Lesson Plan Content:
Character Words with Negative Prefixes
Instructions for teachers
Character words with negative prefixes jigsaw game
Cut up the worksheet into cards, but make sure that each card has at least two boxes (e.g.
“in-” and “un-” on one card) so that students can put them back together without having to
know all the words. With weaker classes you might want to have at least some cards with
three, four or even five boxes. It is best if the left-hand column and right-hand column are
cut in different places.
If students find putting the table back into order difficult:
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Tell them that it should make two nice rectangles
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Give them some key answers
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Ask them to think about if there any patterns
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Tell them not to touch the cards while you read out all the answers or let them look at
the worksheet, then let them try again
When they have checked their answers, they can test each other in pairs by:
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Reading out words with the same negative prefix missing until their partner guesses
the negative prefix
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Reading out single words with the negative prefix missing
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Reading out negative prefixes and helping their partner make negatives with it
The presentation below can be done before or after testing each other.
For free speaking, you could get students to take turns adding one positive adjective to a
description of their friend/ father/ girlfriend/ music teacher etc and one negative adjective
to that of their partner. When they have finished, another group says which person sounds
best (or probably which sounds least bad).
Character words with negative prefixes speaking
Character words war
In pairs, students take turns describing their own brother/ romantic partner/ grandparent
with a positive word and their partner’s with a negative word. They can use the version
with and/ or without a negative prefix and words not on the cards, but they can’t repeat
exactly a word that has been said before. When you stop the game, they should discuss
which person sounds worse and why.
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Character words with negative prefixes presentation
First of all without looking back at the cards, try to answer the questions below
Which negative prefixes are most common? Which of those is number one most common?
What letters usually comes after “im-”? Do those letters always have “im-” before them, or
other negative prefixes sometimes possible?
Which letter follows “il-” and “ir-”?
What other negative prefix(es) are there?
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2017
1
Cards to cut up/ Suggested answers
un
adaptable
un
adventurous
un
affectionate
un
ambitious
un
approachable
un
caring
in
competent
in
considerate
un
conventional
un
creative
in
dependent
un
diplomatic
in
efficient
in
flexible
un
friendly
un
helpful
un
intelligent
un
interesting
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2017
2
un
kind
il
logical
im
modest
un
motivated
dis
obedient
dis
organised
im
patient
im
polite
im
practical
un
punctual
un
reliable
ir
religious
in
sensitive
un
sociable
un
sympathetic
un
systematic
un
tidy
un
trustworthy
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2017
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