Spring is in the Air!

 

I. Vocabulary 

• spring weather
• spring clothing
• time words
• spring activities (gardening listening lesson)
• spring flowers & nature
• spring animals

II. Idioms 

 (Quizlet)

Spring English Idioms: Test yourself!

1. As soon as the boss came in the door, everyone ______________.
2. I don’t know how old Mike is, but obviously, he is ______________.”
3. He’s had a __________ since he met Joanna.
4. Say the word “Australia” and a vision of beaches and blue seas immediately ____________.
5. After about eight o’clock the city _______________.
6. The cat ________ of the closet when I opened the door.
7. I hope he’s not going to _________ any crazy ideas  _____ us at the meeting this morning.
8. He bounced into the office, full of _______________.
9. I gave the kitchen a ____________ at the weekend.
10. ‘A few kids had ___________ and thought was a good reason to skip finals, but I went to school every single day.’

III. Conversations

WARM-UP CONVERSATION QUESTIONS:

1. Does your home country recognize the spring/autumn equinox at this time of the year? Describe the changes.
2. What is your favorite season? Why? Has your preference changed over the years?
3. Do you think people are affected emotionally, mentally, or physically by the early signs of spring? Explain.
4. What are some things in people's lives that change       
according to seasons?

Spring Cleaning

IV. Holidays

1. St. Patrick's Day (Quizlet)

Conversation, lesson

 

2. Good Friday (Quizlet)

3. Easter see also "Happy Easter" (2017)

a. Passover (Notes to God) 

b. Easter Poetry

• “Easter, 1916” by William Butler Yeats.
• “Easter Morning” by Amy Clampitt.
• “Easter Day” by Oscar Wilde.

c. Easter Sunday (vocabulary/ reading)

4. Mother's Day 
5. Earth Day

Environmental Lessons, like Fast Fashion Harms (L1 Doc)

6. Cinco de Mayo

V. Readings

Spring in Mexico

Easter in the Philippines

Fat Thursday

VI. Music

• Here Comes the Sun (the Beatles)
• Beautiful Day (U2)
• Spring Among the Living (My Morning Jacket)

Resources

Bogglesworld ESL: Spring worksheets and activities
English for Everyone: Spring worksheet
ISL Collective: 54 spring worksheets: donation site
EL Civics: Spring picture vocabulary lesson with follow-up activities
Canada-ESL: Spring vocabulary
ESL Discussion: Spring discussion questions
The Holiday Zone: Printable spring puzzles and worksheets
ESOL Courses: Spring online quizzes and worksheets
ESL Podcast: Listening dialogue on spring cleaning
Listen a Minute: Reading and follow up activity on spring
Grammar Net: Springtime and idioms

https://pocketpassport.com/blog/esl-spring-small-talk-lesson-esl-printable-worksheets/

The Free Dictionary: Spring idioms
Inspirational Poems: Spring poems

Comparatives and Superlatives: Making Comparisons

 Preview: Common Adjectives

A. -ER

We use comparatives to compare two things or two people. (e.g She is taller than her husband.) Superlatives are used, however, to show the difference between more than two things or more than two people. ( e.g Paris is the biggest city in France)

Ex: "tall" Juan is tall, but Mario is taller than Juan.

B. -EST

A superlative adjective compares three or more nouns and shows the noun with the highest degree. Ex:  "high"  Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

More Examples

RULES:

We use ‘-er’ to make the comparative and ‘-est’ to make the superlative.

I. Single Syllable Words and Double Syllable Words ending with -y, -er, -ow, -le –

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Black	Blacker	Blackest
Fair	Fairer	Fairest
Clever	Cleverer	Cleverest

II. When there is a silent ‘e’ at the end of the positive form, we remove that and add ‘-er’ and ‘-est’

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Nice	Nicer	Nicest
Late	Later	Latest

III. When the adjective ends with a ‘y’, we convert the ‘y’ into ‘i’ before adding ‘-er’ and ‘-est

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Pretty	Prettier	Prettiest
Lazy	Lazier	Laziest

IV.  If the adjective is a small one with little stress on the vowel, we double the last consonant.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Hot	Hotter	Hottest
Wet	Wetter	Wettest

V. Other Words with Two or More Syllables

For other double-syllable words that do not end with -y, -er, -ow, -le, and for adjectives with more than two syllables, we use more and most to form the comparatives and superlatives.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Difficult	More Difficult	Most Difficult
Careful	More Careful	Most Careful
Handsome	More Handsome	Most Handsome
Interesting	More Interesting	Most Interesting

V. (Irregular Comparisons)

These adjectives do not make their comparative and superlative forms using the rules above. Their comparative and superlative forms are different words altogether.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
Bad	Worse	Worst
Good	Better	Best
Far (place & time)	Further	Furthest
Far (place)	Farther	Farthest
Old (people)	Elder	Eldest
Little (amount)	Less	Least
Late (order)	Latter	Last

VI. Dialogues

4 Beginner Conversations

Two Famous Cities in California

When does the weather get nice?

City and Country

Conversation Questions

VI. Games and Exercises

https://www.teach-this.com/grammar-activities-worksheets/comparatives

https://games4esl.com/comparative-and-superlative-activities/

https://busyteacher.org/14341-comparative-superlative-activities-how-to-teach.html