Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses

(TESOL Ideas and Worksheets Subdivisions)

* Using Strega Nona to Teach the Difference Between Defining and non-defining Relative Clauses

* Omitting the Relative Pronoun Worksheet (first page only)

* Relative Clauses: Grammar ESL Listening (from slide 38)

Garbage Man for Relative Clauses

 (TESOL Worksheets--Relative Clauses)

Google: docs, pub

[Notes: This game follows the standard rules for Garbage Man.  The students have to combine the two sentences using a relative clause.  Some of these sentences I've used before on a previous worksheet.]

This is the house. I live here.

This is the girl. I like the girl.

The pencil broke yesterday. I like to use the pencil.

My brother loves to eat pizza.  My brother’s hat is green.

Tom’s father goes swimming every day.  Tom’s father is 78.

I don’t like stories.  Stories have unhappy endings.

The man was on holiday.  I wanted to see the man.

This is the worst film.  I’ve seen this film.

Gerry works for a company.  The company makes typewriters.

The man has been married twice.  I met the man.

This is the house. I live here. This is the house where I live.

This is the girl. I like the girl. This is the girl who I like.

The pencil broke yesterday. I like to use the pencil. The pencil that I like to use broke yesterday.

My brother loves to eat pizza.  My brother’s hat is green. My brother, whose hat is green, loves to eat pizza.

Tom’s father goes swimming every day.  Tom’s father is 78. Tom’s father, who is 78, goes swimming  every day.

I don’t like stories.  Stories have unhappy endings. I don’t like stories that have unhappy endings.

The man was on holiday.  I wanted to see the man. The man who I wanted to see was on holiday.

This is the worst film.  I’ve seen this film. This is the worst film that I’ve ever seen.

Gerry works for a company.  The company makes typewriters. Gerry works for a company that makes typewriters.

The man has been married twice.  I met the man. The man that I met has been married twice.

Using Strega Nona to Teach the Difference Between Defining and non-defining Relative Clauses (i.e. defining and describing)

(TESOL Materials--Relative Clauses)

Strega Nona slideshow (originally from this post HERE): slides, pub

Specific information questions (these were made by my co-teacher--and originally from this post): docs, pub

Relative clause sentences: docs, pub

Full text gap-fill: docs, pub

Video on Youtube: HERE 

Kahoot: Strega Nona Relative Clauses

Notes:

This is my second time using Strega Nona to illustrate a grammar point.  For the previous time, when see HERE.  This time, it is to illustrate the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses. 

The staging is as follows:

* Present the Strega Nona story--either using the slideshow or the video.  You can use the specific information questions if you want, but they're not mandatory.  

* Use the first page of this worksheet.  I typically either cut it in half, or fold it in half, so that students first can only see the left-hand table, and must discuss: "In which sentences do you know what thing is being referred to?  In which sentences do you need more information?"  Then, once students have decided which sentences need more information, I hand out the second half of the table  (or allow students to unfold their sheet), and they can match the sentence halves.

* There's an option extra step, in which I play the audio again, and students match the relative clause sentences to the gaps using this worksheet.

* Then, students are given the second page of this worksheet, and must work out which relative clauses define the thing, and which describe it.  Feedback is with the Kahoot game.  

Here are some sentences from the story.  In which sentences do you know what thing is being referred to?  In which sentences do you need more information?	Here is some more information.  Which sentences do they go with?  Can you make new sentences using this information?
there lived an old lady. She made special potions for the girls. Big Anthony went to see her. The one thing is touch the pasta pot.  Strega Nona met with the people. everyone laughed at him, because it sounded so silly--a pot? How ridiculous!  she took a fork from a lady.	Big Anthony didn’t pay attention. The lady was standing nearby. Everyone called the old lady Strega Nona. The girls wanted husbands. Strega Nona meant grandma witch. the pot cooked pasta all by itself You must never do this thing. The people came to see Strega Nona for headaches and husbands and warts.

there lived an old lady who everyone called Strega Nona 

1. this tells us which old lady we are talking about

2. this gives us extra information about the old lady

everyone called her Strega Nona which meant “Grandma Witch”

1. this tells us what Strega Nona means

2. this gives us extra information about Strega Nona

She made special potions for the girls who wanted husbands.

1. this tells us which girls we are talking about

2. this gives us extra information about the girls

Big Anthony, who didn’t pay attention, went to see her

1. this tells us who Big Anthony is

2. this gives us extra information about Big Anthony

The one thing that you must never do is touch the pasta pot

1. this tells us what the thing is

2. this gives us extra information about the thing

Strega Nona met with the people who came to see her for headaches and husbands and warts.

1. this tells us which people Strega Nona is meeting

2. this gives us extra information about the people

a pot that cooked pasta all by itself?

1. this tells us which pot we are talking about

2. this gives us extra information about the pot

she took a fork from a lady who was standing nearby

1. this tells us which lady it was

2. this gives us extra information about the lady

From CNN:

A rather eye-opening article about the effects of phones on the current generation: What this high school senior wants adults to know about classroom phone bans

My teachers and other experts aren’t wrong about the impact of smartphones on teens. Phones make us miserable, and I appreciate that my school is trying to address the problem. Honestly, I’d like to give up my phone, but the way our schools, jobs, teams, activities and social lives are set up makes it impossible. Locking up a phone for a class period is a start, but it barely makes a dent.

I got my first smartphone when I was 13 years old, and I start doomscrolling as an automatic response to boredom or uneasiness. Inevitably I become stressed out that I’ve wasted so much time on mindless scrolling. To ignore my stress, I start doomscrolling again, and I’m trapped in a vicious cycle. It’s hard not to compare my life with the impeccably curated posts of total strangers, and it’s hard not to judge myself. In the past few years, I sometimes spent up to six hours a day on screens.

After three years of having the app, I did finally delete TikTok during my sophomore year of high school. Not because I was spending almost five hours on it some days — that wasn’t reason enough for me to get rid of it. I only deleted it because my friend wouldn’t, and I wanted to prove that I could.

For weeks, I clicked the icon where TikTok used to be and was sent to my calculator. I kept staring at the ceiling, unable to focus but also having no 15-second-video relief to fall back on. 

...with some caveats.  The book by Jonathan Haidt that this student cites may be unscientific (see HERE and HERE for more information).  And her entire argument is based on anecdotes.

Nonetheless, as a teacher myself, I certainly feel that what he's saying is true.  I feel that I have witnessed a decrease in the ability of the younger generation to concentrate on tasks like sustained reading.  I also feel that everywhere I look nowadays, I see people (both young and old) constantly looking at their phones.

(I was walking through Crescent Mall yesterday, here in Vietnam, and I couldn't help but notice how many of the people there were walking while looking at their phone screen.  It was most of them--close to 90%, I think.  Of course that's just Vietnam, but, it's getting like that everywhere now, right?)

And I worry that the constant use of smart phones by teenagers nowadays is unhealthy.  (Although... what the long term effect of all this is remains to be seen.  Maybe they'll just grow out of it as they get older and go on to become normal adults?)

And, like many people old or young, I also feel like the Internet has ruined my own attention span.  (I feel like it's more difficult for me to concentrate on reading a book for long periods of time than it was 20 years ago.)

I also feel her frustration about not being able to get rid of her phone.  I too would love to get rid of my smart phone, but I can't.  A number of years ago, smart phones just became an expectation of modern life.  I couldn't get through my day without it.  I need it to book my rides to and from work.  I need it for the 2 factor authentication to access my computers at work.  Etc.

And also social media like Facebook. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook.  On the one hand, I resent how much time I waste on it.  On the other hand, I love seeing what old friends are up to.  (Without social media like Facebook, I expect I would just have lost touch with everyone from my high school days, which would have been a pity.  With Facebook, even though I don't have time to keep up a correspondence with everyone from my past, I can still see what they're up to.)

...anyway, there's a lot more to be said on this whole subject, but I'll save that all for another day.  For now, I just want to share the link to this article, as food for thought.

Update:  And now this is in the news: From Vnexpress: Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being

The lawsuit claims TikTok's research found that after viewing 260 videos, a user likely became addicted to the platform.

The company's studies also correlated "compulsive usage" with negative mental health effects, including "loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety."

While TikTok has implemented features to limit young users' screen time, including parental controls and a one-hour timeout, the documents suggest ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, did not seek to improve these tools despite knowing their limited effectiveness.

Today in Hey! I know that guy!: 

Here are two of my co-workers talking about life in Vietnam during the Covid times.  Although some of their experiences are obviously unique to them, much of what they say when they describe the situation in Vietnam generally was also true for me:

Expat Life In Vietnam Living Through the Pandemic in Saigon

I've linked to their podcast once before 5 years ago when it was called Seven Million Bikes; A Saigon Podcast.  It looks like the name has now changed to: Vietnam Podcast: Culture, Community, Conversations

Model Text for Relative Clauses: Mike, the luckiest guy I know.

(TESOL Materials--Relative Clauses)

Video: Relative Clauses / Adjective Clause: Mike, the luckiest guy I know. (Comical ESL Video Story)

Slideshow: slides, pub

Worksheet 1: Questions and model text: docs, pub

Worksheet 2: Noticing activity: docs, pub

[Notes: This is a lesson created around a video on relative clauses from oomongzu oomongzu Youtube channel.  I'm not 100% happy with it, but so far it was the best model text on relative clauses I could find.  (If someone knows a better text that contextualizes relative clauses, let me know.)  The video is a bit on the long side, has some questionable humor, and also possibly contains some sentences that aren't technically relative clauses.  As someone pointed out in the comments, sentences like "He was my friend when we were at school" is an adverb clause, not a relative clause.  I got around this problem by just choosing to ignore sentences that I don't think are good examples of relative clauses.  (I also stop the video at 3:56, and don't use their explanation.  I do my own clarification activities instead.)

The staging of this lesson is as follows:  

Lead-in: slide 1: show the picture, and try to elicit the word "lucky" from the students.  (The word comes up on the animation.  Slide 2: Show the 3 pictures of lucky people, and ask the students to explain why each person is lucky.  Slide 3: Students talk to a partner: Who is the luckiest person you know? Why?

Gist Task: Slide 4.  Play the video.  (Only the story part, not the grammar explanation part).  Ask students: Why is Mike the luckiest person I know?

Specific Information Questions: First page of worksheet, and slide 5

Noticing Activity: Slide 6.  Display sentences: Mike's mother is a loving woman.  ​A loving woman makes him breakfast in bed every morning.  Get students to combine the sentences.  If they need help, play the relevant part of the video for them.  Give out noticing worksheet.  Students combine sentences, and then check their answers by listening to the story again.  To save time, the teacher can read out the story instead of listening to the video again. (The story on the noticing worksheet is an abbreviated version of the story.)

Clarification Stage: 

Clarification of Meaning is slides 8-12.  Check that the students understand what the relative pronoun refers to in each case.

Clarification of Form is slides 13-26

1. What does Mike’s mother make him every morning? 

 

 

2. Where does Mike work? 

 

 

3. What was Mike’s lifelong dream? 

 

 

4. What does Mike do every morning? 

 

 

5. Who did Mike ask out? 

 

 

6. Who did Mike marry? 

 

 

 

1. What does Mike’s mother make him every morning? 

 

 

2. Where does Mike work? 

 

 

3. What was Mike’s lifelong dream? 

 

 

4. What does Mike do every morning? 

 

 

5. Who did Mike ask out? 

 

 

6. Who did Mike marry? 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/Dea5xzWypVQ?si=xB1I5U3oQ4Z6QgXI 

This is Mike. Mike is the luckiest guy I know. We used to play together at the playground where we made friends with our older kids. 

Mike's mother is a loving woman who makes him breakfast in bed every morning. Mike has a great job. He works at the top modeling agency in town, which he loves. 

Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

One day Mike was walking to work when he found a million dollars on the ground. The very next day Mike quit his job and took a holiday to Hawaii which was his lifelong dream. Unfortunately, on his holiday Mike accidentally cut his finger when he was having dinner. Mike had to be hospitalized. Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

When Mike returned home from his holiday, he was broke. He had spent all the money that he had found. One day when Mike was jogging in the park, which he does every morning, he came up with a great idea. So the very next day, Mike planted a tree which grows money in his backyard. Mike is the most ingenious guy I know. Now that Mike's a trillionaire, there's only one thing that was missing in his life: a soulmate. So, the next day Mike went out and asked out the first girl that he saw. Barbara, who was the lucky girl, immediately said yes. It was a match made in heaven. Mike and Barbara were a perfect couple. Mike was a cool guy and Barbara, whose personality was fun and outgoing, was the perfect match. 3 Days later, Mike married Jessica, his new girlfriend. Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who grew up to be a handsome young lad and they lived happily ever after. 

Combine these two sentences into one sentence: 

1. Mike's mother is a loving woman.  A loving woman makes him breakfast in bed every morning. 

 

2. He works at the top modeling agency in town.  He loves working at the top modelling agency in town. 

 

3. Mike quit his job and took a holiday to Hawaii. Taking a holiday to Hawaii was his lifelong dream. 

 

4. He had spent all the money. He had found the money. 

 

5. One day when Mike was jogging in the park he came up with a great idea.  Mike goes jogging in the park every morning. 

 

6. Mike planted a tree in his backyard.  The tree grows money. 

 

7. Barbara immediately said yes.  Barbara was the lucky girl.   

 

8. Barbara was the perfect match.  Barbara’s personality was fun and outgoing. 

 

9. Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  The baby boy grew up to be a handsome young lad. 

 

This is Mike. Mike is the luckiest guy I know.  

(1)_________________________________________________________. Mike has a great job. (2)__________________________________________. 

Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

One day Mike was walking to work when he found a million dollars on the ground. The very next day (3)_____________________________________________________. Unfortunately, on his holiday Mike accidentally cut his finger when he was having dinner. Mike had to be hospitalized. Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

When Mike returned home from his holiday, he was broke. (4)______________________________________________________ . (5)________________________________________________________ . So the very next day, (6)________________________________________. Mike is the most ingenious guy I know. Now that Mike's a trillionaire, there's only one thing that was missing in his life: a soulmate. So, the next day Mike went out and asked out the first girl that he saw. (7)___________________________________________. It was a match made in heaven. Mike and Barbara were a perfect couple. Mike was a cool guy and (8)________________________________________________________. Three Days later, Mike married Jessica, his new girlfriend. (9___________________________________________________ and they lived happily ever after. 

 

Answers: 

This is Mike. Mike is the luckiest guy I know.  

(1)Mike's mother is a loving woman who makes him breakfast in bed every morning. Mike has a great job. (2)He works at the top modeling agency in town, which he loves. 

Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

One day Mike was walking to work when he found a million dollars on the ground. The very next day (3)Mike quit his job and took a holiday to Hawaii which was his lifelong dream.  

Unfortunately, on his holiday Mike accidentally cut his finger when he was having dinner. Mike had to be hospitalized. Mike is the luckiest guy I know. 

When Mike returned home from his holiday, he was broke. (4)He had spent all the money that he had found. (5)One day when Mike was jogging in the park, which he does every morning, he came up with a great idea. So the very next day, (6)Mike planted a tree which grows money in his backyard. Mike is the most ingenious guy I know. Now that Mike's a trillionaire, there's only one thing that was missing in his life: a soulmate. So, the next day Mike went out and asked out the first girl that he saw. (7)Barbara, who was the lucky girl, immediately said yes. It was a match made in heaven. Mike and Barbara were a perfect couple. Mike was a cool guy and (8)Barbara, whose personality was fun and outgoing, was the perfect match. Three Days later, Mike married Jessica, his new girlfriend. (9)Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who grew up to be a handsome young lad and they lived happily ever after.