Read more advice from Laura Dobson about teaching fronted adverbials here.
Play a game of fronted adverbial pairs with a partner. Pupils must select a blue card and a yellow card. If the fronted adverbial makes sense with the sentence, they get a point.
Alternatively, get pupils to sort the pairs they make into the following categories: ‘makes sense’, ‘makes sense but silly’ and ‘nonsense’. As a further challenge, ask children to explain why the sentence is silly and why it’s nonsense. This resource can also be used with just the fronted adverbial cards. In groups of three, ask children to turn over one card. Two pupils must then have a go at completing the sentence. The third child votes for which sentence they prefer and explains why. Finally, this resource can be used to consider how flexible adverbials are within a sentence.
In pairs, ask children to select an adverbial and a sentence. How many ways can they write the sentence with the adverbial in, and still achieve the same meaning?
A word of warning: both the fronted adverbial cards and the sentences begin with capital letters. As they play around with these, they must remember to remove the capital letter that is not required.
Laura Dobson worked for many years as a teaching and learning adviser for a large company and local authority. She now runs Inspire Primary English, providing consultancy and training in all areas of English. Follow Laura on Twitter at @inspireprieng.
