Sentence Skeletons

(TESOL Ideas--Any Grammar Point)

I've previously mentioned this activity in Language Practice Activities Grammar.  It is semi-controlled practice.

Students are given the key words of a sentence, and must grammaticize them into a fully grammatical sentence using the target language.  For example: cat, mouse, chase.  Depending on the target language, this can be grammaticized into the present simple “Cats chase mice”, present continuous “The cat is chasing the mouse”, present perfect “The cat has chased the mouse”, present passive simple “Mice are chased by cats”, etc.  

Sentence Skeletons are a common prompt in controlled practice exercises.  They don’t always need to be gamified.  For a more sedentary class, it is perfectly fine to do the sentence skeletons sitting in desks with paper and pencil.   However, if you want to gamify them for a more active class, they  can be combined with other activities: Board Race, Crossword Puzzle, Garbage Man, Grass Skirts, or Hurricane, etc.

Here is an example of sentence skeletons for reviewing the passive tenses:  drive, docs, pub

Active Passive Review

Present	Past	Past Participle
catch drive eat kick take steal	caught drove ate kicked took stole	caught driven eaten kicked taken stolen

1. cat mouse catch

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

2. boy hamburger eat

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

3. students test take

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

4. girl ball kick

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

5. man car drive

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

6. thief steal wallet

Active 

(present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________

Passive

 (present)_________________________________________________________________

(past)_________________________________________________________________

(present perfect)_________________________________________________________________