Have each student demonstrate his understanding of adverbs by acting out an adverb when used in a sentence. Assign each student to write an adverb on an index card. Examples are: "smoothly," "quietly," "loudly" and "sneakily." Then, have each student write a sentence that he often finds himself saying throughout the day on a separate index card. This could be, "May I use the restroom?" or "Where are you going?" Collect all the adverb index cards in one paper bag and all the sentence cards in another. Have each student draw one from each bag. Each student will have to apply the adverb to the sentence. For example, a student may draw the sentence "May I use the restroom?" and the adverb "quickly." In this case, the student will ask to use the restroom in a very quick manner. Other students must guess which adverb is being used based on the way that the sentence is spoken or acted out.
Teach your students the concept of an adverb through a competitive game of charades. Split your class into two equal teams. Have each team take turns sending up one person to the front of the room to act. When it is a student's turn, she will pick one card from a stack of papers with different verbs and one card from a stack with different adverbs. The student will first act out the verb and then the adverb. For example, she may first demonstrate the verb "walk" and then the adverb "quickly." This shows students how an adverb is used to describe a verb. Each team to correctly identify the verb or adverb first will be rewarded with a point.
Use a worksheet in the form of a graphic organizer to help students write out examples of adverbs. Give each student a worksheet with an image of a type of food like an ice cream cone in the center of the worksheet and the word "eat." There should be eight empty bubbles spaced equally around the center image for students to write in. Instruct students to write one example of an adverb used to describe the act of eating in each bubble on the graphic organizer. Appropriate examples would be words like "quickly," "slowly" or "loudly." This classroom activity will allow visual learners to really see the big picture and how the adverbs all connect to one verb.
Assign your students to take an online quiz to test each student's ability to differentiate an adverb, which describes a verb, from an adjective, which describes a noun. Direct your students toward a website like "Activities 4 ESL Students." The quiz will provide students with a sentence that has a blank to be filled with a specific adverb or adjective. Students should click on the best option. The website will keep score of each student's progress by giving a percentage out of 100.