Good ... better ... THE BEST ideas to teach the comparative and the superlative ๐
Updated: May 3, 2019
I promised to share my ideas for teaching the comparative and the superlative so here I am ๐ Let's get straight into it:
Activity 1
The first thing we did was ... A SONG ๐ถ๐ต๐ถ Yes, I am recently obsessed with introducing new songs. Yes, they're all from Kid's Box by Cambridge University Press ๐ This time, to introduce the comparative form of the adjective we learnt this:
Don't you just love this one. So much passion in the chorus ๐ #kidsboxsongsarefanatic
Activity 2
We practised creating sentences with comparative adjectives in a pair work activity using flash cards. I made a set of 20 cards for each pair of students. They were taking turns testing each other: one side of the flashcard had a name of two animals and an adjective; the other side had the correct sentence.
I laminated one set of the cards (I made this one prettier ๐ ) and left it for them on the English shelve to practise during study time.
DOWNLOAD the no-frame set
Activity 3
Once everyone knew what the deal is, more or less, with comparing adjectives the time came to introduce the spelling rules. Instead of just telling them what these are I gave them an activity in which they discovered the rules by themselves ๐
I told them to colour in the same letters in each pair one colour, and the letters that are different another colour. Then I asked them to divide all the pairs into four groups of three based on the rules they could now see. And they did see them! Some of them were commenting while colouring that they see what's happening. It was music to my ears ๐
DOWNLOAD spelling rules activity
Activity 4
Another fun activity my students enjoyed came after they learnt about 2 and 3 syllabled adjectives and how we use "more" to make their comparative. I asked them to write 10 sentences comparing themselves to whomever they liked! The sentences didn't have to be true. So it turned out I have a class of kids more intelligent than Einstein and stronger than Pudzian ๐ But my favourite sentence came from one of the girls (if you're Polish, you'll understand why). In their Polish lessons they are currently talking about "Chลopcy z Placu Broni". The sentences from Lila: "I'm more honourable than Nemeczek" ๐ Cross-curricular or what?!?!
Activity 5
On to the superlatives! I had so much fun during this activity and so did they! We were voting in 18 different categories to find out ... well see in the picture below
Every kid in the class got 18 small pieces of paper. Each category was pasted onto an envelope. Once everyone had cast their votes I gave each envelope to a different student. I have 17 students in my class, so that left one envelope for me. I read out the first category announcing "The most honest students in our class are ....". When they heard the names they started clapping ๐ Then everyone got to announce the result from their envelope. They loved it!!
Activity 6
This one was note taking with a twist. I got this idea of the internet while Google image searching. You use pictures of ice-cream cones and scoops to create a note about adjectives. Each scoop is one form (so obviously we had three) and then I even got a picture of sauce and used it as "the" for the superlative adjective. Ok, I have a feeling some of you might be thinking "what on earth is she talking about" ๐ so just look at the picture below
Underneath the cone they wrote example sentences using each form of the adjective ๐
Activity 7
So now they knew all the rules. The time had come to practise all of them together and to really drill the concept. In comes a game ๐ This is not my original idea, the original game comes from Hot Chocolate Printables on TeachersPayTeachers. But I've put a Montenglish spin on it:
1) I used the board and graphics from the cards, however, I changed the cards by adding QR codes with answers onto them. Students don't need me to determine whether they're right or wrong ๐
2) In each turn a player rolls two dice: one is a normal 1-6 die for moving around the board; the other is a 1-4 die. The 1-4 die determines how many cupcake cards a player can collect for giving the right answer (you'll know why cupcakes when you see the original game board form Hot Chocolate Printables )
3) The game ends when all the players reach the finish line. They count their cupcakes. The player with the most cards wins the game.
I'd suggest letting students play in pairs or groups of three. Four would be the absolute maximum. They would get too bored waiting for their turn to come. Also, I might introduce a small hour glass as time limit for giving the answers.
Activity 8
I also needed some task cards for individual work. TeachersPayTeachers is full of them so there was no need for me to make my own. Take a look at the ones I bought for my students:
The sets with the orange wiggly frames come from Kirsten's Kaboodle and the other one form Elementary Engagement. Both sets have answer cards at the bottom of the pile. Once a student is ready they check their answers and make note of the ones they got wrong. They come up to me and either ask for explanation or, if they already know, tell me why they got the answer wrong, i.e. what they've just learnt ๐
Activity 9
Have I mentioned I like projects? Yes ... yes, I have! This time round it's going to be a simple booklet or a multimedia presentation with their opinions about things that are important to them. I imagine a lot of "Minecraft's good but Fortnite is better" ๐ Formula: one page/slide = one sentence + pictures. And then of course a presentation: I'm thinking of making the students listening to the person presenting either stand up or sit down depending on whether they agree or disagree with their opinion.
There you go! I hope you find something for yourselves in those activities and materials. I must admit that I'm not entirely sure if I'm done ๐ It is very likely that this post will get updated with more materials ... but don't quote me on that ... I'm on an adjective comparison hight right now ๐
EDIT
Told you I'd be back writing this post ๐
Activity 10
I created an activity which I called "5 a day". Why? Cause I thought to myself: if my kids translate 5, and only 5, sentences EVERY DAY for the next two weeks, surely they will remember all the rules. We'll see if my logic is right in two weeks time ๐ For now, I give you "5 a day"
I didn't have envelopes which actually worked out great because I made those pockets with plain paper and a stapler. I printed the apples with each kid's name and stuck them on the pockets. Yes, before you ask, there's a lot of cutting involved. I wrote 50 sentences, and printed a copy for each student. I asked them to write numbers 1-50 in their notebooks and pick 5 sentences and translate them. They did just that and then .... they checked their answers using the QR codes!! YES, the answers are there, ready for the kids, no need for you to check every sentence ๐๐ Every student worked with their own sentences, there was no copying form each other or cheating. They know they're doing it to learn, not to please me or be graded for it.
And because I like you, I'm gonna share the sentences with you ๐ And ... I know there will be mistakes there, typos and what have you. So if you find any before my kiddos do (one already did, clever clogs!) do let me know so I can fix it for you and for them.
DOWNLOAD the sentences
DOWNLOAD the apples
Have fun creating ;)
Ewa
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