Teaching Grammar Communicatively

Marla Yoshida

http://teachesl.pbworks.com Teaching Grammar

Review: What does CLT mean?

In CLT, we teach lessons that are ______.

a. student-centered.

b. teacher-centered.

In a CLT lesson, the teacher should ______.

a. create opportunities for students to use English actively to express their own ideas.

b. create context for language use—put language into situations where it might be used.

c. use scaffolding techniques—actions, gestures, pictures, etc.—to help students understand.

d. not worry too much if students sometimes make mistakes, as long as they’re learning.

e. all of the above.

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.

How do students learn grammar? They need:

Input

Output Explanations

DemonstrationsExamples

Practice:QuantityQuality

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).

Teaching grammar is like teaching someone to play tennis.

• It’s not enough to learn the rules.

• You have to really play the game, even if you make lots of mistakes at first.

• It’s not enough to watch how-to videos.• It’s not enough to practice hitting the ball

against a wall.

Practice step by step.

Your students’ first tennis game should not be against this opponent….

An effective sequence for teaching grammar:

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.

Don’t explain too much at one time.

Cognitive overload!

L

A good motto for introducing grammar:

When you introduce grammar in English…

• Don’t just translate what you would have said if you were explaining in your own language.

• Simplify. Show, don’t just tell.

Many ways to introduce grammar…

• Explain the rule simply, clearly, and briefly.

• Listen and do, act it out, mime, show the meaning.

• Use dialogs, tell stories, or talk about an imaginary situation.

• Use pictures or real objects to demonstrate.

Explain: Yes/no questions, present tense

English

If the verb is “be”:

Find the subject and verb. Switch.

Subject Verb

is fun .Is ?

Deductive: Rule Examples

Practice: Yes/no questions, present tense

Make yes/no questions:

• Candy is sweet.

• Dogs are intelligent.

• We are brilliant.

Explain: Yes/no questions, present tense

Inductive: Examples Rule

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?

• I am tired. Am I tired?

Linguam Latinam studemus.

pila

puella puer

Ambulo. Ambulamus. Puella ambulat. Puer ambulat. Non ambulo.Pila non ambulat.

Puella pilam iactat. Puer pilam iactat. Pilam iacto.Pilam iactamus.

ambulo iacto, iactare capto, captare porto studeo, studere ad puellam ad puerum discipulus/-um discipula/-am

Dialogs and storiesA: 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! 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.

Dialogs and storiesA: 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! 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.

Using realia and pictures

• I’m giving you the ball.

• She’s giving him the ball.

• He’s giving her the ball.

• Give me the ball.

• Give him the ball.

• Give her the ball.

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 the use of these forms without speaking the students’ native language.

Questions?