Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi all
so i'll give you a little background information first and would really like some advice from other teachers.
I've been an EFL teacher for over a year now.
i teach a variety of ages from 5 to 50.
I have a problem with one thing in particular. I'll try to explain this the best way i can. I'm pretty self-critical but often i leave my classroom feeling a little deflated due to this one thing.

i mainly teach intensive courses grades 2 and 3 in portugal ( so beginner and pre -int)
about me and the way i teach:
i believe in a happy , chatty classroom- if my students aren't happy i'm not happy. I encourage discussions in a light hearted way and participate in these discussions but with prompts/ideas as opposed to teacher talking time.
I am using a book designed for intensives and i normally follow this book and pad it out when necessary.
My lessons are based around both receptive and productive skills:
always use warmers, always follow pair and class feedback protocols , always encourage students to use target language and interact and only correct errors when emphasis is on accuracy. i'm a very personable person and although i participate in my some discussions (as said by prompting) i prefer to be quiet and let my students do the talking and be there to monitor and assist.

my main problem is...
after introducing the context of the lesson, following a reading/speaking/ exercise .. is going through the grammar... the students are lively , chatty, intrigued, interested until the grammar points.
i point it out to the students in the book- there is normally an example of the positive,negative, question form of the grammar being used, along with the meaning/use of the grammar.. the book asks students to identify the rules ..but i prefer to put this all on the board from the book and try to elicit form and meaning from the students.... it doesn't always work out in my opinion.. sometimes no one wants to say anything... sometimes,,, one person answers my question... i feel like i'm asking too much of them but to go through the grammar is not going to help them as they aren't thinking for themselves. i give clear examples on the board, ask a few questions to ensure they have understood form and meaning and work a little on pron and follow with a practice and speaking activity.. during this time when i present the grammar ( which i do in a few words in around 3 minutes) i often get yawns, blank stares and silence.

what is an alternative to this! is this normal???
i feel like i'm doing something wrong but i don't know what! I don't talk too much, i don't talk to little, i check they understand without saying ' do you understand', i only focus on the grammar being dealt with and don't digress :-/


any advice would be much appreciated!
thank you

You said, "the book asks students to identify the rules ..but i prefer to put this all on the board from the book and try to elicit form and meaning from the students...." I'm not sure what you put on the board and when, but I know I always had better luck when I tried to involve the students too. One thing you can do is put something on the board that is wrong and have them correct it. I would play around and ask them if things were correct. I could take things they already knew and build on it. I think it's good to elicit the grammar from the students if you can. Do you ask them to read it first before class? If so, it might be more possible to have them follow what you do on the board. I wouldn't copy the whole thing that was in the book on the board unless I was eliciting it from students.

It's kind of hard to explain here, but for example, I might put "Did he watched TV yesterday? on the board and ask them if it was correct. Then I would ask what was wrong, and I would erase the "ed".

Hello,
grammar is not very popular among students. I would put it on the board as well, but if it doesn't work, you do need to try something else:
- ask one or two students to study the grammar point before the lesson and let them explain it to the class for you - you just correct them if necessary
- ask them to use the new grammar before explaining it, so they make mistakes and you can correct them and draw their attention to the fact they actually need this structure in order to communicate
- you can cut the sample sentences into words, mix them and ask the students to arrange them in the correct
- depending on their age, they can sing the grammar explanation (a bit silly, but would work with some younger classes)
- have an auction - prepare a list of sentences withing the grammar you want to teach, some correct, some not. Write them on the board/make a worksheet. Divide the ss into groups. Each group gets a limited amount of "money." Then they compete to get the sentences they think are correct ones. The sentence goes to the highest bid. Then you tell them which sentences are correct. Each correct sentence bought by a group is worth a point. The highest score wins the day. then you explain why the correct ones are correct and the others are not.
And more, but one of these should do. Ideally, you would use different method now and then, so the kept their motivation.
Good luck!
Martin, www.liveteflprague.com