Originally Posted by
danah
Hello,
in the exam there was a question :
what's your ------- name?
a brother's
b brother
c his
d him
the answer is : brother's
But most of the students wrote: brother
i need to explain that to them, but i failed
so can you help my how can i explain it to them since i have no experience in teaching
?
Danah,
Are the students confused about "he" vs. "his" as well? Would they say "What's he name?"
If so, you could make a drawing on the board, or find a photo, etc. of a boy and a toy car or something. Then teach them "He has a car. His car is blue." With more pictures, you could add examples (using he/his, I/my, she/her, etc. and possession of toys, bikes, houses, etc.), and let the students try to do it own their own.
(If you and your students are pretty comfortable with each other, and it's not the first day, and joking around and so on is no problem, you might even talk about one of the students and his/her shoes/pencil, etc., but be careful you don't focus on something the student might be self-conscious about, like cheap shoes, etc. If the class needs practice, they could even take turns talking about each other's things, perhaps in groups. I usually have them choose two or three things from their bookbag/pockets, and then they place the things on their desks, and then they make sentences about other students, like "Tony has an eraser. His eraser is small." A sentence like, "Tony's watch is silver," could also be the goal, later on.)
After that (or, if the students understand how to use "he" and "his" already...) you can move on to "brother/friend" vs. "brother's/friend's".
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I would suggest maybe emphasizing the "z" sound at the end of "his". First show a picture or drawing of your "brother" (or "friend", "sister", etc.). Then show them a pencil, or a ball, or whatever. Point to the picture and say, "This is my brother," and also point to this sentence on the board. Then you can write out, "This is my brother's pencil," and then hold up the pencil and say the sentence "This is my brother's pencil."
You could then say, "He is my brother. This is his pencil." Emphasize "his", especially the "z" sound. Make them read/repeat along with you--make sure they get it.
Return to the sentences using the words "brother and brother's". Read them again (and have the class read along with you) after looking at the pictures once more:
"This is my brother." "This is my brother's pencil."
The students might laugh if you hold up the pencil and ask, "Is this my brother?" With luck, they might say, "No, it is your brother's pencil." If they say "No, it is your brother pencil," you should make a funny face like you are confused and make them try again. If they just say, "No, it's a pencil," ask them "Whose pencil? Your pencil? Her pencil?"
Basically, you want to compare these pairs of sentences.
"He is my brother." "This is his pencil."
"This is my brother." "This is my brother's pencil."
Highlight the "z" sound (underline it on the chalk-board or whatever), to help them figure it out.
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Of course, the "z" sound isn't a 100% rule (It doesn't appear in "my" "your" "Phillip's" and many other examples...), but you can explain that later, after they understand what the apostrophe is doing. You can say:
"This is Phillip's pen." No "z" sound, but that's OK--it uses an "s" sound. And it uses the apostrophe, just like "Tom's", "Jane's", and "brother's"...
But try to be careful to stay away from this point until they understand about the possessive apostrophe. The "z" sound can help them to hear the connection.