Good Morning!
I have this work to present at college, through which I have to show my classmates a pleasant and effective way of teaching grammar using texts. I've already thought of some strategies, but I would really love to hear from you.
My subject is the Simple Present tense.
Thanks!
Milena
Teaching grammar with texts
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
good morning :)
Thanks for your attention, Siân 
Actually I've chosen a small dialogue from a brazilian english book. It is funny and easy to understand. Since I'm not going to work with translation, I preferred to choose this kind of text - the students can understand the context, even if they don't recognize a few words. This class would be for beginners.
Well, after the reading I would help them figure out why and when whe use this given tense, in which situations the author used it and with what intentions. Then I'd like to make the students think it over and try to figure out by themselves how the grammatical structure of the simple present works and have a big discussion, let them share their opinions, ask them how they got to think this one way, or another... Only then I'd take everything they found out and use it to explain this subject. I believe this way they would be more interested, because they would be just like researchers trying to confirm their theories.
What do you think?
Milena
Actually I've chosen a small dialogue from a brazilian english book. It is funny and easy to understand. Since I'm not going to work with translation, I preferred to choose this kind of text - the students can understand the context, even if they don't recognize a few words. This class would be for beginners.
Well, after the reading I would help them figure out why and when whe use this given tense, in which situations the author used it and with what intentions. Then I'd like to make the students think it over and try to figure out by themselves how the grammatical structure of the simple present works and have a big discussion, let them share their opinions, ask them how they got to think this one way, or another... Only then I'd take everything they found out and use it to explain this subject. I believe this way they would be more interested, because they would be just like researchers trying to confirm their theories.
What do you think?
Milena
Dear Milena,
a very suitable approach, congratulations to your imaginative approach! It is the way the authors of NEW CONCEPT ENGLISH had in mind when they wrote that series some 30-odd years ago. Few books have tried the same, but I find that it still works very well - if one follows one's plan scrupulously.
Don't forget that your students may understand the reason why the simple present tense is the right one on this particular occasion; make sure they don't forget in the future. Repeat this procedure after a month or two, with a different text!
a very suitable approach, congratulations to your imaginative approach! It is the way the authors of NEW CONCEPT ENGLISH had in mind when they wrote that series some 30-odd years ago. Few books have tried the same, but I find that it still works very well - if one follows one's plan scrupulously.
Don't forget that your students may understand the reason why the simple present tense is the right one on this particular occasion; make sure they don't forget in the future. Repeat this procedure after a month or two, with a different text!
thanks
Thank you very much for your help and support, Siân and Roger
To tell you the truth, I had never heard of this New Concept
English series... I'll see if I can find some information
on this round here and try to check these books out...
Actually, I would really appreciate if you could recommend me
some books... I'm really interested in reading about linguistics
and how to teach English focusing on communication. And I'd like to
find some good grammar books too (those would be for my own studies).
My boyfriend is in the US and he's gonna be there till March, so
that's a great opportunity to find good English material
Best Regards!
Milena
To tell you the truth, I had never heard of this New Concept
English series... I'll see if I can find some information
on this round here and try to check these books out...
Actually, I would really appreciate if you could recommend me
some books... I'm really interested in reading about linguistics
and how to teach English focusing on communication. And I'd like to
find some good grammar books too (those would be for my own studies).
My boyfriend is in the US and he's gonna be there till March, so
that's a great opportunity to find good English material
Best Regards!
Milena
A noble enterprise! Grammar these days is being terribly neglected as new-fangled teaching concepts are taking hold that stress communicative teaching instead of "lectures" on grammar and such like. However, even mother-tongue speakers must study grammar, so there is no valid excuse for dropping grammar from our curricula!
Students should be exposed to well-defined grammar structures that are the obligatory forms in given situations; how can we recreate such situations without lessons becoming repetitive?
Eventually students recognise the patterns. Then it is time for them to learn how to identify them. After that they can move on to another grammar structure.
This is how NEW CONCEPT works, but I am afraid this series may or may not be out of print in your part of the world. In China, it is being printed locally. I suggest you try a google search for LONGMAN group (UK), to see if they can ship books to you or name a shop that stocks them.
As for grammar reference works, I am limited to what I can buy locally (and to some extent, to what Hong Kong bookstores offer). I have:
- OXFORD POCKET ENGLISH GRAMMAR A.J. Thomson & A.V. Martinet
This book is organised around word categories, and gives a fairly
extensive rundown of their various grammatical functions. A total
beginner might find it difficult to handle it as some basic knowledge
is required such as terminology (nou8ns, adjectives, adverbs, posses-
sives, relative pronouns, etc.!). It also has some easy and helpful
exercises, and overall, it's an ideal pocket book.
- FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR (two tomes) Betty Schrampfer-
Azar; PRentice Hall, REgents, USA;
similar to the above, but organised less as a reference book but as an
exercises book instead.
For a mother tongue speaker, the downside is, I suppose, that you do
not need to do those exercises - you need the terminology and the
reasoning (explanations). However, if you are still a grammar "virgin",
you may pick up valuable insights in the problems students face in
acquiring a grasp on English structures.
There are other good reference books - try Cambridge, Oxford etc.
Students should be exposed to well-defined grammar structures that are the obligatory forms in given situations; how can we recreate such situations without lessons becoming repetitive?
Eventually students recognise the patterns. Then it is time for them to learn how to identify them. After that they can move on to another grammar structure.
This is how NEW CONCEPT works, but I am afraid this series may or may not be out of print in your part of the world. In China, it is being printed locally. I suggest you try a google search for LONGMAN group (UK), to see if they can ship books to you or name a shop that stocks them.
As for grammar reference works, I am limited to what I can buy locally (and to some extent, to what Hong Kong bookstores offer). I have:
- OXFORD POCKET ENGLISH GRAMMAR A.J. Thomson & A.V. Martinet
This book is organised around word categories, and gives a fairly
extensive rundown of their various grammatical functions. A total
beginner might find it difficult to handle it as some basic knowledge
is required such as terminology (nou8ns, adjectives, adverbs, posses-
sives, relative pronouns, etc.!). It also has some easy and helpful
exercises, and overall, it's an ideal pocket book.
- FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR (two tomes) Betty Schrampfer-
Azar; PRentice Hall, REgents, USA;
similar to the above, but organised less as a reference book but as an
exercises book instead.
For a mother tongue speaker, the downside is, I suppose, that you do
not need to do those exercises - you need the terminology and the
reasoning (explanations). However, if you are still a grammar "virgin",
you may pick up valuable insights in the problems students face in
acquiring a grasp on English structures.
There are other good reference books - try Cambridge, Oxford etc.
thank you!
Celeste and Roger!
Sorry I didn't get to say thank you before... Wow, it's been almost one month away
I missed it here.
I agree with you, Roger: Grammar can't be neglected. I teach at an english school that uses this method of communicative teaching. It's really nice, but the best thing is that they recognize grammar is very important too. I'm really enjoying this new job. But I'm still trying to get used to this idea that the classes have to be in english ONLY. I try to do this. But I'm extremely worried about the students. Sometimes you can easily see in their eyes that they're not getting the point, no matter how many different ways you use to explain it. So I use Portuguese sometimes. I feel like a freaking sinner
lol! But I don't use portuguese to translate isolated words, for example. It's just that I need to use it sometimes to explain certain grammatical structures. I think it's inevitable when you teach beginners. Oh, well. Maybe not. I'll work on that.
Thanks again for all the suggestions! Roger, these Fundamental of English Grammar books are the ones with which I study English at college here. They're really good!
Until later
Milena
Sorry I didn't get to say thank you before... Wow, it's been almost one month away
I missed it here. I agree with you, Roger: Grammar can't be neglected. I teach at an english school that uses this method of communicative teaching. It's really nice, but the best thing is that they recognize grammar is very important too. I'm really enjoying this new job. But I'm still trying to get used to this idea that the classes have to be in english ONLY. I try to do this. But I'm extremely worried about the students. Sometimes you can easily see in their eyes that they're not getting the point, no matter how many different ways you use to explain it. So I use Portuguese sometimes. I feel like a freaking sinner
lol! But I don't use portuguese to translate isolated words, for example. It's just that I need to use it sometimes to explain certain grammatical structures. I think it's inevitable when you teach beginners. Oh, well. Maybe not. I'll work on that.Thanks again for all the suggestions! Roger, these Fundamental of English Grammar books are the ones with which I study English at college here. They're really good!
Until later
Milena