MASTER-Int-Finding a Home-week 1 of 2 · compare and contrast houses and objects in the home using comparative and superlatives ask questions about housing using which, what,

The Minnesota Literacy Council created this

curriculum with funding from the MN Department

of Education. We invite you to adapt it for your own classrooms.

MASTER

Finding a Home: Week 1 of 2

Unit Overview:

The first week will focus on talking about homes. Students will learn the language and grammatical

structures needed to identify, describe and compare the different parts of various types of homes.

The second week will focus on the search for a new home. The students will learn how to read &

decipher classified housing ads, how to express preferences for different types of housing or items within a

house. Students will also practice forming and answering questions about homes. Finally, they will learn

about rental applications and practice the skills needed to fill out these types of forms.

Unit Objectives:

After this unit students will be able to...

● use correct prepositional phrases when speaking about items in the home

● compare and contrast houses and objects in the home using comparative and superlatives

● ask questions about housing using which, what, how many

● express housing preferences

● read & understand housing ads

● fill out a rental application

● inquire about more information for a rental property

Unit Outline:

Week 1: Talking about Homes

Monday: Identifying & Locating Items in a Home / Housing vocabulary & prepositions

Tuesday: Describing Homes / Descriptive adjectives

Wednesday: Comparing Homes (Day 1 of 2) / Comparative & superlative adjectives

Thursday: Comparing Homes (Day 2 of 2) / Comparative form "(not) as ___ as"

Week 2: Searching for a Home

Monday: Looking for A Home / Reading classified housing ads

Tuesday: Expressing Housing Preferences / Asking & answering questions about housing

Wednesday: Calling About a Rental Property / Phone etiquette & asking questions

Thursday: Rental Paperwork (Day 1 of 2) / Filling out rental applications

MATERIALS

SS01 - Stand Out: Level 1 (Second Edition)



GIA1 - Grammar in Action: Level 1



LP2 - LifePrints: Level 2 (Second Edition)

LP3 - LifePrints: Level 3 (Second Edition)

RLE1 - Real Life English: Level 1



SE2 - Survival English: Level 2 (Second

Edition)

SE3 - Survival English: Level 3 (Second

Edition)

GW1 - Grammarwork: Level 1 (Second

Edition)

GW2 - Grammarwork: Level 2 (Second Edition)

GW3 - Grammarwork: Level 3 (Second Edition)

BGU - Basic Grammar in Use

OXPD - Oxford Picture Dictionary

http://www.esl-library.com; username: [email protected]; password: volunteer1

Finding a Home: Monday, Week 1 of 2

Identifying & Locating Items in a Home / Housing vocabulary & prepositions:

Lesson Objectives: Materials

● Students will review housing & home vocabulary

● Students will review prepositions

● Students will describe homes using housing/home

vocabulary & prepositions

Housing & Home Vocabulary:

● LP3: 137

● GIA1: 40(A)

Prepositions:

● GIA1: 41-42

Describe Homes:

● GIA1: 43

Activity Ideas:

Housing & Home Vocabulary:

● Show Ss pictures of different types of homes. Have a discussion about the different homes (see

suggested questions below). As housing & home vocabulary (house, apartment, condo, etc...) is

generated, write it on the board so that the Ss can get the correct spellings.

○ Suggested Questions: What is the name of this type of home?, Who do you think lives in

this home?, What climate is this home best for?, Are there homes like this in your

country?, Are there homes like this in the U.S.?, What materials is this home made of?, Do

you like this home? Why or Why not?, etc...

● Divide Ss into pairs. Give each pair a copy of GIA1: 40(A). Have the pairs correctly label each

of the different furniture items in the picture and then complete the activity by listing the

furniture items under the name of the room that they are most commonly found in. If there is

confusion over some of the items, review the vocabulary.

Prepositions:

● Use GIA1: 41(B) to review prepositions. Many Ss may already know these words well, but spend

some time going over them to be sure. Have Ss demonstrate the prepositions physically to

show they fully comprehend the information.

● To practice prepositions, have the Ss use the activities from GIA1: 41(C) or GIA1: 42.

● Divide Ss into pairs. Give one partner a picture of a room with some items in it whose locations

are easy to define using prepositions (not too many items!). Give the other partner a picture

with only the room outline. The partners should sit back-to-back so they can't see each other's

papers. The partner with the full picture must use housing/home vocabulary and prepositions to

explain his/her picture to the other partner, who must then draw what he/she hears. In the end

they can compare their pictures and make corrections as needed.

Describe Homes:

● Have Ss do the activities from GIA1: 43 to practice the housing vocabulary & prepositions and/or

prepare them for writing.

● Have the Ss do a Think-Pair-Share activity. Place a picture of a room in a home in the middle of

each table. Give the Ss 10-15 minutes to look at the picture and write about it (using the

housing/homes vocabulary and prepositions). When they are done writing, pair them up with

someone from a different table and have them share what they wrote with their partners. When

everyone has shared, the T can hold up each picture in turn and ask someone from that table to

share about what they wrote.

○ Higher Level Ss: For each picture the T can ask someone who spoke to a person that was

from that table to share what their partner wrote.

○ Extension Activity: The T can ask people to volunteer to write one of their sentences on the

board instead of sharing. Then the T can do some work with correct sentence structure.

Finding a Home: Tuesday, Week 1 of 2

Describing Homes / Descriptive adjectives


● Students will review housing/home vocabulary &

prepositions

● Students will review descriptive adjectives

● Students will practice describing their homes &

neighborhoods using adjectives

Review:

● GIA1: 44-45

Descriptive Adjectives to describe

the home

● Fishbone Graphic Organizer

(find after today’s curric)

Activity Ideas:

Review:

● Have Ss do some/all of the activities from GIA1: 44-45 to review the housing/home vocabulary

and prepositions that were learned during yesterday’s lesson.

Descriptive Adjectives:

● Divide Ss into small groups and give them 5 minutes to make a list of all the adjectives that they

can think of to describe rooms in their homes, using the Fishbone graphic organizer. *You may

want to brainstorm adjectives for one room as a class.

● After the time is up gather the class together and have each group share their adjectives for

each room while the T writes them on the board. When you are done, mix the class up into new

groups and give them 5 more minutes to do the same activity but focused on their

neighborhoods- without a graphic organizer, instead of their homes. This time the T should only

write new adjectives on the board.

Describe Home & Neighborhood:

● Divide class into two groups. Have the Ss from group A form a circle facing out while the Ss

from the group B each stand facing in towards one S in the inner circle. Tell the Ss in the outer

circle that their job is to talk for 1 minute, without stopping, about their home (using descriptive

adjectives) and tell the Ss in the inner circle that their job is to listen to the S in front of them

that is talking (T's can also tell inner circle Ss to employ "active listening" techniques). Say go

and monitor. After 1 minute, say stop and tell the outer circle Ss to move one S to the right and

repeat the same activity for 1 minute. Have the outer circle move and repeat one more time

and then have the Ss in the outer circle trade places with the Ss in the inner circle and repeat

the same activity again (this way the Ss that were talking are now listening and the Ss that were

listening are now talking). After you are done ask volunteers to share something they talked

about or heard.

○ For Higher Ss: Have the Ss reflect on the easy and difficult things about talking &

listening. Discuss good strategies for speaking on a topic and for being an active listener

when someone is speaking.

● Have the Ss do a Think-Pair-Share activity similar to the one they did yesterday, this time using

descriptive adjectives to talk about their own homes and/or neighborhoods.

○ Give the Ss 5-10 minutes to write some sentences about their home using descriptive

adjectives. When everyone is done writing, divide the class into pairs and have each S

read what they wrote to their partner. Have Ss volunteer to share something that they

learned about their partners home.

○ Give the Ss 5-10 minutes to write about their neighborhood using descriptive

adjectives. When everyone is done writing, divide the class into pairs and have each S

read what they wrote to their partner. Have Ss volunteer to share something that they

learned about their partners neighborhood.

Finding a Home: Wednesday, Week 1 of 2

Comparing Homes (Day 1 of 2) / Comparative & superlative adjectives


● Students will be introduced to

comparative and superlative

adjectives

● Students will practice comparing

different housing & neighborhood

options using comparative superlative

adjectives

Comparative & Superlative Adj.:

● Comparative/Superlative Rules, for teacher’s

reference see the 2 pages following today’s

curric

Compare Housing & Neighborhoods (House

Pictures):see pictures following today’s curric

Activity Ideas:

Comparative & Superlative Adjectives:

● Ask the Ss to remember some of the adjectives from yesterday that they used to describe their

neighborhoods and homes. Have a volunteer S put his/her list on the board and then make a list

about your own neighborhood next to it with some differences (you can make things up if you

need to - ie: if the S says his neighborhood is busy, then you can say yours is quiet,

etc...). When you have the lists on the board, ask the students what is different about the two

neighborhoods. Write sentences using the comparative form of the adjectives ("___+er" or

"more ___ than") that represent what the students say. Underline the comparative adjective

and discuss when to use the two different forms

● For a teacher reference, look for rules at the website listed in the materials section above.

● When Ss are comfortable with forming the comparative adjectives then introduce superlative

adjectives. Talk with the Ss about the differences between comparatives and superlatives. Help

them see that comparatives only compare 2 things while superlatives compare one thing to ALL

others. Give some examples by changing some of the comparative sentences from the activity

above into sentences using the superlative forms (ie: "Susan's (teacher) neighborhood is quieter

than Jorges neighborhood." - "Susan's neighborhood is the quietest in the city.", etc...)

Underline the superlative adjective ("___+est" or "the most ___ ") and discuss when to use the

two different forms.

Compare Housing & Neighborhoods:

● Divide class into small groups of around 3 people. Give each S a picture of a house. Make sure

the houses are all different so that the Ss can compare them. Have the Ss in each group

describe their houses by comparing them to each other based on criteria you assign (the criteria

will depend on the pictures you use - ie: compare size, beauty, cost, durability, etc...) Each

group should come up with a comparative sentence and a superlative sentence for each

criterion. When a group is done the T should go over their sentences and make corrections if

needed. Then, have the Ss switch groups to compare their houses with other people and repeat

the same activity. Do this as many times as needed, until the Ss can use comparative and

superlative adjectives correctly.

Forming Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

One-syllable adjectives. Form the comparative and superlative forms of a one-syllable adjective by adding –er for the comparative form

and –est for the superlative.

One-Syllable Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form

tall taller tallest

old older oldest

long longer longest

• Mary is taller than Max.

• Mary is the tallest of all the students.

• Max is older than John.

• Of the three students, Max is the oldest.

• My hair is longer than your hair.

• Max's story is the longest story I've ever heard.

If the one-syllable adjective ends with an e, just add –r for the comparative form and –st for the superlative form.

One-Syllable Adjective

with Final -e Comparative Form Superlative Form

large larger largest

wise wiser wisest

• Mary's car is larger than Max's car.

• Mary's house is the tallest of all the houses on the block.

• Max is wiser than his brother.

• Max is the wisest person I know.

If the one-syllable adjective ends with a single consonant with a vowel before it, double the consonant and add –er for the comparative form; and double the consonant and add

One-Syllable Adjective

Ending with a Single

Consonant with a Single

Vowel before It

Comparative Form Superlative Form

big bigger biggest

thin thinner thinnest

fat fatter fattest

• My dog is bigger than your dog.

• My dog is the biggest of all the dogs in the neighborhood.

• Max is thinner than John.

• Of all the students in the class, Max is the thinnest.

• My mother is fatter than your mother.

• Mary is the fattest person I've ever seen.

Two-syllable adjectives. With most two-syllable adjectives, you form the comparative with more and the superlative with most.

Two-Syllable Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form

peaceful more peaceful most peaceful

pleasant more pleasant most pleasant

careful more careful most careful

thoughtful more thoughtful most thoughtful

• This morning is more peaceful than yesterday morning.

• Max's house in the mountains is the most peaceful in the world.

• Max is more careful than Mike.

• Of all the taxi drivers, Jack is the most careful.

• Jill is more thoughtful than your sister.

• Mary is the most thoughtful person I've ever met.

If the two-syllable adjectives ends with –y, change the y to i and add –er for the comparative form. For the superlative form change the y

Two-Syllable Adjective

Ending with -y Comparative Form Superlative Form

happy happier happiest

angry angrier angriest

busy busier busiest

• John is happier today than he was yesterday.

• John is the happiest boy in the world.

• Max is angrier than Mary.

• Of all of John's victims, Max is the angriest.

• Mary is busier than Max.

• Mary is the busiest person I've ever met.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in –er, -le, or –ow take –er and –est to form the comparative and superlative forms.

Two-Syllable Adjective

Ending with -er, -le, or -ow Comparative Form Superlative Form

narrow narrower narrowest

gentle gentler gentlest

• The roads in this town are narrower than the roads in the city.

• This road is the narrowest of all the roads in California.

• Big dogs are gentler than small dogs.

• Of all the dogs in the world, English Mastiffs are the gentlest.

Adjectives with three or more syllables. For adjectives with three syllables or more, you form the comparative with more and the superlative with most.

Adjective with Three or

More Syllables Comparative Form Superlative Form

generous more generous most generous

important more important most important

intelligent more intelligent most intelligent

• John is more generous than Jack.

• John is the most generous of all the people I know.

• Health is more important than money.

• Of all the people I know, Max is the most important.

• Women are more intelligent than men.

• Mary is the most intelligent person I've ever met.

Exceptions. Irregular adjectives.

Irregular Adjective Comparative Form Superlative Form

good better best

bad worse worst

far farther farthest

little less least

many more most

Finding a Home: Thursday, Week 1 of 2

Comparing Homes (Day 2 of 2) / Comparative form "(not) as ___ as"


● Ss will review comparative and superlative

adjectives

● Students will learn how to use the comparative

form "(not) as _____ as"

● Students will compare their current home with

previous homes (in U.S. or in native country)

using the phrase above.

Review Comparatives/Superlatives:

● LP3: 139

● GIA3: 56

Comparative Form "(Not) As-As":

● Large pictures of houses (find after

Wednesday’s curric)

Compare Current and Previous Homes:

● Venn Diagram, find after today’s curric

Activity Ideas:

Review Comparatives & Superlatives:

● Choose a review activity to go over comparative and superlative adjectives, or use the activities

from LP3: 139.

● Using GIA3: 56, ask the Ss questions using "Which __?" (Which house is bigger? Which house is

the tallest? Which house do you like the most? Which house is better for a big family?,

etc...). Help the Ss to understand that when they are asked a question with the word "which"

that they must choose one of the answers that are provided for them. This is a good review for

comparative and superlative adjectives, as well as being good practice with question words.

Comparative Form "Not As-As":

● Bring in two large pictures of different houses and put them up so Ss can see them. Write one

column labeled "same" and one column labeled "different" on the board. Ask Ss to tell you

things about the houses that are the same and different and fill in the two columns. After you

have a good list for each column, introduce the new comparative form by writing sentences

using "as _____ as" (The house is as big as the apartment.)for the same column and "not as

_____ as" (The house is not as clean as the apartment.) for the different column. Discuss with

the Ss how & when to use the two new forms.

Compare Current & Previous Homes:

● Ask students to complete the Venn Diagram comparing their current and previous homes. Make

sure to model how to use the graphic organizer- by comparing 2 of your homes on the board

first.

● After students have completed the Venn diagram, Give the Ss 10-15 minutes to write a short

paragraph comparing their current home to a home they have lived in previously, either in the

U.S. or their native country, using the new comparative form they have learned during today's

lesson. When everyone is done writing, have the Ss form pairs and exchange work for peer

editing. After peer editing, have the Ss re-write their paragraphs in a final form. Have

volunteers share what they wrote with the class. After sharing, have the Ss hang their work on

the wall to display.

Documents

MASTER-Int-Finding a Home-week 1 of 2 · compare and contrast houses and objects in the home using comparative and superlatives ask questions about housing using which, what,