Frog and Can as an Ability

 This resource (Frog & “Can” Abilities – ESL Flashcards, Worksheets & Games for Kids)  is part of Can as an Ability for Elementary ESL at this link, ready to download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Can-as-an-Ability-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-4299251

Students will  learn and practice the simple and essential structure:

"Subject + can + verb". (e.g., The frog can jump.)  The resource Includes visual (flashcards), kinesthetic (miming, spinner games), and written (worksheets) activities. It supports diverse learners, including visual and hands-on learners and  ideal for elementary ESL/ELL classes practicing abilities and verbs.

Frog-verb flashcards

Show any flashcard of the frog and have the students do the action as they shout out the word. This is a way to have the students become familiar with the verbs.  Use for drill & review and kinesthetic learning.  

Ask questions with Can? Take out a flashcard showing the frog's abilities  and ask: Can you play baseball?
All the students that can play baseball will stand up and do the action, saying: Yes, I can.
The other will stand up and say: No, I can’t.
Continue with more flashcards and turn grammar into communicative practice — not just drills   .

Small cards Can/Can't Sorting Game. Use the bags from the complete resource labeled boxes or mats: "can" and "can't."

Students pick a frog card, say or decide the action (e.g., "jump," "swim"), and place it under the correct label.  The decision is based on real frogs: "Can a frog sing?" → "No, it can't!"

Great for controlled practice.  

use these for speaking activities:

Small cards for Writing. Provide a sentence frame such as "The frog can play the piano."

Students draw a card and complete the sentence on their notebook using the action shown.

Print and hand in a chart to each student or pair of students. Say what the frog can do and students will check mark as a listening activity. Then, have the students check mark with another color what they can do and mark with an x what they can’t do.  They can write sentences about the chart.

Use the colored version students find the matching pairs, playing memory. They can play in pairs with two printables. They cut and shuffle the cards. Then, they place the cards facedown on a table or desk. The first students will flip over two cards, if they match they have to say the sentence using can. If the cards don’t match, they can take another turn.

Also sort the cards from the colored version, into sports, music and other verbs.

Worksheet. use can and can’t for ability. Writing sentences like “The frog can jump.” reinforces correct word order and sentence structure.

This writing sheet helps to build simple sentences and reinforce spelling, structure and writing skills.  

Some students learn best through visual worksheet and written input.

Writing worksheets: sentences using “can / can’t”.    

You can use worksheets to check understanding by writing questions.

A Cut-&-Paste sentence association worksheet setfor  matching verbs with pictures.  

Play like this:

Worksheets give students a chance to practice alone, helping build confidence and independence in using English.

Help students become familiar with the abilities vocabulary. Spread out both mats with the frog pictures. Students take turns drawing a verb card, then race to find the matching frog action picture on the mat. Say the sentence out loud: The frog can jump. Use a timer for added excitement.

Play with Mixed-level classes and pair stronger students with weaker. 

Use the mat and the spelling Bingo template to play another game. Students write an assigned number of verbs or sentences from the mats onto the template. Then, use the verb cards as calling cards, the first students to cross all the verbs wins. Have the learners save the template to play on any other class.

There is another set of mats, check the blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/06/can-as-ability-games.html

Check them out:

Use the two fly swatter templates labeled "can" and "verb" to help young learners visually and physically interact with sentence structure, especially for “can” sentences (e.g., The frog can play baseball.).

Students begin to recognize and internalize the correct pattern on the flashcards or small cards.

Frog Can board game. There are two paths, students will choose just one. Players roll a die and move. Land on a space and say a sentence using CAN: The frog can play the guitar!

Add a challenge-if correct, move forward 1 extra space.

Spinners modal verbs are perfect for movement, randomness, and speaking practice. Students spin the frog spinner. Whatever action it lands on (e.g., jump), they say:“The frog can write.”

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:
https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/06/can-as-ability-small-cards.html 

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