"a lesson", "the lesson", "some lessons", "any lessons" "in the lesson" "at the lesson"
Hello everyone, let's discuss "Articles". How do you find teaching articles to students? Complex / Simple? What difficulties do you find that students struggle with the most? What's your method of teaching students the appropriate article to match it with the referring statement?
7 answers from our tutors
Best answer
Hi Lewis! I can't say that a topic of articles causes any significant troubles for students. In my practice I have noticed that usage of prepositions is a far more complicated area. All these prepositions of time and place, in a car but on a bus, at the bakery even though you are INside the bakery and so on. Drives my students mad)
Teaching articles can be both complex and challenging. The use of articles in English grammar is quite nuanced. Student often struggle with understanding the rules and application. Here are some difficulties I have seen students face.. Understanding article concepts... Students find it hard to distinguish between definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) and when to use no articulate at all. They may struggle with the abstract nature of article usage. Countable and Uncountable nouns: Students also struggle with determining which is countable and uncountable. I use explanation and examples. Provide students with contextual exercises. Error correction Role play Constant review with new vocabulary.
I had a typo in my last answer. I meant to write "Am I talking about one object or many* objects?" Not meant... 🥲
Check your English level for free
Take our quick and free test to find out your current level of English
Start test
My Korean friends HATE articles and I think it's hilarious because from an outside perspective, YES, I would be frustrated too if I needed to think about a word that changes the tense or number of the next word and having to guess each meaning. So I approach it like this: Categorize it into "Am i talking about one object? Or can it be meant objects?" I quantify it for my students first. This way, they know if the nouns after it will be singular or plural. Then I break it down to importance. A and the imply one. Okay so when I only talk about one, it will be either "a" or "the". BUT.... am I just talking about a random book or THE specific book? Last, we will model it with body gestures. Choosing a random book, versus choosing THE MOST IMPORTANT book. This is applied to the other category of "many" objects and the order of their importance (All, some, few, any). Hope this helps!
Thank you Marina and Sue for you input. Its a very interesting topic of discussion. I agree with you Marina, prepositions can be tricky and at times my students find it quite confusing. But like anything hard work, practice and determination accomplishes their goals. Thats a great method Sue, very informative and yes we have to ask a lot of CCQ's. Thanks you for discussing this with me.
Hi there, The student must read the article, understand the " new" words using MFP, which you will teach, underlining the any tenses, and of course phrasal verbs used in the article. Then allow the student to explain the article back to you in there own words and understanding and ask CCQ's
A lesson is a general lesson. The lesson is a definite lesson. While some lesson is a plural
Other student questions
- Imagine giving a presentation in English and having everyone applaud—how amazing would that be?
