How Often Do You?

Step 1

You need to revise adverbs of frequency. Draw an arrow on the board and write the first letter of the adverbs follow by blank space for the students to fill in the missing words, with the least frequent adverb (at the bottom of the arrow) to the most frequent (as the top of the arrow). If they are struggling, gradually give them more letters.

100% Always
O _ _ _ _ / U _ _ _ _ _ _
S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / R _ _ _ _ _
0% Never

Step 2

Elicit five sentences from different students using an adverb of frequency (encourage self/peer correction where necessary).

Chorally drill all five sentences. Then go through each sentence and delete one or two words, replacing it with an underlined gap.

Step 3

Chorally drill the students again. Then repeat the process, deleting words each time, then drilling – until there are only blanks remaining!

E.g. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ See how good your students’ memories are!

Step 4

Elicit the question form ‘How often do you’ + bare infinitive (verb without ‘to’).

Write on the board ‘How often do you ________ TV?’ (Elicit ‘watch’).

Tell the students they have five minutes to find the missing verb on the worksheet in pairs and write two full questions. Distribute one worksheet per person.

Go around the class choosing different individuals to get the answers.

Step 5

Tell the class to ask three students the questions.

To eliminate any confusion - on the board roughly draw the table, choose a student and give an example (write the student’s name under box one and ask three questions and write their answer in the adjacent box in short form – repeat for box two and three).