Opposites

Easy Noun Pairs

sun moon

sun salt

child brother

morning floor

teacher love

man key

girl autumn

pen hand

dog mother

table rain

city winter

fire uncle

male knife

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 Easy Opposites
(Lesson Collection Set #1 –Lesson #10)

1. Student ability: B - HB
2. Approximate length of lesson: 20
3. Number of students necessary: Any
4. Recommended age/maturity of students: Elem., JHS, HS, College, Adult
5. Type of lesson: Pair / Whole

1. Student ability is listed according to: LB-Low Beginner, B-Beginner, HB-High Beginner, LI-Low
Intermediate, I-Intermediate, HI-High Intermediate, LA-Low advanced, A-Advanced, HA-High Advanced.
2. Approximate length of this lesson in minutes (not including set up explanation).
3. Number of students. 3+ means three students or more will work, two students or less will not work as well.
4. Recommended age indicates the preferred maturity level of the students. Grouped by Child = pre-school or younger,
Elem. = Elementary, JHS =Junior High School, HS = High School, College, Adult.
5. Type of lesson means this lesson is designed to work best with Individuals, Pairs, Groups or Whole class.

*******

Language Target: Pairs of opposites - easy nouns for vocabulary building and simple sentence
construction. [Answers are at the bottom.]

Setting Up: Demonstrate a few opposites before giving the students the worksheet. For example,
say: Dog. Students respond with Cat. Say: Girl. Students say Boy.

Getting Started: Pair the students and hand out one copy of the worksheet to each student. Tell
them to try to be the first team to finish the worksheet (or to be the first to get the most correct
answers). Dictionaries are not allowed.

Set a time limit depending on the students' abilities. After the time has run out, start at the top of
the list and read off the first word: ‘sun.’ Give one point to each pair of students who have the
right answer written on their paper. (Correct spelling is optional.)

The pair with the most points is the winner.

Variation 1: Without giving out the worksheet, use these opposite pairs to play “Password.” To
do this, divide the class into three groups. One representative from each group stands at the front
of the class. Whisper the first word "sun" to all three students. They will try to elicit its opposite:
"moon."

The first student says a one word hint to his/her group, but allowing the whole class to hear. For
example: "night." His/her group is allowed one answer. If they say "moon", they get four points.
If they say "day," they don't get a point. Then the second representative offers a hint to his/her
group. He/she may say "light." His/her group tries to answer the password, putting "night," and
"light" together to come up with their answer.
 The group is allowed one answer. If they say "moon", they get three points. If they say "traffic,"
for example, they don't get a point. This continues four times. After that, the representatives return
to their seats and new ones come forward and another word from the opposites list is whispered.

Variation 2: With higher level classes and/or as a listening exercise, don’t hand out the worksheet.
Read the opposites from the list and see how long it takes the class to answer all of the opposites.

Variation 3: As a pair work listening practice, have one student cover the right side of the
worksheet while the other covers the left.

Variation 4: Have students compose “opposite” sentences, for example: “The sun comes up in
the morning, and the moon comes up at night.”

Variation 5: Encourage students to make simple “opposite” sentences, using a positive and
negative structure, for example: “The morning is NOT the night,” or “Winter is cold but Summer
is NOT cold.”

Building Fluency: When the class is finished, make a sentence using one of the opposites words,
for example: "He uses a knife to cut the meat." Encourage students to say, "He doesn't use a fork."

Writing Practice: Students write an essay or short story using 1) all of the opposite pairs or 2) just
the left or right side opposites from the column.

Further Practice:
See: “Mid-level Opposites” Lesson Collection Set #1 – Lesson 24.
See: “Difficult Opposites” Lesson Collection Set #3 – Lesson 7.

Answers:
sun moon salt pepper
child adult brother sister
morning night floor ceiling
teacher student love hate
man woman key lock
girl boy autumn spring
pen pencil hand foot
dog cat mother father
table chair rain snow
city country winter summer
fire water / ice uncle aunt
male female knife fork

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