Feedback on CELTA task Part 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

yasmin sayed

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Egypt
Current Location
Egypt
part 2
You are teaching a group of learners at pre-intermediate level when the words much and many + noun come up. How could you clarify the difference between the two? Think about how you can make the meaning clear, trying to avoid over-complicated language.
- I will ask one of my students to volunteer counting his hair. Spending too much time doing this and adding the point that he could lose some of his hair during counting, we will reach the conclusion that it is impossible to count your hair . I will give more examples by asking them to get a cup of water and count its drops and asking if they can count all the money in the world. I will help them to mention other uncountable nouns (liquid , food, money , luggage , toothpaste ) .
- I will ask them to count things around them ;like chairs , books , and pens. - After reaching the conclusion that some nouns are countable and others are uncountable, I will ask them to write down all the nouns we have mentioned ,determine whether they are countable or uncountable and whether we will use much or many .
- Finally , I will give them examples about how to use much and many with these nouns , then I will ask them to work in pairs making their own sentences.
-If there was enough time , I would add more practices that involves group work and implement kinaesthetic energy ( I will scatter some flash cards that have pictures of nouns, the students will have other flash cards of much and many . Each one will have to collect as many suitable nouns as possible )
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Hair can be countable sometimes, and just because it's impossible to count something doesn't mean that it is automatically uncountable- stars, for example. You can count drops of water. I think there's a basic issue here about the nature of uncountability.
 

yasmin sayed

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Egypt
Current Location
Egypt
Good point .I have never thought about it.
Do you mean that there is no rule for countability?
Do I have to explain it through examples only?
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Take money as an example- it's a concept that is realised in currencies and in the form of notes and coins. All the physical forms that embody the concept can be counted- it is theoretically possible to count all the currencies, all the dollars and francs, and all the notes and coins in circulation. However, money itself, the concept of giving value to these things for the purposes of exchanging and storing wealth cannot be counted.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top