Monday, January 28, 2008
Un/countable
Two slices of cheese or two cheeses? A countable noun is one that has both a singular and plural usage, such as one tomato, two tomatoes. All abstract nouns are uncountable, but when it comes to material nouns it gets a little trickier. This Smith’s School of English
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Recently I had the opportunity to teach a student in the same week with the same item.
I usually refrain from returning with the same item lesson after lesson until the item is completed. Partly because a lot of the time it simply isn't possible, due to the open scheduling and multiple teachers here at Kyobashi, but partly also because it isn't as interesting for the student to do the same item repeatedly. Also, no matter if they have finished the item or not, it is always a good idea to go back to it for a review...
This was a special case, chosen completely subjectively on the student's performance, reaction, and multiple lessons in one week!
In the last lesson we focused the lesson mainly on the routine. This time I established trust through her onepoint, and then asked her to ask me some of the questions of routine 1 to check her comprehension of them, and then moved on to the item.
The first time I introduced un/countables to her we went through the start up and presentation only, as it is a lot of text and boardwork. I didn't want to rush the process, however, and encouraged her to try and think of the containers of uncountable nouns herself.
This time we started from the practice section. The two tasks of remembering what was in the fridge and suitcase, respectively, went by smoothly. When we got to the grocery store dialogue, it would really test her memory of all the containers introduced in the previous un/countables lesson.
We each took three cards at a time and asked for the items. There was some stumbling over the containers as predicted, but generally it went by smoothly. Soon she learnt that 'a packet of' was correct at least 50% of the time.
Going through the development questions I had her ask all of the questions, but I asked her some extra where/when/who/why questions about the topic, which encouraged her to do the same to me. In the last few minutes I moved on from these questions to the 'how butter do you have on your toast' questions. I wanted her to get to practice a variety of questions in this lesson, thinking that she might not return to this lesson for some time!
Reviewing a lesson that has already been done is a great way of reinforcing whatever the student may have learned during the first time round. And if they've forgotten anything, it's also a great way to refresh their memory. That's why it's wonderful to have 3 or 4 parts to the item. It's always open to a little variety and that makes for a fun lesson!
Countable or uncountable? That is a question that often confuses most Japanese students below the intermediate English speaking level. I find some higher level students sometimes stumble on this as well.
I find this lesson appealing because many Japanese students often omit adding "s" to plural words. This seems to be a common grammar mistake pattern that somehow originates in their high school studying days. Most students are aware of this discrepancy but are unsure how to correct it.
I find the beginning presentation part of the lesson beneficial. This is where the students identify when to add "s" to plural words by practicing the "how many" and "how much" questions. Then they eventually move on to the picture cards with the supermarket shopping conversation scenario.
I try to plan a few extra minutes for this portion of the lesson because it provides an opportunity for a good role play situation. Most of the cards are common food bought at supermarkets. So the students can get hands on experience learning how to use countable or uncountable in grocery shopping situations.
Once they learn some of the new words like loaf of, piece of, box of, or bag of they seem to catch on to the concept quite quickly. I find this successful result most encouraging for lower level students. It gives them added confidence at a time when their learning process eagerly needs it.
Un/countables are a great concern to many students who pause and hesitate when it comes to correctly saying, "I have many books," instead of the often mistaken "I have much books," - for example. When talking about how much they ate for dinner or how many bottles of beer they drank, students of all levels often get confused over the difference between countables and uncountables.
This lesson is great practice for the students to get a firm gasp on not only countables and uncountables, but also the various counters that they can use for different items. Like 1 bottle of beer, 3 cans of tuna, or 2 jugs of milk.
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