Are you looking for some activities, worksheets and exercises to help your students practice some, any, much, many and other quantifiers? Then you’re in the right place! Keep on reading for our top recommendations for teaching ESL quantifiers.
Quantifier games and activities
Top 15 Quantifiers Activities and Games
Let’s get to the best ESL quantifier activities. Here are the top 15.
#1: Find Someone Who Quantifier Bingo Game
I often use this find someone who Bingo game as an icebreaker activity on the first day of class. However, it also works really well when talking about quantifiers. Here are some examples of the types of questions you could use. Find someone who . . .
- has a lot of pens in their suitcase
- doesn’t have any cash in their wallet
- doesn’t have much water in their water bottle
- has some snacks in their backpack
Find out more about how to this ESL bingo game here: Find Someone Who ESL Bingo.
#2: Quantifier Go Fish Game
I’m sure you’ve played the card game Go Fish before. I LOVE to have my students play it with quantifiers. The way it works is that you can make some flashcards related to food, but it works best if you have singular and then plural versions of the same option. For example, a single banana and then a bunch of bananas. Or water and then a bottle of water.
Students can ask questions like the following:
- Do you have a banana?
- Do you have some bananas?
- Do you have some water?
- Do you have a bottle of water?
Then of course, the person responding can answer the question in the appropriate way. For example:
- No I don’t have one.
- Yes I have some.
- No I don’t have any.
- Yes, I have one.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 144 Pages - 10/24/2019 (Publication Date)
Need more ideas? Check out: Singular and Plural Noun Activities.
#3: ESL Food Activities for Quantifiers
In ESL textbooks, quantifiers like some/any or much/many are often taught along with the unit on food. There are just so many possibilities, but uncountable/countable nouns is a frequently seen one. For example:
- I have some water
- I have a bottle of water
- Do you have any cookies?
- I have a few cookies.
- Etc.
If this is the case for you, then you might want to consider using some of these fun activities to spice things up a little bit. You can find all the details here: ESL Food Activities.
#4: Quantifier Videos
I’m ALL about using videos in my English classes. They’re engaging, fun and make the lessons more memorable. However, there’s way more to it than just hitting play and sitting back relaxing. To get the best use of videos in your TEFL classroom, consider using some pre and post-watching activities.
Do you want to see some of our top picks? Check them out here: How to Use Videos in the TEFL Classroom.
#5: Is that Sentence Correct
A simple review activity that’s ideal for teaching quantifiers is this one. The way it works is that you can make some sentences that have quantifiers in them, some of which are correct and other which are not. Then, students have to decide if it’s correct and if not, make the required changes.
Do you want to try it out with your students? More details here: ESL Sentence Correction Activity.
#6: Dictogloss
This is a challenging listening centred activity that can work well with quantifiers. Find (or write) a passage that has a lot of quantifiers in it. For example, perhaps someone is talking about the contents of their fridge or cleaning out their purse.
Put students into pairs and read it out at quite a fast pace for the level of students that you’re teaching. Then, each pair has to try to recreate the passage by either writing or speaking. Read it out again and students can improve upon what they have. Finally, they can compare it to the original version.
Do you want to find out more about it? You can learn more about it here: ESL Dictogloss Activity.
#7: ESL Shopping Activities
The grammar point of quantifiers is often paired with the topic of shopping in many ESL textbooks. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. For example:
- Do you have any red shirts?
- It’s a little bit too small.
- There are lots of things that I like in this store.
If you want to try out some of these activities for shopping with your English learners, then you’ll want to check this out: ESL Shopping Activities.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 85 Pages - 02/02/2020 (Publication Date)
#8: Listen for the Quantifiers
A basic principle when teaching English listening is that students need a reason to listen. In this case, you may want to have students try to find the quantifiers in a listening passage and write them down. Of course, choose your passage wisely and I find it really useful to tell students how many they should be able to find.
More details here: Listening for One Specific Thing.
#9: Proof-Reading and Editing
If students practice things only with speaking, it’s sometimes the case where they don’t really get the hang of all the small details and exceptions to the rules. In the case of quantifiers, there are certainly some tricky things to their use, especially with the negative and question forms.
One way to help students out with this is to make up a paragraph with some mistakes in it. In this case, you’d want to focus on quantifiers. Then, students have to work, either alone or with a partner to correct them. You can learn more about this ESL writing activity here:
#10: Yes/No ESL Activities
Quantifiers like some/any, many/much are often taught with yes or no questions. For example:
Do you have any milk? Yes I have some some/No I don’t have any.
Do you have an apple? Yes I have one/No I don’t have one.
If you want see some of our top recommendations for games and activities to help your students out with this style of English question, check out the following:
ESL Yes/No Question Activities.
#11: Flashcard Sentences
If you’re teaching quantifiers to beginners, then you may want to consider pulling out the flashcards. They’re one of the most under utilized teaching tools in my opinion and you can really do so many things with them.
In this case though, you may want to show a student a card with a picture of something (or groups of things) on it and they have to make grammatically correct sentence using a quantifier. For example:
- There’s a bottle of water.
- There’s some water.
- There’s a little water.
- Etc.
#12: Some/Any Vegetable Game
#13: How to Teach Grammar
Do you feel a bit lost when it comes to planning an ESL/EFL grammar lesson? Not to worry. Even many experienced teachers don’t really know where to start.
If this is the case for you, then consider checking this lesson planning template out: How to Plan an ESL Grammar Lesson.
#14: Picture Prompt
A nice way to introduce this grammar point to your students is to show them a picture with lots of stuff in it. For example, a messy bedroom. Then, elicit from the students what they see. For example: clothes. Then, ask how many. A lot of clothes.
Or, you can show a picture like this at the end of the unit and get students to make some sentences related to what they see.
#15: Health Surveys
I love to use surveys in my English classes. They’re interactive, cover a wide range of skills and best of all, get students up and out of their seats talking to their classmates. In this case, make a variety of questions using how many or how much. For example:
- How much alcohol do you drink in a week?
- How many cigarettes do you smoke in a week?
- Etc.
If you want to know more about making your own surveys, then you’ll want to check this article out: ESL Surveys.
List of Common English Quantifiers
There are a few different types of quantifiers in English that you should be aware of. Here are some of the most common ones to be aware of:
- some
- any
- (too) much
- (too ) many
- a lot of
- lots of
- a few
- a little
- several
- enough
- most
English Quantifiers
Quantifiers Worksheets
If you’re looking for some quantifiers exercises, then you’re definitely in the right place! Here are some of the best resources to find quantifier worksheets, along with answers to make your life easier:
ESL Lesson Plans for Quantifiers
Are you looking for some ESL lesson plans that you can use for quantifiers that you can just print off and take to class with you? What busy teacher isn’t, right? Check out our top recommendations to help save you a ton of time:
Did you Like these ESL Quantifier Activities and Games?
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 144 Pages - 10/24/2019 (Publication Date)
Yes? Thought so! Then the book you’re going to love is this one over on Amazon: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Grammar Activities. If you teach English grammar, the key to interesting and engaging classes is a wide variety of games and activities. This book will help you get through the entire semester in style, whether you teach beginners, intermediates or adults.
You can easily get the book in both digital and print formats. The digital copy can be read on any device, including your PC, phone or tablet by downloading the free Kindle reading app. Take it with you to your favourite coffee shop for some serious lesson planning on the go. Or, consider keeping a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide.
It really is that easy to have better English classes! So, head on over to Amazon to pick yourself up a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome:
Have your Say about Quantifiers Exercises and Activities
What are your thoughts about these TEFL games and activities to work on quantifiers like some, any, much and many? Did you try out one of them from this list, or do you have another activity that you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.
Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy English teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.
Last update on 2020-02-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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