D-12.01 Complete Sentences with Adverb & Prepositional Phrases + Object Pronouns

Part Three of Chapter 3: Adverbs & Preposition Phrases (“Help”) & Part Two of Chapter 4 (“Food & Money”) of WorkLife English WorkBook 1: Life Skills, pages 42-47 & 52-52

6 pages

Who It’s For: Teachers, Helpers, & Novice but Literate Through Beginning Language Learners Taking a Break from Sentence-Core Instruction  

Why It’s Useful: At some points (perhaps frequent) on their way to language-acquisition, neophytes may appreciate a rest (from the crux of sentence construction) to take in the rest. Here’s a short, basic lesson—with no verbs except “base forms”—to  draw attention to kinds of other words.  

What You’ll Do: 

[1] In the page 42 Part Three: Adverbs & Prepositional Phrases Opener, “Go two blocks south on Central Avenue,” “warm up” by noting the body language or facial expressions of the three “actors.”  Even without “knowing all the words” of the exchanges, participants can show (others) they know what’s going on with gestures.  Next comes “putting words into (their) mouths” by reading aloud while pointing to words and/or having them repeat while mimicking. 

[2] The Grammar Box on the next page is a collection of “sentence elements” arranged in columns of those that fulfill the same functions: even without naming “Parts of Speech,” learners will understand what different kinds of words do and soon be able to use comparable vocabulary for given and related purposes. With their simplistic Directions (easily “explained” with motions) Exercises A-E in the rest of Part Three can easily be completed and checked, especially with reference to visuals. The last of these is a “line-by-line dictation” that can involve both oral and/or writing skills.     

[3] On pages 52-53 of Part Two: Object Pronouns, the Strip Story, “We need to get some change,” has longer sentences—with infinitives after base verbs; modals before verbs; pronouns as indirect objects and after prepositions; and yes / no questions + answers.  So do the Exercises, which learners can use for both practice and progress.