EFL - ESL activities and games for using intensifiers 'so', 'such', 'too' and 'enough'

This upper-intermediate ESL lesson plan is the second of three lessons on the theme of food. It contains activities, games and other teaching resources that focus on teaching the correct usage of some common intensifiers.

Lead-in activity

Step through each of these intensifiers with your students. Try to elicit the function of each, along with an example.

ESL activities for using intensifiers

Sentence builder: So, such, or such a

Students work in pairs to create sentences using the target language for the lesson.

Start by adding the following prompts to the board:

1. short time / healthy meal
2. teenagers / cook
3. huge problem / diet
4. delicious food / pleasure
5. care / body

Students will then work in pairs to make sentences that contain so, such, or such a.

When the groups are ready with their sentences, correct them together and add the best ones to the board. There can be more than one answer for each of these, but you can use the key below as a guide.

Key
1. It can take such a short amount to prepare a healthy meal.
2. So many teenagers don't know how to cook the most basic meals.
3. Childhood obesity is such a huge problem in many parts of the world.
4. Eating such delicious food can give you so much pleasure.
5. They care so much about what they put into their body.

Funniest sentence: Too, too many, too much, enough

The students will work in pairs to create humorous food-related statements.

Each statement should contain one of the adjectives below along with one of the modifiers: too, too many, too much and enough. They should try to produce one example of each modifier.

1. fresh
2. overcooked
3. hungry
4. hassle
5. rotten

When they are ready, correct the sentences together and add the funniest ones to the board.

Homework: Restaurant review

Students have to read and summarise an article by a noted food critic.

Start by telling your students that their homework will be to summarise an article by a well-known food critic. Elicit what they think their summary should include and add it to the board:

Where?
Critic's feelings?
Food?
Critic's thoughts on the food?
Your own personal feelings (e.g. Were they too critical? Or not harsh enough?)

Tell them that they will have to answer questions about their chosen article at the beginning of the next lesson.

ESL classroom games

Family fortunes: Food

An adapted version of a classic UK game show that can be played in the classroom.

Start by dividing the class into two teams and make a vertical list of numbers on the board from one to five.

To begin the round, you will give the students a "Name the top seven ..." style question. Choose one of the following:

1. The top seven most ordered fast food menu items.
2. The top five British foods.

Give the teams a minute to confirm before asking for their answer. The team with the highest correct guess wins control of the game. If neither side guesses any of the answers, give them another minute to confirm and go again.

Once a team has won control, they have to guess all of the missing answers. They will start with three lives, and If they guess incorrectly, they lose a life. Each team member takes a turn in sequence, and they can confer with their teammates before they give their final answer.

Tell the team who is not in control to pay close attention to the game. They may have an opportunity to win the game if their opponents lose all of their lives.

If the side who are in control lose all three lives, the other team will have one guess to steal the game. If they fail in their attempt, they lose the match.

The most ordered fast food menu items
1. McDonald’s French Fries
2. McDonald’s Big Mac
3. McDonald’s Happy Meal
4. KFC’s Chicken
5. Subway’s Italian
6. Pizza Hut’s Pepperoni Pizza
7. Burger King’s Whopper

Top 5 British foods
1. The Sunday roast
2. Fish ‘n’ chips
3. Pies
4. The British banger(Sausages)
5. Cheddar cheese

More upper-intermediate ESL lesson plans

We hope that you found a few of these ideas useful. Our next free lesson in the series contrasts the use of simple and continuous tenses. Also, Be sure to bookmark our complete list of upper-intermediate level ESL lesson plans, as well as our entire collection of ESL courses.