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
Demonstrations
Examples
Practice:
Quantity
Quality
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.
• 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.
Practice step by step.
Your students’ first
tennis game should
not be against this
opponent….
An effective sequence for teaching
grammar:
1. Introduce the new grammar:
· Show the meaning and use of the form.
· Keep explanations simple, clear, and brief.
2. Practice the new grammar:
· Group guided practice as a class
· Guided practice activities (lots of these!) leading from more
controlled to more independent activities
· Independent practice activities
· Games with a learning purpose
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
If the verb is “be”:
Find the subject and verb. Switch.
.
Is
English is fun ?
Subject
Verb
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
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?
Inductive: Examples  Rule
Linguam Latinam studemus.
Ambulo.
Ambulamus.
Puella ambulat.
Puer ambulat.
Non ambulo.
Pila non ambulat.
pila
puella
puer
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 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! 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 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! 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.
Picture from Fun with Grammar by Suzanne Woodward. Prentice Hall, 1996.
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?