Korean Job Discussion Forums

[inverse_narcissus]

Hello....
Does anyone have suggestions for teaching countable and uncountable nouns? I'm teaching a lesson on Friday (for 1st-grade middle school students, aged around 12-13) and I'm stumped. It seems too complicated to teach, but if I could come up with some decent games or exercises I think I'll be ok....

I'm also aiming to teach the uses of "a little", "enough", and "too much".

Thanks in advance,
i_n

[Mosley]

One thing to include is some realia, e.g. a bag full of grocery items, both countable and uncountable.

Use simple patterns also. "I have some coffee." "I have two cans of coffee."

[ED209]

Boggle's has some nice flash cards on amounts and containers
http://bogglesworldesl.com/amounts_containers.htm

[Pak Yu Man]

Bring in a bunch of stuff from home.

Water ( a bunch of liquids)
a gas (fart or use oxygen or air)
sugar and salt
paper
and a bunch of countable items.

Then ask them to count stuff. Throw water or whatever at them and ask them how much? how many?

Put a bunch of sand or whatever on their desk and get them to count the grains. They'll understand quick enough.

With kids throwing water or doing something dumb will stick in their heads longer than some flashcards.

[Cerriowen]

[mrsquirrel]

I'm very happy to see that you said countable and uncountable.

The demo lesson I went to last week the teacher said count and noncout nouns.

I then saw it in a book, then the internet and thought that some lazy bugger was trying to make a new word.

[SPINOZA]

Do stuff on....

Q: "would you like [a / an / some] _________?"
A: "Yes please / no thanks"

Be careful though because it's not straightforward. You'll need to think it through beforehand thoroughly (ex. some things like ice cream, chicken can be 'indefinite article' and 'some' depending on what's meant � a kilo of ice cream being �some� and a cone being �an�, a whole chicken being �a� and a plate of chicken being �some�)

Have a list of stuff like...

___ strawberry
___ strawberries
___ milk
___ chicken
___ coffee
___ fruit
___ English homework
___ ice cream

...and ask them to put a/an/some before it, after you've explained the rules.

Shamelessly I use Korean (GOD DAMN ME TO HELL!!) ....."a chicken" = 한마리...."some chicken" = 조금 닭고기. Crystal clarity results.

edited for comical spelling correction

[Freaka]

[poet13]

I don't teach my students whether each item is count or non count. Rather, I teach them the concept of UNIT.
When you add a unit, it's a count noun.
When you take the unit away, it's a noncount noun.
Coffee ---cup of coffee
chicken as an animal. 1 chicken, 2 chickens.
rice - bowl of rice....

I usually get some confused looks.

So I draw a cute puppy dog on the board.
Ask how many is that.
1 is the reply.
Then we give it a name.
Then I draw a blender around the puppy dog.
Lot's of laughs.
Then I turn the blender on.
Then I draw puppy pieces in a red chalk goo.
Then I draw a glass with a straw and puppy goo in it.
(Hint - draw fast)

Lots more laughs and, "Teacher, NO!"

I ask, "why not?"

"Puppy 1!"

Now I draw a package of chicken drumsticks.

Ahhhh....

I then do a bunch more drawings on the board, changing things from count to non-count, and vice versa.
I get the students to choose the unit and as a class we decide if the unit is appropriate.
I'm sure there's better ways to teach it, but I have found the humor in the lesson to be very effective.

Hope that helps.