ESL speaking

 

Made From and Made Of

This three-part English grammar and speaking lesson helps high-beginner and low-intermediate ESL students learn the difference between made from and made of.

• Part 1 – brief grammar lesson
• Part 2 – whole class practice session
• Part 3 – pair work speaking

Part 1a. Basic Grammar Rules

Look at these sentences. Notice the use of made of and made from. Why are they used in different situations?

• This shirt is made of cotton.
• The chair is made of leather.
• The vodka is made from potatoes.
• The tea is made from barley.

These two phrases are used to talk about things that have been manufactured or processed.

1. If the material is not changed…. then use made of.
2. If the material has been changed (i.e. we can’t see it anymore) then use made from.

Part 1b. Made With

Some products are made from many things. We use made with when describing one of the many ingredients. (If something is made with one main material, use made from.) For example:

• Kimchi is made with cabbage and salt.
• This pizza is made with goat cheese.
• These muffins are made with cranberries.

Look at these two sentences. What’s the difference?

• This juice is made from oranges.
• This juice is made with oranges.

Part 2. Practice and Writing

Practice writing sentences using of/from with these words and phrases.

1. shoes, cereal, a house
2. a tie, a can, soybean paste
3. chocolate, a sculpture, a table
4. bread, wine, a BLT

Part 3. Pair Work Speaking

This pair work activity is called The Hint Game. It is played with two partners and a worksheet.

• Each partner has a list of words.
• S/he looks at one word and gives a hint to the partner. The hint must include the use of MADE OF or MADE FROM. Of course, other words and ideas can be included.
• Partner guesses the word and writes correct answer on his/her answer sheet.
• Play rotates until all the words have been presented.
• At the end of play, students keep word list and review next class.

About the exercise sheet: this exercise uses high frequency words from the New General Service List.

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PHOTO CREDIT

The image in this post comes from Aurlmas and its use complies with the owner’s creative commons licensing terms.