TeachingPresentation

Teaching

Adjectives

to English Language Learners

What's the big deal?

English language learners, no matter their English proficiency level or age, will encounter adjectives. They are one of the major parts of speech. Adjectives present many difficulties, depending on the situation in which they are used.

English is hard!

Middle and high school students are expected to be able to write in paragraphs, moving on to five paragraph essays, which are then required for high stakes state testing.

What even are adjectives?

Words that describe a noun They typically come before the noun they are modifying But a noun and a verb can both become an adjective!

They do not change form based on the word they modify When used one after the other, they must follow a certain sequence We can be added to an adjective to create new meaning

Inflectional morphemes

Middle and high school students often use Venn diagrams to begin to compare and contrast two concepts. Inflectional morphemes are important for students to understand as they work to build complete sentences and comparative paragraphs based on their Venn diagrams.

Prenominal adjectives often indicate characteristic permanence. Postnominal adjectives indicate a temporary state.

The blue houseThe house is blue at night

Adjective Syntax

Adjective sequencing in English often follows specific patterns that differ from other languages

The one bright blue beach house.

Adjective Sequencing and Affixes

Adjectives in English can appear both before and after nouns.

Depending on the sequencing aspect, adjectives take on different meanings

Depending on their ending, adjectives can take on different meaning, like -er, -est, -ing, - ed, and -en

Depending on their meaning and syntactical sequence, they can take on different pronunciation

ComparativeAdjectives

Teaching example

Begin the class by listening to "Harder, Better, Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk To activate prior knowledge, have students work with a partner to share how they compare things in their native language and answer the following questions: How do you compare two things in your native language? Is there more than one way? Do you add letters to the words or do you use a different word? Share 3 sentences describing differences between you and your partner. 5-7 students will share their comparative sentences, either in English or their native language. Present a comparative forms lesson that describes the use of -er versus 'more' as well as the irregular comparatives. Discuss the errors that even native English speakers make when making comparisons, like “more better.” The teacher will lead the class in a discussion of how their native language is different from English (addressing potential errors depending on languages spoken by students)

Teaching example Comparative Adjectives

The teacher will review the bubble map created in the previous lesson that compared African societies. The teacher will emphasize the adjectives used to describe the various societies and present an adjective word bank and sentence starters and structures. They will be printed as a handout, displayed on the white board, and available online. Students will partner with their cooperative learning groups and, using their bubble maps, adjective word banks, and sentence starters and structures, will create comparative sentences to describe the differences between African societies.

Identifying adjectives

Teaching example

Include daily linguistic practice, like this warm up exercise, to provide opportunities for students to practice what they've learned

Clues Suggest Picture Is Hung Incorrectly The way the picture is currently hung shows the thickest cluster of multicolored lines at the bottom of the frame, suggesting an extremely simple version of a city skyline. But "the thickening of the grid should be at the top, like a dark sky," Meyer-Büser said. "Once I pointed it out to the other curators, we realized it was very obvious. I am 100 percent certain the picture is the wrong way around." There are other clues that suggest the work is hung incorrectly. There is a similarly named and same-sized oil painting by Mondrian called "New York City." It is on display in a museum in Paris, France. That work has a thicker cluster of lines at the top of the painting.

Participles as Adjectives

Teaching Example

Thanks!

Annotated Bibliography

Larsen-Freeman, D. & Celce-Murcia, M. (2016). The Grammar Book: Form, meaning, and use for English language teachers (3rd Ed.). Heinle Cengage Learning. Though it looks like a standard textbook, The Grammar Book is set up to provide specific and constructive information to English language teachers. The authors provide teaching examples at the end of each chapter, focusing on all aspects of grammar, form, meaning, and use. They also provide opportunities to practice the chapter content through exercises and give suggestions for further reading. The text includes four different indexes, breaking down the concepts based on words, phrases, and affixes, as well as an index of topics. Greene, J.W. & Coxhead, A. (2015). Academic vocabulary for middle school students. Brooks Publishing. A quick read, this source specifically discusses vocabulary middle school students will encounter. The authors provide the various word lists based on content area and describe the process by which the words were selected. They also share teaching activities associated with the MSVL and how to incorporate it into planning procedures.

Annotated Bibliography

Newsela Inc. (2022). Delivering more than news. Newsela. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://newsela.com/. Newsela is a website that provides content to educators based on real time news. The publishers work to adapt articles to best suit different types of classrooms. They have specific English Learner resources, like scaffolding for word count and word choice and read alouds, with the ability to control the rate of speech. You can also find culturally relevant articles to use in the classroom to aid in creating an inclusive environment. It is a free service and allows you to incorporate Google classroom, if you use it, and provides quizzes and simple activities. Folse, K. (2016). Keys to teaching grammar to English language learners (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. This book, specifically for teachers of English language learners, presents English grammar through the lens of English learners. The author provides the most common errors and provides teaching suggestions and classroom activities to work through the errors. It also provides answers to questions that were not answered in its overview of grammar.

References

Dobie, R. (n.d.). Participle adjectives: '-ed' vs '-ing'. All Things Grammar: Grammar Discussion. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.allthingsgrammar.com/participle-adjectives--ed-vs--ing.html Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D.J. (2017), 5th Ed. Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model. Pearson. Kawasaki, J. (2022, June 14). How to teach participial adjectives to ESL students. BridgeUniverse - TEFL Blog, News, Tips & Resources. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/teach-participial-adjectives/ Larsen-Freeman, D. & Celce-Murcia, M. (2016). The Grammar Book: Form, meaning, and use for English language teachers (3rd Ed.). Heinle Cengage Learning. Newsela, Oltermann, P. (2022, October 28). Dutch artist's abstract painting has been hanging upside down for 75 Years. Newsela. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/mondrian-painting-upside-down/id/2001033919/ Razfar, A. & Rumenapp, J. C. (2014). Applying linguistics in the classroom: A sociocultural approach. New York, NY: Routledge.