Last Updated on October 6, 2023 by Editorial Team
How to teach pronouns to young learners? Often, I meet people who struggle to keep their little kids interested in learning the same. As we all know Pronoun is a word used in place of a Noun; hence, this part of speech is taught after a Noun preferably.
So, adding up to the previous learnings breeds possibilities of confusion. It is why, I suggest teaching pronouns through activities so that kids can have amplified focus on the topic and also get practical examples of how it is used to replace the Noun in sentences.
In this post, I will walk you through:
- Outcomes you can achieve from pronoun activities
- 7 engaging activities to teach pronouns to young learners
- How to make Pronoun activities session effective
- Wrapping up
Let’s start!
Outcomes you can achieve from pronoun activities
Teaching Pronouns using activities is a sound approach that works on the solid grounds of collaboration and innovative teaching. The educators can get into participative mode instead of dictating one and can make learning Pronouns a lot more fun. Activities can be designed keeping both pedagogical and andragogical approaches in mind and have the potential to bring in improvements in the learning outcomes that include:
- An active learning environment created through participation keeps all students on the same page
- The concept retention span increases[1] and the learners show remarkable comfort in applying learning
- Teachers find it easier to follow Universal Design for Learning principles that promote better inclusion
- Gamified activities allow the teachers to blend fun with curriculum[2] and help them meet the objectives a bit easily
- Activities promote better concentration while studying, it fulfill the very purpose of attending a class, that is, building up linguistic skills.
- Some activities take the students closer to practical examples and train them on using Pronouns in daily life situations; hence, a little bit of conversational skills are built up in the process.
7 engaging activities to teach pronouns to young learners
Searching for some learning-oriented activities to help kids with pronouns? We bring you here the best activities that can make learning Pronouns a fun-filled yet result-oriented activity.
1. Picture-Flashcard matching
You can make flashcards containing pronouns. For example, make flashcards that read He, She, It, They, You, etc. Take a collection of pictures that show a Boy, a Girl, a Team, Two persons talking to each other, and so on.
Demonstrate first the pronoun flashcard that will be applicable to the picture shown. It is one way of performing this activity. The alternative is you can spread out the pictures in a row on the floor mat. Further, ask students to pick the relevant flashcard from the pile and place it below the picture where it applies.
These two approaches help improve the concept recall and regular repetitions reinforce the idea in the mind sustainably.
2. Make a ‘She’ flower
The pronoun flower activity utilizes your crafting and paper-cutting skills to give you good practice in learning the correct use of this part of speech.
In this activity, you create a bunch of petals with scissors big enough to put names on them. For example, you can write ‘mother’, her name, and the names of various female characters you are fond of on the petals. Similarly, you can write male names and things as well on other petals.
Now carve three circles from the chart paper and write He, She, It on them. Ask students to paste petals on the relevant circle. It is an interesting activity for grade 3 students who have just started learning Pronouns.
3. Color the Pronouns
Take a big piece of chart paper and make cloud structures on it. Fill these with different parts of speech such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and so on randomly. You can divide the class into two groups and assign them rows. All participants come one by one and color the clouds that contain a pronoun. The side that fills the most number of clouds containing pronouns correctly wins.
This activity can help the students identify pronouns from a set of given words. Also, they can build the habit of picking the pronouns from the sentences given in the book. It improves identification skills and develops comfort with the pronoun words.
4. Story challenge
In this activity, you will divide the class into two groups. One will read a few passages from a storybook and the other one will listen and keep noting down the pronouns that occur in the passage. The pace of reading has to be kept slow to let the other group pick and write pronoun words.
Repeat the activity by changing the sides. The group that writes more pronouns in a given time can be awarded a surprise treat. It is useful for memory recall, and quick identification and improves listening comprehension as well while practicing pronouns.
5. Pronoun Dice
Pronoun Dice is a fun activity that can be done in class as well as at home with a group of kids. You can assign numbers 1 to 6 to six kids selected for the game and the other child is appointed as roll master.
Also, on the dice, you write six different pronoun words on every side. Now the roll master is asked to roll the dice. The number that appears on the dice, the pronoun word corresponding to that number of the dice is announced by the roll master.
Kids who have that number assigned will make sentences from the words that they get with each roll of the dice. Thus, you train students to make sentences with pronoun words with this activity. The roll master can be given the additional responsibility of telling the type of pronoun the word received from the rolling activity.
6. Know your partner
It is a very interesting activity that improves the social skills of a student with practicing pronouns as a backdrop.
In this activity, the teacher can divide the students into pairs. And provide them with a list of areas of interest. For example, write some areas like actors, movies, foods, places, modes of communication, books, games, etc. The paired students will decide who will answer and who will ask questions. The one who gets to question will ask the partner, “ Which is your favorite movie?”
The other student will answer the question and will make a minimum of three sentences describing the movie. The challenge will be to use lots of pronouns while making sentences. The listener will tell the pronouns used after noting those down. This activity will let students understand how pronouns replace the proper nouns. Also, they will learn about the friends in the process.
7. Guess the person
It is a simple activity in which the students are asked to provide hints about a student from their class. Ask students to come one by one and tell the characteristics of the student chosen. For example, they will say, ‘She is blonde, she sits near a window, her name starts with ‘letter’, she plays ‘game name’ and likewise. Other students will try to guess the person. The teacher will write the sentences spoken by the student on the board. Students will tell the pronouns that appeared in those sentences.
The one who makes the most sentences and those who tell the most correct pronouns are given due recognition. This activity works great for practicing pronoun use, knowing the students of the class, and building concentration – all in one!
How to make Pronoun activities session effective
There are a few quick tips that can help you maximize the outcomes of a Pronoun Activity session.
- Keep the choices open as per the learning requirement: It means you may design the activity to focus on a single type of pronoun or may use a mix of it as per the proficiency level.
- Tell in advance the aim of the activity: It makes students attentive to the challenge and helps drive their thinking toward achieving the outcome. Thus, they are focused on learning and don’t get carried away by the informal appeal of the activity.
- Keep rewards for finishing activities: Nothing meets the charm of treats when it comes to motivating the students to participate in an activity. By announcing the reward, the kids are drawn to trying the activity and participating in it with full heart and attention.
Wrapping up,
Mixing activities with Pronoun lessons is an effective pedagogical approach. It delivers quality in terms of concept build-up and makes the learning process more intriguing. The focus on learning can be enhanced with the help of prompts and rewards. And, the fun continues when you choose a variety of activities at regular intervals. All these approaches help them learn and retain the concept of pronouns in a way that stays with the students even when they have grown up.
References
- Ming, C. S., & Maarof, N. (2009). The effect of C-R activities on personal pronoun acquisition. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 5045-5050. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.819
- DeESRI – Games in the ESL and EFL class (TESL/TEFL). (n.d.). http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Deesri-Games.html
I am Pratiksha Bhatt, Bachelor of Life Science, and Masters in Management Studies. I have done certification courses in early education counseling. I am a writer, a mother of a child with spelling difficulties which drove me to alternative resources of education like manipulatives and participatory activities. My areas of expertise are learning difficulties, alternative learning methods, and activity-based learning.