teaching those pesky articles!
 

I'm not a new teacher, but I'm not a veteran either!

However, I always find it hard to present articles to kids in a fun way to make them remember.

Most of the time I am just explaining and it seems boring to me as it is to them!

Very soon, I will teach usage of 'a/n' and 'the' (argh!). If there is a fun way to teach 'the' it will be very appreciated! Thanks!

Re: teaching those pesky articles!
 

I just did a lesson on articles that went over pretty well. It was for 7th and 8th graders who def. needed a refresher course on articles...so I introduced a few rules and examples about the us of articles (taken from Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal) and then set up categories, just like Jeopardy. Places, Countable or Uncountable, A, An, or The; Find the Mistake, and Fill in The Blank. There's a powerpoint presentation floating around somewhere, but I didn't care for the sentences so just adapted it to my own needs...

it worked well...split them into groups if you have a large class (my classes are 35+, so 5 or six groups) and give them the activity. Worked pretty well and the winning team got candy for having the most money at the end...also, i didn't take money away for a wrong answer (thought it might send the wrong message of "trying and failing=punishment)...just allowed other teams to answer instead.

Hope this helps!

Re: teaching those pesky articles!
 

Good tips.

Your determination to teach articles, a very difficult concept, to youngsters is impressive. Perhaps if more teachers had tried your creative methods than I wouldn't have so many international graduate students, often with over a dozen years of English classes, still struggling with this problem in writing courses.

Keep up the good fight!

Re: teaching those pesky articles!
 

I have just started teaching ESL to adults in a language school, and I am finding it very difficult to teach articles to them as well. However, I used a deck of cards to explain a very broad rule for using "a" and "the." I feel like most of my students got a better understanding of when to use "a" and "the," but it takes much more teaching and practice.