This is another fast 45min-60 min lesson dealing with Adjective Order with the topic of trying to find something that has been lost. I like it because it uses the students' own possessions in the lesson for props and it's an effective way of hammering these points down with a lot of repetition. You can also have a secondary focus on the function of asking for help and giving help if you want to.
Want a lesson plan just for you? Leave a comment on what you want and I'll personally create one for you.
Thoughts on Adjective Order in general
A lot of teachers have a hard time activating this grammatical point. Often times they spend upwards of 30 minutes just going over all of the rules on the correct ordering which is usually number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose (NOSASCOMP). Don't do it that way. Is it important for your students to be using all of the adjectives at once? Of course not. We don't speak this way. When have you ever used a sentence with all of these adjectives at once? If you have an advanced class and you want to go over this with them quick, then fine. For all of your other classes, you really shouldn't even be introducing NOSASCOMP at all. Instead pick about 3-5 of these categories and activate those. This will determine your context and topic of your lesson because different adjectives go with different descriptions for things.
Here's a basic setup that you can use and adapt pretty easily for a host of different levels.
Lost and Found
Introduction (a few minutes)
1. Come into the classroom looking like you've lost something. Start searching under your students' desks, look on the floor, in closets...etc.
The goal is to elicit the word/idea of losing something and trying to find it.
Lead in (7-10 minutes)
Have these questions up on the board, demo them out and then put students in groups/pairs .
1. What was the last thing you lost?
2. Where did you lose it?
3. Have you ever lost anything that was really important?
4. What are 3 things you can do to find lost things?
5. Describe a thing that you lost with 3 adjectives (this is where you really need to do a good demo and seed your answer with some of the target grammatical language.)
Target Language
Decide which adjectives you want to activate. You can really pick any that go well with your topic. In this case I'm going to use - Opinion, Size, Color and Material.
To introduce the grammar, try using an inductive approach, by writing an incorrect sentence on the board
a. The leather, pretty, green, large, bag is mine
Ask the students if they think this is correct. If they say it isn't, ask them why. from here try and elicit the correct order and have them correct it. (which should be The pretty, large, green, leather bag is mine.) That's all you need. You dont' need a 30 minute explanation. Keep it basic and simple and don't talk too much. Let the students do most of the work and just follow up with a few CCQ's every now and then.
Study 1
Strips - Students work in pairs and are given a bunch of adjectives that they have to form correct orders with. If you have the time and materials instead of have the adjective word on the strip have a picture so the student will have to work a bit harder to think of the word in english. For example, you'd have a picture of leather or wood instead of having the word 'wood' written out.
Study 2
You pull out your phone and have students, as a full class. describe it as a class with the correct adjective order. Do the same with a pen, glasses (if you wear them), your jacket and your bag.
Tell students to produce each of these things (a purse/bag/briefcase. a jacket, a phone, a pen, glasses) and describe them to their partners. Make sure to go around the room monitoring for errors.
Tip: Make this a competition. Whichever group can get through theirs the fastest wins.
Activation
Depending on class size designate 1-3 people to be Lost and Found help and the rest of the students are people who have lost something. Then take all of the belongings (probably not the glasses though :)) and randomly hand them out to the Lost and Found students. For the activation, students have to ask the different Lost and Found people for their lost things using the correct adjective order. If the Lost and Found people do not have the missing item, they have to respond with what they do have ('I'm sorry, the only bag I have is a Beautiful, small, green,cotton bag). Then, the student has to go to the next booth and ask again to another student. Once people get the hang of it and the speed, fluency, accuracy is sounding good, have them switch roles. Make this fun. Set the class up where the Lost and Found students have booths or even name tags...etc. The more you can do to make it look real, the more engaging the activity will be and the more your students will participate.
Tip: Work On Natural Language! This isn't just about using adjectives correctly, it's about sounding real. This means that the people looking for something need to introduce themselves, where they lost their item...etc. The people playing Lost and Found need to respond like real people 'Hello, is there anything I can help you with' 'I'm sorry sir, I'll keep an eye out for it' - this kind of thing. If it sounds like students in a classroom or not natural and authentic, you are doing it wrong. As always, make sure to start this activity off with your own demo.
Feedback
Get feedback from the students, board any mistakes that you wrote down, end the lesson with a funny joke or something.
Alternatives - You can really switch up whatever is lost to make it harder or easier depending on your students. You can also really train the linguistic function of asking for help and customer service. For example with advanced students you might say that the people who are working for the Lost and Found are total jerks and will only respond to costumers if they are super super super polite...etc. There's a lot of different options you can do with this.
Want a lesson plan just for you? Leave a comment on what you want and I'll personally create one for you.
Thoughts on Adjective Order in general
A lot of teachers have a hard time activating this grammatical point. Often times they spend upwards of 30 minutes just going over all of the rules on the correct ordering which is usually number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose (NOSASCOMP). Don't do it that way. Is it important for your students to be using all of the adjectives at once? Of course not. We don't speak this way. When have you ever used a sentence with all of these adjectives at once? If you have an advanced class and you want to go over this with them quick, then fine. For all of your other classes, you really shouldn't even be introducing NOSASCOMP at all. Instead pick about 3-5 of these categories and activate those. This will determine your context and topic of your lesson because different adjectives go with different descriptions for things.
Here's a basic setup that you can use and adapt pretty easily for a host of different levels.
Lost and Found
Introduction (a few minutes)
1. Come into the classroom looking like you've lost something. Start searching under your students' desks, look on the floor, in closets...etc.
The goal is to elicit the word/idea of losing something and trying to find it.
Lead in (7-10 minutes)
Have these questions up on the board, demo them out and then put students in groups/pairs .
1. What was the last thing you lost?
2. Where did you lose it?
3. Have you ever lost anything that was really important?
4. What are 3 things you can do to find lost things?
5. Describe a thing that you lost with 3 adjectives (this is where you really need to do a good demo and seed your answer with some of the target grammatical language.)
Target Language
Decide which adjectives you want to activate. You can really pick any that go well with your topic. In this case I'm going to use - Opinion, Size, Color and Material.
To introduce the grammar, try using an inductive approach, by writing an incorrect sentence on the board
a. The leather, pretty, green, large, bag is mine
Ask the students if they think this is correct. If they say it isn't, ask them why. from here try and elicit the correct order and have them correct it. (which should be The pretty, large, green, leather bag is mine.) That's all you need. You dont' need a 30 minute explanation. Keep it basic and simple and don't talk too much. Let the students do most of the work and just follow up with a few CCQ's every now and then.
Study 1
Strips - Students work in pairs and are given a bunch of adjectives that they have to form correct orders with. If you have the time and materials instead of have the adjective word on the strip have a picture so the student will have to work a bit harder to think of the word in english. For example, you'd have a picture of leather or wood instead of having the word 'wood' written out.
Study 2
You pull out your phone and have students, as a full class. describe it as a class with the correct adjective order. Do the same with a pen, glasses (if you wear them), your jacket and your bag.
Tell students to produce each of these things (a purse/bag/briefcase. a jacket, a phone, a pen, glasses) and describe them to their partners. Make sure to go around the room monitoring for errors.
Tip: Make this a competition. Whichever group can get through theirs the fastest wins.
Activation
Depending on class size designate 1-3 people to be Lost and Found help and the rest of the students are people who have lost something. Then take all of the belongings (probably not the glasses though :)) and randomly hand them out to the Lost and Found students. For the activation, students have to ask the different Lost and Found people for their lost things using the correct adjective order. If the Lost and Found people do not have the missing item, they have to respond with what they do have ('I'm sorry, the only bag I have is a Beautiful, small, green,cotton bag). Then, the student has to go to the next booth and ask again to another student. Once people get the hang of it and the speed, fluency, accuracy is sounding good, have them switch roles. Make this fun. Set the class up where the Lost and Found students have booths or even name tags...etc. The more you can do to make it look real, the more engaging the activity will be and the more your students will participate.
Tip: Work On Natural Language! This isn't just about using adjectives correctly, it's about sounding real. This means that the people looking for something need to introduce themselves, where they lost their item...etc. The people playing Lost and Found need to respond like real people 'Hello, is there anything I can help you with' 'I'm sorry sir, I'll keep an eye out for it' - this kind of thing. If it sounds like students in a classroom or not natural and authentic, you are doing it wrong. As always, make sure to start this activity off with your own demo.
Feedback
Get feedback from the students, board any mistakes that you wrote down, end the lesson with a funny joke or something.
Alternatives - You can really switch up whatever is lost to make it harder or easier depending on your students. You can also really train the linguistic function of asking for help and customer service. For example with advanced students you might say that the people who are working for the Lost and Found are total jerks and will only respond to costumers if they are super super super polite...etc. There's a lot of different options you can do with this.
This ideas are awesome and interesting!! thanks for sharing!
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