Job Discussion Forums

[Enchilada Potosina]

Anyone know of or use a coursebook that doesn't follow the usual 14 units of grammar in dull contexts with tests, dreary readings and painful listenings? Does such a thing exist?

[gregd75]

Have you checked out the WORLD ENGLISH series by Heinle-Cengage?

They use national geographic materials and are very interesting.

Books written by Paul Seligson tend to follow a grammar deductive approach which can be refreshing.

[mejms]

[Isla Guapa]

[mejms]

[gregd75]

Deductive as in, the coursebooks don't have the traditional box with grammar rules being explained, then followed by practice exercises.

Inductive- the grammar is presented and then practice.

Seligson likes to have activities that don't show the grammar structures. the students pretty much figure the stuff out themselves, identify the structure and then goes on to use it.

His books sometimes have the grammar box at the back of the book, so it IS there is needed but its not in your face, as such.

[Enchilada Potosina]

[Isla Guapa]

[gregd75]

you are right! I'm still studying and I think I have a little bit of dyslexia.

Why did they make the word so difficult for people with learning difficulties?

[mejms]

[Isla Guapa]

I think a mixture of the two ways is useful. It depends on what kind of students you have. The older they are, the more useful introductory grammar explanations can be to help them get started. Children, of course, can usually jump right in and start using the language without a lot of grammar falderol!

[mejms]

[Isla Guapa]

I understand being weary of presenting grammar in depth to your classes, but I still think it's useful for students to understand the structure underlying the English they're attempting to use. I tend to use examples more than technical descriptions when explaining a new point of grammar, which is why I (and my students) like the Murphy books.

[mejms]

[Isla Guapa]

I'm old enough to have been in school in the US when we were still taught the grammar of our own language. I remember diagramming sentences in English class, which was challenging fun for me! This helped me a lot when I started studying Spanish in high school because I already knew all about parts of speech and how sentences were constructed in English. Of course, I learned even more about English grammar while learning Spanish. When I taught Spanish as a TA in graduate school, several of my better students complained that they had never been taught English grammar in high school and were very happy to learn it while studying Spanish! Of course, apart from intellectual curiosity, the point of learning grammar of any language is being able to use it to communicate with it. The Ingl�s sin Barreras test you mention sounds utterly useless to me, but it reflects the way Mexicans have traditionally been taught foreign languages.