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On why teaching grammar is important
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Wolf



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth

PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Opps. Consider mark missed. Embarassed

No harm done! Very Happy I can't possibly be the only teacher here fighting to imporve myself and my envoirnment (Sunaru's horn locking sessions, Roger's decision to try teaching kids, AKA and his own worry about clear communication, and let's not forget Dr. B and his quest to get us all thinking.)

I usually am up on getting gently ribbed. Actually, some of my classmates would often play a similar game. Sometimes we'd go around correcting each other's grammar, etc. It sure kept us on our toes (although it would get old fast, so we'd be careful to quit while we were ahead, so to speak.)

Okay, on to your regularly scheduled thread.

Further relevant thought:

When teaching grammar - and this is an oversimplification but bear with me it's late and the net cafe owner's giving me the eye - but we might want to focus on how to use grammar points and not what they're called.

Our students might not need to know what "metalanguage" et al are. My Japanese grammar terms are limited I think to noun "meishi", verb "doushi" and adjective "keiyoushi." But I can use the potential forms of Japanese verbs (dekiru, etc), for example, with little problem. I learned what they were, what they were for, but the main forcus was when I learned how to use them. And I beleive that this is the sort of thing that we might want to think about.
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dduck



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 422
Location: In the middle

PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2003 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No Moss wrote:
Teaching grammar has some value, but most students don't understand the terms (aka metalanguage) that you use to describe it. It bores them. It is usually taught in a way that ignores context and therefore doesn't engage them in the desire to communicate. If you can't get your students to engage and participate, they aren't going to learn much.


Yes, indeed. Grammar can be REALLY boring. It easy to spend too much time in a lesson talking at the students, for example expounding the merits of the gerund versus the present participle. But classes don't need to be dominated by grammar. I think some grammar 'focus' and some controlled practice exercises could take up less than half the class. The remainder of the class could have the students using the target language in authentic 'freer' fun language activities.

Iain
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Debalky



Joined: 28 May 2003
Posts: 79
Location: hell on earth

PostPosted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bertrand,
I'm sure you're right about all the grammar issues you brought up in your post. How do you incorporate them into your classrooms? How do your students not hate you for boring them to death? Can you tell me what a typical class is like for you?
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dduck



Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 422
Location: In the middle

PostPosted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Debalky wrote:
Bertrand,
I'm sure you're right about all the grammar issues you brought up in your post. How do you incorporate them into your classrooms? How do your students not hate you for boring them to death? Can you tell me what a typical class is like for you?


Yes, yes, yes. Please tell us!!!

Iain
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Cobra



Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 436

PostPosted: Tue Aug 05, 2003 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What? You actually expect Dr. B. to provide an answer to a serious question? What are you, daffy?
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