Ever notice how Koreans never use articles?
This always drove me nuts, and then I came across the most wonderfully concise and simple explaination of when and how to use these. You can teach as such in a 3x3 grid:
Class #1
A/An The (None)
countable (셀수있는) nouns; non-countable nouns X
always only ONE of them
ex: "I saw a bird" ex: "I swam in the water"
non-specific nouns specific (특정한) nouns All of nouns
ex: I saw a teacher yesterday ex: I saw the English Teacher yesterday ex: Teachers are important
I saw the teacher, Kang Min Su
exceptions (예외) X names of rivers, deserts, forests names of cities, countries,
languages, nationalities, lakes
sports, school subjects,
mountains, streets,
ex: The Han river is wide. ex: Yudalsan is beautiful
The Sahara desert is hot. I like Mokpo
The Black Forest is in Germany I'm good at Soccer
Have the students write this grid in their notebook.
Now give them the handout and go around helping them out by pointing out the rules.
ex: "Alex speaks ________ French." What is "french"? (lang-ga-ji!) good, so languages have what? (nussing!)
you may wish to change some of my sentences.
Note that
"_____ People in Mokpo are very nice."
can be either "The" OR nothing, because it refers to ALL people in Mokpo, but it is also SPECIFIC to Mokpo.
...I like putting trick questions in my sheet to challeng the more advanced students who finish too fast.
Now take it up as a class, asking each student "Why" after they give the correct answer
"I want AN apple" - why 'an'? - "one-u!" and?... "a, a, no-together!"
(at this point, I give candy to encourage volunteers and quiet)
Class #2
(advanced only)
review the chart from last class by having students tell you what to put where. Looking in their notebooks is encouraged.
Tell a story.
Rules:
must say "the/a/an" at proper times
must use "is/has" properly
must use "~ing" properly
(these are the three big mistakes I notice, anyway. Your kids may vary)
And be FAST.
If the students break the rules, they're out. (they stand against the wall with their hands on their eyes...keeps 'em from talking so much) If they hear another student's mistake and correct it, they can get back in. (this only happened twice in all four classes that I did this lesson for hahaha Only the best students can manage this, and only if they reallllly want the prize...it's good practice)
In the end, I gave the last three students still sitting a full sized chocolate bar each (I announced the prize before hand, because I knew it was a VERY difficult activity, and I needed a good control mechanism to prevent giving up)
I start the story by using a simple sentence:
There once was a boy named ________ (using my favourite kid in that class' name). And the students must continue. I prompt the whole time by asking questions:
"What did he like? What didn't he like? Who was his friend? One day he..... Suddenly... What did ___ think of that?" etc (this takes a lot more work on your part than theirs, because essentially you're leading the story with your questions, but again, this also helps prevent burnout).
Amazingly, in all four classes, the story lasted just the exact perfect amount of time. But basically, you have to have enough apathy not to care that 3/4 of the class is standing against the wall basically being bored or talking though (their loss...all theyhave to do is listen, and they can get back in. they know the rules). The better out-ed students will still hover around the increasingly small group of sitters, trying to catch mistakes.
Class #3 (a little hard, but not too bad)
(I'll drill this into their heads if it's the last thing I do!)
Review the chart again (I did notice as I did this today that they didn't look in their notebooks for the answers this time! woo!)
Handout a written work without any A's or The's that's entertaining to them. Personally, I'm in an all boys highschool. They all know Ronaldo, and they think Ronaldo's latest scandal with the tranny prostitutes is absolutely hilarious. I wrote the news article myself to make it simple enough to understand. (quotes are real though)
Take turns having kids read each paragraph; go over new words and meanings.
Now instruct them to correct the mistakes.
For the lower level classes I give them a chart of how many mistakes are in each paragraph.
(you'll be surprised how many kids can catch them! I thought for sure this activity would be too hard, but it was bang on)
After, have kids re-read paragraphs, inserting the proper articles where needed. Candy if they got all the corrections right.
