Final word ‘Grammar: Word position in the sentence uve: Intermediate Twe: 30-40 minutes ateniats: None In class 1 Split the class into mixed ability groups of three. Explain that they will be writing sentences against the clock. Tell them each sentence must end with a word from a sentence you give them. For example, if the sentence is: With great difficulty we managed to open the rear door of the plane. ask them to write thirteen sentences, each sentence is to end with a different word from the sentence, e. Who are you going to the party with? That was great. ‘Tell them they have ten minutes to write the thirteen sentences. Time the exercise and tell them after three, six and nine minutes. This gets the adrenalin going. The winning team will be the one that manages the largest number of grammatically correct sentences, each of which uses a different word from the head sentence and uses it in final position. They must do all this within the ten minute time-limit. During the writing phase give no help other than going round ticking correct sentences. (To be correct the sentence must end in a word from the head sentence and be in itself grammatically acceptable.) If you give any help to one team beyond ticking good sentences, you have to give equal help elsewhere, which kills the game. 2 When the time is up ask the teams to read out any sentences you have not been able to tick..(With a class of 40 you will have had around 100 sentences to monitor in ten minutes ~ few teams write all thirteen sentences in the time.) When the students read out their sentences just say ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. 3 The teams add up their scores so a winner and runner-up emerge. 4 Get each team to write up one wrong sentence on the board. The students have a chance to correct each other’s mistakes.$ Get the whole class to tackle any ‘end words’ they could not find sentences for, e.g.: The word I'd use is ‘the’. He just said ‘the’. 6 Round off the lesson by asking the teams to put up on the board one sentence they've written that they really like. Variation Do the exercise as above but ask the students to use the words from the head sentence in different positions in their sentences, e.g. in initial position: With you T feel good. Great to see you. Difficulty lies in the eyes of the beholder. You could also usefully get them to use second position, e.g. Living with granny is hard. and penultimate position, e.g. Tageee with you.