Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T10:38:30.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Grammar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2024

Get access

Summary

The activities in this section typically target a specific grammatical feature, and then give the learners opportunities to engage with it through an interesting task that involves conveying (written or spoken) meanings. Sometimes this means communicative interaction (‘Question stories’); sometimes just playful suggestions (‘Oh!’). In any case, they make a welcome break from the routine gapfills and transformation exercises normally provided in coursebooks and online grammar practice. You’ll find that most of the activities can be adapted to practise features other than the one focused on in the original; and others, for example ‘Sentence repetition’ or ‘Student-generated test’, you can use for any grammatical structure(s) you like!

Adjectives on the internet

From Grammar Practice Activities: A practical guide for teachers by Penny Ur

Outline Students search online for interesting contexts for a given grammatical form

Author's comment This activity was designed to practise the comparative of adjectives: but actually it can be used for almost any vocabulary item or grammatical form you like. The goal is to find a context for the target bit of language that is understood by students, and fun. An alternative would be to ask an AI generative text tool such as ChatGPT to create seven sentence contexts for the target bit of language, and then choose the most interesting.

Editors’ comment This is a simple but effective use of the vast resources of the internet for language study. And once students become accustomed to searching the internet for examples, it's not a huge step to introduce them to online corpus tools, where they can refine their searches, e.g. by searching for examples from academic writing, from conversation or from movies.

Level Elementary to Pre-intermediate (A1–B1)

Preparation None

Procedure

  • 1 Brainstorm as many adjectives as the class can think of (up to about 30), and write them on the board.

  • 2 Each student selects one of them and writes down its comparative form.

  • 3 They search online for this form and find five different contexts in which it is used. These must be a) clearly understood and b) interesting or funny.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Grammar
  • Edited by Penny Ur, Scott Thornbury
  • Book: 100 Great Activities: The Best of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348751.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Grammar
  • Edited by Penny Ur, Scott Thornbury
  • Book: 100 Great Activities: The Best of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348751.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Grammar
  • Edited by Penny Ur, Scott Thornbury
  • Book: 100 Great Activities: The Best of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348751.008
Available formats
×