Profesor Grama Irina Cătălina,Colegiul Tehnic
,,Petru Poni,, Roman,2024
Grammar teaching has been regarded as a structure based formal activity. Teacher must follow a good method for effective teaching to take place, and in deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher needs to consider students’ learning goals, and background knowledge. Teachers are conscious that students learn in various ways, but almost all respond well if praised. Students have different ways of getting information and proving their knowledge. Different methods and strategies are employed to provide that all students have equal chances to learn. Visual learning is among the best methods for teaching all ages students how to think and learn, because it helps students to connect prior knowledge with new concepts, make abstract ideas visible and concrete, focus thoughts and ideas, leading to understanding and interpretation[1].
The literature in the field mentions the
following as useful activities for teaching grammar lessons:
a) Presenting grammar using graphs and
charts
Visual
learning is a method in which concepts, ideas, data and other information are
associated with images and represented graphically.
Graphs and charts are techniques used in
visual learning to enhance thinking and learning skills[2].
Visual learning helps students
clarify thoughts (students see how ideas are connected and realize how
information can be organized), organize and analyze information (students can
use diagrams to display large amounts of information such that are easy to
understand), integrate new knowledge (students remember information better when
it is represented both visually and verbally) and think critically (visual
information helps students make connections, understand relationships).
b) Explaining grammar by using objects
With the use of objects, the lessons
become more interactive. It is quite simple to teach grammar using objects,
although it sounds complex. A concrete presentation provides a foolproof understanding
of grammar concepts, ideas and rules, with the condition that clarity and
simplicity must be ensured. Objects provide an entry point into the subject
that allow student to anchor his understanding of new grammar terms to concrete
entities. For example, to teach the possessive to beginners, the teacher needs
to bring in things like: watch, earrings and then ask students to put one or
more of their own things on their desk and after this, do something like the
following:
1.Talk about possessions
This
is my watch.
or
That
is Irina’s earrings.
2.Work with a group, asking questions about
things in the classroom
Excuse
me. Are these your earrings?
Yes,
they are. Thank you!
or
Excuse
me. Is this your watch?
No,
it is Paul’s. Thank you!
3.Match
the people with the things
1. Irina a. watch
2. Paul b. earrings
c) Teaching grammar through dialogues
The three stages of learning dialogue, whereof
teacher must be sure that all his students go through all of them, are:
v
receptive: students receive the dialogue first
by ear; they listen to the dialogue reproduced by the teacher, who helps them
in its understanding by using pictures to illustrate its contents and after
this, they listen to the dialogue for the second time and then read it silently
for better comprehension, giving attention to the intonation.
v
reproductive : students act the pattern
dialogue; the use of pictures may be helpful; students use their own experience
while selecting the words for substitutions.
v
constructive or creative: students concoct
dialogues of their own when they are given a verbal situation or a picture to
talk about.
An example[3] is the following: teacher
introduces the grammatical point, explains and gives examples; he reads the
conversation, answer any questions students have about vocabulary and
structures, introduces the new words, asks the students to close their books
and ask them about the conversation, and finally, solicits several pairs of
students to present their conversation to the class.
Complete
the interview with have to or do not have to, can or can not
Interviewer: Mike, your new song is a big hit. How do you
feel?
Mike:
I feel tired.
Interviewer: Excuse me?
Mike:
I feel tired because I do not like to be
famous. It is tedious. I ……………… go to concerts, I ………………. sign autographs.
d) Teaching
grammar using games
Often,
games are used as warm-up activities or at the end of the lesson, when there is
some time left. Games entertain, teach, encourage and promote fluency and they
should be used because they help students to see the beauty of a foreign
language and not just the problems. Rixon[4] suggested that games should
be used at all stages of the lesson on condition that they are appropriate and
meticulously selected. Games motivate students and promote communicative
competence. From the advantages of using games we recall:
v
Games are motivating and challenging;
v
Games are a welcome break from the usual
routine of the class.
v
Games help students to make and sustain the
effort required by learning a language.
v
Games provide language practice in all the
skills (speaking, writing, listening and reading).
v
Games encourage students to interact and
communicate.
Students remember things better in
the relaxed atmosphere created by using games.
An example of game is Prepositional chain drill[5]
Grammar:
Prepositions of place
Level:
Beginner to intermediate
Time:
10 minutes
Materials:
None
v
Review prepositions of place.
v
Take a small object, such as a pencil, and do
something with it (put the pencil on the desk), then describe the action (I put
the pencil on the desk).
v
Give the pencil to a student and ask him: What
did I do with the pencil?
v
The student answers and then does something
different with the pencil.
v
The student passes the pencil to the next
student and asks: What did I do with the pencil? and so on.
v
This activity continues until no one can do
something different with the pencil that can be described using a preposition
of place.
Note: The teacher can write on the
blackboard the prepositions that have been used, in order to help students.
e) Teaching grammar using songs
Because
people listen to music for pleasure, music motivates and songs can be designed
to provide a motivating alternative focus on various points of English grammar.
Songs provide a large variety in a lesson, which is very important for younger students because they often have very little internal motivation for entering a
language classroom. Songs incorporate both reading and listening skills. It is
up to the teacher to create the purpose for listening.
The teacher can easily use songs to
teach grammar. Songs are precious resources to develop students’ abilities to
listening, speaking, reading and writing, and can be also used to teach
vocabulary, pronunciation, adjectives, and adverbs. While selecting a song, the
teacher should take into consideration[6] the age, the
interests of the students and the language used.In order to enhance student commitment, the teacher should let students to select the songs.
Since
there is not a strict teaching procedure, the teacher can concentrate on what
to teach rather than on how to teach. For instance, if the teacher wants to
teach students individual letter sounds or spelling the words, the song Bingo will be useful, or if he wants to
teach them counting he can use One little
finger (for primary students). In order to make the songs more meaningful
and enjoyable, motions can be added to the song. For teenagers, it is better to
use more meaningful songs, which do not only introduce or review grammar points
but they also reflect cultural aspects.
Songs
should be presented in listening lesson, because they are listening activities,
but teachers should not forget that integrating the four skills they will
achieve successful teaching[7]. As
an effect, the usage of songs in provides many advantages: they relax and entertain
the students while they are
learning a structure, and often eliminate the students’ negative attitude
against learning.
[1]
Richards, J. C., Methodology in Language Teaching,
[2]
Azar, B. S., Fundamentals of English
Grammar, Third Edition, Longman,
[3]
Kealey, J., Inness, D., Grammar – Focused
Interactive ESL/EFL Activities and Games, Prolingua Associates,
[4]
Rixon, S., How to Use Games in Language
Teaching, Macmillan Publishers Ltd,
[5]
Myles, J., Timesavers. Plays, Scholastic Inc.,
[6]
Billows, F. L., The Techniques of
Language Teaching, Longman,
[7]
Lightbown, P., Spada, N., How languages
are learned,
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