Making Generalizations

Objectives:

Duration:

    2 hours

Materials:

Activities:       

1. Teacher begins by reviewing regular and irregular noun plurals using the charts on pgs. 83 and 85 of Grammar in Context.  Teacher says the singular words (regular and irregular) while learners say the plural forms. Teacher pairs learners and distributes Singular and Plural Noun Flashcards to each pair. Learners drill each other in pairs, correcting mistakes as they go. Allow enough time for each learner in each pair to practice two times.

2. Teacher reviews use of "some," "a lot of," "many," and "a few" with plural count nouns, and "some," "a lot of," "much" and "a little" with non-count nouns by writing and saying the words on the board (words are grouped together as count or non-count). Teacher says and shows a plural count or non-count word chosen from the flashcards and points to a learner. Learner chooses any appropriate word from the correct group and says it with the noun. Class continues until all learners have at least three turns.

3. Learners complete "A little, A Few" online quiz and report score to teacher.

4. Teacher introduces generalizations by writing two sentences on the board: "A child needs love." and "Children need love." Teacher asks, "Are these statements true?" Are they true for all children?" We call these sentences 'generalizations' because they say what is true for all things in a group." Teacher then asks if the meaning of the sentences is the same. Finally, the teacher explains the two ways that generalizations are formed: 1) by using an article with a singular noun and the appropriate verb (A child needs...) and 2) by using the plural form of the noun with no article and the appropriate verb (Children need...). The teacher writes on the board, "car" and "expensive" and asks the class to write a generalization in two ways ("A car is expensive," and "Cars are expensive.").

5. Learners complete exercise 5, p. 87 and review as a class. Learners complete exercises 6 and 7, pgs. 87-88; teacher monitors progress and assists where needed. Learners correct exercises as a class.

6. Teacher conducts a restatement drill by saying one type of generalization and asking a student to say the other form, ie: "A jacket is warm." ("Jackets are warm.") or "Bears are dangerous." ("A bear is dangerous."). Other suggested combinations: adult/works hard, student/likes to learn, teacher/likes to teach, Americans/often overweight, city/is noisy, good neighbor/good to have, good fence/makes a good neighbor, job/necessary. 

Assessment:

Teacher monitors verbal and written responses of individual learners, evaluates all written work and the online quiz.