Are you constantly struggling with teaching grammar? No matter how hard you try, your students just don’t seem to grasp the concept or remember it. If you have these troubles, then come read this week’s Teaching Tips on teaching grammar!
1. “Don’t try to teach formal grammar unless you have EXTREMELY motivated learners. Grammar should be taught in conjunction with something else.”
I can still see my students’ faces diming when I said “It’s grammar time, please take out your text book.” Textbooks, worksheets somehow have the magic power to turn your classroom into a lifeless dessert. Sometimes even I got bored myself teaching it. Try to combine your teaching with other activities such as games or role-play. When students think they are engaging activates, they are more focused and easier to remember the lesson.
2. “When correcting students, never phrase what you are saying in a negative form. It is easier just to rephrase what you are saying with the CORRECT grammar inserted.”
This technique could avoid your students feeling discouraged and shamed in front of the class. Students will realize that that what they said and what you have said are not the same thing. However, from my personal experience this method only works with more advance students or students who have better perceptions. There were times when students could detect the differences.
3. “Don’t overwhelm your students with the correct terminology. Use simplest terms possible”
If your students are younger, instead of telling your students that they will learn about VERBS today, you can easily replace it with ACTION WORDS. In this way, it is in a more familiar context for them and they would feel less intimated. If they are more advanced, you can use verbs and noun without scaring them but you should use verb-ing instead of gerunds, helping verbs instead of auxiliary verbs.
Here are this week’s teaching tips on teaching grammar.
Come back next week for more tips on teaching grammar!
