All about English Quantifiers. English ESL/EFL Lesson Plans and Games on some, few, little, lot, any, much, many and a/an
All about English Quantifiers
Lesson plans
Here you can find a wide range of full lesson plans to use in your classroom.
All of our lessons are designed around themes engaging and relevant to English ESL-EFL learners and can be used to complement your school curriculum, giving students an opportunity to develop their English language and skills in motivating and enjoyable ways.
These lesson plans focus on classroom games and activities oriented around meaningful practice of grammar items in English. The vast majority of the activities have been designed to be simple and easy to apply, without requiring much in the way of additional resources or materials. Wherever possible, games have been presented in a way that makes full use of any natural or genuine communicative aspects embodied in the grammar constructions, though while there is emphasis on understanding the grammar and its functional and communicative aspects, most of the games also highlight the importance of using the grammar accurately.
These lesson plans are intended as a starting point for teachers to adapt and build their own stock of in-class games and activities that can be applied relatively quickly and easily.
All about English Quantifiers. Here are six lesson plans on the English Quantifiers
My Recepes
Objectives:
Using “some” + count/non-count nouns
Presentation/Practice:
For this game, students make creative food/drink recipes utilizing words from a list the teacher writes on the whiteboard. These words should be food and/or drink-oriented (with
some other additions to make fun and crazy-sounding combinations) and written in collective plural forms (for example, “bread”, “carrots”, “milk”, “eggs”, etc).
These words are combined with “some” to create recipes, as per the following example:
Teacher: So what are you going to make, Tom?
Student 1: Crazy Spaghetti.
Teacher: OK, what do you need?
Student 1: You need some spaghetti, some chocolate, some eggs and some toothpaste.
Once students get used to the basic format, they can be encouraged to continue the exercise in pairs or small groups. This game probably does not need a points system, as creative recipes are likely to get a lot of attention and laughs, creating a reward in itself.
In my kitchen
Objective:
(a/an)(some)(#) with nouns
Presentation/Practice:
Students take turns selecting and adding
to an ongoing list of items that can be seen in that kitchen, following a three-tier system a per this example:
Student 1: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple.
Student 2: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple and some bread.
Student 3: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple, some bread and three bananas.
Student 4: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple, some bread, three bananas and a fork.
Student 5: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple, some bread, three bananas, a fork and some rice.
Student 6: In Lisa’s kitchen, I can see an apple, some bread, three bananas, a fork, some rice and seven eggs.
Guidelines/hints can be provided in the form of a list on the board showing the 1-2-3 sequence of a/an, some and (number)+s.
This game helps to encourage students to think a little bit more carefully about accompanying quantifiers for basic nouns, and the three tier sequence may actually help them to remember which items were named previously.
A little shopping for a lot of different food
Objective:
General quantities for count/non-count
Presentation:
This game is called “A little shopping for a lot of different food” and is designed to help apply the general quantifiers for small or large quantities when the number is inexact, not important or referring to non-count nouns.
Practice:
Students are going to go shopping, but to get everything they need they will have to go to two different supermarkets and select food to
go into five small bags and five large bags. This set up (while obviously contrived) is generally intended to help students identify countable nouns at the one supermarket and non-count nouns at the other.
The different sized bags are to facilitate use of the different quantifiers (bags are utilized also to give the idea that the foods purchased cannot be seen in their entirety and therefore require general ‘estimates’ as to quantity).
Students commence by drawing five small and five large shopping bags. If they draw these in 3-D style with a visible opening at the top, later they can just draw the foods as they would be visible from the top of the bag. On the small bags, they should write “a few” and “a little”. On the big bags they should just write “a lot of”.
Next, the teacher brainstorms different kinds of food and drink with the students and compiles two lists (one for the countable food items and another for the non-count food items).
Once these two lists are relatively full, the teacher labels one of the lists “Supermarket 1” and the other list “Supermarket 2”. Tell students they may take 2 small shopping bags and 3 large shopping bags into supermarket 1, and three small shopping bags and two large shopping
bags into supermarket 2. They may only put one kind of food or drink in each bag.
Let the students make their selections (drawing the food and drink types into their bags), and then encourage them to report on their shopping trip.
With some trial and error, the students should come to realize that they will need to say “a few s” when referring to foods selected from the “countable” supermarket and placed in small bags, whereas they will need to use “a little ” for foods selected at the “non count” supermarket.
For foods selected from either supermarket and placed into large
shopping bags, they will be able to use “a lot of”, so long as countable food items are accompanied with a plural “-s”.
Here’s how one student’s (correct) shopping report might sound:
Student 1:
I went to the first supermarket and bought a few apples, a few bananas,
a lot of biscuits, a lot of grapes and a lot of oranges. At the second
supermarket I bought a little milk, a little honey, a little sugar, a lot of
bread, and a lot of rice.
A little shopping for a lot of different food 2
Objective:
Quantifiers in questions
Presentation:
This is a follow up to the previous game “A little shopping for a lot of different food,” and attempts to add some question forms in applying quantifiers to find out information. Through the activity, students should be exposed to and get some practice with much/many and the question form “any” as well
as the negative application of some (also “any”).
Practice:
Students will need to ask each other questions based on the work they did for the previous game, enter information into a form, and then summarize the findings.
The teacher will need to prepare a reporting form that could look something like a scheme including:
Food Item
Some/Any?
Much?
Many?
A few s
A little
A lot of (s)
Students then ask each other about the shopping that was completed, using a sequence like this:
Student 1: Did you buy any bananas?
Student 2: No, I didn’t.
Student 1: Did you buy any oranges?
Student 2: Yes, I did. [Student 1 then writes this item into the chart and checks the “some/any” column]
Student 1: Did you buy many oranges [selecting the correct “many” – not “much”]?
Student 2: No I didn’t. [Student 1 then places an X in the “many” column and then a check in the “a few s” column]
Student 1: Did you buy any milk?
Student 2: No, I didn’t.
Student 1: Did you buy any juice?
Student 2: Yes, I did. [Student 1 then writes this item into the chart and checks the “some/any” column]
Student 1: Did you buy much juice [selecting the correct “much” – not “many”]?
Student 2: Yes, I did. [Student 1 then places a check in the “many” column and then a check in the “a lot of ” column].
Following successful completion of student 1’s report form, student 2 could then interview student 1 following the same procedure. When all students have recorded and given information, they could make an oral or written summary. For student 1 above, it might look/sound like this:
Student 1:
Amy [Student 2] went to the first supermarket and bought a few oranges, a lot of apples, a lot of grapes, a few cookies, and a lot of carrots. She didn’t buy any bananas, apricots or tomatoes. At the second supermarket she bought a lot of juice, a little sugar, a little rice, a little bread and a lot of honey. She didn’t buy any milk, water or meat.
This activity can be quite difficult for students, but there is a benefit in that students are working in pairs and the teacher is free to move around the classroom to help students in selecting the right quantifier elements to use in their questioning and reporting. If students already noticed the count/non-count pattern to the two supermarkets in
the previous game, then this activity is a useful follow up and expansion into additional quantifier forms.
Notice also that the report summary facilitates “any” in the negative
sense to indicate the absence of something.
Do you have any cake?
Objective:
“Some” or “any” for questions/requests
Presentation:
This is a simple game designed to show students the difference between ‘some’ and ‘any’ or basic versus specific request questions.
Practice:
The teacher distributes some flashcards (or items written onto slips of paper) to students and makes a list of the items distributed on
the board. These could be items of any general nature. Students are instructed to keep their items hidden, and then individual students take turns moving around the group to ask questions and make requests:
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 2: No, I don’t.
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 3: No, I don’t.
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 4: Yes, I do.
Student 1: Can I have some cake?
Student 4: Yes, you can. [Hands the item to student 1]
Student 1: Do you have any pencils?
Student 5: No, I don’t.
Etc.
The basic idea here is for the circulating student to pick up as many items as possible in one round of the classroom, and then it is the next student’s turn.
Students should be directed to ask questions using “any” when they are asking if someone possesses something, but they should swap back to “some” when making a request for something.
This is to show students the difference between asking a general question and a question that is in fact a request (in which case “some” and not “any” is used).
Do you have any cake? 2
Objective:
Some” or “any” for questions/offers
Presentation/Practice:
This is identical to the previous game: some/any except that in this application the use of “some” is used in questions that are actually offers:
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 2: No, I don’t.
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 3: No, I don’t.
Student 1: Do you have any cake?
Student 4: Yes, I do. Would you like some cake?
Student 1: Yes please. [Student 4 hands the item to student 1]
Student 1: Do you have any pencils?
Student 5: No, I don’t.
Etc.
As with the reversion to “some” when making request questions, “some” (and not “any”) is to be used in questions that are in fact offers.
All about English Quantifiers
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