Worksheet: Fill in the Verb from Education.com
Supplementary cards: docs, pub

Extension activity: docs, pub
I recently got this worksheet from another teacher: Fill in the Verb from Education.com

You can go to the link above to download the free PDF once you create an account.

For my classes, I created some matching cards for this activity, just to make it a bit more tactile: docs, pub
In my lesson, I made two copies of the verb cards: one in which I cut the verb cards so that the picture was separated from the word, and one in which the verb and the picture were on the same card.  Then I  used the following sequence:

1) First I gave the groups the cards in which the verbs and the pictures were separated, and they had to match the correct verb with the correct picture.  They did this in groups.

2) Once the students had matched all the verbs with the correct picture, I took away those cards, and gave them new cards with the verbs and the picture both on the same card.  (Just to make the next activity easier.)  Then they had to match the verb card with the object card.

3) Once the verbs had been matched with the objects, I took away these cards, and then the students had to do the worksheet.  (This was much easier after they had already matched the verbs and objects.)
4) Then, I did an extension activity, in which I brought out the noun and adjective cards from a previous activity, (docs, pub), and the students made new sentences using the format: adjective, noun, verb, noun.  We then had Google Gemini make illustrations for these sentences.

writes	a letter
draws	a picture
buys	a snack
bikes	10 miles
walks	a dog
opens	a window
asks	a question
waters	a plant
feeds	a fish
fixes	a bike

The _____________________ _____________________ 

adjective   noun

_____________________ _____________________ 

verb           noun

Sorting Cards for Parts of Speech

(TESOL Materials--Parts of Speech)

Google: docs, pub

I was recently working with a group of 5th graders who had difficulty with the labels for parts of speech--specifically nouns, verbs and adjectives, so I made these cards to help them.
The activity works in two stages. First, the students are given the cards, and sort them into noun, verb and adjective.  
Secondly, the students are given the sentence frame: The [adjective] [noun] [verb] and have to put the cards into the slots to make sentences.  (e.g. The old teacher runs).

Some of the nouns are inanimate objects (e.g. chair, pencil, hotdog) and so the idea is that the students will have fun imagining anthropomorphized versions of these objects performing the action verb (e.g. The angry hotdog runs.)  These sentences can then be illustrated for the students using AI.
While running the activity, I found that for some groups it is useful to have them use the cards to make sentences first, and then this helps them learn the categories, so then I do sorting at the end.

Noun person, place, thing	Verb action
Adjective describe
sad	hotdog
crazy	frog
red	teacher
big	boy
smelly	flower
old	chair
happy	turtle
slow	lion
good	pencil
bad	baby
swims	eats
sleeps	cries
runs	climbs
reads	writes
plays	sings

The _____________________ _____________________ 

adjective   noun

__________________

verb

Using AI to Illustrate Student Generated Sentences

(TESOL Ideas--Useful Websites, Writing)

I've got a lot of mixed feelings about AI but, it is a thing that exists, and I suppose we might as well take advantage of it when it's useful.

One use of AI that I've recently realized is that it's very useful for creating pictures to show students the meaning of their sentences.  

In the past, whenever my students messed up the syntax of a sentence, I used to spend a lot of time trying to explain to my students that their sentence meant something completely different than what they thought it did.
For example, I remember back in Cambodia I taught an advanced level writing class for many terms, and the students had to write an essay on the topic of deforestation.  For whatever reason, every term several students would write something like "the trees are cutting down."  And I would always go around to the students and say, "No, no, the trees aren't the ones who are doing the cutting.  What you've written looks like this..." and then I would try to draw a picture of a tree with arms cutting something down with a saw.  I'm not much of an artist, though, so I'm not sure my students go the point.

But if I was teaching that class now, I could simply put the sentence into Google Gemini and ask Gemini to create a picture for that sentence. 

The idea of trees cutting down people is of course nonsense, but I've discovered that Google Gemini is actually pretty good about illustrating nonsensical sentences.  For example if you give it a sentence like: "The hotdog is writing a book" or "The chair is riding a bike" then it will create images with an anthropomophic hotdog or chair doing those things.  

This can be good for teaching parts of speech with madlib style sentence games in which you are encouraging students to put together nouns and verbs in creative or humerous ways, and then show them the results, and I've recently used it successfully with 5th grade students.  Gemini is also pretty good with illustrating adjectives, so you can encourage students to add in extra adjectives like "The old smelly angry chair is riding a bike", and then you and the students can have fun viewing the result.

In my experience, it sometimes takes Gemini 30 seconds to a minute to generate an image, but I will use this time to get the students to tell me what kind of image they think Gemini will produce.  Then when the image does generate, we check our predictiosn agains the result.

I've also been using word cards to aid low-level students in creating these sentences, but more on that in a future post.

Clarifying Form for Vocabulary: Example Sentences Worksheet

(TESOL Ideas--Any Vocabulary Set, Parts of Speech)

Sample: docs, pub

This is for the Clarification Stage of a Vocabulary Lesson.

It's very simple.  The students are given a worksheet containing each of the target vocabulary words in an example sentence.  Based on the grammar of the sentence, the students then have to decide what part of speech the target vocabulary is (i.e. noun, adjective, adverb, verb, etc).

My students often struggle with this, at least at first, so I talk through the first couple ones with them as examples before I let them do the rest on their own.  Then I make sure to allow time for pair-checking, and finally, I am prepared to do extra clarification and explanation during the feedback and checking stage.

It's somewhat of a guided discovery in the sense that the students are supposed to work out the parts of speech of the vocabulary words themselves, but in practice I also find there is also often a lot of teacher-centered clarification in the feedback.

This sample sheet is from Impact 3 the vocabulary lesson on pages 112-114.

Look at the underlined word in each sentence.  Write in the word form.  You can use the following code:

Noun=N

Verb=V

Adjective=Adj

anger: When you feel anger, you are upset. _________

audience: A photographer can’t be sure how an audience will react to a photo. _________

canvas: An artist paints on canvas. _________

image: The images in the magazine tell an incredible story. _________

meaningful: This old photo of my grandparents is really meaningful to me. _________

oral: Many cultures pass down stories through oral traditions. _________

portrait: Each year at school, a photographer takes students’ portraits._________

portray: This photograph portrays the love the family shared._________

represent: To me, this painting represents the artist’s feelings about the situation. _________

scene: In this rural scene, we can see trees and animals in a field. _________

shock: When you are really surprised, you may be in shock. _________

subject: Three children were the subject of the painting. _________

understanding: When we travel, we have a better understanding of how

other people live._________

visual: Visual stories can be told through painting and photography. _________

witness: After the event, witnesses talked about what they saw._________

capture: This old photograph really captures my aunt’s youth. _________

certain: Photos can create certain emotions, such as anger or sadness._________

last: Photographs help to make our memories last longer. _________

permanent: This painting is part of the museum’s permanent collection._________

Answer Key

anger: When you feel anger, you are upset. Noun

audience: A photographer can’t be sure how an audience will react to a photo. Noun

canvas: An artist paints on canvas. Noun

image: The images in the magazine tell an incredible story. Noun

meaningful: This old photo of my grandparents is really meaningful to me. Adjective

oral: Many cultures pass down stories through oral traditions. Adjective

portrait: Each year at school, a photographer takes students’ portraits.Noun

portray: This photograph portrays the love the family shared. Verb 

represent: To me, this painting represents the artist’s feelings about the situation. Verb 

scene: In this rural scene, we can see trees and animals in a field. Noun

shock: When you are really surprised, you may be in shock. Noun

subject: Three children were the subject of the painting. Noun

understanding: When we travel, we have a better understanding of how

other people live. Noun

visual: Visual stories can be told through painting and photography. Adjective

witness: After the event, witnesses talked about what they saw. Noun

capture: This old photograph really captures my aunt’s youth. Verb 

certain: Photos can create certain emotions, such as anger or sadness.Adjective

last: Photographs help to make our memories last longer. Verb 

permanent: This painting is part of the museum’s permanent collection.Adjective