LESSON PLAN

Student-teacher’s name: Burcu Kaya

Aims: To teach a/ an / the and zero articles

Objectives: By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to ;

 recognize the nouns’ need of articles,

 define what the article is and what the job of it is,

Date: 27/ 11/ 2012

Time: 12.25- 13.05

Duration: 40 minutes

Level: Intermediate

Grade: 10 SC

Class size: 20 (7 boys + 13 girls)

Age: 15-16

Target language: The articles

Skills: Grammar

Materials: Worksheet (appendix A)

Aids: Blackboard and a picture

Background knowledge: The students learned the articles in the previous years.

Anticipated problems: Some students are talking too much.

Possible solutions: The post activity is designed for the active and talkative students.

Warm- up stage: ( 2-3 minutes) T  Sts

 Teacher shows a picture of a cake that is shaped like an apple and asks the students to
guess what it is.
 Teacher tells a story : “As you know, the last Saturday was teachers’ day, so my
friends prepared a cake for me. The cake was shaped like an apple as you see.”

While teaching stage: (27 minutes) T Sts, S S

 Teacher introduces the topic and writes “a cake, the cake and an apple shaped cake”
on the board to get attention on the articles that were used in the warm-up stage.
 Teacher asks the students what the adjectives of these nouns are and answers it as
“articles. a/ an / the”
  Teacher introduces the topic more widely: “An article has a very important job. It
gives information about nouns. A/ an / the make clear whether you are talking about a
specific, definite things or something for the first time.
 Teacher draws a table on the board to show the main differences of a/ an( indefinite),
the (definite) and zero article.
 Teacher gives the rules of the usage of zero article and at the same time, teacher sticks
the papers that include the written form of the rules.( General things, names of some
countries, languages, streets, lakes, mountains, continents and islands)
 Teacher gives the rules of the usage of “a/ an” secondly and sticks the papers that were
written rules.( Something for the first time, For singular and countable nouns,
beginning with a consonant =a, beginning with a vowel= an)
 Teacher shows a paper with “a university, a European, and a one eyed man” and asks
the students: “Can you tell me although these nouns begin with a vowel, why the
article of “a” comes?” ( see appendix A)
 Teacher gives the answer: “We consider the pronunciations of the nouns. How are
them pronounced? University, European, one-eyed man. All of them are pronounced
with a consonant so “a” comes.”
 Teacher checks the understanding by asking the same question.
 Teacher gives the rules of the usage of “the” and sticks the rule paper. ( specific
things, after the first usage of the nouns, for singular, plural and uncountable nouns)
 Teacher tells the students that the article of “the” has different areas to be used, so
there are some other places to use this article.
 Teacher gives the instruction for the matching activity: “Now, I ‘ll give you a small
task. There are given places for the usage of “the” and there are example sentences for
them in a mixed order. Match them correctly and after you finish, check your answers
with your partner..” (see appendix B)
 Teacher gives about two minutes to the students to match the sentences and then, the
teacher elicits the answers.
 Teacher praises the students like “ well done, you are very good! Etc…”
 Teacher gives another instruction for the another activity: “I’ll give you a worksheet
about the articles. Read the tip box and the instructions carefully. You have 8
minutes.”
 Teacher distributes the worksheet. (see appendix C)
 Teacher elicits the answers. If there is no time for the post activity, teacher collects
the papers and checks the answers at home.

Post teaching stage: (10 minutes) Sts Sts

 Teacher selects an assistant student and divides the class into three groups.
 Teacher draws four big circles including each “a, an, the,zero” on the board.
 Teacher prepares three colorful papers like a ball.
 Teacher gives instructions about the competition: “Now, competition time. I will give
sentences to my assistant. From each group, one student will come and my assistant
will read a sentence with a gap. If you think the gap is “a”, you will throw this paper
to the circle with “a”. If you think the gap is “an”, you will throw this paper to the
 circle with “an”. You should be quick. Afterwards, for the second sentence, other
members of the groups will come to the board.”
 Teacher gives the sentences to the assistant. (see appendix D)
 Teacher shows the students a demo game for the first one.
 Teacher becomes a judge and monitors which student throws to the correct circle first.
 Teacher gives a reward for the winner team.

Appendix A
 Arushi Nayar

Appendix B

Match the rules with their example sentences. Then, compare your answers with your
partner.

The rule Sentence

Eg:We use “the” before any noun when we a. The pacific ocean is far from here.
are talking about a special thing. __c__

1. We use “the” with nouns such as b. My uncle moved to the UK.

earth, sky, sun, moon… ______

2. We use “the” with names of rivers, c. We lost the ball.

seas, oceans. ______

3. We use”the” with the names of d. The Taj Mahal is a famous place in

mountain ranges. ______ Hindustan.

4. We use “the” with the names of some e. The Himalayas are the best place I’ve
countries. ______ ever seen.

5. We use “the” with the names of well f. We see the stars at night.
known buildings. ______

answers: f, a,e,b,d

Appendix C
Name:____________________ 27.11.2012

Before the Exercises:

There is a tip box about the articles. Read it first.

A/ AN (indefinite) THE (definite) ZERO ARTICLE

 Something for the  Specific things  General things

first time
 After the first usage  Names of some
 For singular and of the nouns countries (Italy,
countable nouns mexico…),languages
 For singular, plural
, streets, lakes,
 Beginning with a and uncountable nouns
mountains,
consonant: “a”
 Use with “earth, continents, islands
 Beginning with a moon, sky…”
vowel: “an”
 With the names of
rivers, seas, oceans,
mountain ranges, some
countries (the US),
well known buildings

EXERCISE 1

Read the conversations including articles. Circle the best sentence that
describes the dialogue.

1. Ayşegül: I’m bored.

Inci: Let’s rent a movie.

a) Ayşegül knows which movie Inci is going to rent.

b) Ayşegül and Inci are not talking about a particular movie.

2. Inci: Where is the movie CD, mom?

Mom: I haven’t seen it.

 a) Mom knows that Inci rented a new movie.

b) Mom doesn’t know that Inci rented a new movie.

EXERCISE 2

There are five dialogues. Fill in the blanks with “a / an/ the”.

1. Osman: How was your trip to _____ coast?

Lee: Wonderful! _____ sun shone all day. I had _____ great time.

2. Fatih: Would you like _____ tomato? There is one in _____ fridge.

Steve: Oh, yes please! I ‘ll make myself _____ cheese and tomato sandwich.

3. Burcu: Does your brother have _____ job?

Dindy: Yes. He is _____ soldier.

4. Selin: What did your teacher talked about in the previous lesson?

Gloria: She talked about the surface of ______ earth.

5. Aysel: Why were you so late?

Jessica: Well, I took _____ taxi from _____ airport to _____ hotel where I
was staying and _____ driver completely lost. _____ man was really annoying.

EXERCISE 3

There are five sentences. Add “a / an / the” where necessary. Be careful,

there are gaps with no articles.

1. _____ man and _____ woman were waiting at ____ bus-stop when I got there,
and I asked _____ woman if she knew which bus went to _____ Morphou.

2. _____ Mount Everest, which is situated in _____ Himalayas, is ____ highest

point in ____ world.
 3. That was _____ most ridiculous story I ‘ve ever heard. Either he must be
_____ liar or he has _____ extreme imagination.

4. Apparently, _____ Italian is _____ easier language to learn than ____ French.

5. There was _____ terrible storm last week, which destroyed several trees and
caused _____ chimney on our house to collapse.

Good luck! 

Answer key of the articles exercises

Exercise1

1)b

2)a

Exercise2

1) the/ the/ a

2)a/ the / a

3) a/ a

4) the

5) a/ the / the / the / the

Exercise3

1) a / a/ the / the / -

2) -/ the / the / the

3) the / a / an

4) - / an / -

5) a/ the
Appendix D

Competition
1. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. It was ....... mistake.
2. Someone is at ……….. front door. Can you open it?
3. Can you give me ………pen? I want to write something.
4. There isn’t ………. airport near where I live.
5. London is ……… capital of England.
6. My brother works in America. He's ……. lawyer in New York.
7. …… people are worried about rising crime
8. Could you close ……. door, please?
9. …….. tennis is a beautiful game.
10.Where is …… hard disk I gave you last week?

Answers: 1a, 2the, 3a, 4an, 5the, 6a, 7-, 8the,9 -,10 the