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Questions with How much and How many

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Low-resource ESL lesson plan
Elementary/A2
Low-resource ESL lesson plan
Grammar
Low-resource ESL lesson plan
45-60 min
Low-resource ESL lesson plan
Low-Resource
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Overview

In this elementary-level lesson, students will learn to use questions starting with How much or How many. These questions are often used when discussing quantities and measurements and can be an important part of daily conversation. By the end of this lesson, students will understand when and how to use these questions effectively and will be able to confidently ask and answer questions using this language.

The suggested boardwork example will introduce the target language clearly and visually, followed by several low-resource ESL classroom activities designed to encourage collaborative vocabulary building and speaking practice. To wrap things up, a fun classroom game will help reinforce recently learned food vocabulary.

Lesson Outline
Activities
Low-resource ESL lesson plan
Boardwork
1Containment
2How much/many...?
3What did you learn?
Games
1Stop the bus
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Classroom activities

Low-resource ESL lesson plan

Use of the board

The students learn how and when to use questions that start with How much or How many.

The board work below gives one suggestion on how to introduce this topic to your class. Explain the rules for using each, have the class provide examples and add the best to the board.

EFL - ESL Lead-in activity for elementary | How much how many

Low-resource ESL activity

Containment

The students will review some new vocabulary related to food and drink.

Pre-teach some useful vocabulary using spider diagrams or drawings. Try to elicit as much as possible from your students and confirm understanding using the L1 where you can.

  • Bar: Chocolate
  • Packet: crisps, nuts, biscuits, sweets
  • Tin: tomatoes, soup, fruit, tuna, olives
  • Can: lemonade, beer
  • Carton: milk, orange juice
  • Bag (of): pasta, rice, sugar, flour, fruit, vegetables
  • Loaf: bread
  • Slice: bread, pizza, cake

 

Low-resource ESL activity idea

How much/many...?

Working in groups, the students will interview each other about their eating habits.

Tell the students to make five 'how much/many' style questions that they can use to interview a partner. Before they begin, highlight the difference between the following two questions on the board and confirm that the students understand this.

  1. How much do chocolate do you eat a week?
  2. How many bars of chocolate do you eat a week?

After you have reviewed their questions, the students can interview each other in groups of two or three. Monitor throughout, and correct any mistakes at the end.

Low-resource ESL activity idea

What did you learn?

For this speaking activity, students will share what they learned about their classmates during the previous exercise.

Go round the class asking each student three or four questions about their interviews from the previous activity. Remind them that their responses should be in the third person singular and correct any mistakes you hear.

Teacher: What was your first question?
Student: How many bars of chocolate do you eat a week?
Teacher: And how many bars of chocolate does she eat?
Student: She eats three or four bars of chocolate a week.

Classroom games

Low-resource ESL classroom game

Stop the bus

Two teams of students race to think of different food types that begin with a randomly allocated letter. 

Start by dividing the class into pairs or teams of three to four. Draw a table on the board with the headings meat, fish, fruit, veg, drink and other. Each group creates a copy. In every round, students must find a word to go in each category that begins with a randomly chosen letter. The first team to finish, shouts "Stop the bus!" and the round is over. 

Since your students' vocabulary might be limited in this area, you might want to consider setting a time limit. 

When the round is over, count up the scores like so: 

  • 20 points: Correctly spelt a word that the other team doesn't have. 
  • 15 points: Correctly spelt a word that the other team also has. 
  • 10 points: Incorrectly spelt a word that the other team doesn't have. 
  • 5 points: Incorrectly spelt a word that the other team has.