Revamping Deep Zizkov - Free ESL Grammar Lesson - Articles - Intermediate

Here's a lesson that has a heavy focus on the definite and indefinite article, as well as a strong focus on lexis dealing with businesses and landscape found in a city. At the end of the lesson, students revamp an area of their city (Zizkov in this case) to make it more appealing to up and coming residents. Students work together to create their plans and then share them with others in their class. If you're not located in Prague, pick a dingy area in your city that all your students know about. This will make the lesson more engaging for the students.

Materials - A3 paper or flip chart paper
                  Pictures of a decrepit neighbourhood



Intro 1-2 min 
Come into class ecstatic. Get your students curious and have them ask you why you're in such a good mood. Tell them that you not only moved into your dream apartment, but your dream neighbourhood. Tell them that you have some pictures with you and ask if your students would like to see your new place. Show them pictures of the worst possible area that you can possibly find. Elicit that your new place is not great and is actually a dump.


Lead In 5-7 min

Board these questions, demo them out and have students answer them in pairs and groups

1. Where do you currently live?
2. Do you like your neighbourhood?
3. List out 10 types of businesses/shops/things that make a neighbourhood desirable?
4. What 3 things would you add to your neighbourhood to make it better?


Target Language 

Aux Language Review 3-5 min
Review/teach the following language associated with businesses/things found in a neighbourhood. Many of these words probably already came up in question 3 of the lead in. You can board these in advance during feedback from the lead in. Feel free to board any other words that come up.

1. a bakery
2. a movie theater
3. a coffee shop
4. a restaurant
5. a park
6. a gym
7. a bar
8. a library
9. a garden
10. a shoe store
11. a grocery store
12. a market


Target Language Grammar 5-10 min
Board: There's a great bakery in my neighbourhood. The bakery is really close to my apartment.

Underline the 'A' and the 'The' and elicit what these are (articles). Why do we use 'A' the first sentence and 'The' in the second sentence? Try to get them to see that we use the indefinite article (a/an) when something is general or mentioned for the first time. We use the definite article (the) when something has already been introduced and we are speaking about it specifically.

Note: This should be review for most intermediate students, so it shouldn't take too long to go over the grammar.

Study 1: Question/Answer Drills 7-10 minutes 

Board some basic example questions and answers on the board to give your students some context. Have them see the pattern of using the indefinite and later definite article. If you want, you can have the students brain storm some other questions. Since this is using a lot of language pretty quickly in the lesson, I would do at least a few examples as a full class before putting them into groups.

Q. Do you have a grocery store in your neighbourhood? A. Yes/No

Follow ups (have them choose a few of these potential questions) They should be doing one follow per each lexis.

a. What's the name of the grocery store?
b. Where's the grocery located?
c. Does the grocery store sell good fruit?
d. How late is the grocery store open until? 


Study 2: Revamp Zizkov Creation 10-15 min

Demo:  Tell your students that you have been asked to revamp Deep Zizkov. Pull out a large pre-drawn sheet of flip chart paper that showcases your plan to make an area of Zizkov more desirable. The more detailed the drawing/plan is the better. Students can ask you a series of questions (pre boarded if needed).
The demo should sound something like
"To make Zizkov better, I've added a really great coffee shop close to one of the trams. The coffee shop is really cute and sometimes has live music. I've also added a new movie theatre close by. The theatre..."

Put students into groups/pairs, give them a sheet of A3 or flip chart paper and tell them that they have to redo a part of Deep Zizkov (or any dingy part of the city). They have to select a variety of different shops/businesses and things that they would add to the neighbourhood to make it better. They also have to have specific information on the additions and why they have added those particular things. Without the specifics, it will be harder for the students to use the definite article.

While monitoring, make sure that students are using the indefinite and definite article and that they are actually thinking of why they should and shouldn't add specific things.


Activation: 10-15 minutes 

Get students up and either have them present their plans to the class or mingle. Tell the students that the class has to decide which plan is the best. To do this, they have to ask each group about their additions along with follow up questions about the additions.
For example
G1: We added a great bakery to the neighbourhood
G2: What's special about the bakery?
G1: The bakery only uses bio ingredients

etc.

The class can decide which plan is the best and why


Board mistakes and end the class with a joke.