Adverbs
by Jules Beibro Yao-Kokore

We have decided that we will teach the chapter on ADVERBS in three 90-minute lessons. We think this framework is appropriate considering that we are dealing with a 15-week semester where classes meet three times a week.
 


Brief Outline

Class 1 Identification of Types of Adverbs.
Class 2 Word Order. Position of Adverbs.
Class 3 Revision and Consolidation.

Indepth Outline 


 
Class 1 Identification of Types of Adverbs.

1-The teacher will briefly lecture on adverbs formation. 

2- In pairs, students complete the exercise on p.332 in AEG. 

3-To broaden the scope, in groups of three, students identify and try to classify adv, in newspapers brought by the teacher. They will be given 6 minutes to do that. The reporters of groups will then share answers with whole class and a definite classification will be done. When all reporters have presented answer with the teacher's help if necessary,the class will have a bunch of adverbs on the board.While student will be on task the teacher will monitor giving help andsupport. 

-In pairs, students do ex. F on page 339 in AEG. 

-We would maybe go for a straight-forward elicitation of the frequency words along a continuum drawn on the board (p.333). Get the extremes up there and then negotiate the placement of the others along the line. (It is important to emphasize that some of the adverbs like "often" and "sometimes" may occupy a different position a sentence) Add any additional ones that may be useful. Then, quickly to check their understanding, erase the board, give them each an adverb, and ask them to form a human continuum, finding their own place along a line. Everyone agrees that this is the proper order, then ask each student in turn to form a question about using "you", and the person next to them answers the question then asks a question to the next person and so on on down the line. Give them a bit of time to think to come up with a gofrequency word question, something interesting. Now, Stds. are asked to write one "How often do you....?" question on a sheet of paper. The question should be something of genuine interest to the std. and something that they what to ask/know about other stds. in the class. After they have their question, they must go around and interview everyone in the class, taking notes on what each person says. (Tchr. puts adverbs back on board as a reference for stds.) This is finished, and teacher selects a few stds. to report some of their answers. If some of the questions are good (and clean!), then there is sure to be some good stuff here. Turning to the book, on p.333-4, have the stds individually answer the questions in B 1-10, and compare their answers with a partner. Tchr. then gets some selective feedback from stds. and provides some clarification as needed. 

HOMEWORK 

Find 5 adverbs of each type in authenthic materials. Copy from the material, two sentences containing each type of adverbs. This way the adverbs will be contextualized. Morever, the sentences coming from the students' research can be used to learn about word order. 
 

Class 2 Word Order. Position of Adverbs.

At the beginning of this class, the class will correct the homework assigned at the end of the first class.

Students will be put in groups of three. They will be asked analyze the sentences containing adverbs of different types they had copied from authentic materials (see Hw Lesson 1 ).

Activity 1


The task is: 
1- quickly group adverbs according to their types. (2')

2- Explore the sentences and the reporter should be able to share with the class their findings about  the position of adverbs in sentences.(6')   


Note: The teacher will make sure all adverbs are covered by reporters, but they do not take long to re-represent a type already focosed on.

The teacher and students bring in clarification as needed.

Activity 2

Drawing from ex.F on page 339, let students analyze, in pairs, one small article or advertisement from a newspaper or magazine containing different types of adverbs. The teacher will rearrange the word order of adverbs so that they are put in the wrong position. The students' task is to find the correct position of adverbs. For correction, students suggest their answers. Then, are given
copies of the original paper.  

The teacher restates or clarifies points as needed.

Activity 3    

To work with the correct position of adverbs of frequency, pg. 337-B. For each sentence have a series of cards with the words and the adverb of frequency. The teacher can  expand this activity to other adverbs. Give one set of cards to a pair of students. They will rearrange the sentence putting the adverb in the correct position. They should lay the cards down on a table or on the floor that other students can see the sentences. Ask students to walk around to analyze sentences and help others to correct mistakes. Then they decide the order of events. They take turns to write sentences in order on the board. After that you can lead a class discussion and/or allow them to
complete the exercise.   

Activity 4

The teacher provides a list of questions to the students about moods and actions:  "What do you do when you are depressed/angry/happy/sad/bored."  The students have to write 1 - 3 sentences, using the frequency adverbs, always, usually, often, sometimes.  For a twist, the teacher could have the students answer each sentence with a positive and negative meaning, cued from p. 333 of the Applied Grammar.  The positive adverbs would be generally, frequently, normally; the negative adjectives would be rarely, seldom, never.   

For correction students read their answers to each other; then, to the whole class.  The teacher monitors and help as needed.  
 

Homework

Use newspapers to target adverbs/adverbials.  Have the stds. bring in their choice of a newspaper. In pairs, have the stds. scan their paper for an interesting/funny/important short article. Tell them that they have to agree on the article. After, they are told that they must skim the article first and understand what it is generally about and then be prepared to summarize the
article to the class. They are told to choose 5 words in their article that they found interesting/unfamiliar/useful etc. to present to the class. Dictionaries are available.After that, stds. are told to  choose from several different ways to target adverbs in their articles-gap-fills, T/F, multiple choice, comp. questions. They are given scissors, white-out, glue, paper to design their own activities w/ keys using their articles. These are photocopied by the tchr. and made available to everyone to be completed for HW. Answers are reviewed as a class or keys are posted for stds. to check individually.

Class 3 Revision and Consolidation.

Activity 1

The teacher makes a list of 10 - 20 activities and writes them on separate slips of paper.  The activities must be easily mimed and be composed of recognizable vocabulary for the level of the students.  

Examples are:  Put on a shirt (or pair of socks or pants), drink a soda, clean a window, make a bed, catch a ball, turn on a television, type an email, etc.  

Then the teacher makes a list of 10 - 20 adverbs that are opposites, like happily, sadly, violently, gently, quickly, slowly, cautiously, bravely.  The teacher divides the students in half for 2 teams.  Students come up one at a time and choose one slip from each pile.  They have to mime the action in such a manner that the other students on their team can guess the adverb and action. They have 1 minute and then they have to sit down.  Each
correctly guessed answer is worth 1 point. 

Activity 2

Students, in pairs, are asked to select a short (this is important, say no longer than 300 words) article of interest to them. They are to skim the article, underlining as many adverbs as they find (this may be too  monumentous of a task, so it might be better to limit the scope to say, only frequency or place or manner adverbs. Or better yet,give each pair a different type of adverb to focus on). Also, the pairs ought to be able to  summarize/paraphrase what the article is about. Maybe saying too why they selected the article. Each pair is asked to total up the number of adverbs they have found and underlined.  Now, each pair in turn, after summarizing, is asked to slowly read their articles outloud, and the rest of the class is instructed to listen for only the adverbs (of a particular type) in the article that is being read. Stds. are to quickly write them down as they hear them, tallying them up at the end of the reading. (Now, I am not sure how difficult this is going to be for stds. They will definitely have to listen very closely and write very quickly. More than one reading might be in order as well).  The reading pair then tells the class how many adverbs they found in the article, going through the adverbs they found. This is  compared orally to what the other stds. have written down. Tchr. provides clarfication as necessary. The std(s) with the most correct adverbs written down win(s). This is done in turn until all the articles have been read.
  

Activity 3       

The teacher provides a list of questions to the students about moods and actions:  "What do you do when you are depressed/angry/happy/sad/bored."  The students have to write 1 - 3 sentences, using the frequency adverbs, always, usually, often, sometimes.  For a twist, the teacher could have the students answer each sentence with a positive and negative meaning, cued from p. 333 of the Applied Grammar.  The positive adverbs would be
generally, frequently, normally; the negative adjectives would be rarely, seldom, never.   

Homework

Students complete exersices D and E on page 339 in AEG.