Giáo án A Closer Look 2

Ss activate their prior knowledge of places in a neighbourhood and of adjectives describing them, and get ready for the comparison structure.

T shows two pictures: a quiet village lane and a busy city street. T asks: 'Which street is more crowded?' and 'Which street is quieter?'. Ss describe the two pictures using the adjectives crowded, quiet, narrow and wide.

Ss give short oral answers, for example: 'The city street is more crowded than the village lane.' and 'The village lane is quieter than the city street.' Ss identify the topic of the lesson: comparing two things.

Ss recognise and understand the meaning of the new vocabulary about places and features in a neighbourhood.

Ss match 8 words (square, cathedral, railway station, art gallery, narrow, crowded, peaceful, convenient) with their meanings or pictures. Ss then say one sentence with each word about their own neighbourhood.

Answer key:

• square (quảng trường): an open space in a town, often with buildings around it
• cathedral (nhà thờ lớn): a large and important church
• railway station (ga đường sắt): a place where trains stop for passengers
• art gallery (phòng trưng bày nghệ thuật): a building where paintings and sculptures are displayed
• narrow (hẹp): not wide
• crowded (đông đúc): with many people in a place
• peaceful (yên bình): quiet and calm
• convenient (thuận tiện): easy to use or reach

Ss understand and form comparative adjectives (short, long and irregular) and explain how to use them to compare two objects.

T shows Lane A (3 m wide) and Lane B (6 m wide). T asks: 'Which lane is wider? How do we say it?' Ss complete Worksheet 1 by finding the comparative form of each adjective and writing the rule. Ss then observe the example sentence 'Lane B is wider than Lane A.' and explain why than is needed.

Worksheet 1 answers and rules:

• Short adjective: tall → taller, big → bigger, narrow → narrower; rule: short adjective + -er + than
• Adjective ending in -y: noisy → noisier; rule: change y to i, then add -er
• Adjective ending in -e: wide → wider; rule: drop e, then add -er
• Long adjective: expensive → more expensive, crowded → more crowded; rule: more + adjective + than
• Irregular: good → better, bad → worse
• Never use more and -er together (wrong: more crowdeder, more wider).
  Key sentence: Lane B is wider than Lane A (6 > 3, so Lane B is wider).

Ss practise choosing and forming the correct comparative adjective, and explain why the wrong options do not fit the context.

Ss do 8 multiple-choice exercises from the lesson (Worksheet 2). In pairs, Ss swap their answers, check each item and explain the reason for the correct answer and the wrong options.
Exercises:

1. This street is ___ than that one. (wide) A. more wider B. widest C. wider
2. The market is ___ than the library. (noisy) A. more noisier B. noisier C. noisyer
3. Our new park is ___ than the old one. (beautiful) A. more beautiful B. beautifuller C. most beautiful
4. The bus is ___ than a taxi for this trip. (cheap) A. more cheaper B. cheap C. cheaper
5. This path is ___ than the main road. (narrow) A. most narrow B. narrower C. narrowest
6. The service here is ___ than before. (good) A. better B. gooder C. more good
7. A road is 8 metres wide; B is 5 metres wide. Which is true? A. A is narrower than B. B. B is wider than A. C. A is wider than B.
8. Choose the correct sentence. A. The town is crowdedest than the village. B. The town is more crowded than the village. C. The town is more crowdeder than the village.

Answer key with reasons:

1. C – wide drops e before -er; wider than.
2. B – noisy changes y to i, then -er: noisier.
3. A – beautiful is a long adjective: more beautiful.
4. C – cheaper than is the short-adjective form for comparing two things.
5. B – narrower than (the form used in the textbook model).
6. A – good has the irregular form better.
7. C – 8 > 5, so A is wider than B.
8. B – a long adjective uses more only; double comparatives are not allowed.
   Wrong options: 'more wider', 'more noisier', 'more cheaper', 'most narrow' and 'crowdedest' are incorrect because they combine more and -er, use the superlative where a comparison of two things is needed, or ignore the spelling rule.

Ss apply comparative adjectives to describe places on a neighbourhood map, check the verb and sentence structure after changing the subject, and self-correct based on the context.

Ss read the example map text: 'Our map has a school, a park, a bank, a library and a museum. Start at the school gate. Go east along Green Street and turn left into River Street. The library is on your right. The park is opposite the school across Green Street.' In groups of four, Ss write four comparison sentences about the places on the map (for example, the park, the library, the bank, the museum), choosing the correct form and checking the subject and the criterion. Then they change the subject of one sentence and check whether the structure needs to change. Ss complete Worksheet 2 part B.

Sample sentences and self-check:

• The park is more peaceful than the bank. (peaceful is a long adjective)
• The library is quieter than the bank. (quiet → quieter)
• The museum is more expensive than the library. (expensive → more expensive)
• The park is better than the bank for children. (good → better)
  Check: 'more better' is wrong because better already compares; 'The bank is less crowded than the park' is correct with less for a negative comparison. Each group explains why the wrong options do not fit the map situation.