Άρθρα με ετικέτα grammar

Play time! Review the Present Continuous using DIY word puzzles!

 

280494062 10227997472219638 3885157802367868340 n
280332427 10227997472819653 8058281980585438917 n 280364338 10227997473379667 5828261294707786229 n 280303049 10227997473459669 3775649203445690197 n
280499626 10227997473539671 5001818317819616615 n 280242533 10227997473859679 3271563161946258692 n 280349649 10227997474139686 693883644930779179 n

It was time for my 4th graders to review the Present Continuous -a time when students (and teachers) get to see if they actually have understood the relevant grammar. I had realized they sometimes omit the verb “be” when they use the Present Continuous, so we talked about the verbs in this tense as if they were trains. Then I thought I could bring my popsicle stick word puzzles, and then every student made a puzzle of their own, using simple strips of paper that were properly cut to contain a word. After each student had made their sentences, they took turns to visit the working spaces of their classmates, to discuss their own. It was an interesting day, to say the least!

Reusing old toddler blocks to play around with sentence structure

Teaching the Simple Present never seems to stop. It is the most basic tense, the tense of tenses. And my 5th grade students needed help understanding sentence structure, especially in the interrogative form. So here’s what we did: I asked them to bring their old toy blocks, from when they were toddlers. Then we taped words and clusters of words on them. Then we played. We kept score among the teams, and I was surprised that even the most reluctant students now wanted to take part! Strong and weak students took their turn making mistakes to learn from. And many, correct, different sentences were created!

 

 12767677_10208736252381180_367816127_n

Special thanks goes to my colleague Maria Dimitrakopoulou, for sharing this idea on Facebook, and to our School Advisor, Mrs. Marianthi Kotadaki, who is a constant source of inspiration for sharing!