Lesson Plan - Articles

 

Lesson Plan: Articles

Subject: English Grammar

Topic: Articles
Level: Middle/High School or Intermediate ESL
Duration: 50–60 minutes

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Learning Objectives

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

• Identify the three types of articles.
• Understand and apply rules of usage.
• Recognize when to omit or repeat articles.
• Use articles correctly in sentences.

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 Mind Mapping: Articles Overview

 

             [ ARTICLES ]

               /   |   \

             A   AN   THE

            /|\       /|\

      Uses, Rules   Uses, Rules

            \         /

         Omission - Repetition

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 TLM (Teaching Learning Materials)

1. Chart paper with article examples
2. Flashcards with nouns and pictures
3. Slides or whiteboard illustrations of mind maps
4. Handouts with fill-in-the-blank and correction exercises
5. Real objects: apple, ball, pen, umbrella (to teach "a" and "an")

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 Lesson Structure

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1. Introduction (5–7 min)

• Begin with a riddle or visual cue:
  "I am a small word, but I appear in most English sentences. Who am I?"
• Ask students to give examples of small words before nouns (elicit: a, an, the)

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2. Explanation: Types of Articles (10 min)

• Indefinite Articles: a, an
• a before consonant sounds: a cat, a ball
• an before vowel sounds: an apple, an hour
• Definite Article: the
• Refers to specific things: the sun, the teacher

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3. Usage Rules (10 min)

Article	Usage Example
a	a dog, a university (note: /juː/ sound)
an	an elephant, an honest man (silent h)
the	the moon, the Taj Mahal, the best

• Pronunciation focus for tricky sounds (e.g., a university, an hour)

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4. Omission of Articles (8 min)

No article is used before:

• Abstract nouns in general: Love is important.
• Languages: She speaks Spanish.
• Meals: We had lunch.
• Seasons and sports: He plays football in summer.

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5. Repetition of Articles (7 min)

• The boy and the girl (two people)
• The boy and girl (could be one or considered as a pair)

Rule: Repeat the article when referring to two different things.

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6. Practice Exercises (10–12 min)

• Fill-in-the-blanks
• Error correction: “She is a honest girl.”
• Group activity: Match flashcards of nouns with correct articles
• Sentence-making using real objects

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7. Recap and Wrap-up (3–5 min)

• Review key rules on a chart or whiteboard
• Quick oral quiz: “Say a sentence using ‘an.’”

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 Assessment / Homework

• Write 5 sentences using a, an, and the
• Identify 3 examples of omitted articles from a reading passage
• Rewrite sentences correcting article errors