A & An Drawing Games

a and an drawing games

Instructions for teachers

Cut up one set of cards per class or group of two to four students. Decide if you will keep the pairs of “a” and “an” things together on one card or cut them up individually, if you will keep the “a” and “an” attached or cut them off, and if you will use the “It” “is”/ “’s” cards or not.

There are several drawing games that you can play with these cards:

• The teacher or one student draws until the people watching describe it (including the right article/ in a full sentence)
• Students put together cards with an article/ in a full sentence for their partners to draw
• Students race to draw and write a description of the thing that the teacher or a student shouts out

All the games can also be played with a pair of things on the same line both being drawn at the same time, e.g. drawing an apple and a strawberry and making sure that they use the right article to describe each.

Make sure that you keep all the drawing from the game, then ask students to describe all of those pictures (using the right articles) after you finish. They could then test each other in other ways such as raising their right or left hand depending on whether the noun or adjective that they hear should take “a” or should take “an”.

------------------

Cards to cut up

It		is			’s
an	apple		a	strawberry
a	melon		an	orange
a	lemon		an	onion
a	chocolate bar		an	ice cream
a	banana		an	egg
an	omelette		a	pizza
an	almond		a	peanut
a	grape		an	olive
a	fish		an	octopus
an	elephant		a	hippo
a	giraffe		an	ostrich
an	eagle		a	seagull
an	insect		a	spider
a	hat		an	umbrella
an	alarm clock		a	watch
a	house		an	igloo
an	armchair		a	sofa
an	ear		a	nose
an	eye		a	mouth
an	arm		a	hand
an	elbow		a	knee
an	eyebrow		a	moustache
an	eraser		a	pencil
an	exercise book		a	textbook
an	airport		a	station
an	ambulance		a	fire engine
an	angry…		a	happy…
an	ill…		a	sad…
an	old…		a	young…
a	cute…		an	ugly…

---------------

A and an written practice

One in each pair below needs “a” to be changed to “an”. Put “-n” in the right places.

a	apple	a	strawberry
a	melon	a	orange
a	lemon	a	onion
a	chocolate bar	a	ice cream
a	banana	a	egg
a	omelette	a	pizza
a	almond	a	peanut
a	grape	a	olive
a	fish	a	octopus
a	elephant	a	hippo
a	giraffe	a	ostrich
a	eagle	a	seagull
a	insect	a	spider
a	hat	a	umbrella
a	alarm clock	a	watch
a	house	a	igloo
a	armchair	a	sofa
a	ear	a	nose
a	eye	a	mouth
a	arm	a	hand
a	elbow	a	knee
a	eyebrow	a	moustache
a	eraser	a	pencil
a	exercise book	a	textbook
a	airport	a	station
a	ambulance	a	fire engine
a	angry…	a	happy…
a	ill…	a	sad…
a	old…	a	young…
a	cute…	a	ugly…

Hint: One on each line above needs to be changed. The other one on each line should stay as “a”.