PoS Swap is an activity to practice different parts of speech.

For TEFL teachers it’s well worth using as it requires little or no preparation and can be used any time there’s a slight uncertainty amongst the students over a particular PoS.

Running the Activity

Write up on the board a sentence structure which includes the PoS you want to practice. For example, suppose you wanted to practice adjectives and adverbs and make sure the students understand the difference between them, you could write up:

I [adverb] bought the [adjective] car.

Then underneath write an example:

I happily bought the expensive car.

At this point you will probably want to highlight the adjective and adverb and then go over them with your class to make sure they understand the grammar here.

Then simply erase the adjective and write another in its place. Make sure the class understands what’s happening and then do it again.

And then, simply choose a student at random, give them the eraser and ask them to come up to board and replace the adjective.

Then another. And then another.

And then move on to the adverbs and have several students have a go with that.

And then you can start to play with the sentence with some fun variations.

Variations on a TEFL Theme

1. Quickly choose different students in the class and call out to them for a new adverb or adjective. Get faster and faster and so they barely have time to think before answering.
2. Get them up two at a time to change the words. And then get even faster.
3. Get them in teams where they have to race to the board and change.
4. Change the sentence suddenly and force the students to converse and think.
5. Add or remove other PoS.

Useful Links

Parts of Speech – numerous articles on different parts of speech