Basic English 7/8 (For Letras Students)

Articles

Goal: Students will be able to use the articles a, an and the properly in a sentence.

At the beginning of class students shared in pairs what they had for lunch. 

--- I ate ______________ and ________________. ---

Second, I presented some examples of when we use a, an and the in sentences. Students helped me explain that we use a, and an when we are speaking about something for the first time or if we are speaking about something that isn't specific. Students also helped me present that we use the when we are speaking about something that we have already mentioned (something specific), or if we are speaking about something that is the only one (for example, the president of the United States).

Example 1

I had soup, a sandwich, and an orange.

The soup wasn't very good. The sandwich and the orange were delicious.

Example 2

The president spoke on TV last night.

The sky is blue.

The sun is hot.

Third, I passed around a bag filled with household objects. Each student selected an object and said what they had picked using the correct article. Since it was the first time they were seeing the objects, they used indefinite articles, either a or an, to describe them. 

Fourth, we went around the circle of students again. This time each student said a sentence in which they described their object. Since it was the second time around, and now something specific that they were talking about, they used the definite article the.

These were the objects that the students passed around:

Here is a picture of all of the studens with their objects!:

If we had had more time, students would have worked in pairs to talk about pictures using as many articles as they could to describe what they saw.