The basic explanation of the usage of the phrase THERE IS / THERE ARE is easy to understand and practice. My students caught on very quickly and then used the phrase without any mistakes. However, you might need to teach the plural first to allow the students use these without any mistakes.

In this post there is a clear mind map which even 9 years old managed to understand, a worksheet and two games to practice the grammar.

There is / There are – mind map

Ask the students to have a look at the following mind map and explain the following points:

It is used to describe a scenery or picture.
THERE IS A + one thing
THERE ARE + more than one thing.

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There is / There are – games and activities

The first activity is a simple spot the difference activity. Print out the following worksheets (black and white copy will be just fine as the colours do not play any role there) and give the worksheet A to one student and the worksheet B to the other one. Students work in pairs and they must keep their worksheets secret and not show them to each other. Each student describes his rooms and they try to find all the differences.

There is there are worksheet

The next two activities are interactive quizzes and games. Both of them are in HTML 5 and both of them will work on any mobile device.
In the first quiz you should read the description and click on the correct picture. If you pass the test you can play the game Angry Finches.

There is / There are – Angry Finches

In the second game you should write the missing words into the sentences to describe the picture on the left. If you pass this test you will be given a chance to play the game called Make them Fall.
Enjoy.

There is / There are – Write

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