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ESL forum >
Ask for help > plural nouns help
plural nouns help
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lizsantiago
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plural nouns help
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hello to everyone... i was wondering if you know of a fun game, activity, or any other thing to teach plural noun rules... i am teaching that next week and my problem is that my 3rd grade this year is soooo behind that i cant think of anything... most of them do not have vocabulary so when i was teaching how to identify nouns it was a disaster, they understood the skill when i explained it in spanish but since they dont have basic vocabulary recognizing them in english is impossible... if i translate the sentence they dont have any problem.. now i have to teach plural but to tell you the thruth , i am to the point of jumping of a cliff. i was using vocabulary like dog, sun, cat, animal, moon.. things like that but they dont know the meaning. please help!!! any ideas will be soooooooooooooooooooo appreciated. |
19 Aug 2011
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ueslteacher
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Hello, Liz:) Have you tried flashcards of objects and people to name them and say "who? -- a woman", "who? - a baby", "what?- a book", "what?- a pen", etc. Then show a pic of one object and several and teach the concept of many vs. one (a book - many books). Use simple sentences with the noun always to go first. And once they �re comfortable with the basics, you �ll be able to move on:) I �m sure, before we even post, you �ll have it all figured out:) Have a nice weekend, Sophia
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19 Aug 2011
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lizsantiago
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sophia, thks so much.. the link for the board game me a nice idea. any other ideas still wanted cuse i have to split the rules to teach one each day so i need more activities... great night to you sophia. |
19 Aug 2011
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moravc
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Liz, how about a warm up game?
Ask students to shout at you as many nouns in English as they can! You will write them on the blackboard... This vocabulary will be easy for them and they will be able to make plurals in no time. :-)
And, aren �t there any nouns in Spanish which are pronounced / spelt as the English nouns?
Try to find the similar nouns Eng-Spa.
We had a great time finding words pronounced the same way but the meaning was completely different.... We laughed a lot...
Animals are easy to remember as they are often international - zebra, (Mickey) mouse, (Donald) duck, elephant, ...
and of course the FLASHCARDS are a great idea.
How about asking kids to make/draw the FC themselves?
nouns + numbers revision - works well too... - FC of numbers + FC of nouns
Flashing fun - cover the noun fc and raise your hand as quickly as you can, so ss try to guess what it was
(several times = number of times = number... - eg: show the pig very quickly 3 times - ss shout: "three pigs")
Simon says game - "Simon says..... some pens."
pardon my English it�s well after midnight and I am tired to death...
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20 Aug 2011
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lizsantiago
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moravc i didnt understand what you said about similar nouns spanish- english, what do u mean? |
20 Aug 2011
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Mehlika Sultan
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hi
try to teach plurals as counting on?
use ur students as teaching materials, for sure they know boy girl ... or things from classroom
for me mostly it works when i operate with real objects and add some fun...
if still not works i just use drawing funny animals on whiteboard it worked and maybe 80% got the concept
try also the surprise box! it �s memory lasting.
make up stories using flashcards
try to play memo game with cards
make a tour around the school for practicing the new concept
i use preschool(5-6y.o.) games for teaching English in elementary.
It �s fun and success at the same time
hope u can find something above to use
wish u good luck!
mehlika
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20 Aug 2011
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David Lisgo
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Hi Liz,
An easy introduction is this ball (puppet etc) game led by the teacher. T. "Dogs." S. "I like dogs.", who then passes the ball back to the teacher. In Japan students will often say "I like dog.", so I express my disgust at this. T. "Spiders." S. "I don �t like spiders." and so on.
Then using lots of plural picture cards that end with the plural �s �, we play some card games. First we identify the cards emphasising the final �s � sound, once the class is able to correctly identify them all, we turn the cards over and shuffle them, then we chant "1, 2, 3, what do you like? And we each grab a card and say individually "I like ...s.", if a child cannot say his sentence, then open that card to the class and have it as a class bonus. THe teacher will need to give prompts to ensure the final �s � is pronounced.
One more activity. Take a bunch of now fairly well know plural picture cards, display the cards and give the children time to internalise and re-identify the cards, then pick up all the cards and without showing the pictures give word ending hints (sounds not spellings) like such T. /ts/ S "Cats." T. Close. Try again. S. "Hats." S. "Very good." Now show the class the card.
In none of this would I try and explain plurals and through such games most students will come to a natural understanding of plurals. I leave it up to their JHS grammar teacher to explain sometime in the future.
Good luck.
David |
20 Aug 2011
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chokosaki
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The others definitely had some great ideas. I would like to share mine too.
You could do a bingo game. On the bingo board have the pictures with their words listed underneath. For each kind of picture have a square for the singular as well as one for the plural. For example: you would have a square for �dog � and another square for �dogs �. When giving out the clues, read a full sentence. The students should listen for the keyword and whether or not it is singular or plural.
Another idea could be a �go fish � type game. Have single and plural versions of each word (kind of like the in the bingo game above).
Students should try to get the other students � cards by asking questions �do you have a dog? � or �do you have any dogs? �
These would be great if you have some resources to fall back on.
However, I understand that sometimes it �s difficult to get all the resources together.
If getting the materials is a problem, try to use materials you have on hand in the classroom. You could easily nail down singular and plural with classroom objects...like pencils, erasers, chairs, desks, students, teachers, etc. At the same time this will let your students get more familiar with your classroom. |
20 Aug 2011
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jaspergates
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Show your students a thing, for example one pencil...then say "a pencil" and show two pencils and say "two pencils" with emphasizing on the "s" ....show different things with the same technique and repetition. Change the amount of the things....well, use school utensils or other familiar things in the room/ classroom...
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20 Aug 2011
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