📏 Grammar A1-29: Comparatives and superlatives
The A1 material that turns adjectives into comparisons, written for learners of about seven to ten. It rests on two questions the learner asks in this order: am I talking about two things or about the whole group, and is this a short word or a long word? A size ladder of three animals and three classmates of different heights carries every example. The pattern comes first as a picture, then as a full table with than on one side and the …est on the other; a twelve-word sorting task builds the short-word / long-word habit by clapping the beats; a spelling section covers the three changes children meet (big to bigger, happy to happiest, nice to nicer) and the two words that go their own way, good to better to the best and bad to worse to the worst. Twenty-eight multiple-choice items in four sets, six sentences to repair and four named traps follow, and every single answer explains itself in language simpler than the grammar being taught. Teacher notes give a 45-minute sequence, the two-column board move, the stand-three-learners-up routine and the honest A1 version of the two-beat rule.
Lesson Plan
- The two shapes as one picture: Bruno is taller than Hana, Nadia is the tallest
- Four tap-to-hear model sentences, two with than and two with the
Key Vocabulary
Grammar Points
- Two things: A is tall-er than B — the word than always comes with the -er shape
- The whole group: A is the tall-est in the class — the -est shape always walks with the
- Short word (one clap) or a word ending in -y: add -er / -est — taller, funnier
- Long word (three claps or more): more / the most in front — more exciting, the most exciting
- Spelling: big → bigger, hot → hottest (the last letter comes twice), happy → happiest (y turns into i), nice → nicer (the e is already there)
- good → better → the best · bad → worse → the worst — never gooder, more good or baddest
