Grammar Activities Portfolio Term Paper

The portfolio of grammar activities is intended to be used to help people improve their English writing and speaking skills. It will be provided to native speakers and adult ESL students. The activities are geared to help native speakers and ESL students understand various basic grammatical aspects of the English language. Most students are high school graduates and immigrants with a bachelor’s degree. Despite the different levels of language understanding, the groups can benefit from these activities and improve their overall language competency.

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The activities target twenty-five students, ranging in age from 8 to 50 years, who have already expressed a desire to attend the program next summer. They and their parents stand to gain the most by the government grant. Besides, the population is majorly English native speakers. They will be learning in the classroom setting, while other students will be learning on the internet. Most native speakers face problems understanding both simple and complex grammatical structures. The activities can help them apply their newly acquired knowledge in real life while they focus on the descriptive application rather than the prescriptive approach. Most ESL students reside in English-speaking countries and are, generally, grammatically proficient. However, they have to constantly improve their skills because of the changing language norms and grammar rules. Therefore, the portfolio will focus on the presentation of grammar in the context of the modern world and current language trends.

The school activities will include asking and answering questions in a classroom setting and doing exercises for online learning modules. They will use examples to explain the application of different grammar structures and language aspects. The sentences are designed to be as simple as possible to promote clarity and conciseness. The grammar is presented in an accessible way to help native and ESL students understand it. The portfolio combines relevant information in a structured way to avoid any confusion. The teacher will encourage the students to ask questions and help them correct the mistakes. The activities will be formatted in a way that promotes language understanding. The students will be encouraged to formulate their own examples of different grammatical formations. The activities will be consistent with accurate grammar and grammatical applications.

• Group questions using personalized sentences

Personalized sentences are designed for the production of different lesson stages. The sentences make grammar memorable due to the provision of personalized contexts. A good example is designing a sentence pertaining to something the students can do well.

Draft the sentences in the board, leaving blank spaces. Then allow the students to fill in the blanks spaces with the best answer. Record the answers for revision. Now revise the questions with the whole class, making corrections to the answers given by the students.

For example,

(Something someone is able to do well)
—————————-football well
I am able to play football well.
This can be followed by asking about other things that people can do well and leaving blank spaces to be filled, as in:
I am—————drum well
I can————exceedingly well

The statements provide suggestions to the students on things they can perform well. Notably, some verbs and adjectives keep changing in the manner in which they are used. The blank space is left considering the grammar proficiency of the students and the target group. For example, for kids, only single words or letters are left out. For grown-ups, even two to three words are left out. The cards are divided and filled separately. The students can play the games in groups or individually. This activity operates as a brainstorming tool to expand the students’ thinking capacity, and builds their memory.

• Team gap fill and revising

This is a short game used for revising. It can be done best using a projector or a whiteboard that is interactive enough. The activity can employ different gap-filling presentations such as PPT 53.2 KB. Where such materials are not accessible, the questions can be written on the blackboard or in the book.
Divide the class into two teams and give a board marker to each team. Write one question n the board with a blanks space to be filled. The spaces are left for team A and B as shown below:

I would like to_________________English well before the summer ends
Team A__________Team B____________

Each student from the groups is then given time to discuss their views considering the question and provide an answer. He or she is given a short time so that all the students get an opportunity to talk. Each group is then permitted to nominate a single student to provide the answer for their team. To avoid repetition, the students from each group should be given instructions not to give the same answer. Once the activity is complete, there should be a class discussion on the answer. Automatically, students will have different answers. The teacher should then discuss the two answers with the whole class to identify where a given group might have gone wrong. That is not to say that the answers of both the groups might be correct. The activity boosts the creativity as well as the memory of the students.

• Team error correction

This is the quickest and best method of turning an error into a fun game in the process of making the correction. The fun will entertain and possibly improve the memory of the students.
Write two statements on the board having or not having any grammar errors. The students are then given the chance to identify the mistakes in those sentences. Interestingly, some students will identify errors that do not exist.

For example:
I have never been able to play football well.

The class is then divided into several teams so that they no longer have the same partners. Ask the students to make corrections to the sentences where possible. Each student is given the pen to quickly make the correction and pass the pen.

Pause in between the corrections and make clarifications.

This activity functions to quicken the thinking of the students as well as improve their skill. When the students are making the corrections, they are prone to errors due to lack of enough time for thinking. The mistakes are then turned into fun without making the students angry. Along with grammar rules, they learn the importance of quick thinking. Theoretically, team correction enhances good memory. The activity functions to correct the grammar errors commonly made by the students, such as the use of adverbs and tenses.

• Monterosso grammar preposition card game

Thisgame involves the use of cards with different colors and numbers. The cards are passed rapidly, with the students mentioning their position – for example, under, above, behind, on, in, and so on.
Divide the students into different pairs, and each pair is given the test. The students are likely to misname the position of the card. Label the cards with the required prepositions and pass the cards for the students to mention their position. Do the process repeatedly. The game will be funny when people mention wrong cards for wrong positions. The cards are then analyzed by the teacher and reviewed to enable the students to learn immediately. This is done repeatedly until the students are familiar with prepositions. Actually, the use of the grammar card enhances the students’ grip on prepositions. It improves their grammar by making them familiar not only with prepositions, but also with other parts of speech as well as tenses.

• Parts of speech grammar game-Verbs

Choose any part of speech for practice, such as the verb or adverb. Main verbs can stand alone and do not need to be accompanied by another verb.

Draft sentences with the use of adverbs. Design each question employing the use of adverbs in two different ways and allow the students to answer.

He knocks at the door.
He knocked at the door.

The main verb contributes significantly to the meaning of the sentence.

• Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary verbs are verbs that do not have independent meaning without the accompanying main verbs. Although they do not specifically provide any semantic meaning, they add grammatical meaning. The auxiliary verbs include the verbs do, be and have, e.g.

The students are walking to the classroom.
She is a student at the University

The do auxiliary adverb is used to denote time and transform a question into a negative statement relative to the time the action was performed.

Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs

• Transitive verbs

Transitive verbs are the main verbs that must be followed by an object. The objects may include nouns and pronouns.

I dived. *ungrammatical
I dived into the river. (complete, because the verb is followed by an object)
NB: Di-transitive verbs are transitive verbs with more than one object. The object can be classified as a direct object and an indirect object. For instance:

Tom kicked the ball. (Direct object receives the action)
They kicked the ball into the goal. (the ball is the direct object while into the goal is an indirect object)

• Intransitive verbs

These verbs do not need to be followed by an object since they can stand independently. Most simple sentences consist of transitive verbs and are semantically and grammatically correct. For instance:

They prayed.
Michael is dying.

• Intransitive verbs and complements

Intransitive verbs can also be used as complements, which are words that follow verbs but are not objects. For instance

Joy is my girlfriend.
The houses are up for closure.

• Linking verbs

Linking verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. They are used to link subject noun phrases and complements. They may be related to the senses, as in feel, smell, touch and smell.

The activity because improves the students’ grammar and their knowledge of the different parts of speech. It also augments their sense of sentence structure and the use of other functionalities such as adverbs and verbs and progressive tenses.

• Taboo grammar game

The games make practicing nouns easy. Nouns are the ‘naming words’ parts of speech that most people find difficult. The difficulty in pronunciation is brought in by the difference in the language and culture of the people.

Divide the class into groups to review the different parts of speech such as punctuation symbols, sentence structure and pronunciation. Label the different parts of speech on cards – for example, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and so on. Then decide on who goes first. Hold the card at random and allow the student to describe the word on the card by giving only examples and no explanation. For instance, when you hold a card for noun, the student should only give examples of nouns. When you hold a verb card, the student should mention words like ‘jump’, ‘run’, etc. The students will possibly make errors while giving examples, but they will also learn in the process.

The activity functions to sharpen the memory of the students and improve their grammar. By correcting mistakes in a funny way, it makes the students remember them well.

• Proposition Command card

These are cards designed to enhance differentiation and use of preposition. It allows the students to identify the position of objects, which is a key contribution to the sentence structure drafting.

Divide the class into two groups. Label the prepositions in a command card and show them to the students at random. Allow the students to give answers and prepositions to words shown in the card. It will allow the students to identify the prepositions and provide the answers. The team that provides the correct answers wins. The other team also learns in the process.

The activity makes the students brainstorm for answers and boosts their thinking capacity.

• Blackboard race

This is a writing session tests the speed and mastery of the students in different areas. It tests the ability of students to identify different parts of speech and give more words pertaining to that.

Divide the blackboard into two sections. Divide the class into two sections as well. Then mention a theme or a part of speech and allow the students to come up to the board and write as many words as they can concerning the theme. For example, you can tell them to mention animals with claws that are likely to be found in a zoo. The students are given equal time, then the team with the more correct words is pronounced the winner.

I choose the activity because it quickens the students thinking and sharpen them on the use of different parts of speech such as tense. The ESL missing is the writing speed as well as naming of words.

• Conjugation Pyramid

Most students love this language game. It is similar to the blackboard race. Draw a language pyramid on both ends of the board and allow the students to choose on each end. Determine the number of rounds that you want to go when designing the pyramid. For example, adjectives and adverbs are twoword classes that have both similarities and differences. Some have no typical derivational ending, while others have derivational endings. Functionally, adjectives modify nouns, while adverbs can modify other word forms except nouns.

Give each student a phrase with a person who they will conjugate the words with. The students are given time in pairs and asked to conjugate a given word on the board quickly. This is done keeping in mind the proficiency level of the students. When they win the pyramid block, it is filled and marked on the board.

The team with the most number of blocks wins the game. The game enhances the creativity of the students as well as their speed.

The activity improves the ability of the students to analyze sentences and identify the grammar issues.

• Tic-Tac-Toe

Draw a simple Tic-Tac-Toe grid on the board. Fill the grid with different parts of speech that students want to learn. The chosen words must be flexible enough to make the practice easy. For example, the words should be filled from both ends to expand the thinking of the students. For example, when learning about verbs, be specific on what types of verbs are to be used in the grid. The class is then divided into different teams. Each team goes and chooses the tic TAC toe square that they think is the best. They are then given time to conjugate the verbs properly before coming up with a final answer as a group. If they give the correct answer, they go ahead and claim that square. This game also provides room for discussion and proper consultation. In case they find a wrong answer, they lose. The students will engage in this activity repeatedly until they become familiar with the sentence structure.
The activity improves the sentences structure of the students and consequently their grammar. It also builds on the sentence structure and the use of tenses.

In conclusion, the grammar activities and games identify the common grammar errors made by the students without necessarily providing correct answers. What they do provide is room for thinking, thereby improving the students’ ability to speak and write good English. Grammar games are designed based on the proficiency and age of the students.