessons might follow a similar structure.

1. Oral Activity– about 10 min.

2. Presentation of a Text including many examples of the structure I intend to teach or review – Adverbs, Comparative and Superlative Forms – about 15 min.

Underline and analyze the different kinds of Adverbs.
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. 

For more explanations, please see:
דקדוק אנגלי לדוברי עברית, עמ' 207 – 220

For exercises, please see:
 The New Language Guidebook and Workbook, p 311 – 320