Appetizer 3-3 / PRONUNCIATION OF FRACTIONS / Day 1 of 1
GENERAL AIMS
- To introduce how to pronounce fractions correctly
- To point out the areas of difficulty when saying particular fractions and help the students improve their pronunciation
- To increase the students’ confidence in their use of ordinals through exploration and practice
STEP SUMMARY
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A |
Intro to fractions |
Single, plural & mixed (compound) |
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B |
Practice |
Students practice in pairs |
RECOMMENDED LEVELS
Lower intermediate to advanced
ACTIVITY TIME
25-30 minutes
MATERIALS
- Board, screen or flip chart
- Handouts for class:
HO5 worksheet
HO6 practice by row handout
- Audio APPAUD19 worksheet HO5
- Audio APPAUD20 first 6 rows HO6
SPECIAL NOTES
– Note 1
– Note 2
Quickpage
Class Plan
PART A: INTRODUCTION TO FRACTIONS
It makes everything much easier if the students are already familiar with ordinals before approaching fractions. If you’re not sure of how clear and confident the students are with ordinals, I suggest you have a look at the lesson plan offered in APP 3-1. One class could be on ordinals and if there are no problems, do the next one on fractions.
It makes everything much easier if the students are already familiar with ordinals before approaching fractions. If you’re not sure of how clear and confident the students are with ordinals, I suggest you have a look at the lesson plan offered in APP 3-1. One class could be on ordinals and if there are no problems, do the next one on fractions.
| A | STEP 1 | SINGULAR FRACTIONS SECTION A ON WORKSHEET FRACTIONS | |
| a) | Give the students HO5 (Handout 5: Fractions) or write the fractions on the board. | ||
| b) | Elicit how to say all six fractions in Part A. Give help as needed. | ||
| c) | Ask the students to look at the example and write the remaining 5 fractions out. (It’s okay if they consult each other.) | ||
| d) | Go over the answers, writing them on the board. (If you are teaching a class of young learners, you could appoint one student to write out the spelling for one fraction, then s/he gives the chalk or board pen to another student, and so on until all 5 fractions are spelled out.) | ||
| A | STEP 2 | SINGULAR FRACTIONS CLARIFICATION FRACTIONS | |
| a) | To standardize some vocabulary of reference ask the students what the number in the top part of the fraction is called (numerator) and write it on the board. And the bottom number (denominator) | ||
| b) | Point out that the numerators are simple cardinal numbers and elicit how the denominators are different. They are ordinals with the exception of ‘half’ and ‘quarter’. |
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| c) | -optional- For fun and to reinforce the idea of using ordinals when referring to the denominator, you could write the following fractions on the board and elicit their pronunciation:
1/100 1/101 1/2,000,097 (one one-hundredth one one-hundred and first one two-million and ninety-seventh) NOTE: No matter how big the number is, when the ordinal form is being used, it’s only the last part that is converted, usually with the ‘th’ added at the end. |
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| A | STEP 3 | PLURAL FRACTIONS SECTION B ON WORKSHEET FRACTIONS | |
| a) | Tell the students to look at Section B on the worksheet. | ||
| b) | Elicit how to say all three fractions. Give help as needed and make sure the students are aware that both three-quarters and three-fourths are correct, although three-quarters is much more common. Probably because it’s easier to pronounce. |
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| c) | Ask the students to look at the example and write the remaining 2 fractions out. (It’s okay if they consult each other.) | ||
| d) | Go over the answers, writing them on the board. | ||
| e) | Elicit how they are different from the fractions in Section A. They are plural fractions which means the numerator is a number greater than one. Consequently, the denominator must have an ‘s’ in it as in four-fifths. |
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| A | STEP 4 | COMPOUND FRACTIONS SECTION C ON WORKSHEET FRACTIONS | |
| a) | Tell the students to look at Section C on the worksheet. | ||
| b) | Elicit how to say all five fractions. Give help as needed and make sure the students include the ‘and’. | ||
| c) | Point out that it is typical to not pronounce the ‘d’ in ‘and’ when saying a compound fraction. Say each fraction and have the students repeat with this in mind. (example: two an two-thirds or one anna half) | ||
| d) | Ask the students to look at the example and write the remaining 4 fractions out. (It’s okay if they consult each other.) | ||
| e) | Go over the answers, writing them on the board. | ||
| A | STEP 5 | FRACTIONS REVIEW FRACTIONS | |
| a) | Put the students into pairs. Looking at only one worksheet, one student covers it with his/her hand, allowing only the numbers in the first column (for Parts A, B & C) to show, but not the written words. They take turns saying the fractions in the first column. You listen in to the groups saying the numbers. | ||
| b) | Now they shift the hand over so the numbers (but not the words) are showing in the second column. After saying these fractions they do the same thing for the numbers in the final column. | ||
| c) | Address any pronunciation difficulties you witnessed while monitoring the speaking. | ||
| d) | Ask the class if they have any questions about using fractions, either in spoken or in written form. NOTE: There are some points to be aware of and to help prepare you for some potential questions that can be found in the SPECIAL NOTES document. It’s not necessary to cover all those points, but they may help you in anticipating some of the more difficult questions that might arise. |
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If you would like the students to hear how the fractions could be pronounced by a different speaker, the numbers which appear on the worksheet can be heard in the following audio recording. There is a brief pause after each fraction, giving you the option to have the students repeat the number immediately after hearing it.
PRONUNCIATION OF FRACTIONS APPAUD 19
Students can hear the fractions pronounced which appear on their worksheet
FRACTIONS Sections A – C on worksheet HO 5
1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 1/8 1/20
2/3 3/4 4/5
1 1/2 1 3/4 2 1/3 2 2/3 6 7/11
PART B: PRACTICE
| B | STEP 1 | PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE FRACTIONS | |
| a) | Place students into pairs and give them HO6 (handout #6). | ||
| b) | Tell the students that they are to take turns saying the rows. Student #1 says the first row and the other student listens, possibly corrects or helps if a mistake or question arises. Then the second student says all the fractions in the second row and the first student listens. | ||
| c) | -optional- If the students are at a very low level or are having some difficulties with the pronunciation, you could play the beginning of APPAUD 20 to show them how the numbers could be pronounced. If the students have a fairly good idea and simply need to practice, don’t bother with the listening. | ||
| d) | If they aren’t having much difficulty, then it is recommended that they say the numbers with a bit of fluency. For example: 2 ½ Don’t say in separate words: two and a half Say: two anna haf | ||
| e) | Monitor the pairs while they are speaking, helping them when necessary and if a few difficulties arise, make note of them and speak of them when everyone is finished in a brief feedback session. | ||
| B | STEP 2 | FUTURE CLASSES PRACTICE FRACTIONS | |
| a) | If you’d like to have the students practice for a few minutes more or in a future class, here are three suggestions: | ||
| 1) Use the handout again. They won’t mind. They will know what to do and it will reinforce what they have learned in today’s class. After doing this a couple times, you could have them say the fractions in pairs as before, but now by saying the complete column instead of the row. | |||
| 2) Play APPAUD20 as a dictation. You could play the first two rows one class, and the next two rows in the following class if you like. | |||
| 3) You could have students in pairs or groups of three and each of them writes down five or six fractions on a paper to hand out to the other(s). They write down only the symbol for the numbers (example: 3 ¼ ). Then the other student(s) has to write the fraction out using words (example: three and one-quarter). They all do this at the same time. Then they compare answers. You monitor to see how they are doing. NOTE: Ask the students to write ‘reasonable’ fractions, representative of what they have been exposed to. Some people, especially young learners might come up with something like: 888,888,888 234,234,234 / 567,567,567 (If you’re okay with that, then there’s no need to place the restrictions, but it is time-consuming and distracting from the main objectives.) |
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PRONUNCIATION OF MORE FRACTIONS APPAUD 20
Students can hear the fractions pronounced which appear on the practice handout HO 6
(first six rows only)
2 1/2 3 3/4 5 4/5 1/8 2/3 8 1/4
1/4 2/5 4 1/3 9 3/4 3 1/2 2 1/5
8 2/3 6 1/4 1 1/2 1/3 3 1/5 3/5
5 1/3 4 3/4 3 2/3 1/5 2 1/2 6/7
3 2/5 1/6 2 3/4 11 1/2 4/7 1 1/3
4/5 2/7 9 1/2 3 1/4 6 1/3 1/5
