7. Ask students to complete ‘Work out the rule!’ at the top of page 10. For less able students, ask them to refer to the rules on page8 and the table on page9.

Part B2

Background information

Part B2 is a problem-solving task. Students must work out the answers form the information given in the table. Although this is a cognitively demanding task, as it requires comparing numbers, the vocabulary and language structures used in the activity are within students’ linguistic abilities.

Teaching procedures

6. Ask students to complete the table in Part B1 on their own. Remind less able students to refer to the table at the top of the page. Then invite students to compare answers in pairs. Go through the exercise again with the whole class.

5. For stronger classes, ask students to close their books and elicit the spelling rules from the examples you have written on the board. Then ask them to look at the table to check if they have formulated the correct rules. Give more able students the irregular forms of ‘old’ and ‘far’.

4. The table shows the change of form of adjectives when ‘-er’/ ‘-est’ or ‘more’/ ‘most’ are added. It also includes some irregular forms. Go through it with students. Check understanding by asking students to form comparatives and superlatives with other adjectives. You can use the additional examples on the page. Invite students to write the examples on the board to check the correct spelling.

3. For stronger classes, point out the exceptions, e.g., ‘more pleased’, ‘the most pleased’; ‘more real’, ‘the most real’.

2. Add one or two more pictures of pop/sports stars to elicit examples with superlative forms. Write the superlative forms on the board in two columns (short and long adjectives) and try to elicit the rule form students, e.g., we add ‘-est’ to short adjectives and use ‘most’ for long adjectives. Then we add ‘the’ before the superlatives.

1. It is a good idea to use pictures of people, animals or things to teach comparatives and superlatives. For example, use pictures of two pop/sports stars, to elicit examples with comparative forms, e.g., ‘Jacky is taller than Andy. Andy is thinner than Jacky. Andy is more handsome than Jacky.’ Make sure you use both short and long adjectives. Write the comparative forms on the board in two columns (short and long adjectives) and try to elicit the rule form the students, e.g., we add ‘-er’ to short adjectives and use ‘more’ for long adjectives. Then we add ‘than’ after the comparatives.

4. Give less able students some extra words to rearrange and form complete sentences. You can use the additional items on the page. For stronger classes, divide the students onto pairs and ask each student to think of some jumbled words for his/her partner to rearrange into a complete sentence. Make sure students include adjectives in their sentences. To make the activity meaningful, tell students to describe friends, classmates or other familiar people.

Part B

Teaching procedures

3. For less able students, go through the words in Part A to check understanding. Ask students to rearrange the words on their own. Then invite several students to read out their complete sentences to check the answers.

2. For weaker classes, read the linking verbs in the tip box and check understanding. For stronger lasses, elicit the verbs.