KSSR Grammar

Articles
Charlotte Lewis

edition.tef.net/ideas/grammar/fun-activities-for-practising-a-an-the/

Written by Alex Case for TEFL.net

Disappearing text

Put a text on the board including examples of the meanings of articles that you
have presented or are going to present, and have one student or team of
students read it out loud. They then choose one word and that is covered or
erased. The next person or team must then read out the whole text, including
the words that have disappeared. They then choose the next word to disappear.
This continues round the class until the whole text has disappeared or they give
up.

The same game can also be played in groups by having a grid that covers one A4
page with one word of the text in each box. The students then cover a word with
a small scrap of paper after they have read out the text, continuing until the
whole text (and therefore the whole grid) is covered with scraps of paper. As an
extension that involves production, they can then go onto write similar sentences
with lots of articles on a blank grid to challenge other students with.

Revealing text (= Word hangman)

This is the opposite of the game above. Students are shown a completely
blanked out text, for example by just showing them numbered blanks or words
covered by something that can be erased to reveal what is underneath (if you
are using an interactive whiteboard or OHP). They then shout out words that they
think will be in the text and if they are correct those words are written in or
revealed. This continues until the whole text is up on the board, maybe with hints
like first letters being given if needed. The easiest way of playing the game for
students is if the words can be called out and revealed in any order, whilst the
students having to guess the next word each time is easier for the teacher to
organise and more focused on the grammar but much more challenging for the
students.

Letter by letter revealing text

This is similar to the game above and played with the same kind of text, but with
students having to guess the next letter each time instead of the next word.
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Charlotte Lewis

Sentence Scrabble

Students are given words and have to arrange them into grammatically correct
sentences. For each new sentence they come up with they are given one more
word and so have the chance to make more sentences for even more points.
They can win the original words they start with by guessing the word from the
definition by the teacher or can just choose them randomly from a pack of cards.
The team with the most words when the game is stopped win.

Word combinations Scrabble

This is a less challenging version of the game above. Rather than having to make
a whole sentence, students win more words by putting words next to each other
that naturally go together, e.g. an with apple and the with teacher, along
with combinations not connected to articles like have with been and make
with breakfast.

Simon Says Listen carefully to the articles

Simon Says is a well known childrens game where students only do an action if
the instructions are preceded by the words Simon says and otherwise stay
still. There is a fairly well known TEFL variation on this where students only do
the action if the instructions are grammatically and logically correct, and this can
easily be adapted to practice articles with instructions they should copy like
Look at the teacher, Point at the tallest student and Wink at a student, and
ones they shouldnt like Touch the student (because they dont know which
one).

Picture dictation

This is another fairly well known game, where one student describes a picture
they have drawn or have been given by the teacher to another student, who tries
to draw what they hear. When the picture is finished, it can then be compared
with the original. This activity is a very natural place for the use of articles,
especially the generalisation that we use a the first time we talk about
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Charlotte Lewis

something and the the next time. It is possible to elicit even more use of these
forms with pictures where An ape is on the table (making sure there is more
than one ape in the picture) and The ape (who is on the table) is smiling.

Pairwork picture differences

Students being given two pictures that are similar but not the same and being
asked to find the differences without looking at each others pictures is also an
activity that prompts lots of articles, and this can be reinforced by having one
picture where The cat is under the table and the other where A cat is under
the table (there being more than one cat in the picture in the second case).

Stations

Students listen to a word or sentence and react one way if an is needed and a
different way if a is needed. Possibilities include running and slapping opposite
walls of the room, jumping either side of a line, slapping two pieces of paper on
their table, and pretending to shoot pieces of paper on different walls. The same
game can also be played with a and the, but it is quite difficult to choose
sentences that are only possible with one of the two.

Right wrong stations

Another way of using Stations, and one that it is easier to bring the into, is to
have students do the two reactions depending on whether what you said was
right or wrong (grammatically, factually or logically).

Video true or false

Another way of using false statements is to prepare a list of things that are seen
or happen in a video and write them as sentences that have articles in them.
Change some of the sentences to make them different to what is seen in the film
(e.g. The cat bites the man when there are several cats on screen and so it
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Charlotte Lewis

should be A cat bites the man), and maybe mix the sentences up. Students
then watch the movie and shout out any sentences they think they have seen
happen, winning or losing points depending on whether they are right or not.

Video cloze

Cloze is a fancy name for gapfill, meaning filling in one missing word- possibly
the most boring activity in language study! Luckily, students take ten times more
interest in this activity when they have to fill the gaps and then watch a film to
check. In order to practice articles, either take out the articles or the words
straight after them- especially in sentences like My father is a ____________
where the article gives some clue on which word is coming next (here probably a
job).

Song cloze

What I said about using films above is at least as true for songs, and there is the
added benefit that songs take up much less class time.

Finger over words in text

Cloze can also be used as a fun pairwork game. After the students have used a
text for a grammar exercise or reading comprehension, one student slams their
finger down on the page and their partner has to guess which word is under it.
Even without prompting, students usually quickly work out that covering articles
makes for the most challenging task for their partners.

Definitions game/ Back to the board

This is another well known TEFL game that is easily adaptable to bring more
articles into it. One or more students try to explain which word, phrase or
sentence they have been given without using the words on the card until
someone guesses it. Articles can be brought into this game by using full
sentences (e.g. My uncle is a teacher, or true ones about the classroom like
The teacher is wearing a tie), country and other geographical names (The
United States of America), names of films and songs, quotes, proverbs, other
idioms, etc.
KSSR Grammar
Articles
Charlotte Lewis