Job Discussion Forums

[demoiselle]

Hello,

I am a newly CELTA'd teacher, and I have just received a job offer. However, I recognize that my language awareness is not as good as I would like.

What is the best basic introduction to grammar for a new teacher? I am buying Swann, however that book is such a huge tome ... and Murphy is almost without explanation at all. I'm looking for something in between.

Advice is appreciated!

demoiselle

[fluffyhamster]

I'm not sure what you mean by huge. Any grammar book worth its weight is either going to be quite thick and/or large (comparing the dimensions of Swan with Murphy there - there are bigger tomes around, to be sure!), and they aren't exactly meant to be read through in extended sittings but are more for partial reference or practice (respectively, in this case).

Maybe something like David Crystal's Making Sense of Grammar (I recall that this seems to go into things in more depth than his slimmer Rediscover Grammar, and in a structure-based way) is what you need? Or, seeing as you are familiar with Swan and Murphy, how about books that combine a fair amount of explanation alongside (student) exercises, such as Swan & Walter's How English Works, or their The Good Grammar Book (more suitable for pre-intermediate than elementary students - for elementary, Murphy's book at that level would be better, especially if available in bilingual form, as is the case in Japan).

'Discovery' (language awareness-raising) books for teachers (are you familar with these?):
About Language, by Scott Thornbury.
Discover English (2002 edition), by Bolitho & Tomlinson.
Investigating English, by Tony Wright.

The Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English has an accompanying Workbook that will help you get to grips with analyzing lots more real English.

Then, I quite like Martin Parrot's Grammar for English Language Teachers; and Bygate et al's Grammar and the Language Teacher (a collection of papers) would be well worth getting hold of despite being out of print; and...

The list could go on and on. The main thing though is deciding whether you want a readable induction into the theory of grammar (and perhaps a particular analytical framework), or a "plain" reference grammar (but there are probably none which don't betray some loyalty to a particular brand of linguistics). It might make sense to kill two birds with one stone and familiarize yourself with e.g. Halliday's Functional grammar (there are quite a few books available!).

One problem with the plainer of the reference grammars is that they sometimes never quite answer the deeper linguisticy questions and can seem a bit too prescriptive at times (I'm thinking of Swan here).

Lastly, you might find this interesting:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=547851#547851

Follow the links within that link and you'll find ever more books mentioned.

[VanKen]

Personally, I think the Azar books are all that.
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/azar/

[tedkarma]

I like Azar too.

But, for some quite good grammar explanations and a free downloadable grammar book written for EFL teachers go here:

http://teflbootcamp.com/Grammar.htm

[Joeys ESL Room]

You can click on the link below to see the list of helpful books that I came up with. I have also included a few reviews from teachers who have used the books. Enjoy!

http://www.joeysesl.com/teacher-ideas/408/esl-books-for-new-esl-teachers/

[corr888]

Yep- Azar is where it's at.

[MELEE]

The book, The English Verb by Michael Lewis changed the way I think about English--not really a book directly for teaching, but something I think all teachers should read.