We still talk about the grammar game for articles. In our two previous posts, we talked about article a or an, and a/an or the. If you have not read those two grammar games, we recommend you to take a look at now.
As we gave you in the previous post, in this post we (still) give you the grammar game for article a/an or the. But, we try to give you another activities that you can manage to the students in the classroom. And as always, we hope that this grammar game will help teachers manage the grammar class, as well as students can easily understand the grammar materials.
Type of the Grammar Game for article a/an or the
In this very special occasion, we will give you a grammar game in the type of pairwork, i.e. information gap game.
Grammar Points
By the end of this game, the students will be able to differentiate the use of these articles, a/an and the. Note: We use a or an to indicate something we mention it in the first time, e.g. Look, there is a giraffe. While we use the to indicate something we know which one we mean, or when it has already been mentioned, e.g. Look, the giraffe has got a baby.
Place expressions
While playing this game, we will use some place expressions, such as: next to, between, opposite, at the end, on the.
Vocabulary
To make easy the students understand the grammar material, we involve some kind of animals on the card: elephant, ostrich, alligator, antelope, monkey, tiger, lion, bear, camel, giraffe, kangaroo, zebra. It is recommended that you provide the animal cards before delivering this game for your preparation.
Materials and Preparation for Grammar Game
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Copy and cut up one set of animal cards for each pair of students in the class. If your students are familiar with the vocabulary, white out the labels on a master copy of the page before making multiple copies. If they are not, leave the labels on the cards and practise the vocabulary before you play the game.
- Make one copy of both the zoo pictures for each student in the class.
How to use the Grammar Game
- Check that your students are familiar with the grammar in the Grammar point and Other structures and with the words listed under Vocabulary, above.
- Divide the class into pairs.
- Give each pair a set of animal cards and each student the two zoo pictures.
- They should spread the animal cards out to look at.
- Each student should decide which six animals from the cards they want in their zoo, without telling their partner. They should draw them in their MY zoo picture, without showing the picture to their partner.
- Players should then try to guess what animals are in each other’s zoo, by asking questions, e.g. ‘Is there a/an …… …. in your zoo?’
- The object of this part of the game is to find out which six animals are in each other’s zoo, and make a list of them.
- When they know which animals are in their partner’s zoo, the object of the next part is to find out exactly where each animal is, in order to complete the layout diagram in their MY PARTNER’s zoo picture.
- In order to do this they imagine they are standing at the entrance to the zoo. They ask each other questions, e.g. ‘Where’s the ……….?‘, and complete the picture according to their partner’s answers. This will involve working out the layout like a puzzle, as pieces of information are revealed, e.g:
A: Where’s the zebra?
B: Between the lion and the giraffe.
A: Oh. Where’s the lion then?
B: Next to the elephant.
A: And where’s the elephant?
B: At the end, on the left.
That was the Grammar Game for Article a/an or the (2) the teachers can apply in their classroom. It is expected to be useful. See you on the next grammar game only on English Grammar Games.
