Quantifiers trading game. Teaching notes

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1 Teaching notes Level: intermediate (B1 B2). Language: quantifiers (some, (not) any, a lot of, lots of, several, a few, a little, a great deal of, a bit of, very few, very little, (not) enough, too much, too many, plenty of. Age group: aged 10 and above. Class size: eight students or more. Timing: approximately one hour. Materials You need: a large bottle of water a plastic cup the quantifiers gap-fill from p.4 below one per student some small bags (e.g. sandwich bags) one per student or per pair some objects which are countable nouns (e.g. blocks, Cuisenaire rods, pens) in different colours some objects which are countable nouns (e.g. paper) in different colours the cards from p.5 below one card per student. Preparation In each bag you need to put: some of your countable objects some of your uncountable objects one of the cards from p.5 below. Make sure that the items on the card are different from the items in the bag, because the students are going to have to trade what is in the bag for what is on the card. So an example bag might contain: 7 red rods 2 green rods lots of pink paper a little bit of blue paper the card which says: You need the orange paper and white rods. Procedure Lead-in Aim: to generate interest in the topic. 1. Let everyone see you pour a splash of water into a plastic cup and give it to one of the stronger students. 2. Ask how much is in the cup (e.g. not a lot / a little bit). 3. Tell the student to imagine s/he is a thirsty traveller in the desert and meets you. What does s/he say (e.g. Please can I have some water?) Page 1 of 5

2 4. Ask how much s/he would like, and begin to haggle about the quantity, eliciting quantifiers from the student and his/her classmates. 5. Point out that it would be more natural to use some quantifiers and some numbers in a negotiation, but that the aim of this activity is to practise quantifiers. 6. Tell students that they are going to play a game later in which they will have to negotiate using only quantifiers. Language work Aim: to review quantifiers and scaffold the speaking activity which follows. 1. Establish that we use different quantifiers for countable and uncountable nouns. Use the water as an example and ask if we could use the same quantifier with a countable noun, e.g. biscuits. 2. Display the table below on the board, eliciting as much as possible. The scale on the left checks students comprehension of the terms. Countable Both Uncountable (draw lots of dots here) too many too much a lot of lots of a great deal of loads of (informal) plenty of quite a few quite a lot of enough quite a bit of several some a few a little a bit of not many not much (and just 1 or 2 dots down here) very few hardly any not enough very little not a single no not any 3. Concept check by asking questions such as: I ve got a bit of coffee. Have I got a large amount of coffee? (No.) Is it a problem? (No.) I ve got quite a bit of coffee. Have I got a large amount of coffee? (Yes.) Is it a problem? (No.) I ve got too many friends. Have a got a large number of friends? (Yes.) Is it a problem? (Yes.) 4. Have students complete the gap-fill exercise to check their understanding and give them some practice. They need to select a quantifier with a similar meaning to the one in brackets. I had them complete it individually and then check in pairs before feeding back as a group Page 2 of 5

3 5. Highlight and drill negotiation language from the exercise (Have you got any, I ll give you x for y, If you give me x, I ll give you y, It s a deal). Possible answers to the gap-fill (there are several options for each quantifier): A: Have you got any blue rods? B: Yes, I ve got a few blue rods. (three) A: I ll give you some green paper for a few blue rods. (not a lot, not a little) B: How much green paper exactly? A: Very little green paper. (hardly any) B: That s not enough! (You want more green paper!) A: OK, OK, a bit of green paper. (a small quantity of) B: That s still not enough. If you give me a great deal of green paper (lots of), I ll give you several blue rods. (more than a few) A: You re asking for too much green paper! (You want to give less green paper!) B: OK then, I ll give you several (more than a few) blue rods for quite a lot of green paper. A: It s a deal! B: Great deal! Trading game Aim: to practise using quantifiers orally, in a negotiation. 1. Explain the rules of the game: You will receive a bag. In the bag you have some rods (elicit countable) and some paper (elicit uncountable). You also have a card. You need to trade the things in the bag for the things on the card. You can trade rods for paper or paper for rods. You must not use any numbers just the quantifiers. 2. Model the game with a stronger student. 3. Distribute the bags (one per student or one per pair) and encourage the students to mingle. 4. Monitor their language use as they play and ensure the rules are obeyed (especially the numbers rule). You could impose penalties for broken rules! 5. Extend the game by having them all swap cards with someone else just as they are starting to get a large amount of what is on their card. Follow-up activity You could now ask students to make the negotiation more natural by giving it a real world context and switching to numbers where appropriate. It s also the opportunity to introduce ways of quantifying uncountable nouns (e.g. a loaf/piece/slice of bread). For example: A: Have you got any apples? B: Yes, I ve got a few. A: I ll give you some bread for your apples. B: How much bread exactly? A: A couple of slices? B: That s not enough! A: OK, OK, three slices. B: That s still not enough. If you give me the whole loaf, I ll give you five apples. A: You re just greedy! B: OK then, I ll give you four apples for half the loaf Page 3 of 5

4 Quantifiers gap-fill Complete the negotiation. In each gap, use a quantifier with a similar meaning to the expression in brackets. A: Have you got... blue rods? B: Yes, I ve got... blue rods. (three) A: I ll give you... green paper for a few blue rods. (not a lot, not a little) B: How much green paper exactly? A:... green paper. (hardly any) B: That s not...! (You want more green paper!) A: OK, OK,... green paper. (a small quantity of) B: That s still not enough. If you give me... green paper (lots of), I ll give you... blue rods. (more than a few) A: You re asking for... green paper! (You want to give less green paper!) B: OK then, I ll give you... (more than a few) blue rods for quite a lot of green paper. A: It s a deal! B: Great deal! Page 4 of 5

5 yellow paper blue rods. blue paper brown rods. white paper green rods. green paper white rods. brown paper pink rods. orange paper yellow rods. pink paper orange rods. orange paper white rods. yellow paper red rods. pink paper green rods Page 5 of 5