Count and Non Count Nouns

The class needs to be made aware that there exists two main groupings of nouns
count and non count nouns. The first group is easily identified because, as the
name suggests, they are things that can be counted. Words such as cat, bottle
and litre are countable. They can be made into plural form by simply adding an
s at the end. Students should find this relatively easy. Non count nouns denote
concepts or substances that cannot be divided. This may take some more effort
in explaining to the class. Non count nouns are not unlike binary code, they
either exist in a sentence or they dont. There cannot be, for instance, two
informations or two waters. Therefore non count nouns are treated as singular.
A fun and communicative game for students to practice differentiating between
count and non count nouns could stem from the topic of food. Items of food
feature a good mix of the two different groups of nouns; eg. rice vs oranges, milk
vs grapes. Students could organise an imaginary picnic, with each student
tasked with bringing along one item of food. As a class, or in groups, students
will discuss and write down the contents of their picnic basket paying attention
to which form the noun is and what article should be used. Hopefully any errors
made during the exercise will be identified and corrected by peers.
Subjects appearing plural but that are not
Subjects appearing plural but actually singular are particularly prominent in
branches of knowledge (mathematics, ethics), diseases (mumps, measles) and
even clothing (trousers, shorts). Sometimes a word may appear like this due to
intermixing of languages. Biceps a word taken from Greek appears plural but
is actually singular. Much of the time this effect can be attributed to a pair of
objects that are unified. Glasses, pants and scissors are examples of this.
Students can begin to understand how these types of words operate through
hearing them in context. Authentic audio material is a good resource for
unravelling the quirks of the English language. Alternatively, the teacher could
place these misleading words into sentences, emphasizing their singularity (eg.
Measles is a disease). The students are then posed the question how many
measles are there? the learners will reply one. This pattern can be repeated
with as many of these types of words as desired.
Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous may seem similar, but the subtle
distinction must be made clear to the class. The first form, Present Perfect
focuses on the end result of something that happened, eg. Bill read the novel.
However, the Present Perfect Continuous stresses that something has been
happening over a period of time, eg. Bill has been reading the novel for two
weeks. Whilst they may convey the same general message, students benefit by
being able to exploit the different focus of each form. Present Perfect Continuous
also implies that the process is continuing; that the end has not been reached
yet. In order to practice both forms, students could play a guessing game. Each
student will collect data about a famous living person. This data will be
expressed in Present Perfect or Present Perfect continuous (eg. Hes been
making films since, She had a wedding) and presented to the class.
Students listen to these sentences one a time and attempt to guess who is being
talked about.
Passive Voice
Passive voice places the focus on the action. Its sometimes not known, or even
important who or what is performing the action. For instance, the active
sentence Juan fixed the car can be transformed into the passive sentence The
car was fixed. Students should be made aware that this is sometimes done out
of politeness. For example, the passive sentence mistakes were made is
diplomatic it doesnt accuse anyone in particular. Students can practice this
skill by transforming active sentences to passive sentences. Have students write
a paragraph about a child who hasnt done their homework, has broken
something and then does their chores as punishment. The stories can then be
exchanged and rewritten in passive form.
Real and Unreal Conditionals
Real conditional is often used for things that people do in normal day to day
situations. As an introduction to this concept, students could be asked what they
do when they go to a friends house, or on the weekend. Present real conditional
uses two clauses, hinging around two key words; if and will (or alternatively
another modal verb). As noted in the ITTO textbook, present real conditional
refers to the future and normally expresses intentions or cause and effect. This
is contrasted with present unreal in which the speaker thinks [the ideas] are
unlikely to happen. Even more pessimistic yet is past unreal which is used to

speculate about past situations or events that did not take place. The students
should be made aware of these differences in effect there is a spectrum of
increasing/decreasing

control

over

the

situation.

Using

real

and

unreal

conditionals will enable students to express intentions, desires and also to

lament missed opportunities. An interesting activity (perhaps before a big test)
would be to have students pair up and write a short paragraph of things they
shouldnt do before a big test.

Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are perhaps one of the most confusing concepts for beginner
students. Phrasal verbs consist of a verb plus a particle. They are idiomatic
expressions, and their meaning generally isnt clear from the dictionary
translation of the individual words. Great effort is put into avoiding their use in
the classroom especially with more novice students. Some examples are throw
away, put up with and look into. Their use however, give a more human and
expressive quality to the human language. Phrasal verbs such as run away or
break down paint a more emotional picture than can be done with simple, literal
words. For this reason, it may be beneficial to introduce them to more advanced
students. After all, it is an important part of communication in English speaking
environments and thus a requisite in mastering the language. Students may find
it challenging, but enjoyable to construct short stories with as many phrasal
verbs as possible. Reading these stories to the class afterwards could generate
much laughter.