Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Missihippi]

teaching 6th graders i found myself struggling to correct this mistake and explaining why. Some tips?

I wrote this on the board (common student answers) but had trouble explaining why C was right (in a manner that 6th graders could understand):

A) I go to the home.
B) I go to home.
C) i go home.

and B here:

A) i go to the school.
B) i go to school.
C) i go school.

[amnsg2]

One way to explain it could be that 'home' is relative only to the speaker, whereas 'the school' 'the library' 'the bank' are the same places for everybody.

'The' implies that you are going to a specific place that the speaker and listener both know about (saying the bank= a specific bank whereas a bank= any bank) so home can't be 'the home'.

I have no grammar background, so there may well be a better explanation but it might be helpful.

[edwardcatflap]

I wouldn't go down the route of trying to explain adverbial uses and the like so stick to giving them lists. Use places they are likely to talk about (see below) add any others you can think of according to what they use.

list one - no article or preposition

home
abroad
here
there


list two - preposition but no article (don't bother explaining the difference between the building and the institution in the first 5 examples)

school
hospital
church
prison
university
Seoul
Busan
Everland

list three -definite article plus preposition

cinema
shops
park
gym


list four - indefinite article plus preposition

restaurant
concert
party

Tell them to learn the lists and give them a gap fill test on it. That'll do for a start. Don't bother to explain why. Give them a test again later when they start to forget it again.

[nathanrutledge]

I go to the home is correct, just not in the usage they probably mean. If you are talking about going to a home that is not yours, but has already been mentioned, you would use that phrase. But yeah, if YOU can't figure it out on your own, then how do you expect the 6th graders to understand it??? This is a rote memory thing, don't waste the time on a specific explanation.

[Chokse]

It's actually pretty simple.

In the sentence "I go home", the word "home" is an adverb. As you know, adverbs use neither articles nor prepositions. This is also why you would say "I go upstairs, I go downstairs, I go inside, I go outside", etc. These are all adverbs.

When "home" is used as a noun, it is appropriate to use an article, eg. "I went to the home of a friend."

[Missihippi]

[lifeinkorea]

I don't think it is an adverb issue.

How about this sentence, "Hello, I am here to see the Bob."

Why not say "the" in this case? Besides being a proper noun, what else can we establish?

There is only 1 Bob. You can't divide it (him if you must). A word being an adverb is just a coincidence, you can't divide upstairs, downstairs, inside, or outside.

So, back to the original sentence, "I go to the home."

Here we have 2 mistakes. Following the division rule, we can leave out "the" and "to".

[edwardcatflap]

The rules for articles run to several pages in grammar books and need not be bothered with too much unless you are teaching high level adult students. You can try and teach 6th graders the notion of adverbs with action verbs if you want and see if they can 'notice' the grammar rules when they come across new ones but I wouldn't hold your breath. Keep it simple but correct. Obviously the best policy is to know all the rules thoroughly when your co teacher asks you an awkward question but teach the very basics to the kids. They can be spared the full horror of the article system until they decide to get serious about learning the langauge at a much later stage.

[eb]

Is this present continous tense? You should be using a time indicator with going? I am going to the house now. EB

[lifeinkorea]

[some waygug-in]

No, it isn't present continuous.


And even if it were, a time indicator is not required. The rule that was mentioned is not really a rule, it is more like something EFL teachers tell students to help them understand the difference between the present simple and the continuous.


I go home. (everyday) p.s.



I'm going home. (probably immediately, but you need a broader context to determine the exact meaning.

That's why some teachers tell their students to add a time indicator.

I'm going home now. (continuous)

I'm going home next month. (here the continuous is used to talk about the future)

[Troglodyte]

Watch this video. It's chocked full of good language teaching methodology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbI-fDzUJXI

[dzeisons]

'Home' is not an adverb - it's a noun.

The easiest way to explain the use of 'to' and 'home' is to say its an exception and we never use them together. (similar to there or here). Write the inccorect sentence on the board and get a red pen to cross out the 'to'.

Then explain we almost always use 'to' when going to a place e.g. school or anywhere else. This is the same as Korean -if you speak Korean say a sentence missing the use of "to" and ask the kids how it sounds. Don't do any exercises with articles it's a complete waste of time for kids and actually detrimental because it's boring and too difficult. You could just explain briefly writing on the board that if you say "I go to school" it means that you are a student, "I went to hospital"= you are a patient etc.

Don't just explain orally, support what you're saying by writing simple sentences on the whiteboard to help the kids understand you.

[eb]

Time indicators are always needed, but espcially in the present continous tense to state specifics of when ( otherwise it can be used in future or present).

They are going to go today, We are going to go tomorrow.

[lifeinkorea]