Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Lesson on "a few" and "a little"

Slideshow: slides, pub
Handout: docspub
Scrambled Sentences: drivedocspub
[Notes: I have previously posted a version of this lesson on English World 4 Unit 10 Grammar p.104.  That version contained a review of the vocabulary from the previous lesson, however, and so I felt it did not stand independently.  This version has deleted that vocabulary review.  The board race picture prompts at the end of this lesson come directly from the English World 4 textbook.
Procedure
Lead-in: Show picture of party.  Ask students what it is.  Elicit "Party"
Show pictures from a recent party I went to.  (This is on slide 2, but the pictures will have to be changed if another teacher is using this.)  Ask students to tell me what is happening in the pictures. Prompt with questions if need be.
Slide 3: What was the last party you had? What was the occasion? Who was there? What did you do?  (Students may need help on the word "occasion").  Students talk to their partner, and then class feedback by calling on one or two students to report to the class.
Presentation: Tell students they are going to listen to a story about a party.  What problem does the party have.  Show picture of a lot of people gathered, and elicit from students that there are a lot of people there.
Tell the story of the party--There's a teacher's script, but when I actually do this with the students, I ad-lib it a lot.  I pretend to be more and more shocked that there's only a few or a little of each item.  At the end, ask students what the problem was.  (The answer is pretty obvious).
Hand out the handout for students to write in "a little" or "a few".  Rewind slideshow back to the beginning of the story, and tell the story again.  Students write in "a little" or "a few".  Then students check with their partner.
Confirm answers on slideshow.
Using slideshow, elicit from students the difference between uncountable nouns (water) and countable nouns (hamburgers).  Elicit from students which quantifier goes with which.  Display example sentences on slide 45.  Elicit from students the sentence structure, and also elicit which sentences have "there is" and which have "there are"
Handout scrambled sentences.  (Before class these have been cut up and shuffled).  One pair per two students.  With a partner, students arrange the cards in sentences.  Teacher monitors.  Feedback on slide 47.
Students put away all the worksheets, and teacher drills the oral form on slides 49-52.
Then board race on the remaining slides.



It was a beautiful day for a party.  Everyone was having fun.  Let’s have some food.
Who wants hamburgers?
Oh no! There are only a few hamburgers!  There aren’t enough for everyone.
Okay, well let’s get out some cookies.  Oh no! There are only a few cookies.
Okay, well never mind.  Who’s thirsty? Let’s drink some soda.  Oh no! There is only a little soda.
Okay, well we can make some eggs.  How many eggs are there? Oh no! There are only a few eggs.
Okay, what about some fruit.  Let’s get out some strawberries. Oh no! There are only a few strawberries.
Alright, what about some sweets.  Everyone likes sweets. Oh no! There are only a few sweets.
Okay, never mind about the food.  Let’s just give everyone some water while we figure this out.  Oh no! There’s only a little water.
Okay, what about milk? Oh no! There’s only a little milk.
Okay, do we have any chocolate? Oh no! There’s only a little chocolate.
Okay, what about some bread and jam? Oh no! There’s only a little bread.  And there’s only a little jam.  
I’m afraid the party is cancelled.


Listen again.  Write in “a few” or “a little” in front of the nouns.

hamburgers

biscuits

soda

eggs

strawberries

sweets

water

milk

chocolate

bread

jam

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