Teaching Grammar Communicatively

1. Teaching Grammar Communicatively Marla Yoshida http://teachesl.pbworks.com  Teaching Grammar

2. Review: What does CLT mean? In CLT, we teach lessons that are ______. a. student-centered. b. teacher-centered.

3. In a CLT lesson, the teacher should ______. • create opportunities for students to use English activelyto express their own ideas. • create context for language use—put language into situations where it might be used. • use scaffolding techniques—actions, gestures, pictures, etc.—to help students understand. • not worry too much if students sometimes make mistakes, as long as they’re learning. • all of the above.

4. Doesn’t CLT mean that we shouldn’t teach grammar? • No! Grammar and CLT can go hand-in-hand. We can teach grammar effectively using a common-sense communicative framework.

5. Input Output How do students learn grammar? They need: Explanations Demonstrations Examples Practice: Quantity Quality

6. To teach grammar well, we have to: • Get students to notice and understand the new grammar and how it works. (Input) • Give students lots of high-quality practice until they can use the grammar well. (Output).

7. Teaching grammar is like teaching someone to play tennis. • It’s not enough to learn the rules. • It’s not enough to watch how-to videos. • It’s not enough to practice hitting the ball against a wall. • You have to really play the game, even if you make lots of mistakes at first.

8. Practice step by step. Your students’ first tennis game should not be against this opponent….

9. An effective sequence for teaching grammar:

10. 1. Introducing a new grammar point: You can do it in English! • When you explain grammar in English, it should not be just a translation of what you would say in your native language. • Use less metalanguage. • Show, don’t just tell.

11. Don’t explain too much at one time. Cognitive overload! L

12. A good motto for introducing grammar:

13. Some ways to introduce grammar… • Explain the rule simply, clearly, and briefly. • Listen and do, act it out, mime, show the meaning. If you can’t do something easily in class, use pictures or videos. • Use dialogs, tell stories, or talk about an imaginary situation.

14. Explain: Yes/no questions, present tense English If the verb is “be”: Find the subject and verb. Switch. ? fun . Is is Subject Verb Deductive: Rule  Examples

15. Practice: Yes/no questions, present tense Make yes/no questions: • Candy is sweet. • Dogs are intelligent. • We are brilliant.

16. Explain: Yes/no questions, present tense If the verb is “be,” how do we make questions? • Candy is sweet.  Is candy sweet? • Dogs are intelligent.  Are dogs intelligent? • We are brilliant.  Are we brilliant? Inductive: Examples  Rule

17. Listen and do, act it out, or mime.LinguamLatinamstudemus.

18. Dialogs and stories A: I’m so hungry! And it’s only 10:00. B: Why are you so hungry? What did you have for breakfast? A: Nothing. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. B: Oh, you should have eaten breakfast. Why didn’t you? A: I didn’t have time! I got up too late. B: Well, you should have gotten up earlier. Why didn’t you? A: My alarm clock is broken. B: You should have used your cell phone to wake you up. A: But I lost my cell phone yesterday. B: Oh no! You shouldn’t have lost it. What happened? A: I set it on the table at In-N-Out, and I forgot it. B: You shouldn’t have left it there! A: Yes, I know. I should have done a lot of things, but it’s too late now.

19. Dialogs and stories A: I’m so hungry! And it’s only 10:00. B: Why are you so hungry? What did you have for breakfast? A: Nothing. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. B: Oh, you should have eaten breakfast. Why didn’t you? A: I didn’t have time! I got up too late. B: Well, you should have gotten up earlier. Why didn’t you? A: My alarm clock is broken. B: You should have used your cell phone to wake you up. A: But I lost my cell phone yesterday. B: Oh no! You shouldn’t have lost it. What happened? A: I forgot it at In-N-Out, and when I came back, it was gone. B: You shouldn’t have left it there! A: Yes, I know. I should have done a lot of things, but it’s too late now.

20. Use realia and pictures

21. A good grammar lesson is like a good meal. • Before you cook a meal for guests, you have to do a lot of preparation. • When it’s time to eat, the guests smell the delicious food. They’re interested. What’s for dinner? • We need to keep the parts of the meal in good proportion.

22. A good grammar lesson is like a good meal.

23. What if the parts are not in good proportion? (If you eat too many chips, you won’t have room for your real meal—and you might still eat a lot of dessert!)

24. Practicing the new grammar • Use plenty of practice activities! • Emphasize productive practice. (Students produce language on their own, they don’t just listen to a lecture.) • Create context. Make the language come alive!

26. Guessing and problem solving With a partner, look at two objects. Guess what we use these things for. Write sentences like this: I think we use it for __________ing.

27. Imagine that your students are about to study comparative adjectives for the first time. (Bill is older than Tom. Kittens are cuter than spiders.) Brainstorm about how you could introduce and practice the use of these forms.

28. Questions?

29. Some ways to practice grammar Group guided practice as a class: • Questions and answers …between teacher and students …between students and students • Instructions using the grammar point • Descriptions using the grammar point • Chain questions

30. Some ways to practice grammar Guided practice (very simple at first): • Fill-in-the-blank exercises • Change sentences from one form to another • Other very simple exercises—spoken or written

31. Some ways to practice grammar Guided practice (becoming more challenging): • Questions & answers about objects • Writing sentences about pictures • Changing a model dialog to fit students’ chosen meaning • Information gaps or jigsaws • Other activities requiring more thought

32. Some ways to practice grammar Independent practice: • Role plays • Telling about pictures, other visual prompts • Writing stories, dialogs, poems, etc. • Discussions • Problem solving • Sequencing, ranking, classifying

33. Some ways to practice grammar Independent practice: • Creating games and puzzles for classmates to try • Other activities requiring creative, independent language use • Games that provide good, solid language practice

34. LinguamLatinam studemus. Ambulo. Ambulamus. Puellaambulat. Puerambulat. Non ambulo. Pila non ambulat. pila puellapuer Puellapilamiactat. Puerpilamiactat. Pilamiacto. Pilamiactamus. ambuloiacto, iactarecapto, captareportostudeo, studere ad puellam ad puerumdiscipulus/-um discipula/-am