English Articles (a, an, the): A Mini Grammar Unit for English Language Learners

Here, I share with you the slides I use to teach a mini grammar unit on the usage of articles (a, an, the) to English Language Learners (ELLs).

Articles are one of the most confusing aspects of ELLs. They don’t seem to carry much meaning for a beginner in English. Many ELLs I know just skip articles while reading and make guesses about which ones to use while writing.

This unit cannot be taught in a day. I will not make recommendations on how long it must typically take because each teacher, classroom, and student is different. The unit aims to slowly build a student's working knowledge of English articles over time. It presents a framework (represented as a simple table) that can be displayed on the classroom wall and/or carried by students as an easy reference until it becomes second nature to them.

My favourite part of this unit is that it doesn't use worksheets. Instead, it uses oral games modelled on the oral classroom exercises from the English Sentence Structure by Robert Krohn. I love oral games because they are fun, fast, and don't leave a paper trail I then have to struggle with. They provide instant feedback to students. They force students to think on their feet, mimicking real-life language use rather than slowly thinking through whether to fill a blank with 'a' or 'an.' They are as useful regardless of whether they are used in 1-1, small group, or large group settings. You can also tweak them to suit your students' needs.