Countable and Uncountable Nouns – Free ESL Lesson Plan

Our new ESL Lesson Plan helps your students understand the differences between countable and uncountable nouns. This is a robust introductory lesson plan with clear descriptions, examples, and practice opportunities.

When should you teach the Countable and Uncountable Nouns lesson?

The lesson suits beginner-level students and can be taught to children, teenagers, and adults. Some recommended prerequisites to this lesson are the use of a/an and singular/plural regular nouns.

How to teach this lesson about Countable and Uncountable Nouns

This lesson starts by reviewing the basic plural form of nouns, as well as nouns that only have a plural form, such as jeans and scissors. It then introduces students to the concept of countable (e.g., banana) and uncountable (e.g., milk) nouns, and walks through various examples of each. Students will have plenty of opportunities to practice identifying the differences between these two types of nouns, and whether a noun takes a/an or nothing.

Remember: avoid explaining uncountable nouns as nouns that ‘cannot be counted.” This can cause confusion when learning countable forms of uncountable nouns (e.g., light v.s. lights)! You can access more helpful teacher notes like this for free by signing up for a free Off2Class account.

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