Quantity expressions (much, many, a lot of)

Subject: Quantity expressions (much, many, a lot of).
Level: elementary, pre-intermediate
Objectives:
• use of much/many/a lot of (revision)
• negative forms and questions
• expressing excessive quantity
• numbers and irregular plural nouns
• forming full sentences as a reaction to given situation
Language skills:
• listening comprehension
• speaking (getting information)
• writing (dictation)
Procedure:

1. Presentation

a) “There are many people in the hotel.” Vs. “ You have to have much money to live there.”

Students explain the difference between the quantity words used in the sentences. Then they give examples of countable and uncountable nouns.

b) “I don’t have much time / many friends.” “Have you eaten much chocolate /many apples?”
“She has a lot of cats.”

Students compare the sentences and explain when much/many words are used as opposed to a lot of.

2. Practice

a) Students are given some sentences with mistakes and have to correct them.
b) Students write some sentences about the people (a busy person, a lonely person, a popular person, a rich person) using much, many or a lot (of) e.g. ”A poor person doesn’t have much money.”
c) Students write down questions dictated by me and then answer them (e.g. “How many teeth have you got?”).
d) Students write their own questions to me using “How much”/ “How many”.
e) I write 2 sentences about myself: “I spend too much money on magazines” and “I have too many problems.” Their task is to translate the sentences and explain the use of ”too much” / “too many” and then to write their own sentences about their bad habits using both phrases and verbs given (eat, watch, read, drink).

3. Production

Students write a short text in which they criticize their hometown using quantity expressions (e.g. There are too many banks in our town.)