ENGLISH PROFICIENCY PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS

AND SCHOOL LEADERS

(Teaching Grammar Communicatively in the Philippines)

1
 SHEENA A. CAÑO
Learning Facilitator

Credits to Ms. Samantha Parks for the slides modified by the learning facilitator
 Terminal Objective:

At the end of the 2-hour

session, the participants shall
be able to write a
communicative lesson plan.
 Enabling Objectives:
In this session, the participants shall be able
to:
●Follow steps to create a communicative
lesson;
●Identify the components of a communicative
lesson; and
●Adapt lesson components for teaching online
or in other modalities.
 Review

What are the Super 6 error correction

techniques you learned from the
previous session in “Correcting
Grammar Errors and
Giving Feedback” ?
 Summary

1. Recasts
2. Clarification request
3. Metalinguistic feedback
4. Elicitation
5. Repetition
6. Explicit correction
 Review

What is the most important thing

to know about giving feedback to
students?
 Summary/Review

As teachers we have to remember that Students Learn by

Making Mistakes

And so it is critical that teachers create a classroom

environment in which mistakes are okay.

Teachers serve to improve the 2nd language learning of

students .
Points to Ponder
 Agenda

● Review the Super Six!

● Steps for creating a lesson plan
● Parts of a communicative lesson
● Lesson demo with adaptations
Planning Lessons Using The Communicative Approach

Think about your approach to planning

THINK lessons. Do any of these images resonate with
you?
What are some steps you take when planning your
lessons?
Steps we can take when planning a communicative lesson

• Select grammar focus or point to teach

• Choose practice activities
• Write the lesson plan
• Teach the lesson
• Reflect on the success of the lesson
• Revise the lesson

Maybe we don’t do all of these formally, but that information is

somewhere in our heads.
(Adapted from World Learning, 2019a)
Step 1: Identify the grammar point to teach

● Look at the text, reading,

listening, or handout and see
what grammar is important for
the students or what is new.
 cont...

● How can we present the target grammar point

effectively?
○ Implicitly or explicitly
○ Inductively or deductively
○ Chants? Meme? Finger puppets?

● When will you present?

○ Pre?
○ During?
○ Post?
○ All?
Step 2: Choose the activities

● What kinds of activities would help your students?

○ Engaging and informative
○ Can be done in your current environment

● Two kinds of practice

○ Controlled/Restricted/Guided
○ Free/Freer/Communicative
 Agenda

● Review the Super Six!

● Steps for creating a lesson plan
● Parts of a communicative
lesson
● Lesson demo with adaptations
Step 3: Write the lesson plan

What are some components of a communicative lesson plan?

 Step 3: Write the lesson plan
● The lesson has a beginning, middle, and end
○ The middle consists of 2 parts:
■ Controlled/Guided/Restrictive practice
■ Free/Freer/Communicative practice

● Assessment: How will we know when the students have

succeeded?
Type of Class: Middle School ESL/EFL Level:
Topic: (Not the grammar point! The context or
situation):

Talking about where we have been. Describing a 7th Grade

picture.

Target grammar
item: Prepositions: In/On/At

Lesson objective
(Your objective says what learners will be able to do (to read, to write, to say, to listen for)
employing the target grammar.)
By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to …

Describe a picture provided or of themselves detailing the date, time, and place in the picture
while accurately using the prepositions in/on/at.
Think about engaging ways you
could introduce or present this
topic (prepositions in/on/at).
 Start presentation by…
• Telling a story
• Using realia
• Describing a scene
• Listening to a text
• Reading a text
• A listening that has a text with it
• Students can listen and take notes, read out loud, or
both!

There are so many options!

Beginning
Stage
Presentation
•How will you engage learners or arouse
their interest in what is to follow?
•How will you introduce the target
grammar item? How will you situate it /
contextualize it?
•What examples will you give? How can
you make sure that the examples are
effective, memorable, and meaningful?
•How will you check learners’
understanding?
Time Activity
●Present a family vacation photo. Ask
students to identify or guess where the
5-10 photo was taken. Try to have students’
Min answers move from general to more
specific.
●Students can read or listen to the Voice
of America Everyday Grammar text on
In/At/On and take notes.
●Discuss the 2 charts: move from general
to specific (left to right).
What are some
activities you
could do for
guided practice?
Guided practice activities

• Story Chain
• Drills/Chants
• Dictogloss
• Guessing Games
• Cloze Activities

There are so many

options!
Restricted/Guided/Controlled Practice
•How will you help learners 10-15 ● Ss practice asking each other
focus on the target grammar min questions about where they are
item? right now using model.
•Is the practice activity ● T answers questions and gives
contextualized? corrections to pairs.
•How will learners get
feedback on their accuracy? ● Ss share answers in a large
group. T writes correct answers
on the board.
What are some activities you could do
for communicative practice?
 Communicative Activities
• Interviews
• Jigsaw
• Roleplay
• Debates
• Essay writing
• Presentations
• Conversations

There are so many

options!
Free/Freer/Communicative Practice

20-
•How will you structure a 25 ●Ss present their photo using the
safe environment for min. model as a guide.
experimentation? ●Ss present first to small groups,
•How will learners employ then volunteers share in large
the target structure to group.
engage in meaningful ●Students ask each other follow-
communication (speaking, up questions about the pictures.
writing)?
Closure/Evaluation
Lesson ending
• How will you check if learners
can use the target structure to
communicate their own ideas?
•How will you ask them for
feedback?
•How would you close this
lesson?
• T listens to presentations for
accuracy but does not interrupt.
5-10
• T reviews the target language
after the presentations. Check
comprehension.
• T asks students what they
learned and if they liked
presenting their photos in 2
polls.
 Agenda

● Review the Super Six!

● Steps for creating a lesson
plan
● Parts of a communicative
lesson
● Lesson demo with adaptations
Presentation Part 1 Where’s Samantha?

● What country?
● What island?
● What
monument/
landmark?
● What time of
day?
 Where’s Samantha?
● What country? I’m in the Philippines.
● What island? I’m on Bohol Island.
● What landmark? I’m at the Chocolate Hills

● What time of day? It was in the afternoon.

* This photo was taken on Valentine’s Day!

Voice of America: Learning English
●We will use a listening (integrating skills).
●Students can listen and take notes.
●Students can read along with the script.
●Free resource (Students can do this at
home if necessary).
 Presentation Part 2

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/prepositions-time-place-everyday-grammar-in-on-at/
2732061.html
Presentation Part 2

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/prepositions-time-place-everyday-
grammar-in-on-at/2732061.html
 Guided/Controlled Practice
Please ask your partner questions moving from general to
specific to find out exactly where the are!
1.) What country are you in? I’m in the Philippines.
2.) What city are you in? I’m in Manila.
3.) What street are you on? I’m on Roxas Boulevard.

4.) Where are you at on X street? I’m at my home.

5.) Where are you in your home? I’m in my office.
6.) Where are you in your office? I’m at my desk.
 Adapt guided practice
● Online --Use break-out rooms or put students in small
groups.
● Hybrid --Students interview each other via
chat/messenger, or voice recordings.
● Paper-based--Send students the handout and they

interview a parent or sibling.

 Free/Communicative Practice
Where am I?
In this photo, I’m in the Philippines. More
specifically, I’m on Bohol Island. One of
the most famous places on Bohol Island
is the Chocolate Hills. We’re at the
Chocolate Hills in this picture. It was
taken on February 14th (on Valentine’s
day), at 4:00 pm in the afternoon. As
you can see, I’m at the top of the
Chocolate Hills Monument with my
husband, son, and daughter.
 Adapt communicative practice
• Online --Students can show and tell the whole
class, or small groups in breakout rooms.
Hybrid --Students can send pictures to the teacher or
each other with their description via chat, could be
voice recording.
Paper based--Students could draw a picture and
describe.
 Lesson Ending
How will you know your lesson was successful?

●How will you check if learners can use the target

structure to communicate their own ideas?
●How will you give them feedback?
●How will you elicit feedback from them?
 Example Assessment Poll

Do you feel more comfortable with using in,

on, and at as prepositions of time and place?

A: Yes, I feel more comfortable.

B: I understand better, but still need to
practice more.
C: This was tricky. I need to practice more.
 Example Feedback Poll
Do you like these kinds of activities where you get
to share and talk about photos from your life?

A: Yes, let’s do more of this.

B: It was fine.
C: Nah…let’s just stick to the textbook.
 Let’s Review the 1st Four Steps!
GRAM. POINT
G
ACT. WRITE
A
TEACH
T
It!
Steps to take when planning a communicative lesson
• Select grammar focus or point to
teach
• Choose practice activities
• Write the lesson plan (using a
template)
• Teach the lesson
• Reflect on the success of the
lesson
• Revise the lesson
Then, teach the revised lesson.
 Review part 1
● Communicative lesson planning is reflective (a messy
circle).
● Communicative lessons have a beginning, middle, and
end.
● In communicative lessons, students spend most of the
time communicating.
 Review part 2
● It’s ok to use other sources (like Voice of
America) if your textbook doesn’t have explicit
grammar instruction.
● Try something new, reflect, and revise.
● Options! Options! Options!
 Assignment
Create a communicative grammar lesson using the
steps we discussed in this module and the template.
• You can adapt the lesson we worked on or pick your
own grammar point and content.
 References
VOA Learning English, Robbins, J., & Thompson, A. (2018, February 15). Everyday
Grammar: In, On, and At. VOA.
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/prepositions-time-place-everyday-gr
ammar-in-on-at/2732061.html

World Learning. (2019a). Module 2, Task 7: Prepare and Implement a Lesson Plan.
In “Teaching Grammar Communicatively” [MOOC].

World Learning. (2019b). Lesson Planning Template. In “Teaching Grammar

Communicatively”[MOOC].

Unless otherwise noted, all images in this presentation are the author’s own or are “no-
attribution required” under the Pixabay simplified license or the Unsplash license.
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS
AND SCHOOL LEADERS
(Teaching Grammar Communicatively in the Philippines)

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