TEFL Resources and Lesson Ideas

Notes: This is adverb placement revision and practise. It is aimed at advanced levels, or upper-intermediate, and makes use of instinct in deciding what sounds good; I’ve found that it’s good to encourage students’ language awareness in this way.

Preparation: exercises 1 and 2 below, cut up and separated, and this "adverb placement" rulesheet - enough copies for every student. A copy of these teaching notes. Enough blank sheets of paper for each student twice over. Whiteboard and pens.

Procedure:

Part 1 - competition

• Divide the class into pairs and explain that they are going to play a quick game. Tell them that they are now in teams and ask each pair to choose an animal to represent their teams. Board the names of the animals, or a quick drawing if you’re feeling brave.
• Board "They chose immediately a rabbit as their team animal." Underline "immediately" and elicit that it’s an adverb. Ask the class if there’s anything odd about this sentence. If anyone says the adverb’s in the wrong position, give their team one point; otherwise, explain that this is the problem. Ask where the adverb can go (NB, it can go either at the start of the sentence, before "chose", or at the end of the sentence). Give a point to any team whose member gives a correct option.
• Explain that you have another 11 sentences where the adverb might or might not be in the correct position. Tell them that, if the sentence seems strange, there’s probably a mistake with the adverb position. Ask them to tick all the sentences which seem OK (tell them to use their instincts to decide this) and to correct any mistakes they find. Use the example on the board to show them there may be more than one possible correction; but tell them they only have to find one correct option.
• Hand out exercise 1, below, and set a time limit (e.g., 8 minutes).
• After 8 minutes or so, stop the students and ask them to write the name of their team animal at the top of the exercise sheet. Ask them to pass their sheet to the team on their left and give out the adverb rulesheet. Allow them 5 minutes or so to use this rulesheet to mark the paper in front of them - one point for each correct sentence; then check as a class and award points as appropriate. The winning team gets to name their animal.

Part 2 - individual work - gap fill

• Give out exercise 2 and ask the students to look at the phrases in the box. Ask them when they might use these phrases (in formal or business letters, when writing academic essays, etc.).
• Ask the students to match the adverbial phrases with the gaps in the sentences on their own. Allow them just 4 minutes for this. Ask them to compare with their partner; then go through them as a class. Elicit answers from different students and discuss these answers.

Part 3 - interlude/ preparation for listening

• Ask the students to close their eyes. In a calm voice, explain that you would like them to really focus on the sounds they can hear around them for one minute. Tell them to focus first on the biggest sound, and then to notice what other, smaller sounds there are beyond that; tell them to listen to these sounds instead now, and then to find any other, even smaller sounds in the background. After one minute, ask them to open their eyes. If they were working with the person on their left, ask them to discuss what they heard with the person on their right (or vice versa). Allow 2 minutes for this, and then get some feedback - were there any strange sounds which the students couldn’t account for? What were the sounds they heard?

Part 4 - listening - gap dictation

• Tell the students to have a pen and paper ready. Explain that you’re going to tell them a very short story, and ask them to write down what you say. Tell them to leave a large space after every line they write.
• Read out the following, in a natural voice: "He woke. He opened his eyes. He looked around him. He got to his feet and walked to the door. He opened it and looked outside."
• Ask the students to check what they have written with their new partner. Read the above again and ask your students to check again, then to read what they have written back to you, a different student for each sentence. Correct any mistakes.
• Ask the students what they think of this story, and ask them what kind of story it might be (e.g., horror, mystery, romance, etc); ask them why they think this. Ask them how the story might be improved and, if necessary, tell them you think it is a little bit boring at the moment and could be improved with some adverbs. Put the students into groups of 3 or 4 and ask them to work together to choose the most interesting adverbs and where to put them. Allow about 6 minutes for this, and monitor carefully.

Part 5 - speaking/ intonation practise

• When the students have finished, ask them what kind of stories they have written. Board their responses, and ask what kind of voice they would like to hear their stories read in. Choose one group and read out the first sentence in a variety of different ways (e.g., high-pitched and fast; slow and sad; in a "neutral" way, as though you are a newsreader). Ask them which voice they preferred for this kind of story, and what it was about this voice that they thought was good. Board their answers.
• Explain that you would like the students to recite their own stories for the class. Ask the groups to divide up their stories equally between themselves, so that everyone has a chance to speak, and to decide on a voice for their story. Tell them you will give them 6 minutes for this, including practice time.
• Monitor the groups and invite them to give feedback to each other about the way they are saying the story. Ask them to exaggerate their story’s voice. If necessary, give them some feedback and help with intonation, etc., yourself.
• After the students have practiced, ask each group in turn to read their stories aloud. Ask the listening groups to give each student a mark out of 5 for delivery, and to write down the most interesting adverb they heard. Make notes yourself for each student.
• When all the stories have been read, get and give whole class feedback, and maybe have a vote for the class’ favourite story.

Part 6 - writing practise - circle story writing

• Ask the students what their favourite story is in whatever genre(s) they have chosen for the exercise above.  Ask them to tell the person on their left (or right) what this story is about and why they like it so much. Allow about 4 minutes for this.
• Ask the students how they think the story above might continue. How might it end?
• Put the students back into groups of 4 and give them each a blank sheet of paper. Explain that you will ask them to carry on the story and ask one member of each group to dictate the last sentence given to the rest of the group, who should each write down what they hear. Allow about 3 minutes for them to do this.
• Explain that you will ask the students 2 minutes to write the next sentence in the story. Monitor and encourage early finishers to add more adverbs or adjectives to their sentence, or an extra clause.
• Ask the students to pass their sheets of paper to the person on their left. Ask them to read what they have in front of them and give them 2 minutes to write the next sentence.
• Ask the students to fold their paper over, so that only the last sentence can be seen. Ask the students to pass their folded sheets over to the student on their left, who should not look at any other sentences other than the one they can see. Again, give students 2 minutes to write the next sentence.
• Ask the students to fold the paper again, so only one sentence can be seen. They pass the paper to their left and then have 2 minutes to write the next sentence in the story.
• Finally, ask the students to fold their sheets for the last time, and to pass the paper to their left. The person who started the story now has the responsibility to end it; however, they cannot see anything other than the last sentence written. Tell them that, this time, you will give them 6 minutes to complete their story. Monitor and encourage embellishments to the writing as necessary.
• After 6 minutes, ask the students to finish the sentence they are writing, as it is the last one in the story. Give an extra minute for this if necessary. Ask the students now to pass their finished story to their left, to unfold what is in front of them and to read it silently. Ask them to think about the best voice to recite this story in and, in their groups, ask them to read out their stories to each other.
• Ask each group to choose its favourite story, collect these and put them in different places around the classroom. Invite all the students to stand and, as a group, read the different stories. Ask them to give a mark out of 5 for use of language and a mark out of 5 for interest (where 5 is the most interesting story). Which is their favourite?

Part 7 - Class story and feedback

• Sit the students in a circle and join the circle yourself. Explain that you will give the first sentence of a story, then call out a student’s name and ask them to continue the story. Say that, normally, you think people try too hard to be creative, and that you don’t want them to be creative at all. Ask the students to just relax and say the first thing that comes into their heads, and only then to try and fit it into the story. Explain that, when they have finished their sentence, they should call out another student’s name, and ask them to continue the story. When everyone has had a turn, they should call your name again and you will try to end it for them; tell them to give you feedback on your ending, and what they did and didn’t like about it.
• Give the students your first sentence. It should be the first thing you think of - relax and be obvious. For example, "It was a cold day in Spring and the tigers were restless." "One bright evening in March, I walked to the department store." etc., etc. Then call out a student’s name and ask them to continue the story. Remind them to call out another student’s name, if necessary, and if they are really stuck, ask anyone for an idea and then continue from there. Don’t panic, as sometimes these stories take time (for the students to warm up) before they start to flow. Monitor and make notes on students’ language use.
• When the story starts to sag and everyone has had a turn, either signal that you would like your name to be called out, or quietly ask a student to say your name, and finish the story. Get feedback from the students on your ending - encourage both positive and negative comments, and keep the atmosphere light-hearted.
• Finally, write up a few sentences you heard on the board, some correct and some problematic. Tell the students how many sentences need correcting, but not which ones; put them into pairs and ask them to choose the problem sentences and to correct them. After a few minutes, feedback with the class on the sentences to be corrected and what those corrections should be. Collect the group stories, as these may be useful for further feedback later on.

Exercises (to be cut up individually):

1. Correct the sentences if necessary. Tick any which are already correct!

1. We go frequently for a ramble through the woods.

2. Always the teacher gives the students a lot of homework.

3. The rhinoceros suddenly charged out of the undergrowth, straight towards us!

4. She turned to him with a disarming smile.

5. He slammed suddenly the book down on the table.

6. She stamped out angrily of the classroom, cursing English adverb structures.

7. I make sure I do every day my homework.

8. They yesterday got quite tipsy at the pub.

9. Tomorrow I always put things off until.

10. She likes very much watching DVDs with her friends.

11. I went to the Principal’s office immediately.

2. Some common adverbial phrases are:

Please complete the sentences with the phrases from the study box above.

______________________, he realised he should not have resigned.

The army was sent to the region, _____________ popular unrest there.

They are paying for their new car ____________________.

_______________________________, he put on his coat and left the room.

He was an extremely prolific writer, but his huge output was achieved _________________________ his health.

_____________________ your letter of 15 February, please note that I shall be consulting my legal advisers forthwith.

No, I’m afraid he’s __________________ the sort of friend I would have chosen for you.