Is that Sentence Correct? | Sentence Correction Activity for ESL/EFL

Are you looking for a quick warm-up activity to use at the beginning of class? Or perhaps a review at the end? Then you’re certainly in the right place as you’ll find out all the details you need to know about this ESL sentence correction game. Is that sentence correct is a simple TEFL activity to try out with your students.

Keep on reading to learn more about helping students make a correct sentence in English. And, have some fun with an “Is this sentence correct?” activity.

Is that Sentence Correct? A Fun Sentence Correction Game

Skills: Listening/ Speaking/ Writing
Time: 10 minutes
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Materials: Blank paper, vocabulary words

Is that Sentence Correct is an English grammar activity. It’s a sneaky way to get your student to make grammatically correct sentences using the target vocabulary (prepositions of place,  reflexives or a prefix for example). Don’t you love that? I know that I sure do.

Start off by giving your student a few different vocabulary words. It should be something the student is quite familiar with already. The challenge in this activity is not the actual word; it’s using it in a sentence.

Give the student a few minutes to make one sentence using each word. Do not offer any assistance or correct any errors. The teacher should also make some sentences using the same words, some of which are correct and some of which are not.

The student reads their first sentence and discusses with the teacher if it is correct or not. The teacher reads their first sentence and the student must decide if it’s correct or not and why. Continue until all the sentences are finished and each sentence has been fixed.

One Example of ESL Sentence Correction

For example, the teacher may write:

“I went to bed late and I didn’t slept well.”

As you can see, there’s a mistake with the negative simple past tense. Your student would have to correct this sentence to the following:

“I went to bed late and I didn’t sleep well.”

For additional practice, you could have them write the sentence correctly into their notebook.

Is the Sentence Correct: Useful When Teaching Big Classes?

This activity works really well with a student in private teaching sessions. However, you can also use it with big classes. Put students into groups of 3-4 and have them make sentences together. Then, check the sentence together as a class.

Remember that the goal is to make your classes at student-centred as possible. This means that students are doing the hard work, not you! While you can do this all together with 10 or more students, only a few are engaged and the rest are just relaxing. Avoid this by putting students into pairs or small groups.

No-Prep/No-Materials ESL Activity 

One of my favourite things about ESL sentence correction is that it requires nothing in the way of materials or preparation time. If you get a last-minute class thrown at you, consider doing this activity. It’s kind of a life-changer and students will only need a pen and a piece of paper.

How to Correct a Sentence

There are a few different ways that students can fix a sentence. They include checking the following:

• The capital letter at the beginning
• Ending with some punctuation
• Grammar and syntax
• Vocabulary choices
• Spelling

Procedure for Is that Sentence Correct:

1. Give the student a few different vocabulary words.
2. The student writes one sentence per vocabulary word (five words = five sentences). The teacher also writes sentences using the same words, some of which are incorrect.
3. The student reads his/her first sentence and discusses with the teacher if it’s a correct sentence or not. If not, the teacher helps the student fix it.
4. The teacher reads his/her first sentence and the student decides if it’s correct.
5. In incorrect, the student should explain why and then make a correct sentence.

Do you want to see some similar activities, including some sentence correction games and other sentence activities that you may want to try out with your students? You’ll need to check this out: Sentence Structure Games.

Here’s some excellent information about making a proper sentence in English that you might want to consider showing your students:

English Sentence Correction Worksheets

If you want to give your students some more practice with correcting sentences, then you’ll want to check out these worksheets. Why reinvent the wheel and make your own practice exercises if other teachers have gone before you and done the hard work, right? Here are some of the best resources:

English For Everyone

ISL Collective

English Worksheet Land

Like this ESL Sentence Correction Activity?

Then you’ll love: 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities: For Kids (7-13). If you teach private classes, it’s the book you need in your personal library. It’ll help you make your classes interesting and engaging. This will make the Moms as well as child you’re teaching happy! You’ll also save lots of time lesson planning so you can spend more time doing what you really love. There’s also enough material to keep things fresh for a year of weekly private tutoring sessions.

Where Can I Get It?

You can buy the book on Amazon in both print and digital formats. The digital one can be read on any smartphone, tablet, Mac or PC by downloading the free Kindle reading app.

Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office as a handy reference guide. Or, take a copy with you to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. It really is that easy.

Head over to Amazon to learn more about it here:

Need More Ideas for Making Sentences with Vocabulary Words?

This activity is an example of student-centred language teaching. It’s where the students should be doing the hard work, not you! To learn more about this style of teaching, check out this short video below:

Have your Say about this Fix the Sentence Activity

What do you think about, “Is that Sentence Correct?” Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts about English sentence correction. Or, do you have another go-to fixing sentences activity for ESL/EFL that you’d like to share with us?

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API