🔤 Grammar A1-5: Articles
The fifth material of the Fleydo A1 grammar series, written for learners of about seven to ten. It teaches articles by ear, not by spelling: a and an both mean one, and the choice is made by the first sound of the very next word — which is why we say an old bike but a bike, an hour but a horse, a uniform but an umbrella. A dedicated section trains that ear with quiet letters (hour, island) and words that begin like you (uniform, unicorn, university), then a twelve-word sorting task makes the class decide out loud. The word the is introduced through a tiny tap-and-explain story where a rabbit is first a rabbit and afterwards the rabbit, so learners see the job of the: we both know which one. Practice is spread over four sets — eight easy a or an gaps, six items on the, eight harder items in real sentences and a six-item unhinted test — plus six errors to repair. Every answer explains itself in words simpler than the grammar being taught. Teacher notes give a 45-minute sequence, the ear-not-eye board move, what to do with a learner who is still leaving the word out, and the follow-up topics.
Lesson Plan
- The shape of the sentence as a picture: I have + a / an + the thing
- Four tap-to-hear model sentences, one with the tricky an hour
Key Vocabulary
Grammar Points
- a + one thing that is new to us: a bike, a teacher
- an before an a e i o u sound, not before the letter: an egg, an old bike
- The sound decides: an hour, an island — but a uniform, a university
- the when there is only one: the sun, the moon, the sky
- the when we both know which one, and the second time we say it: I have a bike. The bike is red.
- No a or an with more than one thing: books, not “a books”
