Title – A Top-Down Approach for Teaching Irregular Plural Nouns

By – Eman Elturki

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – 4-12 and Beginning/Pre-Intermediate ESL

Activity Time: 35-40 minutes

Materials Needed:

• Black/white board
• Markers
• Irregular plural guidelines sheet

Introduction:

There are different forms for constructing plural nouns. Using a top-down approach to teach irregular plural nouns is much more practical to both the teacher and the students than a bottom up approach. There is no escaping writing the rules on the board and explaining them to learners as when, for example, “y” is changed to “ies,” and when is “s” added. Following a top-down approach will save a lot of time and make the rules of forming irregular nouns clearer to students.

Lesson Objectives:

Students will be able to form regular and irregular nouns.

Teaching Procedures:

1. As a warm-up, review
   
   the basic plural form -s
   
   .
   • Hold up a pen and ask students “What is this?”
   • Hold more pens and ask them “What are these?”
   • Write “pen” and “pen
     
     s
     
     ” on the board and underline the -s.
   • Practice with more class objects that require the basic plural form.

2. Introduces other plural rules (It is recommended to introduce one to two forms per class, and do not move on to another rule until you make sure that learners have mastered the rule):
   1. 
      Nouns ending in [s, z, ch, sh, and x]
      
      form the plural by adding [es].

      di sh -dishes

      chur ch -churches

      bo x -boxes

   2. 
      Nouns ending in [y] preceded by a consonant
      
      are formed into a plural by changing y to [ies].

      la dy -ladies

      ci ty -cities

      ar my -armies

   3. 
      Nouns ending in [y] preceded by a vowel
      
      form their plurals by adding [s].

      b oy -boys

      d ay -days

   4. S
      
      ome nouns ending in [f] or [fe]
      
      are made plural by changing [f] or [fe] to [ves].

      hal f -halves

      wi fe -wives

      lea f -leaves

      li fe -lives

3. Write different singular nouns on the board and ask students to come to the board and write the plural form and explain.

   class	apple	door	country	key	watch	tray
   glass	baby	dress	wish	grass	sky	fox
   toy	play	house	cat	orange

Assessment: