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How To Teach Prepositions of Position To Young Learners

This document provides guidance on how to teach prepositions of place to English language learners. It recommends introducing common objects and reviewing key prepositions like in, on, under before having students practice using the prepositions in example sentences, questions, and picture dictation activities.

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Alvaro Gomez Molina
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21 views6 pages

How To Teach Prepositions of Position To Young Learners

This document provides guidance on how to teach prepositions of place to English language learners. It recommends introducing common objects and reviewing key prepositions like in, on, under before having students practice using the prepositions in example sentences, questions, and picture dictation activities.

Uploaded by

Alvaro Gomez Molina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How To Teach Prepositions Of Position To

Young Learners
A quick summary of what prepositions to teach kids and how to do so.

Written by Alex Case for EnglishClub

Students whose L1 has postpositions rather than prepositions might never fully get the hang
of which is which in “A is under B” and very young learners can still be learning exactly
what “in front of” means as a concept, but activities with “on”, “in” and “under” can be
useful and fun from as early as three years old. Prepositions is the closest thing to a
grammar point that they can cope with at that stage (other things like plurals and third
person S that are usually dealt with being acquired late if ever). Being able to tell students
“stand in front of the whiteboard” and “put your pens in your bags” is also obviously
invaluable for classroom management. In addition, the topic of prepositions is infinitely
adaptable to different levels, with loads of games with just “in”, “on” and “under” for
beginners and issues like the difference between “in front of”/“opposite” and “in the
corner”/“on the corner” for those who think they know everything. As you will see from the
activities below, it is very easy to combine prepositions of position with other language
points such as classroom objects, household objects, animals and transport.

The approximate order I would present prepositions of position in is:

 in/on/under

 next to

 in front of/behind

 on the right/on the left

 near (to)/close to/far from

 opposite

 above/below

 by/beside

 beneath

 inside/outside
As well as the conceptual and translation difficulties mentioned in the introduction,
possible problems when teaching this point include:

 Students confusing “above” and “on”- easy to do as “under” is the opposite of both
words

 The distinction between prepositions of position and movement can be confusing,


especially as many have the same form (e.g. “Put the book on the table” is actually a
movement) and others (e.g. “above” and “up”) have similar meanings but different
forms

 Some prepositions have different forms, and students have often been taught the
most old fashioned and so least useful version (e.g. “by” or “besides” rather than
“next to”)

Activities to practice prepositions of position can be broadly divided into:

 TPR activities

 Activities with realia and/or flashcards

 Drawing and craft activities

 Video activities

 Songs

 Picture books

There are so many good activities for teaching prepositions that there are whole articles on
this site about prepositions of position practice through video, TRP, drawing and craft, and
realia and flashcards. This article will deal with songs and picture books, plus a few ideas
that don’t fit into any of those categories.

Songs and chants for prepositions of position


I only know two songs from textbooks that are specific to prepositions of position, and I
wouldn’t especially recommend either of them. Instead, I prefer to adapt body and
classroom objects to this grammar point. For example, before each “verse” of Head
Shoulders Knees and Toes you can shout out a preposition, e.g. getting students to put their
hands under the head, knees and toes and then in front of their eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

Picture books
Unlike songs, there are loads of great books specific to prepositions of position. The all-
time classic is Where’s Spot, and I’ve written a whole article on how to exploit this picture
book in EFL classes in ways like students hiding a little cut-out Spot in different positions
in the book once you’ve read it through once. Where’s Wally (= Where’s Waldo) can also
be used if students are told they can’t point but instead need to explain where Wally and
other characters are. There are also EFL storybooks specific to this point from companies
like Apricot Books.

With higher level classes, you can also introduce a CLIL component with topics like animal
habitats, traditional clothing, fashion, or living a greener lifestyle.

Other activities for prepositions of position


Prepositions magazine search
This is a classic activity that can be used for all kinds of language points. Give students
books, catalogues or magazines with lots of pictures (it doesn’t matter if they all have the
same one or different ones from each other). Say something that they should have a chance
of finding in what they are holding, e.g. “A man on something” or “One person between
two people”, and give a point to the first person to find a picture of exactly that.

Prepositions normal or strange


Students try to work out if things are normal or strange from descriptions by a teacher or
their classmates, e.g. shouting out “Strange” if the teacher says “My head is under my
bottom”, touching the flashcard that say “Normal” if their classmate says “The teacher is in
front of the whiteboard” or holding up their left hands when they read an OHP that says “A
monkey in next to the zoo”.

Prepositions sentence completion guessing game


Students complete sentences to make them true for themselves, e.g. “I like sugar on/ in my
milk and cereal”, “I often put sugar on _______”, “I often put sugar in _______” and “I can
put my foot _______”. They then read out just the part they have written (not the original
printed bit) for the other students to guess which gap they wrote that in. This can also be
done without the first writing stage.

How to teach prepositions of place?

BY MOHAMMED RHALMI · FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Lesson plan on how to teach


prepositions of place
Prepositions of place are function words that English language students
cannot do without. These prepositions are not difficult to teach. This
lesson plan starts with reviewing key vocabulary that may be used to
teach prepositions of place. Then the prepositions are presented and
practiced. Finally, students will be asked to come up with examples.

The activity
 Review vocabulary that may be used to teach prepositions of place.
The vocabulary you introduce may depend on the units covered in
your textbook. This may include vocabulary items such as:
o book
o bag
o pen
o pencil
o desk
o window
o …

 Present and practice the pronunciation of important prepositions of


place such as:
o in
o on
o under
o in front of
o behind
o between
o next to
o …

 Introduce the meaning of the above prepositions by giving clear


examples:
o I am in front of the board.
o The board is behind me.
o My pen is in the pencil-case.
o My book is on the desk
o …

 Check comprehension by asking questions such as:


o Where is my pen?
o Where is my book?
o Where am I?
o …

 Practice the prepositions by using command drills as follows:


o Put your hand on your head.
o Put your hand under the desk.
o Put your pen on the desk.
o Put your pen in the pencil-case.
o …

 Practice the prepositions by using a “picture dictation”. Tell students


they will have to draw a picture according to your instructions. They
will have to listen carefully and draw what they hear. Ask a
volunteer to draw the picture on the board while his classmates
draw it on a piece of paper (they mustn’t be able to see his
drawing):
o Draw a table.
o Draw a ball on the table.
o Draw a cat under the table.
o …
Class correction.

 At this stage students should be able to practice the prepositions in


closed pairs. Write on the board a model conversation:
o Where is …?
o It’s … the …

Example:
A: Where is the book?
B: It’s on the desk.

 Ask students to write sentences to describe a picture:


o The cat is under the bed.
o The phone is on the bed.
o …

 Ask students to write examples.

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