Tag: adverbs

Master Yoda never bothered with the word order. But when my young padawans do the same I am not really happy. I yearn for a lightsaber precision.

Especially adverbs of frequency should go in the right places. So here I would like to share a set of materials to help you teach this grammar.

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Students often hesitate over whether they should use an adverb or an adjective in a sentence. And to be honest, I did not make it much easier for them with my explanations. So I decided to buckle down to work and create a simple system which will work for my students.
Here is the final result. I have created an infographic which helps the students decide what form they should use. Then there are two games to help them to practice what they have learned and an interactive quiz where they can test their knowledge.

First, make sure, that your students know how to form adverbs. If they don´t, we have a great post on adverbs here.

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Once you are sure your students can form adverbs correctly, show them the following infographic. Explain that they have to consider two factors when deciding whether they should use an adjective or an adverb. First, are any of the verbs mentioned in point 1 in the sentence? If so, they should use an adjective.
If not, they should consider point 2. Is the word in front of a noun and does it describe it? If so, they should use an adjective again.
In all other cases the students should use an adverb. I know it is just a rule of thumb, but it works most of the time.
You should not forget to mention that there is a difference between GOOD and WELL after the verbs in case 1. GOOD means not bad and WELL means fine or healthy.

Now there are two games to practise the grammar in an enjoyable way. The first game is called On Target. Your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles near the walls and thus earn a bonus.

On Target game

The second game is called Penalty Shootout and students love it. Your task is again to choose the correct option and then score a goal.

Penalty Shootout Game

Now you can practise the grammar in the following quiz. Students should fill in the correct answers and if they pass the quiz they will be rewarded with a game. Unlike the games above, this one is in HTML5 so it will play on all mobile devices.

Online quiz

I like teaching adverbs to students because it is very simple, there are only a few exceptions and you can see that they have learnt something immediately. Adverbs are an easy grammar point and students can use them in the same lesson and feel that they achieved something.

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Recently I have been experimenting with mind maps a lot and I was surprised how good the students’ results are. They pass even the most difficult tests and some of them pass them with 100% which I am really not accustomed to. Seeing these wonderful results I decided to go on with creating more mind maps. Here is one dealing with adverbs and their formation in English:

Once you or your students understand adverbs it is time to practise forming the adverbs in games.

Adverbs – half a minute game. You have 30 seconds to put the letters into the correct order to create the right adverb.

Adverbs – Teacher invaders. Your task is to shoot all the invaders but from time to time you have to form an adverb from the given adjective.

Adverbs – Penalty game. In this game you should choose the correct option to complete the sentence. If you get it right you will have a chance to shoot a penalty.

Adverbs – Hoopshoot game. Choose the correct option and then score.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson and that your knowledge of adverbs is much better than it was a few minutes ago. If not look at the links section, too.

If you are looking for another explanation of adverbs, you can find one at British Council site.

Here is a great video explaining what adverbs are. I believe it can be used for teaching English as ESL too. Enjoy.