CONTENTS
GRAMMAR GURU 14 ADJECTIVES: I’ve Had 24-25 RELATIVE CLAUSES:
Enough: 3 Very Active
3-4 MUST READ: How to Exercises for Describing
Teach Grammar: 5 Best Degrees
Practices
15 ADJECTIVES: Beautiful
and Charming: 3
5 MUST READ: How to Stunning Strategies to
Create a Grammar Plan Practicing Adjectives for
for an Intermediate ESL Any Level
Class
16 VERBS: Look At, Look
6 MUST READ: How to Up, Look Into, Look
Create a Grammar Plan Over: 6 Types of Multi-
for an Advanced ESL Word Verbs in English
Class
17 VERBS: Agreeing
7 PARTS OF SPEECH: to Disagree: Simple
Nouns, Adjectives, Oh Solutions for Teaching
My: 3 Creative Ways So Do I, Neither Do I,
to Reinforce Parts of and I Don’t
Speech
18 ADVERBS: Lessons
8-9 PARTS OF SPEECH: You Can Use Often,
The Prediction Was Sometimes, Always:
Predictably Predicted: Teaching Adverbs of
Ways to Teach Word Frequency
Formation and Parts of
Speech
19 ADVERBS: How Long
10 NOUNS: 5 Fun Filled is the Flight: 3 Timely
Activities with Noncount Activities for Adverbs of
Nouns Time
11 POSSESSIVES: It’s Not 20 PREPOSITIONS: On
Mine, It’s His: 3 Powerful Your Marks: 7 Super
Possessive Activities Easy Activities for
Teaching Prepositions of
Location
12 ADJECTIVES: The
Good, the Bad, and 21 PREPOSITIONS: 7
the Ugly: 3 Tips for Super Easy Activities for
Practicing Adjective Teaching Prepositions of
Order Time
13 ADJECTIVES: 4 22-23 ADJECTIVE
Excellent Activities for CLAUSES: Rome is a
Using Comparatives and Place Where ... - Tips
Superlatives: The Best for Teaching Adjective
and the Brightest Clauses
That, Which, and the
Other: 3 Constructive
Ways to Reinforce
Relative Clauses
26 CONJUNCTIONS: And,
Or, But, So: What You
and Your Students
Need to Know About
Conjunctions
27 CONDITIONALS:
Everything You Need
to Know About English
Conditionals: When the
Present Isn’t and the
Past Wasn’t
28 QUESTIONS: Did You,
Do You, and Who are
You: 3 Ways to Willfully
Work on Question
Creation
29 REPORTED SPEECH:
“He Said What?” Top
9 ESL Activities for
Reported Speech
30 REPORTED SPEECH:
And You Can Quote Him:
Backshifting in Reported
Speech and What You
Need to Know About It
31 FUN WITH GRAMMAR:
May I Take Your Order:
Delicious Grammar Tips
for Restaurant Language
32 FUN WITH GRAMMAR:
6 Super ESL Games for
Grammar Review
How to Teach Grammar:
5 Best Practices
I remember my reaction the last
time I was assigned an intermedi-
ate ESL grammar class: “Oh, no!
Not again.”
Not another semester of faithfully fol-
lowing the course syllabus and distin-
guishing for weeks the difference be-
tween the simple present and present
progressive verb tenses, only to have
students (still) writing sentences like “I
am take three classes this semester.”
Very discouraging. Worse is the reac-
tion of friends and family who, when
told you teach grammar, respond in
one of two ways: “Oh, I’d better watch
my language around you.” (As if I typi-
cally stand around correcting people’s
online production). Or “Oh, it’s amaz-
ing people need a class in gram-
mar... I always did well in grammar
in school” (as one would hope, given
that you’re a native speaker of Eng-
lish). But these attitudes reveal some
misconceptions about what grammar
is, how people learn it, and how it
should be taught.
COMMON
MISCONCEPTIONS
ABOUT GRAMMAR
1
THERE IS “BAD” VS.
“GOOD” ENGLISH.
WRONG!
Linguists and language specialists
don’t actually talk in terms of “good”
as opposed “bad” language: there is
no such thing. There are, however,
standard and nonstandard forms, the
“standard” being the prestige form,
more accepted as appropriate in pro-
fessional settings, for example. How-
ever, even nonstandard forms, like
“ain’t” and the “double negative” (us-
ing two negative forms in the same
verb phrase) follow their own inter-
nal logic and structure. For example,
a line from a recent popular song, “I
ain’t never coming back to you,” em-
phasizes through the double negative
the speaker’s certainty in his inten-
tion of not returning, and actually the
“double negative” is standard to show
emphasis in some languages like
French and Russian. Keeping in mind
that there really is no “bad” English
will make the teacher aware that what
seems like “bad” grammar, such as
“taked” for the past tense of English
irregular verb “to take” actually dem-
onstrates that the learner has inter-
nalized the “-ed” ending rule to show
past tense but simply has applied it
inappropriately in this case.
2 4
GRAMMAR IS
A MATTER OF “LINGUISTIC
ETIQUETTE.” WRONG!
Avoid “ain’t.” Don’t use the double
negative. Don’t end a sentence in a
preposition. It’s usually better to use
“whom” rather than “who” (although
exactly when is not always clear).
These “rules” really have little or noth-
ing to do with actually communicating
— after all, the ultimate goal of lan-
guage — but to demonstrate a cer-
tain “linguistic etiquette” that marks
the speaker as a member of a certain
class. This is not to say these rules
aren’t important, of course. Speak-
ers who use “ain’t” may be marking
themselves, however unfairly, as un-
educated and lower-class, something
that ESL students should certainly be
made aware of by their educators,
who should teach them the “correct”
(or at least socially correct) form while
keeping in mind that the use of “ain’t”
or other nonstandard forms really
don’t reflect the level of intelligence or
education of the speaker.
3
TEACHERS SHOULD
ALWAYS CORRECT “BAD”
ENGLISH. WRONG!
Correcting students’ production of
grammar when they are speaking is
of little or no value, not teaching stu-
dents anything about correct usage.
Such correction may in fact be coun-
terproductive, raising students’ anxi-
ety level to an extent they become
unwilling to attempt to speak in their
second language. Even overcorrec-
tion of student writing is of little value,
as it is too overwhelming for students
to understand how to revise and im-
prove when there are marks all over
the paper — and if the instructor has
corrected the errors for them, then
there is no real need for students to
edit themselves anyway. More pro-
ductive is to look for the most frequent
or most serious pattern of errors and
write and end note for the student to
review article usage and revise, for
example.
GRAMMAR IS PRIMARY.
MEANING IS SECONDARY.
WRONG!
It is common practice to introduce a
unit of instruction with, “This week
we will learn the passive voice.” Why
should we do that? Well, that’s the
place we are in the book. Even if it is
prescribed curriculum, students need
a better reason than “that’s just where
we are in the syllabus.” We learn the
passive voice not because it is a goal
in and of itself but because it is com-
mon throughout academic language,
and we need to learn it to understand
our textbooks.
5 ONCE A GRAMMAR
POINT IS COVERED, IT IS
“LEARNED.” WRONG!
Unlike some curricula, like the num-
ber of articles and amendments to the
U.S. Constitution, grammar is not just
studied and then learned. It is devel-
opmental and must be studied, prac-
ticed, and then reviewed constantly to
begin to internalize it and be able to
use it automatically.
5 BEST PRACTICES
FOR TEACHING
GRAMMAR
1 ACCEPT STUDENTS’
“DEVELOPMENTAL”
GRAMMAR.
Again, it may be hard, but students’
attempts at standard English should
not be regarded as “bad” but seen
for what they are — milestones in de-
veloping control of their second lan-
3
 guage. The student who only some-
times remembers the “—s” ending on
plural forms, for example, shows that
in even sometimes using it he does
know the rule even if he doesn’t al-
ways remember it. An end note on the
student’s paper should be to the effect
that the student should go through the
paper, looking for the plural nouns,
and check if they require a “—s” or “—
es” ending.
learn the language of advice or warn-
ings than to know “unreal conditional,”
so focusing on functions and how we
use grammar to perform certain tasks
is important.
5 PRACTICE OF GRAMMAR
IS USUALLY REQUIRED
TO INTERNALIZE IT.
The point of grammar instruction, or
any language instruction for that mat-

2 GRAMMAR IS ABOUT
HOW WE COMBINE
WORDS TO MAKE MEANING.
If vocabulary is about learning new
words, grammar is about how we
combine those words in subject-verb-
object order in affirmative English sen-
tences, for example, or verb-subject
order for questions, which students
need to know to communicate. Fo-
cusing on large issues like this—that
language is meaning, and grammar
helps make that meaning — will keep
instructors focused on teaching im-
portant issues of grammar, like word
order. rather than focusing on minor
issues like the difference between
“shall” and “will” (which most native
speakers don’t even understand and
don’t need).
ter, is to internalize the instruction to
the extent that the student can pro-
duce it at fluently. This calls for regu-
lar and extended practice in groups
on meaningful tasks, such as using
the future verb tenses to make plans,
promises, and predictions.
THE INSTRUCTION OF GRAMMAR IS
FULL OF MYTHS AND PITFALLS.
However, by recognizing the impor-
tance of grammar within the larger
scheme of things, how it is actually
used to communicate, and continual
practice, the instructor can build a
curriculum with meaningful tasks for
grammar instruction.

3 NOT ALL ERRORS SHOULD

BE CORRECTED, ESPECIAL-
LY IN ONLINE PRODUCTION.
Not all errors are meant to be cor-
rected: pick your battles, as any par-
ent will tell you. It is too hard for the
instructor and too discouraging for
the student to correct every grammar
error in her paper, and teacher cor-
rection is more a demonstration on
what the teacher can do than how the
student can improve her English use,
which is the goal, of course. Pick only
a couple of major concerns in a pa-
per and show the student once how to
correct it and then let her do the rest,
as it is the student who has to practice
editing, not the teacher.

4 MEANING IS FOREMOST.
GRAMMAR IS USED
TO COMMUNICATE MEANING.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” for
example, is a relatively common us-
age of the unreal conditional. Giving
a warning or making a suggestion is
first, the grammar to do that is second-
ary. It’s more important for students to

4
How to Create a Grammar Plan
for an Intermediate ESL Class
Your students have made it, well, part of
the way, anyway. They are out of the be-
ginning level ESL classes and are now
able to express themselves in this once
foreign language. They can get their
meaning across. But even though they
have taken great strides in their speaking
and writing abilities, they still have a lot to
learn. The good news is, you are there to
teach them. So what do these students
need to know, and how do you make sure
they learn it?
HOW TO CREATE A
GRAMMAR PLAN FOR
THE INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL
1
DON’T GET AHEAD
OF YOURSELF.
One of the biggest struggles for intermedi-
ate ESL teacher is expecting more of your
students than you should. Your students
can speak and write and generally get
their meaning across, but their language
use may be peppered with mistakes. Ex-
pecting perfection from students at this
level will only discourage and frustrate
them, so take a step back before pounc-
ing on errors and look at the bigger pic-
ture. Try to focus on one grammar struc-
ture at a time, teaching and correcting it
as your students use it.
2 KEEP STRESS LEVELS LOW.
When you can, lighten up the mood
in class. Include games and fun mate-
rial in your lesson plans. It is easy for
students at this level to get frustrated,
so keeping your sense of humor in class
can help alleviate stress and get your stu-
dents to not take themselves quite so se-
riously. Encourage your students to learn
from their mistakes rather than beating
themselves up over them, and remind
them that learning is a lifelong process.
At times, you may have to be more of an
encourager and less of a corrector, but
become comfortable in that role and help
your students as they learn in a low stress
environment.
3
ENCOURAGE TALKING
IN CLASS.
It’s important that your students use the
language they are learning, so encour-
age them to speak up in class. Outgo-
ing students won’t have a problem with
this. You will have to be more intentional
about bringing out the quieter students in
your class, though. Reward students who
use the grammar structures you have
been teaching as they speak in class.
And allow the students who are excelling
to help those who are struggling. Strug-
gling learners will raise their language
level more when they are talking with a
more proficient student than they will with
someone at their same proficiency level.
4
POINT OUT PATTERNS.
Sentences in English follow predict-
able patterns. When you are teaching
grammatical concepts, point out the pat-
terns that these sentences should follow.
If your students become familiar with the
patterns, they can change the vocabulary
to suit their communication needs with-
out compromising the grammar. Start by
pointing out patterns in basic sentences,
and then show your students how the pat-
terns become more complex. Start with
simple sentences, and then move on to
compound and complex sentences. Add
clauses to your list, and your students will
be improving every day. Highlight sen-
tences that follow the patterns you have
been teaching your students.
5
CHANGE YOUR STORY.
At the intermediate level, students
should be learning all of the verb tenses.
Having students take a sentence or a sto-
ry from one tense and shift it to another
tense will help them see the differences in
the grammar they are studying. Start by
having students write a simple story from
their past. Then, have them write that
same story as if it were going to happen in
the future. Then, have them write it again
as if it is happening right now. Whatever
tense you are teaching at the moment,
you can ask your students to share the
same story in that tense. Once students
have learned all the tenses, have each
person compile their stories into one book
with explanations of each tense that they
can use as a reference.
6
GET INTO, OUT OF AND
THROUGH PREPOSITIONS.
English is peppered with prepositions,
and your intermediate students should
have a good foundation in understanding
and using them. Take their knowledge of
prepositions to the next level by master-
ing use of all the English prepositions in
your intermediate grammar class. You will
probably need to devote several sessions
to prepositions before your students know
them all and can use them appropriately,
but once you do don’t forget go back to
them periodically. Review prepositions
regularly in your class, and then introduce
phrasal verbs to your students. Point out
that prepositions in phrasal verbs do not
have the same meanings as they do in
typical contexts.
7
KEEP IRREGULAR.
For intermediate students, don’t shy
away from irregular verbs. Foreign lan-
guage students may feel that the list of
irregular verbs is simply endless. Keep-
ing your students aware of these verbs
and having them use them regularly won’t
shorten the list, but it will help them be
more comfortable using the verbs on it.
Plus, intermediate students will have to
know and use these verbs in everyday
conversation, so take a minute to review
and explain any irregulars that come up in
class or outside of it.
8
KEEP IT REAL.
As much as you can, keep gram-
mar use real for your students. Use realia
whenever possible, and give them realis-
tic tasks for speaking and listening activi-
ties in class. Make sure all of your class-
room activities have concrete goals, both
for language learning and for language
use. You can use role plays to encourage
realistic language use and have students
work together to solve problems or ac-
complish tasks. Your students are beyond
the beginning stages of language learn-
ing, and it’s time for them to put their Eng-
lish skills to practical use.
TEACHING INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR
CAN BE A CHALLENGE. Your students
know enough English to realize just how
much they still don’t know, and keeping
their spirits high is just as important as the
grammar instruction you give. Don’t expect
perfection from your students, and don’t
let them expect it from themselves, either.
Keep your instruction based in real life
materials and tasks, and don’t over correct
your students. When you find that perfect
line between correcting your students and
allowing them to make mistakes, they will
make the biggest strides in their language
learning. By the time they complete their
intermediate grammar studies, your stu-
dents should have general proficiency in
English and just need refinement at the
advanced level.
5
 How to Create a Grammar Plan
for an Advanced ESL Class
YOUR ADVANCED STUDENTS HAVE
REALLY COME A LONG WAY. THEY
HAVE GONE FROM HAVING NO
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ENGLISH TO
READING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES
AND LISTENING TO TELEVISION AND
PODCASTS. ON TOP OF THAT, THEY
UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE THEY
ARE HEARING AND USING.
But just because your advanced stu-
dents have become capable speak-
ers of English doesn’t mean they are
done studying grammar. If you (and
they) look, you will still find areas in
which they need to improve their Eng-
lish grammar. When it’s time to tackle
grammar in the advanced ESL class-
room, here are some tips to make the
most of your lessons.
HOW TO CREATE A
GRAMMAR PLAN
FOR THE ADVANCED
LEVEL
1
BE ON THE LOOKOUT
Students in advanced class-
rooms have all made great progress,
but just as every student is different,
their accomplishments in grammar
will be individualized as well. Pay at-
tention to your students in class when
they speak, and take time to do formal
assessments of their language abili-
ties. You should include both written
and oral assessments in your plans,
and note the areas each student strug-
gles. You might want to include both
formal and informal assessments,
and vary telling your students that you
are assessing them and doing it on
the sly. Also note if your students’ mis-
takes happen more frequently when
they know you are listening for them
or if they happen more when they are
speaking naturally.
2
TARGET YOUR TEACHING
Once you have an idea where
different students are struggling, base
your grammar lessons around those
areas. If more than one student strug-
gles with a given grammatical struc-
ture, that’s your indication that you
6
should do some instruction on that miliar with mistakes they make on a
topic. You can cover a wide range consistent basis, teach them how to
of grammar topics in the advanced target edit. While they should review
classroom including idiomatic expres- and revise any writing they do, ad-
sions, dependent clauses, pronoun vanced students will find it beneficial
use and slang. When you teach these to do an additional target search for
topics, use realia whenever possible. errors in their written work. Each stu-
Watch news videos, read popular ar- dent should choose one area in which
ticles, and take every chance you can they consistently make mistakes.
to get real language material into your They should then scan their writing
classroom. Point out common errors for sentences in which that particu-
your students make, and then show lar structure appears. If they used
them how to use the structures cor- the grammar correctly, they should
rectly. give themselves a mental pat on the
back. If they have made a mistake,
3
HAVE STUDENTS however, they should correct it. For
example, a student who consistently
KEEP A RECORD
omits a comma before coordinating
The more your students are aware of conjunctions should scan his or her
their own trouble areas, the more care- paper for every use of and, but and so
ful they will be about making correc- and check for the necessary comma
tions in their langue use. Have each before that word.
of your students keep a notebook of
troubles they encounter in language
use, and sort their notes strategically. 6 BE ENCOURAGING
Over all, your job is to encour-
They may keep a page for new or un-
known vocabulary, another page for age and inspire your students. Any-
trouble areas, and pages for repeated one who feels consistently criticized
and reprimanded for making mis-
errors in their written and spoken lan-
takes will not be motivated to learn.
guage. Encourage students to review
Instead, point out the things they are
their notes regularly and ask for clari-
doing right just as much if not more
fication when they need it.
than the things they are doing wrong,
4
and praise them when they overcome
BE VIGILANT
their struggles. Even advanced stu-
dents need encouragement. In fact,
Though you should be careful
they sometimes need it more than
not to interrupt your students when
students not as far along in their stud-
they are speaking, you should make
ies. After studying English for months
notes about the language they are
or even years, it can be hard for stu-
using when they do. Note any gram-
dents to forgive themselves for mak-
matical structures your students re-
ing mistakes. Reminding them that
peatedly use incorrectly as well as the
making mistakes is a part of getting
areas in which they excel. When pos-
better can make the difference be-
sible, write down the exact words your
tween frustrated students and those
students use. Then, when they are
who just want to get better.
finished speaking, point out the errors
and achievements you noted. Also,
use your notes to choose grammati-
cal concepts to teach to your class,
and use real sentences that they have
used thierselves without identifying
the students who made them.
5
TEACH TARGET EDITING
When your students become fa-
Nouns, Adjectives, Oh My: 3 Ways
to Reinforce Parts of Speech
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES TO
DESCRIBE AND DISCUSS VARIOUS
PARTS OF SPEECH WILL REINFORCE
JUST HOW IMPORTANT EACH PART OF
SPEECH REALLY IS; AFTER ALL OUR
LANGUAGE WOULDN’T BE THE SAME
IF JUST ONE OF THEM WAS MISSING.
Use these 3 creative ways to reinforce
parts of speech and your students will
always know where they stand with the
parts of the whole.
The parts of speech that every ESL stu-
dent should learn are: nouns, verbs,
helping verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
pronouns, prepositions, articles, and
conjunctions. Obviously they will be in-
troduced individually and practiced at
varying levels. Giving the parts of speech
names and definitions early on will only
help you later as you progressively give
more and more definitions of vocabulary.
Once students have learned the parts of
speech, all words defined should also be
assigned with their part of speech.
PARTS OF SPEECH
REINFORCEMENT
1 JOBS AND RELATIONSHIPS
Examining each part of speech in-
dividually and spending time defining its
different jobs can be really helpful for stu-
dents. Give students opportunities to see
each different job in action. For example,
nouns are people, places, animals and
things. Their jobs can be as subjects or
objects, and they can answer the ques-
tions who, what, and where. This is a fine
definition, but provide exercises where
students observe or interact with a par-
ticular job. For example, have students
pick out all the subjects in a paragraph.
Then have them make observations
about what types of nouns are generally
subjects. Allow students the opportunity
to make discoveries as they go by having
them connect the dots through usage or
showing them patterns.
To build upon each individual job, you
can also examine the relationships be-
tween parts, and show how they work to-
gether. For example, adjectives provide
more information about other parts of
speech. They can relate to nouns, other
adjectives and adverbs. Doing informal
sentence diagraming can illustrate how
the parts relate and what happens when
they don’t correctly interact. Showing
these relationships can assist with both
written and spoken language. For ex-
ample, take helping verbs. Helping verbs
is a particular part of speech that you
may find yourself defining, and redefin-
ing over and over again. Take a moment
and show students how helping verbs
relate to other parts of speech. Give an
explanation like: helping verbs do just
that, give a little help to regular verbs,
and most often they don’t stand on their
own for very long. Helping verbs are es-
sential to create questions, and also to
create higher level tenses. Sometimes a
helping verb looks like a regular verb so
it can be confusing (have, for example).
Take the time to open up these conver-
sations with students. It doesn’t have to
be an entire lesson, but it could lead into
the explanation of a new tense or other
grammar point.
2 ORDER AND COLOR-CODE
You can do some creative word or-
dering for a light exercise or take it fur-
ther and make a game out of it. Scramble
up sentences and questions from home-
work or your textbook. You can do this
in a number of ways depending on the
end result you are looking for. For an in-
teractive, low-prep option, try this board
activity. Divide the board into five to eight
squares. Label each square with one of
the parts of speech. Give the students
your handout of scrambled sentences or
provide them cut up sentences that they
have to assemble. Once the students
have worked together to construct their
sentences, go through the answers, and
discuss alternatives or problematic an-
swers. Then use your grid on the board
to have each student take a turn decon-
structing a sentence into correct parts.
Another way to utilize the board grid is
to put the grid in order of how sentences
or questions are generally built or a point
you would like to emphasize. Then have
students generate their own sentenc-
es or questions by following the order.
Here’s an example:
Article Noun Verb Preposition REMEMBER THAT PARTS OF SPEECH
The girl drove to the store HAVE INDIVIDUAL USES AND RELA-
Adverb
carefully
Students would then come to the board
and write words under each category to
generate an original sentence. You can
easily switch up the categories to have
students create different types of sen-
tences. Applying color-coding along with
this activity can add an interesting twist.
This is especially great for visual learn-
ers and for creating outstanding memory
retention. Having to write each part of
speech in a different color also causes
students to slow down and think about
their choices. So it is pretty simple: each
category is assigned a color. Nouns
could be red, verbs are blue, adjectives
are black, etc. If you want to take this to
the next level, you could apply the same
color to the the part of speech anytime
you are working on deconstructing sen-
tences. You could also have students col-
or-code their homework using highlight-
ers or if it’s easier, assign each part of
speech a shape. Nouns could be boxed,
verbs are underlined and adjectives are
circled. Whatever you think would work
best for your students to help them re-
member each part of speech, and make
associations that are helpful and not con-
fusing or overwhelming.
3 VOTE FOR IT
This voting exercise is useful as a
whole language experience. You can de-
vise it in a way that it supplies spoken,
written, listening and reading practice.
However if you would like to focus on
only one or two aspects of the language,
it is easily adaptable. Bring in a story,
random sentences from a text, or create
your own examples. Read one sentence
aloud at a time, either correctly or incor-
rectly. You can have students write out
each sentence like with dictation, and
then have them vote as a class whether
they think the sentence is correct or not.
If they claim it is incorrect, they must tell
why and propose a correction. You can
choose students to write out sentences
on the board as you go through the ex-
ercise. You can also write a few of the
proposed sentences on the board, have
students read them aloud, and then vote
on whether they are correct or not.
TIONSHIPS WITH ONE ANOTHER THAT
CRAFT HOW WE USE OUR LANGUAGE.
7
Ways to Teach Word Formation
and Parts of Speech
FOR YOUR VOCABULARY LESSON,
YOU NEED TO TEACH STUDENTS THE
WORD “PREDICTION.”
You have 9 other words to teach along
with prediction, and thus you have
introduced 10 new words to the stu-
dents. But what if you could quadru-
ple that without taking more time? By
teaching students basic word forma-
tion skills early in the term, you can
teach them prediction, predict, predict-
able, and predictably all at the same
time. Once you’ve taught students
how to manipulate parts of speech in
a sentence, they now have increased
their vocabulary by four words instead
of just one.
Teaching word formation can be chal-
lenging, and students can often get
confused as to whether they should
use the adjective or the adverb. Yet,
if you teach them these simple guide-
lines below, you’ll be ready to start in-
creasing their vocabulary four-fold with
every new vocabulary list you provide.
HOW TO TEACH
WORD FORMATION
AND PARTS OF
SPEECH
1 CHARTS
Create a chart/table that has
four columns for noun/verb/adjective/
adverb and as many rows as new vo-
cabulary words you introduce. It’s ben-
eficial to give students their own indi-
vidual chart so that they can use it for
studying, but it would also be helpful to
keep a large chart in the classroom so
students can easily be reminded of the
patterns found within.
Don’t feel obliged to complete all four
columns for every word as not every
word in English neatly breaks down
into these four word forms. Sometimes
a word won’t have all of the forms, or
the forms may be rarely used in Eng-
lish. Having gaps in the chart will rein-
force the idea that they can’t always
apply these patterns.
8
2 TEACH COMMON SUFFIXES
By using a chart as recommend-
ed above, students will also begin to
see similarities among word endings.
Help them to discover the most com-
mon endings for parts of speech and
even relationships between parts of
speech. For example, guide them to
figuring out that adjectives ending in
–able/-ible often take the noun ending
–ity. (e.g. responsible- responsibility,
possible-possibility, capable- capabil-
ity)
Here are some other patterns to help
your students discover within the chart:
-- Common endings –
• Nouns for things = ment, -ity,
-ness, -tion
• Nouns for people = -er, -or, -ist
• Verbs = rarely have special end-
ings because they get manipulat-
ed for tense -- usually the shortest
word form
• Adjectives = -ous, -able/-ible, -al,
-ed/-ing, -ful/-less, -ic, -ive
• Adverbs = -ly
-- To form an adverb, add –ly to the
adjective form (not the noun/verb form)
-- If two word forms are the same, it
will usually be the noun and verb (e.g.:
parent, answer, guess).
-- Nouns ending in –tion will usually
take the –al suffix for adjectives.
Be sure to stress to your students that
these are patterns, not “rules,” and
that there will be some exceptions to
most of these patterns. However, by
establishing these patterns concretely,
students will be able to vastly improve
their vocabulary quickly, and they will
more readily notice and remember ex-
ceptions to the pattern.
3
TEACH COMMON
“GUIDELINES” FOR USAGE
Knowing the correct part of speech for
a word form is important, but it’s less
than half the battle. The real challenge
comes with being able to know how
to use it appropriately in a sentence.
Below are some (but definitely not all)
of the most common usage patterns.
Again, emphasize that these are just
guidelines because there are many
exceptions in English. Once you have
taught students these patterns, they
will be able to use most word forms
immediately in their writing.
Nouns
• Nouns are people, places, or
things.
• Nouns always come before verbs
and after verbs.
• Every sentence will have at least
one noun.
Nouns are usually in these posi-
tions:
• a/an/the _____ (The prediction
came true.)
• adjective _____ (Wrong predic-
tions are dangerous.)
• Possessive (my, your, his, her,
John’s) ____ (Their prediction was
wrong.)
• have _____ (I have a prediction.)
• ____ verb (Predictions make peo-
ple’s lives easier.)
Verbs
• Verbs show the action or state of
being in a sentence.
• Verbs usually aren’t the first word
in a sentence. Exception — Com-
mands: (Go to class.)
• EVERY sentence MUST have a
verb!
Verbs are usually in these posi-
tions:
• Subject ____ (Jessica predicted
that she would win the game yes-
terday._
• Adverb ____ (He always predicts
the weather.)
• can/should/might/must ___ (She
can’t predict what he will do.)
• didn’t/don’t ___ (Don’t predict
something unless you know it is
true.)
• to ___ (I’m going to predict your
future.)
Adjectives
• Adjectives describe nouns (peo-
 ple, places, and things).
• They answer the question: “What
kind of person/place/thing?”
Adjectives are usually in these po-
sitions:
• am/is/are/was/were ____ (The
game was predictable.)
• ____ noun (Predictable people
are easy to understand.)
• very ____ (Tony is a very predict-
able person.)
• adverb ____ (Tony is always pre-
dictable.)
• a/an/the ____ noun (The predict-
able answer was “yes.”)
Adverbs
• Adverbs describe verbs or adjec-
tives.
• They answer the question “How
did he do it?”
• Usually, you add -ly to the adjec-
tive to make an adverb (but not
always!)
Adverbs are usually in these posi-
tions:
• ____ , (Predictably, Tommy was
late again.)
• _____ verb (He predictably
walked in late.)
• Verb ____ (He walked quickly.)
• very ____ (He walked very quick-
ly.)
• ___ adjective (Tom is predictably
late.)
HOW TO PRACTICE
WORD FORMATION
AND PARTS OF
SPEECH:
1 “WORD UP”
REVIEW GAME
Write each word form on two different
note cards (or make things easy on
yourself by printing the word forms on
the computer and then cutting them
into individual words). Divide stu-
dents into two equal teams and have
them sit in two lines facing their op-
posing team. Distribute one whole set
of word forms equally amongst each
team such that for every word form, a
student on Team A has the word and
a student on Team B has the word.
Stand in front of the students and call
out the word and part of speech you
want for that word (e.g., “The noun
form for predict”). The first student to
raise their hand with the word predic-
tion earns a point for their team. Con-
tinue until you’ve gone through all the
word forms, and keep in mind that
going back and repeating word forms
you have already called out will help
keep all students on their toes and en-
gaged in the activity.
2 GRAB THE ___________
Print off sets of all of your word
forms: make sure you have enough
for as many groups as you want. Put
students into groups of three or four
and have them arrange their desks
in a small circle with each other. Ar-
range the word forms evenly on all
the students’ desks. At the front, call
out a command – “Grab all the ad-
verbs” and students must race the
other members of their group to col-
lect as many adverbs as possible. Al-
ternatively, you can follow the pattern
of the “Word Up” game in this small
group fashion and have students grab
the individual word forms that you call
out as well.
3 GO FISH
In groups of three or four, distrib-
ute one set of all of the word forms
to each group. Each student should
have four words in their hand with
the remaining words spread out face-
down on a desk. Students must ask
each other for the appropriate forms
that they need to complete a “set” (i.e.
adverb, adjective, noun, and verb).
For example, Student A might ask
Student B if he has the “Noun form of
predict.” If he does, Student B must
give Student A the form, but if Student
B does not have it, Student A draws a
word form from the pile on the desk.
WHILE NOT ALL OF A LEARNER’S
TARGET VOCABULARY WILL BE
APPLICABLE TO WORD FORMATION
(PREPOSITIONS, IDIOMS, PHRASAL
VERBS, ETC…), TEACHING STU-
DENTS BASIC WORD FORMATION
SKILLS WILL HELP THEM TO NOT
ONLY BUILD THEIR VOCABULARY
FASTER BUT ALSO BE MORE CON-
FIDENT WITH HOW TO USE WORDS
IN SENTENCES.
9
 5 Fun Filled Activities
with Noncount Nouns
A, SOME, MUCH OR MANY? IF YOUR
STUDENTS ARE ASKING THEM-
SELVES THESE QUESTIONS, YOU
ARE LIKELY STUDYING NONCOUNT
NOUNS.
The objects in English require a
counting word to express plurality. For
example, pieces of furniture, cups of
coffee or cartons of milk. Once you ex-
plain the concept of noncount nouns
to your class, here are some fun ac-
tivities for reviewing how to properly
express noncount nouns in English.
TRY THESE 5 FUN
FILLED ACTIVITIES
WITH NONCOUNT
NOUNS
1 GOING ON A PICNIC
When you are teaching noncount
nouns, you will find that many of them
fall into the category of food. Rice,
milk, coffee, jelly and peanut butter
are just a few of the noncount nouns
one might find at a picnic. Playing this
game will challenge your students’
memories while also reviewing count
and noncount nouns. Arrange your
class in a circle. Then start the game
by saying, “I’m going on a picnic, and
I’m bringing a ________” filling in the
blank with a food item, either count
or noncount. The student to your left
continues, “I’m going on a picnic and
I’m bringing a ...” He then chooses his
food item and repeats your food item.
The third person in the circle choos-
es a food item and repeats the other
two. Play continues around the circle
until it has reached you once again,
and you face the big challenge of re-
membering what everyone is bringing
on the picnic! As play moves around
the circle, be sure to correct your stu-
dents if they make an error with count
and noncount nouns. For example, if
someone says I am bringing a juice,
you should remind him or her to say a
bottle of juice.
2 MUCH OR MANY AUCTION
Give each student two stiff
cards. On one have her write much,
10
and on the other have her write many.
All students should hold their cards flat
on their desks. You present a noun to
them, and they need to decide wheth-
er they should use much (noncount
nouns) or many (count nouns). On
the count of three, each person holds
up his chosen card. Anyone who gets
the answer wrong is eliminated. Play
until only one student remains – the
winner.
3
THREE STRIKES
Play a baseball style game with
count and noncount nouns with your
students. Draw a baseball diamond
on the board or lay one out in your
classroom (your students will not be
running) and review the basic rules
of the game. Then give each “bat-
ter” a fill in the blank challenge that
includes a noncount noun. For ex-
ample, you might write on the board
“Five__________celery”. The batter
must then choose which blank to fill
in to correctly complete the phrase.
In this case, “five stalks of celery.” If
the batter gets the answer right, his
team gets a hit and he advances to
first base. If the batter gets the answer
wrong, he is out. Teams give each
member a turn until they receive three
strikes. Anyone who makes it around
the bases scores a point for his team.
Play for three innings, and the team
with the most points at the end wins
bragging rights.
4
A ROLL OF THE DICE
There is no risk in this game for
practicing pluralization of noncount
nouns. Write several noncount nouns
on small slips of paper and put them
in a hat or basket. Then give a student
two standard, six sided dice. First she
rolls the dice to get her number. Then
she draws a noun. She must then
make a sentence using the number
to pluralize the noun she drew. For
example, if your student rolls a seven
and pulls the noun furniture, she could
say, “I bought seven pieces of furni-
ture this weekend.”
5 THIS IS A WHAT
Play this classic youth group
game with your ESL students to prac-
tice the difference between a and
some in English. Students arrange
themselves in a circle. Give one stu-
dent an object (a pencil, for example).
That student should then present that
item to the student next to him. Their
conversation should follow the follow-
ing pattern.
This is a pencil.
A what?
A pencil.
A what?
A pencil.
Oh, a pencil.
The first student then passes the ob-
ject to the second student, and that
person follows the same pattern as he
introduces the item to the next person
in the circle. Play continues around
the circle until the object is back to the
first person. While this object is mov-
ing around the circle, give two other
students additional objects and have
them present them to their neighbors
in the circle. You will have three ob-
jects travelling around the circle at the
same time, and students will need to
pay attention to what they are giving
and receiving. If you are careful to
choose at least one count noun and
one noncount noun, your students will
have to determine whether to use a or
some in their dialogue. For example,
This is some coffee.
Some what?
Some coffee.
Some what?
Some coffee.
Oh, some coffee.
Listen to students as they present
their objects and correct any errors
you hear.
THOUGH SOME STUDENTS WILL
FIND NONCOUNT NOUNS EASY TO
REMEMBER, FOR MOST ESL STU-
DENTS NONCOUNT NOUNS ARE
TROUBLE.
These fun filled activities give your
students a chance to practice this un-
usual structure while having a good
time in your classroom.
It’s Not Mine, It’s His: 3 Powerful
Possessive Activities
POSSESSIVES CAN BE CONFUSING
FOR STUDENTS, AND UNFORTU-
NATELY IT IS A TOPIC THAT CAN BE
A BIT DRY.
Since students really need to master
all forms of possessives, it is important
to practice them often and with varied
methods. Try out these three powerful
possessive activities for lasting results.
TRY THESE 3
POWERFUL
POSSESSIVE
ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR
STUDENTS
1
MEANINGFUL OBJECTS
DESCRIPTION
This activity allows students to get to
know each other better by giving them
the chance to share some personal
details. It is part guessing game and
part show and tell with a twist. To or-
ganize the meaningful objects descrip-
tion exercise, ask students to bring in
one object that has significant value to
them that they would like to share with
the class. Also tell them to keep it hid-
den and to save all the details for the
lesson. Begin the activity by collecting
their objects in a container so the rest
of the class cannot observe who puts
what inside.
The first part is a guessing game in
which you will pull out objects, and ask
students to name them. Then hand
each student one of the objects ran-
domly. Before you begin this part of the
activity you may want to review pos-
sessives and also provide the question
formats you would like them to use.
They will then do a mingling activity, go-
ing around the room asking each stu-
dent a question about the object they
have in hand. The question possibilities
could be: Is this book yours or Is this
your book? Yes it is my book/No it isn’t
my book. When students have found
the owner of the object, they give the
object to the owner and then continue
mingling until everyone has their object
back. Rules of the game you want to
point out are as follows: You must wait
until someone asks you a question to
claim your object, and once you have
found both the object you own and you
have found the owner of the object you
were given, you may sit down.
Once everyone is seated, the next part
of the activity begins. Students will de-
scribe their object to the class in one
minute. You may want to provide a
challenge to each presenter. Give them
a list of questions or points they should
try to cover in their minute. The class
pays attention to see how many of the
given questions each person answers.
Here are some possible questions:
What is the object?
Who does it belong to or who owns
the object?
Who gave it to you or where did you
get it?
How long have you had it?
What do you use it for or What is it’s
purpose?
Describe the object—size, shape,
color
Use at least six possessives in your
description
What is important or significant
about your object?
To wrap up the activity, and ensure
good listening, allow the students to
debrief about the objects and have a
short discussion.
2 WHO LIVES IN MY HOUSE?
This activity incorporates a lot
of vocabulary practice, and is also a
memory game. It has three parts. The
first part requires students to write
down three to five sentences describ-
ing their homes.
An example could be: My family lives
in a house/apartment/condo. My
(Our) house has three bedrooms.
My house has one bathroom and a
large kitchen.
The second part is a family description
of their home in one to two sentences.
For example: My mom and dad have
the big bedroom, I have my own
room and my brother shares a room
with my baby sister.
Lastly, students go in rounds and read
one of their sentences to the group.
The next person describes what the
first person said, and then they add a
sentence to the round. Each student
then does the same thing trying to re-
member one detail of every student
in order. This can go around until the
sentences are exhausted, and the stu-
dents need help remembering. It looks
like this.
Student 1 (Molly): My house has two
bedrooms.
Student 2 (Jamie): Molly’s house has
two bedrooms, but mine doesn’t.
My house has four bedrooms.
Student 3 (Greg): Molly’s house has
two bedrooms, Jamie’s house has
four bedrooms and my house has
two bedrooms too.
This activity takes some set-up, but if
you have played any memory games
before the instructions should fall into
place. As always, provide good exam-
ples and remind students how to prac-
tice possessives.
3
GOOFY CARDS
Make a set of cards of nouns and
verbs. Divide the class into two teams.
Each team should have a stack of
cards. Taking team turns, one student
at a time draws two cards. To get a
point, they must generate a grammati-
cally correct sentence using either pos-
sessive pronouns or student names.
Example cards could be:
Spider Travel
Carrot Exam
Drink Flower
Travel Dance
Exam England
A student on team one draws two cards
— Travel and Carrot. The student must
make a correct sentence using any
tense and with possessives.
Answer: The carrot’s dream was to
travel the world. The team gets a point.
If you want the activity to be even more
nonsensical, you could require each
team to devise a story sentence by
sentence. Each time they draw cards
the student would continue adding de-
tail to the story.
PRACTICING POSSESSIVES IN ANY
FORM CAN BE ENJOYABLE AND
EFFECTIVE. THE ABOVE ACTIVITIES
ARE PERFECT FOR RECYCLING AND
MODIFYING AS YOU GO.
Make these activities your own, and
enable your students with the power of
possessives!
11
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: 3
Tips for Practicing Adjective Order
ESTABLISHING A WEALTH OF DESCRIPTIVE VOCABULARY
LEADS LEARNERS TO THE PUZZLE OF HOW TO ORDER THEM.
Take the guesswork out of adjective order by practicing these three
tips to establish what comes first, the good, the bad, or the ugly.
HOW TO DEAL WITH ADJECTIVES
All of this explanation combined with brainstorming examples
for each category takes some time. To start doing some or-
dering, you could write out two to three adjectives and ask
students to put them in order, and explain why. After such a
lengthy explanation doing some simple ordering in rounds or at
the board is a good wrap-up comprehension check for a sub-
stantial lesson. You could also do a grid n the board with each

1 O SASH.COM
Once learners have discovered the abundant descrip-
tive language that exists in adjective use, they will be eager to
category at the top and words underneath, like this:

Opinion Size Age Color Origin Material

begin stringing them together. When first introducing adjective A nice young American girl
order, explain that there is a specific order when you have two A big blue car
or more adjectives together in a sentence. This explanation A happy tiny furry puppy
tends to take awhile because you want to supply a lot of detail,
extricate input from your audience, and do lots and lots of ex-
amples. In order to help students remember the order, you can
give them the acronym of: O SASh.COM. Here’s where you
2 DO LINE-UPS
Performing line-ups for adjective order is a significant and
memorable practice exercise with simple set-up. Have a large
want to detail your explanation with examples that provide as
stack of cards with adjectives of all categories. Give each stu-
much clarity as possible. Below are some guidelines to assist
dent a card and tell them to order themselves at the front of
your initial explanation.
the room according to OSASh.COM. Applying a time-limit gen-
O SASh.COM stands for Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color,
erally helps chaos ensue, and students will quickly jump into
Origin, and Material.
teamwork mode. In your stack of cards, it is advisable to have a
Opinion always comes first, and you can tell your students it’s
few wild cards that will really get students thinking. Also include
because opinion is always the most important. Sometimes it is
newly-acquired vocabulary to make the activity that much more
difficult to tell the difference between one of the other compo-
meaningful. Do several rounds of the line-ups with many new
nents and opinion. You could compare fact and opinion so that
adjectives so that each round is as challenging as the last, if
students have a clear idea that when expressing opinions with
not more so. Allow students to get loud and encourage them to
adjectives, the information is subjective. Showcasing adjec-
problem solve by interacting with language.
tives like beautiful, handsome, wonderful, or delicious make it

3
clear that what one person finds beautiful another person might
call ugly - it is simply a matter of taste. Ask students to give you THE LONGEST SENTENCE
lots of examples of opinionated adjectives.
Once students have substantial understanding of adjec-
Size comes next and this is pretty self-explanatory, but it
tive order, you can begin introducing punctuation of multiple
shouldn’t be confused with shape. Size is how large or small
adjectives. In order to display comma usage, tell students you
something is.
are going to create the longest sentence possible, as a group.
Age is also pretty clear, and you can show them how to add in
Start out with a simple sentence of your choosing or have the
specific ages, like a fifteen year-old boy.
students contribute. For example, Juan is a boy. Tell the stu-
Shape is how something can be described, and often students
dents to begin adding adjectives to make the sentence longer
haven’t learned too many of these adjectives when adjective
and add punctuation as they go. For example: Juan is a hand-
order comes up. Introduce things like, circular, boxy, square,
some, smart, wonderful, happy, tall, young, African boy. At this
rectangular, oval, etc.
point the sentence needs to take on more complexity. Add in a
Color is obvious and easy. This can be a good time to add in
clause like who or that likes/hates/wants and have students do
some more complex colors that students might not know yet.
more of the same exercise adding in more and more adjectives
Pull out a box of crayons for endless examples.
in correct order, and with correct punctuation. By the time you
Origin tends to be confusing for students, even though it can
are done, you should have a sentence on the board that is forty
pretty easily be equated with nationality or where things come
to fifty words long. You could also do this activity in groups or
from.
pairs where the students attempt to tell a short story in adjec-
Material is understandable for students, but they just don’t
tives and in the way they punctuate. It can be done verbally or
have a lot of vocabulary to express it. This is a good time to
in writing.
introduce specific types of metals and fabrics. You can define
things like cotton, rayon, silk, wool, silver, gold, etc.
PUTTING ADJECTIVES INTO THE RIGHT ORDER DOESN’T
There is one last category not included in the acronym because HAVE TO BE TEDIOUS.
it is fairly obscure and a bit more advanced. That is the purpose Use these three tips for practicing adjective order and students
of something. These adjectives often end in -ing. Examples will stun you with how smart, youthful and smooth they are.
are: a rocking chair or a sleeping bag.

12
4 Excellent Activities for Using
Comparatives and Superlatives
BIGGER, BRIGHTER, BETTER, BEST…
COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE
ADJECTIVES ARE ALL AROUND US IN
ENGLISH.
We use these adjectives to compare
items, express preferences and give
value judgments. Once your students
have a strong grasp on adjectives,
and this should happen in beginning
level ESL classes, you can move their
knowledge to the next level by tackling
the harder world of comparatives and
superlatives.
THE STRUCTURE
The structure of comparative and su-
perlative adjectives in English is quite
simple. When comparing two items,
also known as comparative adjectives,
add –er to the adjective to express su-
periority. This holds true for any adjec-
tives that are one or two syllables. For
three syllable adjectives, use “more” to
express the comparison.
She is smarter (than him).
She is more beautiful (than him).
To show that one item is the superlative,
that is the greatest within a set group,
add –est to an adjective of one or two
syllables and use “most” for adjectives
of three or more syllables. Also, use
“the” in the comparison since the item’s
superiority makes it a specific noun.
It is the longest book (that we have
read).
It is the most complicated formula
(that we will learn).
Be aware that many languages do not
have the equivalent of the English su-
perlative, so do not be surprised if your
students show some confusion with the
concept. Simply explain the idea in a
way that makes sense to you and an-
swer any questions that your students
may have on the subject. Be patient
and use teachable moments as they
come along.
TRY THESE ACTIVITIES
FOR USING
COMPARATIVES AND
SUPERLATIVES
1 LOOK AROUND YOU RACE
Start with a simple activity right
where you are by having students com-
pare the people in your classroom. Put
students in groups of four and then set
a time limit of about five minutes. On
your signal, each group should write
as many comparative and superlative
statements about the people in the
room as they can. At the end of the time
period, have one group share their sen-
tences. If another group has the same
sentence as the first group, both groups
should cross that statement off their list.
Continue until all groups have read all
of their statements and any duplicates
are eliminated. The group with the most
statements remaining wins.
2 THESE ARE THE PEOPLE
IN YOUR FAMILY
Give your students 10 adjectives that
can be used to describe people. You
may want to include adjectives like old,
young, tall, fat, happy, funny, etc. Then
challenge them to write a sentence us-
ing the superlative form of each adjec-
tive. The sentence should be about a
person in their family. Once the sen-
tences are completed, each person
should write a list of the family mem-
bers who appeared in their sentences.
Pairs of students should then exchange
lists of people but keep their sentences
to themselves. Each person should ask
questions about their partner’s family
and try to match each person to their
superlative adjective. For example, a
person might ask, “Is Su-Jan the old-
est person in your family?” The other
person should answer with a yes or an
explanation. “No, Su-Jan is only four
years old.” Give your groups ten to fif-
teen minutes to ask each other ques-
tions, and then see who in your class
figured out the most family member
qualities!
3 HOME STYLE INTERVIEW
If your ESL class consists of stu-
dents who have travelled overseas to
study English, they probably have a
strong opinion on how life in the U.S.,
U.K or Australia is different from that
of their home country. Have students
interview one another, you can do this
in front of the class if you like, and ask
about how life is different here than it
was at home. Encourage students to
use the comparative and superlative as
much as possible during their interview.
For example, a student might say “Peo-
ple here are busier, but life at home is
slower.” If you like, have each person
follow the activity by writing a para-
graph about his own experience living
overseas or that of his partner.
4 THE “MOST” STUDENTS
Do you remember your high
school year book and the list of the
“most” students in the back?
The best smile
The most artistic
The smartest
The most likely to succeed
If you do have one of these from your
school years, bring it in for your students
to see. Then hold your own classroom
vote for the “most” students in your
class. Give your students a list of “most”
statements about their classmates. You
could use any of the standard mosts as
well as some ESL specific qualities like
the following.
The person with the least accent
The person who is the most adven-
turous eater
The person who uses the dictionary
most
Then have your students cast a secret
ballot for the “most” students in your
classroom and collect their responses!
After you tally the answers, make sure
each person in your class wins a “most”
award. You may need to give the same
title to more than one student to do so.
In class, present the awards in a humor-
ous ceremony. If you like, give students
ribbons, pins or gag gifts which coordi-
nate with their category. You can even
post the winners on a bulletin board for
your class to enjoy.
COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES
ARE SIMPLE ENGLISH STRUCTURES
THAT GIVE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
LOTS OF ROOM FOR CREATIVITY AND
HUMOR IN THE ESL CLASSROOM.
When you teach or review compara-
tives and superlatives, make it fun for
your students.
13
 I’ve Had Enough: 3 Very Active
Exercises for Describing Degrees
ADVERBS OF DEGREE CAN BE DIFFI-
CULT TO APPROACH BECAUSE THEY
HAVE SO MANY DIFFERENT USES,
AND THE WORDS THEMSELVES CAN
BE SOMEWHAT CHALLENGING TO
DEFINE.
You can teach some of them early on,
and then continue to introduce more
complex uses later on. Try these three
very active activities for describing
degrees and the results will be utterly
amazing.
So what are adverbs of degree any-
way? In general they tend to detail the
strength or intensity of something that
happens. Many adverbs are gradable
which means we can give them more
or less intensity depending on the situ-
ation. For example The little girl is very
upset vs. the child is a little upset. Ba-
sically they answer questions like how
much or how little. Adverbs of degree
can be hard to define because they
can be used so variably depending on
the meaning the speaker is going for.
We use them all the time without really
thinking about it, and they are often
used informally. ESL students should
learn where and how to insert them
for added meaning, and for naturally
intense language. These adverbs can
be used situationally for both writing
and speaking. The other thing about
adverbs of intensity is that there are
a lot of them so there’s no way you
would teach them all. Here are some
examples listed out by level:
Beginner: enough, extremely, fully,
greatly, a little, mostly, nearly, re-
ally, too, totally, very
Intermediate: almost, absolutely,
awfully, barely, completely, enor-
mously, entirely, fairly, hardly, in-
credibly, intensely, partially, pretty,
quite, slightly, strongly, terribly
Advanced: adequately, decidedly,
entirely, immensely, moderately,
nearly, perfectly, positively, prac-
tically, profoundly, rather, simply,
tremendously, utterly, undoubtedly,
virtually
Once these interesting words have
been defined, it is important to intro-
duce word placement and rules for
use. Adverbs of intensity have many
14
uses, and you won’t introduce them all
at once. You can begin by explaining
that they can modify verbs, adjectives,
and other adverbs. When the adverb
is modifying a verb, the intensity of the
action tends to answer the question
how much and is most often placed be-
fore the verb. Occasionally the adverb
can follow the verb. For example: She
really runs fast or Dylan sure eats a lot.
When they are used to modify adjec-
tives, they are generally placed in front
of a characteristic or quality. For exam-
ple: John is really handsome. Sally is
incredibly graceful. Lastly, adverbs of
degree can modify other adverbs and
add intensity to answer the question
how. For example: Mark drives rather
badly. Joe eats extremely poorly.
USEFUL ACTIVITIES
TO TEACH OR REVIEW
ADVERBS OF DEGREE
1 GUESS THE WORD
This guessing game can be ap-
plied for any level, and can be adapted
to be simpler or more complex depend-
ing on your need. Write out cards with
the selected adverbs, and give one to
each student. They will take turns si-
lently acting out their word while the
class guesses what it is. Give them
examples up front because students
can get stumped: how would you act
out words like rather, simply, or very?
An alternative to the charades version,
which produces more language, would
be to ask students to describe situa-
tions where the word would fit (perfect-
ly). They can say anything to get the
class to guess correctly. For example:
I ate 4 pieces of pizza. I am full, but I
didn’t eat too much. It was.....(enough).
Once the students have guessed all
the words they should then create sen-
tences for each word in rounds.
2 CREATE SENTENCES
Students again get a card with
an adverb on it. Give them a few mo-
ments of prep time. Then in small
groups or pairs, each student creates
as many sentences as they can in one
minute using the adverb. One student
should keep score and also note down
any questionable sentences for the
whole group to judge. When each stu-
dent has exhausted all the possibilities
within the time limit, have groups swap
cards and start again. Ask each stu-
dent to remember a few favorite sen-
tence creations to report back to the
group when reconvened. Students can
discuss or point out similarities and dif-
ferences. Also during the debrief, three
big winners should also be announced
and rewarded.
3
CUT-UP DESCRIPTIONS
Cut-up descriptions requires
some initial prep time, but once it is
done you’ll have it for future use. Type
up several groups of five to ten sen-
tences using adverbs of intensity. Print
them out and cut up the sentences. Mix
all the cut up pieces together to form a
puzzle. You’ll want to create five to ten
groups of these, with each one housed
in an envelope so you don’t lose piec-
es. Students must piece together the
sentences in a given time limit. This
activity focuses on correct word order,
understanding of particular adverb
of degrees, teamwork, and sentence
structure. Here’s an example: The
students are really crazy about their
teacher. She is absolutely the funni-
est teacher in the school. Miss Nadia
is absolutely wonderful. John says she
is extremely smart. Maria thinks the
teacher is very beautiful. Have fun with
your descriptions, and include a few
student and teacher names or famous
people the students like. Before you
do this activity in class, have another
teacher test it out so you can see how
many interesting or funny variable sen-
tences you have. Also be sure to no-
tate the original sentences so you can
supply students with the solutions to
each puzzle.
DEFINING AND PRACTICING
ADVERBS OF DEGREES CAN BE
REALLY ENLIGHTENING AND TRE-
MENDOUSLY FUN.
Open up the world of describing de-
grees and your students will be un-
doubtedly grateful.
3 Stunning Strategies to Practicing
Adjectives for Any Level
BUILDING DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE
SKILLS CAN PRESENT MANY ENGAG-
ING AND CREATIVE OPTIONS FOR
PRACTICE AT ANY LEVEL.
Try these three stunning strategies to
practice adjectives and adapt each one
for various levels and needs.
HAVE YOU EVER
PRACTICED
ADJECTIVES LIKE THIS?
1 PICTURE IT
You cannot go wrong utilizing pic-
tures to practice using adjectives. There
are so many great activities that you can
generate as long as you have a stock
of photographs. Choose glossy pictures
of people, outdoor scenes, homes, fa-
mous people, or anything else that you
find interesting. Cut them out of maga-
zines and glue them to construction pa-
per and laminate for even longer use.
You can begin with thirty to forty pictures
and continue adding to them when you
have the time. There are endless possi-
bilities for ways to use pictures. You can
simply have students describe a scene
or person they see on a picture and give
them points for using as many adjec-
tives as possible. You can vary difficulty
by choosing challenging pictures, focus-
ing on -ed/-ing adjectives, or by apply-
ing more objectives. Another popular
use for pictures that is often a perfect
introduction for lower-level learners is
illustrating a picture. Put the students
into pairs, and give one student a pic-
ture of a person or a room. The student
with the picture must describe it to his or
her partner so that the partner can draw
an imitation of what they hear. You could
supply colored pencils so they can add
color, or practice prepositions of place
as well as characteristics and basic de-
scriptions. Students will enjoy compar-
ing the real photograph with their own
illustration. This can be done with ad-
vanced levels too, and you could even
have the illustrator be blindfolded for
extra challenge.
Another use for pictures is creating a
picture puzzle by covering a photograph
with post it notes. In front of the group
remove one sticky note at a time and
have students describe what they see.
They can try to guess what they think
the picture is or what might be happen-
ing. As you remove more slips of paper,
students begin to see things emerging
differently. It’s also fun to add in pictures
of artwork or use obscured pictures to
keep students guessing.
2 TWENTY QUESTIONS
Using guessing games like twenty
questions is a simple, no-fuss way to
practice adjectives. These exercises
will keep your students engaged, and
you can find many ways to turn them
on their side so you are not just play-
ing the same game over and over again.
Discover all the different ways that you
can play guessing games and utilize
adjectives that are applicable for varied
levels. One way to practice higher level
adjectives is to assign students particu-
larly advanced or difficult adjectives. Ex-
amples could be: ridiculous, humbling,
educating, etc. Students take turns get-
ting the class to guess what word they
have by describing it or giving example
scenarios. The audience can then ask
yes or no questions to gain more infor-
mation about the word. To make it even
more challenging, you could supply a list
of words that students cannot use when
describing their adjective. Students of
all ages will enjoy this twist on twenty
questions. Another guessing game that
is superb for characteristics or emo-
tions is to have students play famous
person twenty questions. The twist here
is that they can only use characteristics
in guessing. For example, Is the person
humble/funny/adventurous? You could
also only allow them to ask questions
with ed/ing adjectives. Making twenty
question competitive by splitting class-
es into teams can also provide positive
results. Even a simple game like I spy
can be ratcheted up a notch by employ-
ing a few guidelines or team dynamics.
Tell students they can guess everything
except colors, or devise questions us-
ing comparisons to other objects. For
example: Is it bigger than a coffee mug?
Is it smaller than a bicycle? Test out dif-
ferent ways to make twenty questions
an intense guessing game that will chal-
lenge as well as delight your students.
3
BE OPINIONATED
Activities focused on opinions use
a great deal of descriptive language
and can be adapted for just about any
level. Create a short or extensive poll
using statements. Students only have
the option of agreeing or disagreeing
with each statement, and should work
fairly quickly to complete the handout.
Some example statements with differ-
ent themes are:
A/D Politicians are dishonest and
self-serving.
A/D Politicians want to be respected
and powerful.
A/D A hero wants to be rewarded.
A/D A hero is selfless and caring.
A/D Vacations should be education-
al and meaningful.
A/D Vacations should be relaxing,
and not too busy.
A/D Vacations are overrated and
stressful.
For each poll you create, each topic
should have at least five to seven state-
ments so you have enough examples
for students to base their overall opin-
ion on. Review any difficult vocabulary
beforehand, hand out your poll, and
have each student complete the task in-
dividually. Once completed, discussion
can begin. The goal of the exercise is
to get students talking about their opin-
ions in a non-confrontational way using
descriptive language. Supply them with
the requisite language to defend their
choices and also to allow them to cre-
ate their own definitions. A good wrap-
up to this activity is for each topic dis-
cussed, students write a short opinion.
For example, I think a hero is brave, but
doesn’t have to be strong. A hero is a
person who is helpful, but not looking for
praise or money.
STUDENTS CAN GAIN A LOT OF SKILLS
FROM PRACTICING DESCRIPTIVE LAN-
GUAGE IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.
Employ these three strategies to keep
students guessing, talking and con-
stantly describing.
15
Look At, Look Up, Look Into, Look
Over: 6 Types of Multi-Word Verbs
Verbs are a straightforward element of
the English language, aren’t they? Ev-
ery sentence needs one, and they come
right after the subject. Things can get
complicated, though, and do when more
than one word makes up a verb in Eng-
lish. These word combinations, common-
ly called phrasal verbs, can confuse ESL
students even when they know that verb
combinations like these exist. To help
clarify things for your students, here are
explanations and examples of six types
of multi-word verbs in English.
6 TYPES OF MULTI-
WORD VERBS IN
ENGLISH
1 VERB + PREPOSITION
We start our discussion of multi-
word verbs with an exception. Just be-
cause a verb is followed by a preposi-
tion, it does not make it a phrasal verb.
Though it may be misleading, some
verbs that are followed by a preposition
are not phrasal verbs at all. This can be
confusing for ESL students. In the follow-
ing example, a preposition follows the
verb and gives additional information to
the sentence. This preposition, however,
is not essential to the meaning of the
verb, that is including it in the sentence
does not change the base meaning of
the verb. One could just as easily replace
the prepositional phrase with another
word without changing the core mean-
ing of the sentence. In contrast, consider
the second example. In this case, the
combination of the verb and the preposi-
tion (look up) means to research. It does
not mean the physical action of the eyes
(look). This preposition does change the
meaning of the verb, and therefore “look
up” is a true phrasal verb and not just a
verb followed by a preposition.
I sat on the couch.
I sat there.
I looked up a word in the dictionary.
I looked at a word in the dictionary.
2
VERB + PREPOSITION
(INSEPARABLE PHRASAL
VERBS)
Some verbs that are followed by a prep-
osition cannot be separated from that
16
preposition without losing the meaning of
the verb. In the example below, though
the verb + preposition + noun looks simi-
lar to the example above, the underlying
make up of this verb is very different. The
preposition over is essential to the mean-
ing of this verb, and changing it or remov-
ing it changes the meaning of the verb
itself. In addition, for this type of phrasal
verb the preposition cannot be separated
from the verb by the object.
The girl got over the breakup.
The girl got into the breakup.
The girl got the breakup.
Wrong: The girl got the breakup over.
3 VERB + PREPOSITION (SEPA-
RABLE PHRASAL VERBS)
A third verb-preposition combination
looks similar to the previous two, but
separable phrasal verbs can act quite dif-
ferently in a sentence. Similar to insepa-
rable phrasal verbs, the preposition com-
bined with the verb changes the meaning
of the base verb. Changing or removing
the preposition changes the meaning of
the verb. Unlike the other phrasal verbs,
though, the preposition can appear after
the object of the verb without changing
the meaning of the sentence.
The teacher looked over the exams.
The teacher looked at the exams.
The teacher looked.
The teacher looked the exams over.
4 INTRANSITIVE VERB + PAR-
TICIPLE/ADVERB (INTRANSI-
TIVE VERBS FOLLOWED BY A PAR-
TICIPLE/ADVERB)
Though they are often lumped in with
phrasal verbs, the combination of a verb
with a participle or adverb is actually dif-
ferent from those we have already talked
about. In this case, the participle or ad-
verb which follows the verb gives addi-
tional, not different, meaning to the verb
in the sentence. Changing the participle
does change the meaning of the sen-
tence, but the base meaning of the verb
remains the same. In addition, the parti-
ciple can be removed without changing
the meaning of the verb.
The woman looked up.
The woman looked down.
The woman looked.
5
INTRANSITIVE VERB + PAR-
TICIPLE/ADVERB (INTRANSI-
TIVE PHRASAL VERBS)
Though these verb + participle combi-
nations may look like those in the previ-
ous section, in intransitive phrasal verbs,
the participle/adverb following the verb
changes the meaning of the verb itself.
Like separable and inseparable phrasal
verbs, the participle/adverb cannot be
changed or omitted without changing the
meaning of the verb. Though this type of
multi-word verb can be followed by an
adverb, that adverb cannot be placed be-
tween the verb and its participle/adverb.
The plane took off.
The plane took over.
Wrong: The plane took.
The plane took off late.
Wrong: The plane took late off.
6 VERB + PREPOSITION +
PREPOSITION
Though the combination of a verb + a
preposition + a preposition may seem
grammatically impossible, it can hap-
pen when the preposition is a part of a
phrasal verb. In this case, the preposi-
tions change the base meaning of the
verb and cannot be separated from it in
the sentence. Omitting either preposi-
tion changes the meaning of the verb or
results in an ungrammatical sentence.
Even advanced students may have trou-
ble recognizing and using phrasal prepo-
sitional verbs, but making them aware of
this grammatical combination is the first
step in using them correctly.
I will catch up with you later.
I will catch up later.
I will catch you later.
Wrong: I will catch with you later.
DIFFERENT TEACHERS USE DIFFER-
ENT LABELS FOR EACH OF THESE
VERB TYPES. ULTIMATELY, IT’S NOT
THE LABEL THAT MATTERS. As long as
your students can recognize what type
of verb appears in a sentence and when
more than one word makes up that verb,
they will have a good understanding of
its meaning.
Simple Solutions for Teaching
So Do I, Neither Do I, and I Don’t
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE THAT NO
ONE ELSE DOES? WHAT WOULD A
PERSON HAVE TO SAY FOR YOU TO
DISAGREE?
Whatever the reason, agreeing and
disagreeing with another person is
something that every language learn-
er should be able to do. English has
four simple statements that language
learners can easily put to use when
agreeing and disagreeing: so do I, nei-
ther do I, I don’t and I do.
AGREEING AND
DISAGREEING IN
ENGLISH
1 AGREEMENT
Two phrases are used to agree
with a speaker in English: so do I and
neither do I. The former is used to
agree with a positive statement. The
latter is used to agree with a negative
statement.
I have a dog. So do I.
I don’t have a cat. Neither do I.
2 DISAGREEMENT
Like with agreement, English
speakers use two basic phrases to
disagree with another person’s state-
ment: I don’t and I do. The former is
used to disagree with a positive state-
ment. The latter is used to disagree
with a negative statement.
I have a cat. I don’t.
I don’t have a dog. I do.
HOW TO TEACH SO
DO I, NEITHER DO I, I
DO AND I DON’T
Here are some simple games you can
play with your ESL students to practice
agreeing and disagreeing.
1 WHAT DO YOU LIKE
Brainstorm a list of foods with
your class. They should range from
the simple to the exotic. Then make
up a set of cards for your students
with one food on each or have your
students make their own cards. You
should have enough sets for every
four or five students in your class. To
play this agreement and disagreement
game, divide your class into groups
and have each group put their cards
face down in the middle of the group.
One person draws a card and makes
a positive or negative statement about
that food. For example, “I like pista-
chios” or “I don’t like grapes”. The per-
son sitting to the right of that person
must make a statement either agree-
ing or disagreeing with the speaker.
If that person makes a correct and
grammatical statement, she gets the
card. She then pulls a new card and
makes a statement for the person to
her right. If she makes an incorrect
statement, the card goes back into the
center of the circle before she picks a
new card and makes a statement for
the person on her right. Play contin-
ues until all the cards are claimed. The
person with the most cards at the end
of the game wins.
2
A ROLL OF THE DICE
Give your students a list of top-
ics for debate. You should include
simple topics as well as ones that are
more controversial. If you like, use
this list: www.englishclub.com/speak-
ing/agreeing-disagreeing-topics.htm.
Then divide your students into pairs
and give each pair a standard die. For
each round of play, one person makes
a statement about one of the topics.
Her partner then rolls the die. If he rolls
an odd number, he must disagree with
his partner. If he rolls an even number,
he must agree with her. Encourage
your students to spend a few min-
utes discussing each topic. Students
should feel free to be creative during
their discussions since they may or
may not be arguing their actual posi-
tion on a given subject.
3 DO YOU AGREE?
Play this simple game with your
class to practice agreeing and dis-
agreeing. Provide students with sever-
al cards that have the phrases used to
agree or disagree: so do I, neither do
I, I don’t, I do. You may want to provide
three of each to each pair of students.
Have students shuffle cards and di-
vide between them, each student
keeping their hand private. Each stu-
dent then takes a turn making a state-
ment. Her partner must either agree
or disagree starting with the phrase
on one of his cards and then complet-
ing the sentence. If a student does not
have the correct phrase on his card for
a truthful answer, he must pass. The
next student then makes a statement.
Students should try to compose their
statements so that their partner will
not be able to use her cards. However,
all statements and responses must be
true. The first student to play of all her
cards wins.
4 EXPANDING
YOUR VOCABULARY
Once your students have mastered
the simple phrases for agreement and
disagreement, take their language
learning to the next level. You can find
an extensive list of agreement and
disagreement phrases here: www.
usingenglish.com/files/pdf/agreeing-
and-disagreeing-language-review.
pdf. Have students read the items
on the list and decide how strong the
agreement or disagreement is in each
phrase. Have students discuss which
phrases would be most appropriate
for agreeing or disagreeing with an
employer, a friend, a spouse or a par-
ent. Which would they be most likely to
use? Are there any they would never
use?
IF YOU ARE LUCKY, THE STU-
DENTS IN YOUR CLASS DON’T DIS-
AGREE VERY OFTEN. THESE GAMES,
THOUGH, WILL GIVE THEM A CHANCE
TO PRACTICE BOTH AGREEING AND
DISAGREEING WITH THEIR CLASS-
MATES IN A SAFE SETTING.
Some students may need extra en-
couragement when it comes time to
disagree since it may be rude in their
native cultures. Students who will use
English in a business or academic set-
ting, however, would do well to prac-
tice this type of discussion in their ESL
programs before having those types of
conversations in the real world.
17
 Lessons You Can Use Often:
Teaching Adverbs of Frequency
ADVERBS MAY NOT BE THE FIRST
TOPIC YOU COVER IN YOUR ESL
CLASS, BUT THEY ARE SURE TO
COME UP SOONER OR LATER.
Once your students understand the
basics of how this part of speech
works, it’s time to look at adverbs
with more specific uses, for example
adverbs of frequency. This unit takes
your students through 7 separate ac-
tivities all focusing on adverbs of fre-
quency. They can be used together, or
you can use each activity independent
of the rest. And here is the best news
for the busy teacher reading this page.
There is almost no preparation need-
ed for the entire unit!
HOW TO TEACH
ADVERBS OF
FREQUENCY
1 BRAINSTORM
With your class, brainstorm a
list of adjectives of frequency. They
will probably be familiar with at least
some, so take this as an opportunity to
introduce some less common ones to
them. Your list should include the fol-
lowing: always, usually, frequently, of-
ten, commonly, sometimes, occasion-
ally, rarely, seldom, hardly ever, never.
2 QUESTION
YOUR CLASSMATES
Once your students are familiar with
these basic adverbs of frequency,
have them work together in groups
of three or four to come up with some
activities they think members of the
class do either regularly or rarely. Af-
ter a few minutes, students should
choose some of the activities they
have been discussing and write five
questions. These questions will be
geared toward the entire class, and
they should question how often mem-
bers of the class to certain activities
within the span of one week. Your stu-
dents might come up with questions
like the following: How often do you
brush your teeth in one week? How of-
ten do you eat spaghetti in one week?
How often do you see your parents in
18
one week? As they discuss and then
write these questions, your students
will be practicing questions which will
be answered using adverbs of fre-
quency. Make sure that no two groups
have the same questions as you circu-
late throughout the room.
3
PREDICTIONS
Once each group has their ques-
tions written, have those group mem-
bers make predictions about how of-
ten the class as a whole does those
activities, first as a number of times
and then with an adverb of frequency.
Students should first work indepen-
dently as they make their predictions.
The group members can then discuss
their predictions and then write one
set of sentences using adverbs of fre-
quency that the entire group agrees
upon.
Eventually, each group should have
a list of five sentences something like
the following: The members of our
class frequently brush their teeth. The
members of our class rarely see their
parents.
4
SURVEYS
Now your students will have a
chance to survey their classmates.
Have them type up a survey contain-
ing the questions from all the groups
in your class, or do it yourself, and
then make copies for all of your stu-
dents. Take a few minutes to let every-
one answer the questions, and then
have original groups work together to
tabulate the results for their questions.
To make the logistics of this easier,
keep each group’s questions in order
on the page, and then have students
tear their surveys into the appropriate
sections before turning them in.
5 GRAPH IT
At this point, each group should
have a numerical answer to the ques-
tions they wrote at the beginning of
the process. It is now time to convert
those numeric answers to a visual.
Ideally, your students can plot the an-
swers on a number line posted at the
front of your classroom. It should look
something like a timeline, but instead
of times and dates, your students will
plot the events they asked about. The
location of these events will be based
on the frequency with which they hap-
pen. For example, since international
students probably don’t see their par-
ents very often, “see your parents”
may be plotted at zero. On the other
hand, “use a dictionary” may be up
very high on the number line.
If you do not want to use a number
line with your class, you can also rep-
resent the information from the survey
in a bar graph or pie chart and still be
able to do the following activities.
6 OBSERVATIONS
Make some observations for
your students regarding the events
on the number line using adverbs of
frequency. Give examples like, “Our
class frequently uses an English dic-
tionary.” Then, have students work
in pairs to make similar observations
based on the number line. Have each
pair of students write ten observa-
tions, each sentence using a different
adverb of frequency.
7 DEBRIEF
Finally, give the original groups
a chance to debrief the results of their
survey. Were their predictions correct?
Were their expectations similar to the
actual results? Or did they really miss
the mark with any of their guesses?
Have students share with the class
any information that surprised them.
WHETHER YOU RARELY TALK ABOUT
ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY OR THEY
COME UP IN CLASS FREQUENTLY,
YOUR STUDENTS WILL HAVE FUN
MAKING PREDICTIONS ABOUT THEIR
CLASSMATES!
In addition, they may learn some
things about their friends that they
hadn’t already known as they use ad-
verbs of frequency in speaking and
writing.
How Long is the Flight: 3 Timely
Activities for Adverbs of Time
ADVERBS OF TIME ARE USEFUL AND
COME UP MANY TIMES DURING A
LEARNER’S COURSE OF STUDY.
Utilize these three activities to keep stu-
dents in line with time.
The topic of time includes adverbs that
answer the questions when, how long,
and how often. Students usually learn
frequency first followed by when and
how long. The grammar of introducing
each of the categories should include
instructions about word placement,
meaning, and specific examples. Ad-
verbs of frequency, for example, gen-
erally come before an action verb and
after the verb to be. For example: I al-
ways eat lunch at 12:00 vs. I am never
late to appointments. For adverbs that
answer the question when, often the
word placement can change the mean-
ing of the sentence slightly. For exam-
ple: Later, I will give the baby a bath. vs.
I will give the baby a bath later. In the
first sentence the emphasis is upon the
when, and in the second sentence the
when is more neutral. Generally words
that answer the question when can be
placed at the beginning or at the end of
the sentence. They are rarely placed in
the middle as it just sounds awkward.
Adverbs that answer the question how
long, like since 1982 or for an hour
have an important distinction: students
need to learn the difference between
using since and using for. Since is fol-
lowed by a point in time whereas for is
followed by a duration. For example: I
have been a nanny for ten years vs.
I have been a nanny since 2003.
All of these points of expressing time
and timing need to be practiced and
reviewed fairly often. There are a lot of
fill in the blank exercises in grammar
books, but you can also do interactive
exercises to create more natural lan-
guage.
POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES
INCLUDE THE
FOLLOWING
1 CARD GAMES
Card games can be used in a vari-
ety of ways to practice adverbs of time.
You can adapt them for varied levels
and increase the difficulty for intermedi-
ate and advanced learners. All you have
to do to vary the games is to change up
what is on the cards, how many cards
each students receives, and the tenses
that will be practiced. Make cards for
each set of adverbs of time. The sets
should include those for adverbs that
answer the questions when, how of-
ten, and how long.
Examples of adverbs that answer when
are: today, yesterday, last year, a
month ago, two weeks ago, etc.
Examples of adverbs that answer how
often are: rarely, frequently, regular-
ly, weekly, often, never, etc.
Examples for those adverbs that an-
swer for how long are: 3 hours, not
long, all day, since, etc.
Each student should draw a set number
of cards. What follows next is up to you
and the level of your class. You could
simply have students make sentenc-
es in rounds using the words on their
cards. Maybe they get three cards, and
need to make one sentence with those
three words. Or they only get one card,
but they should give three examples us-
ing different tenses. Still another option
is to have them build upon the sentence
of the student that spoke before them.
This can be done by creating a certain
theme for sentences or ask them to try
to continue a story of events. Which-
ever way you choose, card games fo-
cused on adverbs of time supply a good
amount of practice in a lighthearted way.
2
TIC TAC TOE
Tic Tac Toe is a good, quick game
you can employ to practice and review
time expressions. You can make your
Tic Tac Toe board as big as you like on
the board and fill it with either expres-
sions of time, verbs, or both. Decide
which element of time you would like to
focus on and tailor the vocabulary ac-
cordingly. Clearly state the objectives
at the beginning of the game, and be
sure to hold to the guidelines when al-
lowing students to achieve their X or
O. If students don’t follow directions,
give an incomplete or wrong answer,
or if they take too long, they should not
get to keep the square. Sometimes Tic
Tac Toe can become boring if we don’t
challenge students. Give them several
objectives they must meet to take their
square.
3 LOW
When you are using multiple ad-
verbs of time together they must be put
together in a certain order.
How Long
How Often
When
To remember this order, teach your stu-
dents LOW, and have them practice
stringing time expressions together. For
example:
John played soccer for three
years(1) when he was young (3).
Tony worked regularly(2) last year
(3).
There are quite a few activities you can
organize using LOW.
One way to practice using LOW is to
have students tell a story about their
day, or recent or upcoming events that
they can describe using past or future
tenses. Challenge them to use certain
tenses combined with adverbs of time
in good order. You can also do exer-
cises where you give them very ba-
sic information, and have them add in
more complex details. You could start
with something like, Emily went shop-
ping. They then have to create the most
complex sentence they can. This can
de done in teams or pairs and can in-
clude written and spoken language.
They might come up with something
like: Emily went shopping at 2 p.m. ev-
eryday until last month when she didn’t
have any money left. Give points for
creativity, each adverb of time included,
and good tense usage. This activity is
pretty simple to generate and you can
practice multiple grammar points at the
same time.
PRACTICING ADVERBS OF TIME REGU-
LARLY CAN HELP STUDENTS BECOME
MORE FLUID COMMUNICATORS.
Apply these three activities in varied
ways, and your students will arrive on
time to every challenge.
19
 7 Super Easy Activities
for Prepositions of Location
UNDER, OVER, NEAR, FAR…TO, AT,
IN, ON…ENGLISH PREPOSITIONS 3 WHERE IS IT?
Have students bring an unusual
The group who made the map should
answer their classmates’ questions.

OF LOCATION MAY BE THE FODDER
FOR BAD POETRY, BUT MORE
LIKELY THEY ARE A KEY COMPO-
NENT OF YOUR BEGINNING STU-
DENTS’ ENGLISH CURRICULUM.
These prepositions can be a chal-
lenge for English language students.
Some prepositions do not translate
from one language to another, and
even when they do they are often not
used in the same context.
The more practice you give your class
item to class or provide one yourself.
Then let students take turns hiding
the object in the classroom while the
other students hide their eyes. Once
the student is back in his seat, his
classmates ask questions using prep-
ositions of location to try to locate the
item. The person who hid the object
answers their questions until some-
one guesses correctly. The person
who guesses correctly gets to hide
the item for the next round.
7
EGG HUNT
Have an egg hunt in your
classroom — no matter what time of
year it is. Hide several plastic eggs
around your classroom (you can put
something inside them or leave them
empty). On your word, students start
looking for the eggs around the class-
room. When someone finds an egg,
he announces it to the class. He
should then tell the class where he
found it. “I found an egg. It was under

with these information packed words
the easier it will be for your students
to use them easily in conversation.
These 7 simple activities, most requir-
ing little to no preparation, can give
your students the practice they need
to be in the know when it comes to
prepositions of location.
TRY THESE 7 SUPER
EASY ACTIVITIES
4
DRAW IT
This pair activity requires one
student to give directions to another
student while he draws a picture. Give
one student a simple picture, which
she will have her partner draw. She
can look at the picture, but her part-
ner can only listen to her directions as
he draws. Encourage your students to
use prepositions of location as they
give their partners instructions. Then
the teacher’s chair.”
THESE ACTIVITIES ARE SIMPLE
ONES YOU CAN USE ANY TIME
YOU WANT TO REVIEW PREPOSI-
TIONS OF LOCATION WITH YOUR
STUDENTS.
Though perfect for beginning level
students who are just learning these
prepositions, they are also useful for
more advanced students who need a

1 LOOK AROUND
Have pairs of students take
have students switch roles with an-
other picture.
review or for filling a few minutes at
the end of class.

turns saying where items in the class-
room are without saying the object
itself. For example, a student could
say, “This object is over the door.”
The second student guesses which
item his partner is describing. “Is it the
clock?” If the student gets the answer
right, they switch roles. This is also
a good way to review vocabulary of
classroom objects.
5
A MESSY ROOM
Show your students a picture of
a messy bedroom. Ask them what is
wrong with the picture and where the
person’s items should be. For exam-
ple, if clothes are on the floor your stu-
dents would say, “The clothes should
be IN the closet.”

2 QUESTIONABLE
QUESTIONS
To practice prepositions of location in
question form, have pairs of students
work together in an activity similar to
the previous one. This time, though,
the first student asks a question about
a classroom item using a preposition
of location that does not describe the
object’s correct location. “Is the clock
under the trash can?” The second stu-
dent then answers the question. “No,
the clock is over the door.”
6 GETTING AROUND TOWN
Have groups of three or four stu-
dents work together to create a map
of a fictional town. The map should
include typical buildings like a school,
library, police station, grocery store
and homes. Have students discuss
where each of the buildings should
be located on the map using preposi-
tions of location. Once the maps are
finished, have each group present
theirs to the class. Their classmates
can then ask them why they put each
building where they did. For example,
“Why is the school next to the library?”

20
7 Super Easy Activities for
Teaching Prepositions of Time
TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING
FUN, AND YOUR STUDENTS ARE
SURE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH
THESE FUN FILLED ACTIVITIES THAT
TEACH PREPOSITIONS OF TIME!
TRY THESE 7 SUPER
EASY ACTIVITIES
FOR TEACHING
PREPOSITIONS OF
TIME
ning, and at night.” Divide your class
into two teams, and have one person
from each team come to the front of
the room to stand on either side of a
desk or table. Ask a question about an
activity most people do every day. For
example, “What time do most people
eat breakfast?” Students should race
to slap the table, and the first person
who gets her hand down answers with
one of the following: in the morning,
in the afternoon, in the evening or at
night. If a person gives the correct an-
dents to write simple fictional stories
in ten sentences using a preposition
of time in each sentence. Once their
stories are written, students should cut
the sentences apart and shuffle them.
Then have students exchange stories
with a partner and put their partner’s
events in the correct sequence.

1 IN, ON OR AT
Put random times on slips of pa-
per including years, months, specific
dates and times. Each student takes
a turn drawing one of the times. He
swer, she scores a point for her team.
If she gives an incorrect answer, she
loses a point for her team. After every-
one in the class has had a turn, tally
the scores to see who wins.

must then tell the class what he was
doing at that time and must choose
the correct preposition of time to ex-
press himself. Examples: I was va-
cationing in June. I was studying on
Sunday. I was eating lunch at noon.
5
ROLL THE DICE
If you have a game store near
you, get some blank dice to use with
this fun preposition of time activity.
On one six sided die, write for, while,
and during on two sides each. On

2 CHECK YOUR CALENDAR

Have students fill out a calendar
with either real or fictional events in
their lives. Then, have pairs discuss
what they will be doing and at what
times. Students should choose the
the other die, write six different activi-
ties (draw a picture if you don’t have
enough room to write it out). Have a
student roll both dice and then com-
pose a sentence which uses both the
preposition and the event correctly.

6
appropriate preposition of time for
each event during their discussion
ROLL AGAIN
times. Using standard six sided dice,
have students take turns rolling two

3 WHAT CAME FIRST?

Bring some smiles to the class-
room when students use the Sunday
comics to practice the phrases “be-
fore that” and “after that”. Pairs of stu-
dents should choose one comic strip
and create a dialogue describing the
events in the pictures. They should
use “before that” and “after that” as
many times as possible in the dia-
logue. After about ten minutes, have
students present their dialogues to
the class.
dice two times. These two rolls rep-
resent two times of the day. After
her roll, each student must create a
sentence expressing the duration of
an event using those two times. She
should use the prepositions from and
to to express the duration of an activ-
ity she did or will do. For example, a
student might roll an 8 and a 4. She
would then say, “I will be at school
from 8 to 4.” You can also have stu-
dents use until and till when creating
their sentences.

4 WHAT TIME?
Set up a Family Feud style relay
to practice using the phrases “in the
morning, in the afternoon, in the eve-
7 WRITE ON
Have students put their knowl-
edge of prepositions of time together
with a little creativity as they write their
own pieces of fiction. Encourage stu-

21
 Rome is a Place Where ... - Tips
for Teaching Adjective Clauses
“I AM FROM ROME. ROME IS VERY
NICE. PEOPLE EAT SPAGHETTI
IN ROME. I LIKE IT A LOT.” ANY
TEACHER WHO HAS EVER ENCOUN-
TERED WRITING LIKE THIS KNOWS
THAT STUDENTS LIKE TO WRITE IN
SHORT SIMPLE SENTENCES.
To push them out into more complex
sentences, a fun grammar point to
teach is adjective clauses. They’re
one of the most commonly used gram-
mar structures, and they’re incredibly
useful for teaching students to add
more detail in their writing. Stuck on
how to approach this complex topic?
The best way is to start simple. There
are a lot of exceptions and nuances
with adjective clauses. Eventually
your students will learn all of these,
but you don’t have to put them all
out there at once. Start with the ba-
sics and teach them how to use who,
which, and that. Once they feel com-
fortable, add in where and when. After
that, throw in whose and teach the dif-
ference between identifying and non-
identifying adjective clauses.
START WITH THE
BASICS
1 WHO, WHICH, THAT
These are the simplest of adjec-
tive clauses to explain and use.
The boy who I’m going to marry is
handsome.
The class that I’m taking next
semester seems difficult.
Emphasize that although that is ac-
ceptable for both people and things in
essential adjective clauses, most na-
tive speakers will use who for people
and that for things.
2 SUBJECT OR OBJECT
CLAUSES
Just as adjectives can modify either
subjects or objects, adjective clauses
can do the same.
Subject: I am only friends with peo-
ple who recycle.
Object: The man who(m) I am
friends with recycles.
22
Note that whom is only possible in
object clauses: it can be easily found
by identifying the second subject that
comes after the pronoun.
3
WHERE, WHEN
When teaching where and when,
be sure to explain that both words
show the position of something, either
in place or time.
Rome is the city where I’m getting
married.
Early morning is the time when
I’m happiest.
If you have a preposition (read: pre-
POSITION), you are now indicating
the position, so you don’t need where
or when.
Rome is the city that I’m getting
married in.
Early morning is the time that I’m
happiest at.
You can also teach them to be more
formal. Note the change of relative
pronoun and preposition movement:
Rome is the city in which I’m get-
ting married.
Early morning is the time at which
I’m happiest.
4 WHOSE
Tell students that whose is al-
ways followed by a noun that belongs
to the subject/or object. Be sure to
teach them the difference between
whose and who’s.
Tom Jones, whose name I’m tak-
ing, is an engineer.
Tom Jones, who’s an engineer, is
going to be my husband.
5 IDENTIFYING
VS. NON-IDENTIFYING
Whether you call it restrictive/non-
restrictive, essential/non-essential, or
necessary/unnecessary, be sure to
explain this important rule.
My brother who lives in New York
has a baby.
My brother, who lives in New
York, has a baby.
Use similar sentences that only dif-
fer by punctuation to illustrate the dif-
ference in meaning. In example A, I
have more than one brother, but both
of them live in different cities so I can
identify them by this information. In
sentence B, I only have one brother,
so I’m giving extra information that
you don’t need to know to understand
who I’m talking about.
Remind your students that extra infor-
mation = extra punctuation, and we
only use commas with non-essential
adjective clauses. We also only use
wh- words in these clauses (no that
allowed). Practice reading these sen-
tences out loud to show how the com-
ma creates a pause.
ACTIVITIES TO
TEACH & PRACTICE
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
1 MIX AND MATCH
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
Write down the names of famous peo-
ple, places, or things on note cards
(Lady Gaga, Rome, a smart phone,
etc. ) Give students a second blank
note card and instruct them to write an
adjective clause that describes their
card (e.g. The singer who wears crazy
costumes... or The city that I want to
visit). Collect both the name cards and
the adjective clause cards from all the
students and shuffle them. Redistrib-
ute one name card and one adjective
clause to each student. Have the stu-
dents stand up and try to match the
adjective clause to the name. When
they are finished, tell them to combine
them to create a sentence (e.g. The
singer who wears crazy costumes is
Lady Gaga).
An alternative way to do this activ-
ity is to collect the name and adjec-
tive clause cards and shuffle them,
then redistribute one of each to each
student. Instead of standing up and
finding the match, have one student
start by reading his adjective clause.
The student who has the appropriate
name card would finish the sentence
by saying the correct verb and the
name. Then this student would read
his adjective clause and so on.

2 TABOO
This popular game is a hit with
the students and is great to teach ad-
jective clauses. To make it easier on
the teacher, provide blank note cards
to the students and have them make
their own game cards. Tell the stu-
dents to use only nouns and underline
the target noun at the top of the card.
Underneath, have them write three ta-
boo words with “x”s next to them so
students will know which words they
cannot say. You may need to insti-
tute a rule that says when describing
a word for their team, students must
describe the word with an adjective
clause: they can’t simply say syn-
onyms.

3 GUESS WHO
To practice the use of adjective
clauses to describe people, have one
class period where students aren’t
allowed to use names. For example,
if students want to refer to other stu-
dents in the class, they must say, “I
want to ask the student who has a
purple shirt to borrow a pencil.” This
is also a good skill to reinforce the
idea of identifying/non-identifying
clauses because if they just used “the
student,” we wouldn’t know who they
were referring to.

STUDENTS DON’T HAVE TO BE AT

AN ADVANCED LEVEL TO LEARN
ADJECTIVE CLAUSES, ESPECIALLY
ONES THAT HAVE WHO, WHICH,
AND THAT.
As soon as students learn wh- ques-
tions, they’re reading to begin com-
bining sentences with relative pro-
nouns and improve the complexity of
their sentences.

23
 That, Which, & the Other: 3 Ways
to Reinforce Relative Clauses
RELATIVE CLAUSES PRESENT A NEW,
MORE COMPLEX WAY FOR STU-
DENTS TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES.
Examine these 3 constructive ways
to reinforce relative clauses in writing
and speaking, and your students will
be making relative strides in no time.
HOW TO TEACH OR
REVIEW RELATIVE
CLAUSES
1 OBSERVE AND REPORT
It is necessary to carefully intro-
duce relative clauses in a way that is
not intimidating and utilize exercises
that reiterate effective uses. In the
beginning, start with the three relative
clauses that students will encounter
most. Those are the ones that begin
with that, which, and who. That is
used for objects and people, which
is only used to describe objects, and
who obviously describes only people.
The most common one used is that,
because which can often feel too for-
mal and who is restrictive. However, it
is important to practice all three first in
speaking and second in writing. Show
punctuation as you go, but don’t make
it the focus of the lesson until they are
going to use relative clauses in writ-
ing.
A wonderful introductory exercise to
reinforce relative clauses is for stu-
dents to observe people or objects
and report back facts that are impor-
tant. You can devise your instructions
however you would like. One pos-
sibility is to have them look around
the room and create sentences about
what they see. You could have them
choose one person or one object
and try to create as many sentences
as they can based on what they ob-
serve. They can choose to describe
people or objects. First they create
basic sentences like, Mary is talking
to Juan. Then ask them to add in ex-
tra information that they observe or
already know. They could call out how
one thing relates to another (defin-
ing clause) or give extra information
about a relationship or object. You
may want them to work in pairs to take
24
their basic sentences and add in rela-
tive clauses. Ask them to use humor
or creativity when approaching the
assignment. Some example might go
like this:
- Mary is talking to Juan, turns into:
Mary, who is wearing a pink hat, is
talking to Juan. Or, The girl who is
talking to Juan is wearing a pink
hat.
- The teacher is sitting at the desk.
This could turn into: The teacher
who is sitting at the desk is the
best teacher in the school.
- The coffee cup on the table is
empty could turn into: The coffee
cup that is sitting on the table is
empty.
Once the students have created a few
sentences that include relative claus-
es, it’s a good time to discuss with
them whether the clauses are defin-
ing clauses or non-defining clauses.
This is not only a comprehension
check, but can also be used to chal-
lenge them to create both kinds of
sentences so they can clearly see the
difference.
The non-defining clause provides ex-
tra information and is not necessary
for the sentence to make sense. It
tells us some extra piece of informa-
tion about the subject, and is set off by
a set of commas.
John, who is the boy sitting next to
Sarah, is often late to class. This
is a non-defining clause because it
provides extra information. You can
remove the clause and the sentence
still makes sense. The commas al-
most act as parenthesis.
Compare that to:
The car that I bought yesterday
was expensive. Here the relative
clause is identifying which car we are
talking about and is necessary for the
sentence to make sense. So it is a de-
fining clause.
You can work on the two types of
clauses with the above exercise, and
work on punctuation when students
have grasped the general concept of
relative clauses.
2 JOINING TWO SENTENCES
Another way to reinforce rela-
tive clauses is to create a matching
exercise of definitions. The exercise
entails two parts to be joined so that
in the end, all sentences on the page
make good sense. On one side of the
handout have a list subjects to define.
On the other side provide the prompt
for the relative clause. Students must
match all of them correctly otherwise
they will be left with definitions that
don’t make sense. You can focus on a
mix of grammar, places, animals, pro-
fessions, or objects. Some examples
are:
An adjective is... an animal/stripes
A pilot is... a part of speech/de-
scription
A zebra is... a place/mail
A post office is... a person/air-
plane
After they have made all their match-
es, they must then make correct sen-
tences. An example would be: A pilot
is a person who flies an airplane. This
is an appropriate activity for recent vo-
cabulary to be mixed with determining
whether to use that, who, which, or
where for relative clauses. You could
alter this by doing it on the board, or
by having students create matching
challenges for partners as a wrap-up.
3 PERSONALITY TRAITS
One last way to reinforce rela-
tive clauses is to look at how we de-
scribe people. This would be a good
time to focus on writing, punctuation,
and creating complex sentences or
paragraphs. Honing in on personality
traits brings in a topic everyone likes
to discuss and provides a stimulat-
ing way for students to describe the
people important to them. You can
vary activities here by playing guess-
ing games or by brainstorming for a
short writing assignment. A guessing
game could be one that utilizes celeb-
rities or people that everyone in the
class knows. One student has a per-
son in mind and students must guess
the person by asking questions like:
Is she someone who has children? Is
he a person who sings? Is he a man
who has gray hair. Provide a lot of ex-
amples so that students get the idea
of the variety of question types they
can ask.

For brainstorming, ask the students

to pick someone who means a lot to
them and have them brainstorm some
personality traits that define that per-
son to them. Then challenge them to
write a paragraph about the person
using relative clauses to provide in-
formation in an interesting way. Give
them an example:
My mom is a person who is very
calm. She never gets upset. She
always listens to me, and she is
the type of person who wouldn’t
yell at anyone. She is caring and a
person who has great morals. She
would never lie, and she is a wom-
an who keeps everyone around
her honest.
You can make your example simpler
if need be, and give students the op-
portunity to first write short sentences
and then do another activity where
they focus on making more complex
statements.

BY UTILIZING THESE 3 WAYS TO

PRACTICE RELATIVE CLAUSES, YOU
WILL PROVIDE YOUR STUDENTS
WITH THE NECESSARY VARIETY TO
REINFORCE RELATIVE CLAUSES.
It is a grammar point that will serve
their writing as well as their speaking.

25
And, Or, But, So: What Students
Need to Know About Conjunctions
Whenever I hear the word conjunc-
tion, a song from one of my favorite
childhood television programs comes
to mind.
“Conjunction junction, what’s your func-
tion?” I always loved grammar points set
to song, and a surprising number have
stuck with me well into adulthood. Per-
haps it is because I was always meant
to be an English teacher. Perhaps it is
for, nor and yet. All of these conjunc-
tions connect ideas in a sentence, but
each has a unique meaning.
2 CORRECT PUNCTUATION
Even native English speakers can
struggle with punctuating conjunctions.
Whether or not to use a comma is prob-
ably the most frequent frustration. When
writer cannot begin a sentence with a
coordinating conjunction. In modern spo-
ken English, however, and increasingly in
informal writing, this rule is disregarded.
Make sure your ESL students know that
in formal situations, standardized tests
and academic assignments for example,
they should follow the traditional gram-
matical rules. When they speak, though,
they have more freedom in this area.

my love of music. Regardless, I learned
what I needed to know about grammar,
and in this case conjunctions, through
the music which made it memorable. And
while music can make grammar more in-
teresting for some students, the keys to
good grammar are the same whether or
not they are set to song. The conjunction
tune running through my head reminds
me that many people have questions
about conjunctions. So what is it that
your students should know about con-
junctions, these small words that mean
so much?
CONJUNCTIONS:
WHAT YOU AND YOUR
STUDENTS NEED TO
KNOW ABOUT THEM
only two words or phrases are joined by
a conjunction, no comma is necessary.
We are like peas and carrots. When
three elements are in the list, however,
you must use at least one comma. He
likes to ride planes, trains and au-
tomobiles. In lists, commas tradition-
ally separate each element from every
other one. He ordered an appetizer, a
salad, soup and an entree. The big-
ger the list, the more commas the writer
must use. Lists of three or more ele-
ments have an optional comma as well.
English grammar allows a comma after
the penultimate item in the list and before
the conjunction when that list contains
three or more items. He is taking Eng-
lish, Spanish, and Latin. It is a matter
of personal preference whether a writer
chooses to include this optional comma.
3
OTHER CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating conjunctions are per-
haps the best known conjunctions in
English, but they are not the only ones
out there. English contains six correlative
conjunctions (either ... or, not only ... but
also, neither ... nor, both ... and, whether
... or, just as ... so). Coordinating con-
junctions show relationships between
equal elements in a sentence.
Many subordinating conjunctions also
exist. These conjunctions join a depen-
dent clause to an independent clause
to form a complex sentence. These in-
clude adjective clauses, noun clauses
and adverb clauses. Some subordinating
conjunctions include that, who, where,
whenever and because.

1 WHAT THEY DO
Coordinating conjunctions, prob-
ably the most common conjunctions, are
connecting words. They take two or more
elements and form a relationship or con-
nection between them. These elements
can be words, phrases or clauses, but to
use conjunctions correctly all elements
in a given list should be the same. (You
may be familiar with the term parallel
structure, which describes a list of ele-
ments with the same syntactic function.)
When a conjunction connects individual
words, they make a list. And is an addi-
tive connector – it expresses a collection
of many elements. The car was fast,
sleek and beautiful. Or, on the other
hand, expresses an alternative relation-
ship – it is one element in the list, not all.
Would you like coffee, tea or milk?
Use but to express a contrast. He does
not eat beef, but he eats poultry. So
shows a causal relationship. He did not
study, so he failed the test. Other coor-
dinating conjunctions in English include
If a writer chooses to use this optional
comma though, she must use it consis-
tently throughout the piece she is writing.
WHETHER OR NOT YOU SET YOUR
GRAMMAR LESSONS TO SONG, AND
VERY FEW OF US DO, THIS REMAINS
When coordinating conjunctions join in- TRUE.
dependent clauses (a clause with a sub- If your students understand these key
ject and a verb), a comma is required points regarding conjunctions, they will
before the conjunction. He passed his surely whistle a happy tune on their way
driving test, so he got a new car. She out of your class!
will take the bus, or she will ride her
bicycle. Even when only two clauses
are in the list, the comma is required. Of
course, if a writer has multiple clauses in
a sentence, he should use a comma to
separate each from the others. He went
to the mall, he bought a present, and
he gave it to his mother. This sentence
pattern, though, is not common in Eng-
lish. When a writer joins two dependent
clauses (one clause does not contain a
subject), however, the traditional comma
rule applies. He has a dog and wants
a cat. He has a dog, wants a cat and
will buy a bird.
Traditional grammar rules state that a

26
Everything You Need to Know
About English Conditionals:
WHEN YOUR ESL CLASS STARTS
DISCUSSING A LIMITLESS FUTURE
FULL OF POTENTIAL AND WHY
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN WASN’T,
YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS ARE
ENTERING THE WORLD OF ENGLISH
CONDITIONALS.
Conditionals are a sentence structure
in English used to talk about events in
the past, present or future that may or
may not have happened. These events
depend on another event or condition,
which is expressed in an if-clause in
the sentence. In English, there are 4
basic types of conditionals you and
your students will need to understand.
Here’s Everything Your Students Need
to Know About English Conditionals
FIRST THE BASIC
STRUCTURE
No matter which type of conditional
you are using, the basic sentence
construction will be the same. Con-
ditionals are expressed in a complex
sentence, that is a sentence with one
a independent clause and one de-
pendent clause. Conditionals use the
dependent clause to express the con-
dition required for the second event.
This condition is expressed in an if-
clause. If the weather is good... If he
gets the job ... If we had been at the
concert ... The main clause in the com-
plex sentence expresses the result of
that condition. ...we will go on a pic-
nic..., he will pay you back..., we would
have seen the movie star. The order
of these two clauses does not matter,
sometimes the if-clause is at the be-
ginning, sometimes at the end of the
sentence, but a conditional sentence
in English must have both parts.
1 3
ZERO CONDITIONAL
Zero conditionals are also called
real conditionals. They express some-
thing that is certain or real, a result that
always happens providing the condi-
tion in the if-clause is met. These re-
sults may be general facts, universal
truths, or personal results in a given
situation. For example,
General Fact: If water reaches
212 degrees Fahrenheit, it boils.
Universal Truth: If you cut a man,
he bleeds.
Personal Truth: If I eat chocolate, I
break out.
To form a zero conditional, the verb
in the if-clause should appear in the
present tense. The verb in the result
clause should also appear in the pres-
ent tense.
2
FIRST CONDITIONAL
First conditionals are results that
are likely to occur: they will probably
happen though the outcome is not cer-
tain. With first conditionals, there is a
possibility that they will not turn out as
one would expect, but that possibility is
slight. When forming first conditionals
in English, the if-clause appears in the
present tense, and the result clause
appears in the simple future. For ex-
ample, If she studies, she will get
good grades. First conditionals are
not always simple, however. In more
complex sentences, you can use other
modals in the result clause depending
on the outcome’s level of certainty.
If she studies, she might get good
grades.
If she studies, she could get good
grades.
The if-clause, as well, is not limited to
the present tense in first conditionals.
The verb can also appear in the pres-
ent progressive, present perfect, and
simple future.
If she is still studying (right now),
she will not get any sleep.
If she has gone (now), I will tell
you.
If she will give me the money, I will
(agree to) give her the product.
SECOND CONDITIONAL
Second conditionals, also called
unreal conditionals, express a situa-
tion that is not real or is not likely to
happen. The if-clauses expresses the
condition that would need to be met,
and the result clause expresses what
would happen if it were met. However,
the speaker who uses a second condi-
tional does not think that these events
will occur. For second conditionals
about a current situation, the if-clause
is not true. If I had the money (right
now), I would buy a new car. (I do
not have the money.)
When talking about future events, a
second conditional if-clause express-
es a condition that is not likely to hap-
pen. If she won the lottery (in the
future), she would buy me a car.
(She probably won’t win the lot-
tery.)
In both sentences, the if-clause is ex-
pressed in the simple past, and the re-
sult clause is expressed with “would”
plus the base verb. Other modals can
also be used in the result clause.
If she won the lottery, she might
buy me a car.
If she won the lottery, she could
buy me a car.
In formal language situations, the verb
“be” is conjugated as “were” rather
than “was” in the if-clause when the
subject is I, you, she/she/it. For in-
formal speech, was is an acceptable
alternative. If I were going to buy a
car, I would get insurance.
4 THIRD CONDITIONAL
Third conditionals are also un-
real conditionals, but they express an
unreal situation in the past. The condi-
tion occurred in the past, and it was
not met, -- therefore the results did
not happen. The conditional sentence
expresses the idea of “what if”. If she
had called me, I would have come.
(She didn’t call, so I didn’t come.)
To form an unreal past conditional, the
if-clause verb appears in the past per-
fect, and the result clause uses “would
have” plus the past participle of the
main verb.
CONDITIONALS CAN BE VERY COM-
PLICATED NO MATTER WHAT LAN-
GUAGE YOU ARE STUDYING.
But if your students can get a grasp on
these four basic conditional structures,
they will have the foundation they need
to imagine limitless possibilities.
27
3 Ways to Willfully Work
on Question Creation
CREATING QUESTIONS IN THE RIGHT
FORMAT CONTINUOUSLY CAN BE A
STUMBLING BLOCK FOR STUDENTS.
Give your students a head-start by fol-
lowing these 3 ways to work on the criti-
cal skill of question creation.
TRY THESE 3 WAYS TO
WILLFULLY WORK ON
QUESTION CREATION
1
PRACTICE FORMATS OFTEN
Students learn a variety of types
of questions from the beginner level for-
ward. If they have mastered one ques-
tion format, use that to your advantage
and compare it to the next. It is important
to stress whether the question format
is yes/no or whether it is an information
question. Students should be able to spot
the difference pretty quickly. Practice
should be separated in the beginning un-
til students can recognize the difference.
When they see a question word they will
know that they must give a long answer
whereas when the question starts with a
helping verb, generally they can answer
with yes or no.
One comparison that all students find
useful is the difference between to be
questions and questions with do. Before
they can move on to information ques-
tions with helping verbs, they must first
master the difference between when to
use to be and when to use do for yes/
no questions. Do is used in conjunction
with other verbs, whereas be is used as
a linking verb. Be is also used for states
and emotions. Making these distinctions
over and over again will help students
master the challenges of different ques-
tion formats.
Use lots of examples and always detail
on the board the Q format as well as
the A format. Always show contractions
as well as the short answer since that is
generally more natural. For example:
To be questions
Are/Were You...? I am/was
Is/Was he/she it..? he/she/it is/was
Are/Were they/we...? t h e y / w e / a r e /
were
Q: Are you happy?
A: Yes I am.
No I am not. (no contraction)
Q: Was he in school today?
28
A: Yes he was.
No he was not (wasn’t).
Q: Is he a teacher?
A: Yes he is.
No he is not (isn’t).
Do questions look like this:
Do/did you...? I do/did
Does/did he/she/it..? He/she/it does/
did
Do/did they/we...? They/we do/did
Q: Do you like chocolate?
A: Yes I do.
No I do not (don’t).
Q: Did he go to school today?
A: Yes he did.
No he did not (didn’t).
2
ROUNDS AND TRIANGLES
Creating the right kind of questions
appropriate for varied circumstances
takes a lot of practice and continued
review for ESL learners. One sure way
for students to retain the information is
to practice often and with exercises that
incorporate asking and answering ques-
tions. To practice the above structures
have students perform Q and A in rounds
or better yet, in triangles.
Rounds simply means that you start on
one side of the room and have the first
student ask the next student a question.
The second student answers the ques-
tion and then asks a question to the next
person in line. This is a very effective way
for students to practice a specific format,
but to also come up with the substance
of the question on their own. It enhances
answering questions, and challenges
students to create language organically.
Don’t allow students to ask the same
question as another, and provide some
prompts to make for more challenging or
interesting practice. You may also want to
debrief at the end of three to four rounds
to make sure students were listening to
one another and not just concentrating
on what they would ask. You can let them
know ahead of time that they will have to
report back on what they learned about
their classmates.
Triangles are similar but a bit more dif-
ficult to explain. The first time you intro-
duce triangles, it may take students a
few examples to truly understand. Put
your students in groups of three and give
them a Q and A task, like ask each other
questions about the summer break. Stu-
dent one begins by asking student two a
question about student three. Since stu-
dent two doesn’t know the answer, he or
she must first ask student number three
the question, and then report back to
student one. They don’t have to use re-
ported speech to relay the answer, they
simply report back using the student’s
name. For example:
Student 1 (Mary): Where did Jack go on
vacation?
Student 2 (John): I don’t know. Turns to
Jack and asks, Where did you go on holi-
day?
Student 3 (Jack): I went to Prague for a
week.
Student 2 says to student 1: Jack went to
Prague for one week.
You can do innumerable activities with
rounds and triangles, and vary the pur-
pose and the structure to keep things in-
teresting!
3 HOT SEAT
One of the most entertaining prac-
tice opportunities is the game Hot Seat.
This activity is useful because it can be
set up in a matter of seconds and you
can easily alter it. One student is put in
the Hot Seat. Have the student sit in a
chair facing the class, and away from
the board. The teacher writes a phrase
or word on the board. The student must
ask the audience yes/no questions to
guess the word. Don’t make it too easy,
because you want the student to ask a
lot of questions. Also be sure it is some-
thing the class has recently learned, and
can relate to. You can switch this up in a
number of ways. One way is the student
in the hot seat is not the one being chal-
lenged. The class must get only yes an-
swers, only no answers, or a set amount
of one type of answer. The student in the
hot seat must answer honestly. This one
is lively and can get rowdy because now
the audience is firing questions at the hot
seat. Make Hot Seat a part of your rep-
ertoire, and vary it according to level and
style of class.
ASKING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS
IS A CRUCIAL SKILL WHEN LEARNING
ENGLISH.
Try these question creation methods and
your students will acquire inquiring skills
in no time!
“He Said What?” Top 9 ESL
Activities for Reported Speech
HE SAID…SHE SAID…HE ASKED
HER IF, WHEN, WHERE OR WHAT…
REPORTED SPEECH, ALSO KNOWN AS
INDIRECT SPEECH, IS NOT ONE THE
MOST FUN TO TEACH.
What ESL teachers usually do is simply
have one student supply a statement or
ask as question and then have another
student report on what was said/asked.
However, there are others ways to prac-
tice Reported Speech, more creative
and engaging ways, which should pre-
vent students from tuning out and help
them tune into the lesson.
TRY THESE TOP 9
ESL ACTIVITIES FOR
REPORTED SPEECH
1 REPORTED SPEECH CARD
GAMES
For some students, the best way to
learn Reported Speech is by reading
the statements they have to report. This
is why we often write them on the board.
Try these card games instead! For the
first game, prepare a set of index card
each with a direct speech statement on
one side and the indirect statement on
the other. Divide students into pairs.
Student A picks up a card and reads the
direct statement. Student B must report
on what they just said. Student A checks
B’s reply on the back of the card. The
team with the most correct points wins.
You may also try this other, easier ver-
sion. Write the direct statements on in-
dex cards and their indirect versions on
another set of cards. Divide the class
into two teams. Each student must pick
up a card and find the matching state-
ment. You can make this more chal-
lenging by using statements that are
similar but in different tenses.
2 WHAT DID THEY ASK YOU?
Ask students to brainstorm a list
of people who might ask them ques-
tions: a police officer, their mother/fa-
ther, a teacher, a taxi driver, etc. Then
a student reports something that some-
one asked, without revealing who it
was: This person asked me if I had my
driver’s license. Students must guess
it was the police officer: The police of-
ficer asked you if you had your driver’s
license.
3
WORDS TO LIVE BY
Give students snippets of things
that famous people have said about
their lives and experiences. Students
read them out loud and then take turns
reporting what someone said: Einstein
said peace could not be kept by force.
He said it could only be achieved by un-
derstanding.
4 CELEBRITY BUZZ
Hand out several copies of en-
tertainment magazines or the showbiz
section of the newspaper. Students
must read through them and find at
least one juicy bit of celebrity gossip
to report to the rest of the class: Miley
Cyrus said she was officially engaged to
her boyfriend. To make this into a game,
ask students to withhold the celebrity’s
name and have the other students
guess: Which famous celebrity said she
was engaged to boyfriend Liam Hems-
worth?
5 STORY TIME
Take advantage of story time by
asking students to report on what some
of the main characters said/asked:
What did the Evil Queen ask the magic
mirror? She asked him who the fairest
of them all was.
6 STUDENT REPORTER
Any budding reporters will have
the chance to show off their report-
ing skills with this fun activity. Divide
students into pairs. One student will
be the reporter and the other will be
someone worthy of an exclusive inter-
view: the mayor, a famous actress, a
rich entrepreneur, an Olympic athlete,
etc. The celebrity answers a series of
questions and the reporter reports back
to the class: In an exclusive interview,
the mayor promised he would rid the
streets of crime.
7 DEAR ABBY
Ask each student to write Dear
Abby letter asking for advice on a prob-
lem: ask them to use Reported Speech
in their letter: My parents said we were
moving to another country but I don’t
want to move. Students then exchange
letters and reply to a classmate’s prob-
lem: Don’t be afraid to tell your parents
how you feel. Students get their origi-
nal problem letters back and report to
the class on what Dear Abby said: Dear
Abby told me not to be afraid to tell my
parents how I feel. With this activity you
are giving your students two opportuni-
ties to use Reported Speech.
8
I HEARD IT THROUGH
THE GRAPEVINE
One student whispers something to a
classmate: I love chocolate more than
anything else. This student whispers it
to another: Juan said he loved choco-
late more than anything else. The whis-
pering continues through the grapevine,
until it reaches the last student who
must then say the original statement in
direct speech. If there are differences,
they must find out who made the mis-
take: Karen said Juan loved chocolate
more than life itself. - I said he loved it
more than anything else.
9
COMIC STRIP GAPS
To prepare for this activity cut out
comic strips from a newspaper or print
some you find online. Then use some
liquid paper to white out what some of
the characters say in their speech bub-
bles. Write these lines down on sepa-
rate cards. Students pick up a card and
try to match it to a character: Garfield
said he wanted to eat lasagna.
TRY NOT TO GIVE YOUR STUDENTS
RANDOM DIRECT STATEMENTS TO
REPORT.
Each of the activities suggested above
should establish a situation, a context
that should help your students see just
how useful Reported Speech really is.
29
 And You Can Quote Him:
Backshifting in Reported Speech
If you have been teaching ESL for
any length of time, you have probably
tried your hand at explaining reported
speech.
As native speakers, we don’t talk
about reported speech very often.
Our mental grammar clearly knows
the difference between quoted
speech and speech that does not
use the direct words of the speakers.
For English language learners how-
ever, an explanation of what reported
speech is and how to use it is neces-
sary. Of particular importance is the
shift in verb tense we see in reported
speech. Here is what your students
should know about it.
What Your Students Need to Know
About Backshifting in Reported
Speech
When a speaker changes direct
speech to reported speech, he or
she will see that many changes take
place. These changes can include
modifications to pronouns, time ad-
verbials, and most often, verb tense.
It is this change in verb tense which
is referred to as ‘backshifting’. Back-
shifting happens when a verb tense is
shifted back to a past form in reported
speech. Though backshifting doesn’t
happen in all reported speech, it does
happen often.
1
PRESENT TENSES
Present tenses backshift to past
tenses in reported speech.
“I am feeling sick.” She said she
was feeling sick.
“Are you sick?” He asked if she was
sick.
2 “I can do it.” She says she can do
PERFECT TENSES
Quoted speech in the present
perfect becomes reported speech in
the past perfect, while present perfect
progressive becomes past perfect
progressive.
“I have taken that class.” You
said you had taken that class.
“He has been studying for hours.” main verb but the situation in the di-
They said that he had been studying
30
for hours.
3 PAST TENSES
Verbs in the past tenses back-
shift to the past perfect, past progres-
sive to past perfect progressive.
“Where did you hear that?” She
asked where I had heard that.
“I was talking about Tammy.” S h e
said she had been talking about Tam-
my.
4 MODAL VERBS
Can, may and will change to
could, might and would.
“Can I come?” He asked if he could
come.
“They may like it.” I thought they might
like it.
“Will you be free?” You asked if I
would be free.
Other modals do not change in re-
ported speech. These include could,
might, would, should and needn’t.
5 NO BACKSHIFTING
Some English tenses do not
backshift in reported speech. These
depend on the tense of the main verb
in the reported speech. When the
main verb in the reported speech is in
the present tense, the verb in the re-
ported phrase does not change. This
is true no matter what tense is used in
the quoted speech.
“He is coming.” She says that he is
coming.
“They were here.” He says that
they were here.
“I am having trouble.” You admit
that you are having trouble.
“They came yesterday.” He says they
came yesterday.
it.
6 OPTIONAL BACKSHIFTING
Sometimes, backshifting is op-
tional in reported speech. When the
speaker articulating the reported
speech uses the past tense in the
rect speech is still true, backshifting
is optional. This is true when the re-
ported verb is in the simple past, past
progressive or past perfect.
“I want an answer.”
she wants an answer.
She said that
She said that she wanted an
answer.
“He is thinking about it.” They said
that he is thinking about it.
They said that he was think-
ing about it.
“We have made arrangements.” Y o u
said they have made arrangements.
You said they had made ar-
rangements.
If the situation in the direct speech is
no longer true when the speech is re-
ported, backshifting is obligatory.
“I want a puppy.” She said she
wanted a puppy (but changed her
mind).
“He is wearing socks.” They said
that he was wearing socks (but he’s
not now).
“She has been enjoying class.” H e
said she had been enjoying class (but
she isn’t now).
PRACTICE MAKES
PERFECT
The best way for your students to
get backshifting patterns of reported
speech into their own speech is to
give them plenty of practice. A simple
interview is just enough to create a
situation for reported speech. Have
pairs of students interview each other
during class. Make sure students ask
questions that will elicit a variety of
tenses in their responses. Once the
interviews are finished, have each
student tell the rest of the class what
his or her partner said. She should
change her partner’s direct quotations
into reported speech. Correct any er-
rors during the presentations.
May I Take Your Order: Grammar
Tips for Restaurant Language
There are a lot more ways to practice
restaurant language than just doing
fill-in-the-blanks or rote role plays. Try
these delicious grammar tips to get your
students eating up restaurant-related
themes.
1 THE BAD WAITER
(WAITRESS)
This is by far one of the most popular ac-
tivities for learning restaurant etiquette
and practicing restaurant language. It
also promotes discussion about the ser-
vice industry which can be really inter-
esting, especially if you have multiple
cultures around the same table or live
in a country with service that leaves a
lot to be desired. So to start out the bad
waiter exercise, first go over some pos-
sible discussion topics to introduce the
activity. Possible dialogues you could
jump are
How do you define good service in
a restaurant? What does that mean
to you?
In your native language, do you
converse with waiters and waitress-
es? What types of exchanges do
you typically have?
Do you have regular restaurants
where you know the staff and they
know you? If so, how is service dif-
ferent when you are a regular?
Do you tip in your country? How do
you determine what to tip?
Do you think good service is impor-
tant? Why or why not.
You can tailor these topics to your group,
the country, and what you already know
about the cultures in your class. Good
discussion before this activity really
makes a big difference. You want to be
sure to approach the difference between
good and bad service. Depending on
the size of your group you can split the
class in half or divide them into groups of
four to five. You want each person to get
speaking time, so be sure your groups
aren’t too big. Provide each group with a
different restaurant scenario. Then give
them some time to prepare a rough role
play in which the class will observe the
group having a dialogue about the ser-
vice, interacting with the waiter in a par-
ticular way, and ultimately deciding how
to handle some type of poor service. You
can play the performance of the waiter in
each skit so that you can throw in unex-
pected twists, and add more elements of
humor or invite another teacher to do so.
The situations could be things like this:
The waiter gets the entire order
wrong from start to finish. What will
you do?
No one comes by to take your or-
der. After fifteen minutes, what will
you do?
The waiter is rude and says all the
wrong things. How will you re-
spond?
The food is very bad, and the waiter
has disappeared. What will you do?
2 DREAM MENUS
Dream menus can be a fun and
creative way for students to express
themselves, and utilize all kinds of food-
related vocabulary. You can decide how
in-depth or simplistic you would like this
project to be. This activity works best in
pairs, but you could also have students
work on it individually. It is based on the
street-eating culture of Asia, and also
applies nicely to the boom in the United
States of food trucks. The assignment
is simple: students create a short menu
for a proposed new street food venue or
food truck. They menus should contain
three to five food items with descrip-
tions, prices, size options, and a catchy
name for their establishment. This ex-
ercise also brings into focus the idea of
fusion, or combining two different types
of food to create something new. If you
are in Thailand, for example, you don’t
want all the students creating the same
menus of the street food offered there.
They need to add an interesting twist
to their food items so that each menu
is unique. Give them some examples
like, there’s a popular food truck that of-
fers Kimchi tacos and Kalbi beef sliders.
This is what fusion is all about. Students
should spend time designing an actual
menu and can even design a logo for
their restaurant if you want to take it that
far. With an exercise like this, be sure
there is a lot of discussion about topics
relevant to the assignment. You could
include discussions about their favorite
foods or restaurants, what food is lack-
ing in their area, any current food trends
in their area, and the difference between
street dining and a formal restaurant. If
you have a class of foodies, they may
dive into this activity with vigor. Other
groups might need some guidance to
get ideas flowing.
3
VOCABULARY
THE FUN WAY
One of the reasons why practicing res-
taurant language is so challenging, is
because of all the vocabulary possibili-
ties. Once students have an arsenal of
vocabulary you can play the categories
game for challenging review. It’s pretty
simple, but can have hilarious results.
First devise a list of categories related
to food, eating, and restaurants. Some
examples are:
Seafood
Appetizers
Menu Titles
Fruit
Dessert
Ice cream flavors
Types of food
Put the students into groups and assign
the following tasks in every group: note-
taker, time-keeper, and reporter. Then
give the students a letter and select a
category. Each group should record as
many items in that category that begin
with that letter. Set a time limit that af-
fords the students time, but also requires
them to think under pressure. An exam-
ple is, types of food for the letter M: Mex-
ican, Malaysian, Meaty, and Moroccan.
You could give students multiple letters
for the same category or move on to the
next category and letter after each time
limit has expired. Students will have fun
reporting back to the group and you can
assign points for those answers that are
unique to a particular group. You could
also have discussions about whether
particular answers are acceptable.
FOOD IS DEFINITELY A UNIVERSAL
INTEREST, AND STUDENTS WILL GET A
LOT OUT OF THESE THREE GRAMMAR
TIPS FOR PRACTICING RESTAURANT
LANGUAGE. Students will build up their
vocabulary, restaurant etiquette, and cre-
ative thinking skills while developing a
taste for food-related topics.
31
 6 Super ESL Games
for Grammar Review
Have you ever noticed that students
start disappearing right about the time
you start reviewing for a test?
Review lessons can be boring enough,
but grammar reviews are precisely
the type of thing that makes students
want to skip class and reappear only
for the test. Now, what if you were to
give your students a grammar review
they wouldn’t want to miss? Here are
some classic games you can adapt to
any level and use to review essential
structures. You will have a full class-
room during your reviews lessons –
guaranteed!
TRY THESE 6 SUPER
ESL GAMES FOR
GRAMMAR REVIEW
3 TIC TAC TOE
Tic Tac Toe is another versa-
with tremendous success. First, you’ll
need to draw a playing field like this
one on the board or a large piece of
paper:
tile game, one that can be adapted
to suit a wide variety of needs. What
you need to decide first is which gram-
mar your students need to review for
the test. Then, write the topics on nine
index cards or large enough pieces of
paper. Arrange the cards face down on
a table or stick them on the board, in
the classic Tic Tac Toe 3 x 3 grid.
Next, teams take turns choosing a
square (you can add letters across and
Next, divide your students into two
numbers down to make it easier to call
teams. Place a “ball” token at the cen-
out the squares). You turn over the card
ter. Then, students must answer ques-
and reveal to your students the tense/
structure/grammar point written on it.
tions correctly to approach the posts
Students must then either provide an
and score a goal. For example, Team A
example or ask a question that another
answers correctly and moves right one
step closer to their goal. Team B an-
team member must answer correctly

1
SHOOT FOR POINTS
We often need to review things
that are no fun, things like the past
simple or past participle of irregular
swers correctly and moves the ball left
to get their X or O on that square. Of
back to the center. Team A answers in-
course, the first team that gets three
correctly and can’t move the ball at all.
Xs or Os across, down or diagonally
Team B answers correctly and moves
wins.
left one step closer to their goal. If

verbs. Instead of the classic Q & A, try
this. Use a large container or trash can
as your “basket”, give your students a
ball and have them shoot for points.
But here’s the catch: you’ll ask them
a question in past simple, and they’ll
have to remember the past correctly
in order to earn the chance to shoot.
They can get 10 points for scoring or
five if they miss (because at least they
answered the question correctly). You
4
SNAKES AND LADDERS
To play this classic game in your
grammar review lesson, you’ll first
need to prepare some cards: they
may have verb tenses written on them,
questions your students must answer
or prompts from which to say a com-
plete sentence.
Team A were to keep answering incor-
rectly and Team B correctly, then Team
B will continue moving left to eventu-
ally score a goal. When a team scores,
the ball moves back to the center, and
the team that did not score last starts.
The team with the most goals wins.

The rules are simple, but the game is so

6 JEOPARDY
I’ve mentioned this game in sev-
can try any variety of this type of game, eral articles, and it happens to be my
much fun! Students must first choose a
whether you use large balls or small personal favorite. There is so much
token to move around the board (a dif-
ones, or even a wadded up piece of you can do with it - you can review
ferent colored button for each will do
paper. everything they’ve learned in a single
nicely!) Then they take turns rolling the
fun game. You’ll find it explained here:
dice to move across the board. They

2
BOARD GAME
Everyone loves a board game,
and your ESL students will particularly
appreciate one if it’s not only loads of
fun, but also a helpful way to review es-
sential grammar. You can design your
own to include the tenses and struc-
tures your students have learned, or
use any of the ones already available
at BusyTeacher.org. This Grammar
Revision Board Game is a perfect ex-
must take a card and answer correctly
to remain on that spot, or move back
two places if they are incorrect. If they
land at the bottom of a ladder, and they
answer correctly, they get to move up
the ladder, but if they land on a snake’s
head they automatically move down to
where its tail is. Here’s a blank template
you can use (busyteacher.org/9177-
snakes-and-ladders-blank-template.
html) or create your own.
busyteacher.org/5878-what-you-can-
do-with-a-whiteboard-10-creative-esl.
html. All you have to do is replace the
categories at the top with tenses or
structures you want them to review.
NOT ALL GRAMMAR REVIEWS
HAVE TO BE CUT AND DRIED. DON’T
UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF
GAMES - THEY HELP STUDENTS USE
THE RESOURCES THEY’VE ACQUIRED
IN CREATIVE WAYS.
They engage learners to put the things

5
ample: busyteacher.org/14264-gram- they’ve learned to good use. The com-
FOOTBALL!
mar-revision-board-game.html. petitive environment motivates them to
This is a game I’ve played with give it their best effort.
students of different ages and levels
32