Teaching Language Components TEACHING GRAMMAR I, INTRODUCTION 1,1 What is grammar? Grammar describes how we combine, organize and change words and parts of words to make meaning. We use rules for this description, = Grammar rules also describe grammatical structures, ic. the arrangement of words into patterns which have meaning. The rules for grammatical structures use grammatical terms to describe forms and uses, ‘Form’ refers to the specific grammatical parts that make up the structure and the order they occur in, ‘Use? refers to the meaning that the structure is used to express. 1.2 The importance of structures: We can use one structure to make many different sentences; so if students lear the main structures of English, it will help them greatly to speak and to write the language. 1.3 Structures and examples Look at this sentence on the board: I'd like to visit Paris. Identify the structure in the sentence, and underline it. “Thisis one example ofa structure. Other examples are written i the form of a table, ‘climb Mount Everest. earn more money. 10 home. Tid like to I, WAYS OF SHOWING THE MEANING OF NEW STRUCTURES When we present a structure, it is important to: oe _ show what the structure means and how it is used, by giving examples; = show clearly how the structure is formed, so that students can use it to make sentences of their own. 11.1 Showing meaning visually The simplest and clearest way to present a structure is often to show it directly, using things the students can see: objects, the classroom, yourself, the students themselves, pictures. Now look at a technique for presenting the structure "too ... (adjective) ... to T: [point to the ceiling] What's that? Ss: The ceiling, 26 Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components T: [reach up and try to touch it] Look—Imtryit it T fen trying fo touch it. Car Itouch it? TT: No, | cant. Because i's too high. I's foo high to touch. Too hi li o LT i (say this sentence again in the cinder oe Tanguage) sta geaey onesie Here is the second demonstration, to show how you ; could present using a blackboard drawing. Draw this on the boerd, aM rom tao + Look a this, sit ight or heavy? Ss: Heavy, i T: Yes, i's heavy. How heavy sit? Ss: Aburxred kos. + That's right I's vey heavy. Could youtit it? Ss: No. ‘T; No. of course you couidt. Is foo heavy. Is too heavy to lit, IL. 2 Showing meaning through a situation It is not always possible to show the meaning ofa structure visually, using what is in the class, Another way of showing meaning is to think of a situation from outside the class, in which the structure could naturally be used. The situation can be real or imaginary. imaginary situation to present a more 1. This is a demonstration of how to use an -ing' advanced structure: ‘There's no point in with a friend. You're going'to visit your uncle, wino {go by bus’, What will you say? Yes or T: Listen, Imagine you are lives quite near. Your friend says, Let's no? Ss: No. T: Why? Sez Because he lives near. Yes, he lives nearby. So you might say, We can walk there in 15 minutes. There's no point in going by bus’. There's no point in doing it. No point, (say this again in the students own language) There's no point in going by bus. 2. Continue your demonstration by giving other examples: u want to read a book. But | know it isn't a good book. I might say to you, ‘Don’t read that book. There's no point in reading it - it n't at all interesting. Another example: You have a bicycle, and you are going to clean it, But { know the weather is going to turn bad, so it would get dirty again, What could | say? There’. .. Yes? Ss: There's no point in cleaning the bicycle. ee nn 27 T: Here's another example. Yo Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language components T: Very good. 3. Comments on the demonstrations: . E ~ By giving several different examples, the teacher helps the class to build up a clear idea ‘of what the structure means and how itis used. pats ofa giving afew examples the teacher can jus the situation and try to get the students to give the example, ‘This checks how ‘well the students have understood, and also helps to involve the class more. II. 3 Showing form ed and what it means, itis also important ‘As well as making it clear how a structure is us fe chow clearly how it s formed. There are two basic waYS of doing this: By giving o clear model and asking students to Tisten and repeat two or three times, for example ‘Ts Listen: I's too heayy tli. ts oo] Ss; It's too heavy toi. ‘The aim of doing this is just to give stodents the ‘ee of the structure, and especially to wo hor familie withthe way it sounds, t should no} be continued for too Jong - @ Frarsepettions by the whole class, perhaps followed by one or two repetitions by individual students. “By writing the structre clearly on the board: Say ¢ ‘underline the fixed! part of the structure: Its ton hearty bo Uf. gt the students to tll you what fo write, Get students fo Prompt them with questions: ‘Whats the fist word? And f involving the class and focusing their attention on the heavy tolif. (gesture for repetition) the words as you write them, and ‘An alternative technique is to ‘dictate’ it to you and write it. ( then?’ This has the advantage o structure, JL. 4 Steps for presenting a structure {) Draw the pictures and give the example. ji) Give a model and ask the class fo repeal. ii) Ask individual students to repeat the sentence. |v) Write the-sentence on the board. v) Explain how the structure is formed. vi) Ask the class to copy the sentence. vil) Give other situations and examples. t i Note Many edgy oad wake ho aide oh he Weed ee Ghncs to say it. Many of th “tie str onthe band bore asking the yy it. Many 1e Stages could be left out, It would be imports ire Se bene 3 important fo give the Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language Compone ce tee a EY een situation and example (whic (although the class could board would also be imporist, ask students to copy it - this we ures), and to give a clear model ing). Writing the sentence on the essary to explain the structure or ‘ On the type of class. Here is a demonstration of how the main stages might appear in practice, Situation and example to show meaning T: (drawing picture) Lock, $22 his worren. Whats she ding? Ss: Waiting fora bus. T: Yes, Look is four clock. She's just started waiting (drawing second picture) Whats the time now? Ss: Five oclock. T; Yes - and look, the bus is corring, But the woman's becn wating for along time, How long? Can youtell re? Ss: One hour.- T: That’ right. She's been waiting for an hour. Model the structure T: Listen. She's been waiting for an hour, Let's say it together. For an hour, Ss: For an hour. T: She's been waiting for en hour. Ss; She's been waiting for an hour. Model the example on the board T: Now; let's wite it, Who can tell me? (write ‘She's) She's... What comes next? Ss: Waiting. T;, Notyet - before that. Ss: Been, T: Good, (write ‘been’) Now- what next? Ss: Waiting. T: That's ight, (write ‘waiting’) And then? Ss: Foran hour. : T: Good. (write for an hour", and underline the structure) Other examples ; ; - is ther He arrived at TT: (draw another person, @ man and a clock) Lock - here's anlier person three oclock. What can we say about hint? He's been - Ss: He's been waiting for two hours. (and so on) 29 Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components ten, examples and situations given in textbooks are not clear ‘enough or sufficiently close to the students interests. Ts easy for Teachers to find their own examples which ‘vill mean more to the class and be more interesting, “Teachers ean vse the situations and examples given inthe textbook, bi present them in their own way, before asking stadents fo read them in their books. The class will be sanre involved if they are watching and listening to the teacher Joking at the blackboard, and answering questions, than if they have their ‘heads down’ in the textbook. III. PRACTISING STRUCTURES Controlled practice 1. Mechanical Practice _ A drill where there is complete control of the responses students produce the correct form. not using the stricture to express meaning MD should be drilled ata rapid pace with books closed; purpose: “Drills like these are useful only if done for & short time (a few minutes) as the first ‘tage of practice, just 10 help students o ‘get their tongue roune’ a new structure, This Tart cr practice i of limited valu for thre reasons tis completely mechanical, Studen's CH easily do the practice with their minds “switched off - in other words thinking 20% omething completely different while they vrroing it. Because its s0 easy 10d0si8 8 also easy to forget. er cannot be sure that the students understand what the words mean. Its er ca alls like these without knowing ‘what you are saying. remorise the pattem. = The teach quite possibl Some commonly-used kinds ‘of mechanical drills: Repetition ‘qT; Let's play football Ss: Let's play football. Te Let’ s go swimming. t's go swimming, ct Substitution Fe You want to play football. ss: Let's play football. Tr You want to go swimming ge: Let's go swimming. Single word prompts: ‘T; cinema gs: Let's go to the cinema, T: football 5: Let's play football. a TriF Section 30 Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components Picture Prompts Free substitution Students make up their own sentences, e.g.: Let's go fishing, Comments: ~The easiest way to practise the structure would be to do a repetition drill: the teacher gives other examples and gets the class to repeat them. This might be useful as a first step -only, just to make students familiar with the structure (although this has already been done in the presentation). It is a very /mifed form of practice - the students have to do almost nothing. = It would be more useful to use one of the other techniques, which are all different kinds | of substitution practice: the teacher gives prompts, and gets the students to give the | examples. This would keep the class more active, and give students practice in forming the structure themselves. (Point out that the prompts can be a whole sentence, a phrase or word, or a picture.) = The aim at this stage of the lesson is simply to give students practice in forming or ‘manipulating’ the structure, All the techniques shown are very controlled kinds of practice which would be done very quickly. All the techniques would not of course ‘be used together, but a teacher might use a combination of them. Give a demonstration to show how this might be done. (Teachers should imagine that you have just presented the structure.) T Now, can you make some more sentences? Listen. You want (o waich television, so you say, ‘Let's watch television. Now - you want to listen tothe recfo. Let. S: Let'lsten to the racko, *: Good, Again, : Le’slisten to the radio. *: Youwent to goto the river: Let's go to the river. + Good, (Indicating another student) Can you say i? : Lets goto the river. (and so on) aaesed aoe - Bt Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language components, “Ts Now I jstsayaword, and yousay he entenee AK? Television. S: Lets waldh television. T: Rado. S: Lets listen tothe radio. (and so on) (and so on) ‘With a large class (more than 30 students) thee AY two main ways to involve the whole Yassin the practice and give as many studenis 28 possible a chance to respond: - By getting responses from snaividual students (1 be sure thatthe resPons? is correct) sa then getting the whole class 1 repeat in chorus. By getting two or three students © espond in tum to each prompt (Oy saying '‘Agai sr amply pointing). This iso good way jf giving weaker students a chance to say something. es there would be less need {0 do chorus drilling, and students could ‘With smaller classé ee repetition is not an ideal way oF involving the respond individually. Note that ch ges the more chorus repetition sg. the more mechanical the practice Becomes: 2, Meaningful Practice 1 controt of response although it may. be correctly expressed in more than ne way and Less suitable for “val iling, Students eannot complete these arills sithout fully understanding 3 Suraly & semantically what is being said They express wGridents are now concentrating on ‘meaning rather on form, on an answer meaning, hich is true rather than correct: "Teacher, therefore, should insist on both form & content. ‘There are three possible ways ‘of making practice more meaningful: ‘There is still «By g4tting students fo say veal things about themselves. ‘2 Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components Tikes fe i Te. Anne likes tea But she doesnt Uke 7D, Say true sentences about yourself: Idontt like tea. a) coffee? b) pop music? ) cats? coffee. a) folk music / pop music b) watking/swimming ike tea. or What about: ) cats/cogs Exercise 1a procedure: Students make sentences from the prompts, e.g. Anne likes folk «= music but she doesn't lke pop music. Exercise 1! procedure: Students make true sentences, using either like’ orl don't like *Comment: 1a is completely mechanical — it can be done without thinking or understanding, e.g. what pop music is. It is also quite meaningless, and so very uninteresting to do. ~ By giving situations which imply the structure, but leave the students to decide exactly what f0 say. 92 2a. You are a stranger. Ask about places in the town. a cafe: Is there a cafe near here? 2, You are a stranger. Ask about | j places in the town. You want to see a film: Is thege.a cinema near here? a) You want to buy some fruit. B b) You want to post a letter ) You want to spend the night here. a) a grocer’s shop b) a cinema ) a fruit stall Exercise 2a procedure: Give the prompts orally - students respond with a question. Read out each situation; students give responses. More than ferent responses, ¢.8. Exercise 2b procedure: ‘one response is possible, so encourage students to think of di a) Is there a fruit stall /a shop /a market near here? b) is there a post office /a post box near here? ©) Is there a hotel /a youth hostel near here? Comment: 2a sounds natural and gives useful basic practice of the structure. But it is mechanical - students could ask the ‘questions correctly without any idea what they were asking, In 2b, students must understand the situations and must think about what to ask, 3 Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language Components so itis more meaningful, but also more dificult than 2a as students have to provide the ead ‘names of places themselves. ee By leting students add something of thelr OW" Ja "Where are you going?” ‘Tm going | 3b. ‘Where are you going?” to the station’ : ‘rm going to the station.” a) cinema pcs b) 00 is ‘pecouse (i want to buy a train ©) river ticket)’ ~ a) cinema \ b) 200 i ©) river ercise 3 procedure: Ask te question and Be © different prompt word each time, ogi Tr Where are you going? cinema $s, Tim going to the cinema. ercise 3b procedure: Ask the questions, srudonts answer and give gTeason, They OH Tat makes sense (@8, cinema Because thee ‘good film on; give eny reason they like Because E want ro see a film Because Te got nothing else fo do). always the same and to answer the student ‘nrevely fits the prompt into the semteno™ We 3p the exercise becomes meaningful berause dents have to add a reason, $0 they at understand what they are saying, Its also of course a freer exercise, 0 it could be done after 32. Comment; 3a is mechanical; the question is IV. FREE PRACTICE (Communicative Drills) omal speech for communication, fos rransfer of Teart language pattems 10 None tesitatons ain direct Bele eaningfl drill and free practice is in apo speaker ads new information #8 The real world. 1 Free practice gives students the chance 1 56 the structure to express their own ideas or Fae pace on experienc. Two kinds of piss ae ‘useful for free oral practice: _ We can get students to talk about real life (themselves, their friends, things in the world). or We can ask stents to imagine a situation which is not rel Ranarimant FIT Cortion 34 Scanned with CamScannera a. “Teaching Language Components Se ae 6 TROL Look at the following to c pics. The; structure "going to': i oi, ade rite i # and in the third, they imawine events be deen os sed on a picture, en ksbadene cf esata, + Whetare youghing to chat the weekend * Choosecne personin the dase Ine pet eat faily and fends? i tittvlay soon Evenene j preset Soy het preseriyeuere g3ing toghe, sy eee Imagine vr cachet the pecdlein the picture issingtodo Comments i) Activites like these can be done with gui Activites lik these canbe done With quite a low level class - students only have to activity very carefully, giving a few examples. ‘ith ‘going to’. It would be important to introduce the giving instructions in the students! own language and ii) With a large class, it may be necessa tivit : Fy to make the activity more high! organised, rather than done freely in groups. For example: 7 ne — The teacher could ask students in tum to give sentences, and then get students to ask each other. — The teacher could give a few minutes preparation time - students work alone or in pairs and think of sentences they could say. Then the teacher asks students to give their sentences. iii) The aim of the activity is to get students to talk as much as possible. So the teacher should try to ‘prompt’ rather than ask full questions (e.g. ‘What about you? ‘And you?', ‘Lucie, ask Francoise’): the less the teacher says, the more chance students have to speak. Let’s demonstrate this, e.g.: T: Marie, what are you going to give? ‘ S I'm going to give her a book - because she likes reading Christina, what about you? Tim going to give her flowers. Why? S: Because it's spring. T: Lucie, ask Francoise. ’ asi S Francoise, what are you going fo give: ; T: re to give her some money ~ then she can buy a present for herself. [and so on] V. ISSUES ABOUT HOW TO TEACH GRAMMAR soils ar be presented inductively or deductively? i ing that obtains or inducti Jn (the method of logical reasoning : ; Gana ince rece mt because: 1, Should gramm ant Tea dreamin Ta ES amont ~ ELT Section Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components + natural language acquisition (where rule is absorbed focus.) «it conforms more easily 1 the concept of inferlanguage development in which reamets progress through possible stages of rule acquisition. got a communicative feel for some aspect ical explanation. + itis more in keeping with subconsciously with little or no conscious + it allows students to s of language before getting overwhelmed by grammati ic motivation by allowing students fo discover rules rather * it builds more extri being told them. of course, when a deductive approach is indeed There may be occasional moments, tion is not always apparent. more appropriate. In practice, the distin 2. Should we use grammatical explanation and technical terminology in CLT classroom? In CLT classroom now, the use of grammatical x ust be approached with care, We teachers are sometim: hard -eamed metalinguistic knowledge that we forget th enough just getting the language itself thatthe added load of compl fe too muuch to bear. But clearly, adults can benefit from a bit of explainit planation and terminology es so eager to display our at our students are busy ex rules and terms ing from time to time. So: a, keep your explanations brief and simple. Use L1 if students can not follow an explanation in L2. possible to graphically depict b, use charts and other visual aids whenever grammnatical relationship. ‘biguous examples. c. illustrate with clear, unamt 4. try to account for varying cognitive styles among Your students. ©. do not get yourself tied up in “exception” to rules. f if you don't know how to explain something, go not risk giving false information. Rather, tell students you will fesearch that point and bring an answer back the next day. tical errors? specifically shows that overt grammatical ff any consequence in improving learner's 3. Should teachers correct grammat We have no research evidence that correction by teachers in classroom is 0 language. ‘But we do have evidence that various other forms of attention to and treatment of grammatical enors have aa impact on lamers, Therefor, iis prudent for you to engage in such treatment as long as you adhere to principles of ona ini communicative flow, of maximizing student self correction, and savaly considering the affective and linguistic place the learner isi and, eegeitively Scanned with CamScanner“Teaching Language Components VI. TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR 4, Encourage students to see patter Whenever the t load will be li pattem which x A eshor can gue Studenis fo the perception ofa pattem, the learning fer hand, if the student is taught that something is the <1 isnot so, he is likely tobe unnscesailyconfised, Ii he job nd teachers toy to draw attention o hep pater ad, inthe s i udent is involved in his own learning, to he student to discover the patter for himself. Here ete some simple examples: ipa Arrange the irregular verbs alphabetically: Feel Felt Felt Find Found Foind Fly Flew Flown Forget Forgot Forgotten Group the verbs according to the phonological patterns: Free Froze Frozen Speak Spoke Spoken Steal Stole Stolen Weave Wove Woven The ability to recognize items which are similar in some way will make it easier for the student 10 leam. Part of the teacher’s job is to construct and draw attention to groups which make such similarities clear to students. 2. Good rules can help students. ‘An understanding of the nature of language rules helps teachers and students. A few teachers still believe in prescriptive rules ~ rales which tell us what ‘should’ and” Should’not ‘be possible in the language. This is a mistake. All inguiss believe rules should be descriptive — they should say how the language is used, not how it should be used. In a similar way all linguists are agreed that it is not sufficient to divide anguage into ‘ right” and ‘wrong’; language is more complicated than that, Full, accurate descriptive rules will need to describe language @s standard / non stander, appropriate / inappropriate, spoken / written, formal / informal, ee. for many students see of these Tratinetions are too complicated and too subtle, but for language teachers, all are always important. For the language teacher a compromise hes Ct be made between the aeeuracy of the rule, and its accessibility. In short, @ rule which is perfectly accurate but which students cannot understand is no help to them, aval y important, however, is that a rule which is inaccurate, even if students can understan it, will often at a later stage in learning lead to confusion. 37 Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language Components Very often Ianguage teachers are so anxious that the student will understand the «pul? thet they lean towards accessibility atthe expense of accuracy. Many teachers, for example, teach the ‘rule’: Some in positives ‘Any in negatives and questions Such a rule is nonsense as the following examples show: like some pop music. 1 don’t like some pop music. ike any pop music I don’t like any pop music. ‘What is the clue to the use of good rules? It is first important to'understand that the rule is not just a brief verbal description. The rule is a combination of a wide range of patural examples and verbal description. Natural examples help students to see how the language is used; good verbal descriptions help students to understand the significance of particular points of usage. The examples support the explanation, the explanation supports the examples. Understanding rules is a process, in which understanding is deepened through re ~ cycling examples and explanation. 3. Understanding involves examples, explanation, and practice. Sometimes a pattern quickly emerges from examples: A. Have you...? A. Can you ...? B. No, I haven't. B. No, Tean’t. § “The examples reveal the structure of B's response. Little explanation is necessary. ‘Sometimes, partly because of the language itself, and partly perhaps because of mistaken ideas introduced in the student’s carly learning, explicit explanation may be much more important, Many students believe, for example, that there are two quite different kinds of questions in English — questions with (do) and questions without (do). If the former are taught first, the latter are ‘exceptions’. In fact, all questions oi the same pattern and the explicit statement of a rule may help students to see his: To make a question invert the order of the subject and first auxiliary; i ke a qu inary; if there is no auxiliary introduce (do) as a ‘dummy’ auxiliary, and follow the basic rule, The example illustrates the tes the problem ~ the rule alone does not hel examples alone make it difficult for student to find the rule. Diem Understanding is a cycle which inv c lves each of ex and practice. Each pert ofthe © init yele contributes in its own way ti . (0 understanding, Tt i not nt for students to understand intellectually, what odes eden a should diely influence thir anguege performance, This is best ahi ot ite nstantly bear in mind the important link betwee tae es a n explanation, example, and plicit explanation, example, Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components 4. Terminology can help or hinder, ss This is ac d help ~ particul: As already d rammar category, ind the name by and then introduce the Selong to the category and th {sking students to sort examples 7 ‘ose Which do not. Then ask a ini Gan y ‘ ask students t pele rest fu of this has nothing to do with students producing the terminolocy the teaches it Only ensuring that students understand, and on oe sa ey TIS Boing to use and which the students will themselves After this initial introduction of the term, the teacher should draw attention to the difficulties. In the case of countable and uncountable nouns, this means pointing out that a noun is not always countable or uncountable. The seme noun may have a countable meaning and an uncountable meaning, Until students have grasped this, they do not have a clear idea of the meaning of the term. No terminology should be taught for its own sake. It should provide teachers and students with a convenient shorthand. It can only do that if the terminology is taught and understood before students are expected to use it. Teachers should bear two rules in mind: a. if a term is introduced, time needs to be taken to ensure that students really understarid it the terminology needs to be taught as part of the lesson. b. a term should only be introduced if it is going to help the students. Terminology introduced to show off the teacher's knowledge, or simply because it sounds impressive, is dishonest and counter- productive. Filling in a fill- in exercise is not enough. in : ‘ll — i i hich is given contains sufficient context Fill — in exercises assume that the sentence whi ff to reveal the ‘correct’ choice to be filled in, this means that elsewhere oe there are clues to the correét answer - the part to be filled in in ae ye a with other'words in the sentence. In such circumstances, it me er ihe ian student to say the whole sentence aloud, thereby increasing being memorized correctly. i ident f the question, and the stu isi teacher to give the mumber o tence from oe ae ee ot its even worse fr the each fed a weaaia ee ©, ond ee at the gap while the student says one of "0 book and pau : 3 ; before the teacher finishes the sentenc cos will be more effective if consider whether fill-in practic: nn Checked Teachers may cate" lly in class, as written homewo exploited three times ~ oral again orally in class. oe as Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components the students need the practice, The teacher should say the number; the students should say the complete sentence, students need to practise form as well use. Language teaching based entirely on getting the forms correct becomes meaningless and boring, and has litle 0 do With the real nature of language. At the same time it is sTefialt to be communicative if your hearer can not understand what you say! ‘The teaching should maintain a balance between practices which concentrate on fluency, and those which concentrate on accuracy. On the whole, fluency practices concentrate on why a person is speaking (finetion) and accuracy practices on ow a message is conveyed (structural form). A good language teaching program involves both. Students have little difficulty in ‘understanding that some verbs have irregular past tense forms, or how certain questions forms are ‘made in English. Practicing the forms — sometimes very uncomimunicatively — is a legitimate part of a well- balanced teaching program. 6. There is place for oral and written practices. Oral practice is natural, and ensures that a wide range of structures co —0CCUr, ~ develops the ability to understand and respond quickly, and the ability to articulate ~ but it is not the whole of language teaching. Written practices, where students have time to pause, think, and consciously construc, also have an important place. As usual icy of doing both activities rather than one 0” other, is best. in language learning, 4 po! Jn genera, it would usuolly best to for state fist to do oral practice, then use sgriten practice for reinforcement and, finally farther oral free practices. tis worth emphasizing that oral and witten practices are both useful even ifthe students’ main objective places the amphasis strongly on oral or written English, Clearly, the student who Feeds a high level in written skills requires more written practice than the general students stn such a case oral practice provides a valuable arecative and supportive fearing Suaeey Similaaly, fora stadent who requires @ high level of oral skills, some wash practice provides useful support which can not be gained through a purely oral approach. ular mistakes. 7, Use ‘gimmicks’ to combat PoP! Fi F 1 othe thi ire stakes axe always “popular” = the thind person ~s, making questions, and, eae ns fpoPnterference mistakes, a8 students carryover too for each language BOP» fi Hcety the patterns or vooabulary of their own language. “caportant’ from a communicative point of view, Such mistakes are rarely “Pe p s fie may make the students rary odd, oF may be mistakes ‘which are heavily penalized in va these cases itis usually Crater to combat the mistakes by some kind of oo plaining or taking a ster attitude, gimmicks, rather than constantly & find it useful C0 PEPE 8 large card containing nothing but a very “Many teachers ec aud each & <5 ie Kept flat on thei? ime a student Tetter S. This is KeP! el speaking, oiaply Teles NM makes hia ; other _ ake, the tea = s mistake, y Pere hers have a larBe the wall classroom and simply point to it, Scanned with CamScanner‘Teaching Language Components “Popular” mistakes can de-m, continue to make it. A light — that the mistake is drawn to unnecessarily. lenis, students ~ ‘they know’ it is a mistake, but me ted method of correction of such mistakes ensures he students’ attention, without depressing students 8. Use bechives with large classes, One of the most effective techni ( : iques for large classes i ive dri either orally or on the blackboard: Pap nes ocenae Pressnied How old are you? I'm... The model consists of a simple two line- dialogue. Then, simultaneously, all the people sitting in a particular line, for example, next to the windows, ask the question to their neighbors; their neighbors answer and, without pausing, turn to their neighbors and ask the questions; these students an: ithout pa : swer and, without pausing, pass the question on. ___In this way six or seven pairs are involved at any one time and the whole class is involved in saying something (two sentences each) in a practice which lasts less than halfa minute. ’ On the other occasions the practice starts from the opposite side of the room or from the front or back of the classroom with the question being passed on to the student immediately behind or in front. Such practices are only effective if the two — line dialogue is simple, and.the model clear, The first time they are done they are often chaotic but as soon as the class has the idea of how such practice works it is sufficient for the teacher to present the model and then say simply: beehive practice starting, here (pointing) The name of such practices is, of course, based on the fact that all the bees in the hive work at the same time. It is a model which is very appropriate for the language classroom! 9. Most of language games are structure practices. It is characteristic of language games that the same formula is constantly repeated, That is precisely the same characteristic that is shown by structure practices. A simple game like hangman is easily converted into a useful structure practice. > I fas} im Scanned with CamScannerTeaching Language Components Each dash represents a letter; as letters are guessed, successful guesses are filled ing scene is drawn. If the scene is in, and for each unsuccessful guess part of the hangi completed before the word, the game is lost. The game is often used to help teach he alphabet. It can, however, be simply adapted to a very useful practice of there. Students use this formula: Is there a (p) init? There's a (p) here. No, there isn't /yes, there is there are two -, here and here. Instead of just calling out letters, the game has the extra rule that students must use the Js there...? formula in their questions, Teachers working with school classes often think that ‘games’ can only be used for a few minutes at the end of a lesson, or occasionally on Friday afternoons. Almost all Ianguage games, with very little preparation from the teacher, can be turned into lively and effective structure practices. Needless to say, most students, particularly in schools, would rather play a game than do a grammar practice, Teachers should remember that if the students are enjoying what they are doing, and it has an underlying serious language teaching purpose, it is more likely to be effective than a more conventional practice. 10. Free situations are important, Most linguage lessons develop from controlled to free practice. Teachers like to be in control of their lessons and therefore like controlled practice, The lesson moves smoothly, can be timed carefully, and gives an impression of efficiency. Unfortunately, there is a big gap between controlled practice and natural language use. Natural language use involves not only knowledge of the language, but social skills, self- confidence, the ability to improvise, etc. controlled practice is nothing more than a first step in the teaching sequence. The free practice part of the lesson is, by definition, the part over which the teacher has least control. The students have more chance to make mistakes, to show that they have not leamed, and to show that even if they can do controlled practice, they have not yet developed the ability to use the language. Such practices — situations, dialogue building, information gap ~ based pair work, discussie or writing about the student’s own interests, are an essential part of the learning feces Such practices develop the whole range of skills which are required for effective naturel Tanguage use. In doing them, teachers must encourage such skills, and not a only on accurate structural knowledge. At the same time teachers should rey these are still classroom practices, Neither the teacher nor the student show much, They are an important step in the complex process which leads fr, accuracy to spontaneous fluency. concentrate. member that Id expect too om structural Scanned with CamScanner