Azra Bosnjak Azra Bosnjak

lesson 3
Pre-Intermediate level


In this lesson, the Ss will learn about indefinite and definite articles a, an and the. They will learn rules and how to use articles correctly.


Main Aims

  • To provide clarification of articles in the context of text about old people

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide practice of usage of articles through reading and speaking


Warmer/Lead-in (3-3 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Show the Ss a picture of Halime Solmaz, the oldest woman in Turkey. TT: Do you know who she was? Do you know where she lived? Do you know how old was she when she died? Write on the WB: 1884. Ask Ss: Can you guess what this number means? Then next to it write 2012. Ask them again how old she was. Write on the WB: Halime Solmaz, 128 years old

Exposure (8-8 minutes) • To provide a model of production expected in coming tasks through reading/listening

Show Ss a text. Ask them what is it about? Give the Ss a HO to skim through the text for three minutes. Put Ss in pairs and give them a HO with questions about the text and tell them to answer those questions. Put Ss in groups and tell them to check their answers.

Highlighting (8-8 minutes) • To highlight and clarify useful language for coming productive tasks

Write on the board: He had a son and a daughter. Underline a and the in both sentences and ask them what it is. Ask: Do we know his daughter and son? How many daughters and sons does he have? Write on WB: The daughter is my mother. TT: Do know who the daughter is? Put Ss into groups and tell them to find articles in the text. Write phrases: …came by bus, went to have lunch, before going to bed. TT: Do you notice something different here? Clarify that articles don’t go before some places and with some forms of transport.

Clarification (5-8 minutes) • To clarify TL

Write on WB: We have a cat and a dog. Underline a. Ask: When do we put a? Do we put it before plural or singular? Did we hear about this cat and dog before? Clarify that a and an go before singular nouns to refer to an idea or an item for the first time. Write on WB: The cat is old and the dog is just a puppy. Ask: Do we now know what cat and dog are we talking about? Singular or plural? Write on WB: We are going to the Smiths. Ask: Is this singular or plural? Clarify that the is used with singular and plural, when both the speaker and listener know the thing or idea already.

Controlled practice (5-5 minutes) • To practice TL

Change Ss partners and show them next exercise TT: Work in pairs. Match the left side with right side with an article or no article in the middle. Play the recording to check their answers and see if they need more clarification.

Controlled practice 2 (8-8 minutes) • Practice TL

Put Ss in groups. To practice articles give Ss sentences where they have to put a, an, the or no article. Check their answers. Tell Ss to do another exercise in pairs. TT: Work in groups. Find one mistake in each sentence. Check their answers and see if they need more clarification

Freer practice (5-5 minutes) • To provide feedback on students' production and use of language

TT: Work in groups and tell each other something they know about old people and use articles. Ask them to tell you what they’ve learned from their colleagues.

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