Grammar: Groups & phrases: Noun group
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Structure of the noun group | |
The aim of teaching students about the structure of the noun group is to give them a sense of its 'shape'. In this way, they can start to see language in terms of meaningful units rather than separate words. We do not need to teach young students terms such as 'Head' or 'Modifier' unless it is felt that these are a useful shared way of talking about structure.
One activity would be to provide a number of flash cards: some with Head nouns, some with Pre-Modifiers, and some with Post-Modifiers, eg:
Head nouns:
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Pre-Modifiers:
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Post-Modifiers:
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Students come to the front of the class one at a time, select a card, and attach it to the whiteboard (eg with magnets or tape). One by one they build up a series of noun groups. They may be 'sensible' or they may be funny ones. You will need to create a framework on the board beforehand:
You could also design a similar activity using Powerpoint where the students 'drag and drop' words into a table.
After the students have practised the above activity, they could create their own noun groups by inserting a Head noun and asking others to complete the group with their own ideas for Pre- and Post-Modifiers.
More advanced students could try to find noun groups in their textbook passages or in stories they are reading.
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