TOPIC 4 TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR

4.0 SYNOPSIS

Topic 4 provides you with some techniques for teaching grammar and discusses how the different teaching techniques can be used to encourage the teaching of grammar.

4.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

list features of activities that support grammar learning

demonstrate an understanding of the techniques in the teaching of grammar

create an activity based on one of the techniques.

present and justify your choice.

4.2 FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

CONTENT

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SESSION FOUR (3 Hours)

4.3 INTRODUCTION

For a good grammar teaching, teachers have to make the lesson meaningful and

interesting in which pupils need to be surrounded by and participate in meaningful

discourse in their ESL classroom. Teachers should take the language learning forwards

and bring in grammatical features of stories, dialogues, songs, etc. to the attention of

their pupils in order to attract the pupils’ attention.

On the other hand, the teacher’s lack of ability to apply the appropriate

techniques and plan suitable activities for the pupils can often destroy the pupils’

motivation in learning grammar. Thus, according to Chitravelu (2005), there are several

features that a teacher has to consider when planning suitable techniques in his/her

grammar classes.

a) Be meaningful : relate to students’ own needs, interests, likes and dislikes.

b) Be purposeful : provide challenge, get them involve and utilize the new

language.

c) Have a social function : provide opportunities for interaction.

d) Provide plenty of practice : using similar language in different ways.

e) Use a multimedia approach : use of all the five senses

f) Provide variety : practise new structures using all four skills

g) Encourage active participation

Reflection

Do you agree with the above features of activities that support grammar learning? Consider your own grammar lessons in justifying your reasons.

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4.4 TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR In this section, we move to practicalities and consider six techniques how teachers may

actually go about helping pupils develop their grammatical knowledge.

4.4.1 SONGS AND CHANTS

(a) Songs

Songs  is a very good tool to motivate the pupils' learning process, it works also

as a break for the routine.

Songs could be an essential part of English  teaching. It makes the pupils more

sensitive to the sounds and  the classes becomes more interesting and powerful.

Be  careful  with  your students’ level.

You should choose a song according to their level and try to see if the song is

suitable for them. There are lots of songs which are unsuitable for the language

teaching, these songs have a bad  pronunciation or better the words are

pronounced wrongly.

There are many reasons to use songs in the  classroom :

Songs are authentic texts

Songs can be linked to societal issues which might be interesting to students

Songs provide good context for grammar.

Songs can trigger emotional and affective connections to the target language and

culture.

Learning through songs involve different skills.

Songs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they

incorporate all the language skills:

         (1) Listening (to the song) - Following the song to determine words.

         (2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)

         (3) Writing (filling in the blanks)

         (4) Speaking (singing the song)

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Kind of songs:

        - Special songs 

- Children's songs 

-  Action songs 

- Teaching structure songs 

- Telling stories songs

- Pop Songs

How to use songs?

(i) Classic gap-fill:

Pupils listen to a song and as they listen they have the lyrics with gaps in for

them to fill in as they listen. This activity is not as simple as it sounds and before

making one yourself think about why you are taking out certain words. It may be

better to take out all the words in one group, such as prepositions or verbs, and

tell the pupils what they should be listening out for.

Another option is to take out rhyming words. Don’t be tempted to take out too

many words, eight or ten is normally enough. To make the task easier you could

provide the missing words in a box at the side for the pupils to select, or you

could number the gaps and provide clues for each number.

(ii) Spot the mistakes:

Change some of the words in the lyrics and as pupils listen, they have to spot

and correct the mistakes. As with the gap-fill limit the mistakes to a maximum of

eight or ten and if possible choose a word set.

Another example of this for higher levels is to show the students the real lyrics

and you correct the English and make it proper! E.g. ‘gonna’ change to ‘going to’

‘we was’ change to ‘we were’ etc. This is a good way to focus on song language.

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(iii) Comic strip:

Songs that tell stories are great for pupils to make comic strips out of. You have

to choose your song carefully and spend time looking at the lyrics with the pupils

and making sure they have understood the main ideas.

Lower levels may need guidance as to how to divide up the song into suitable

chucks that can be represented pictorially.

(iv) Order the verses:

With low levels this is a very simple activity. Chop up the lyrics of the song by

verse and give a small group of pupils the jumbled verses. As they listen they put

them in order.

(v) Discussion:

Certain songs lend themselves to discussions and you can use the song as a

nice lead in to the topic and a way to pre-teach some of the vocabulary. For

example: ‘Where is the love?’ by the Black Eyed Peas to lead in to a discussion

about war.

(vi) Translation:

Although some teachers oppose all use of the mother tongue in the language

classroom, some pupils really enjoy translating lyrics into their own language. If

you do ask your pupils to do this ensure the lyrics are worth translating!

(b) Chants

Grammar chants can be a lot of fun to use in classes. They are especially

effective when used to help pupils learn problematic forms. Grammar chants use

repetition to engage the right side of the brain's 'musical' intelligence. The use of

multiple intelligences can go a long way to helping pupils speak English

'automatically'.

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Using a chant is pretty straight-forward. The teacher (or leader) stands up in front

of the class and 'chants' the lines. It's important to be as rhythmical as possible

because these rhythms help the brain during its learning process.

Remember that through the use of repetition and having fun together (be as

crazy as you like) pupils will improve their 'automatic' use of the language.

Example of a chant on prepositions. Let’s practice.

Teacher/Leader: At, onClass/Group: At, on

Teacher/Leader: at - with timeClass/Group: at - with time

Teacher/Leader: on - with daysClass/Group: on - with days

Teacher/Leader: We eat at eight.Class/Group: We eat at eight.

Teacher/Leader: We meet on Mondays.Class/Group: We meet on Mondays.

Teacher/Leader: She leaves at five.Class/Group: She leaves at five.

Teacher/Leader: They play on Saturdays.Class/Group: They play on Saturdays.

Teacher/Leader: At, onClass/Group: At, on

Teacher/Leader: at - with timeClass/Group: at - with time

Teacher/Leader: on - with daysClass/Group: on - with days

(Source: www.chants.net.com )

Reflection

What do you think are the challenges of using songs and chants in classroom?

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4.4.2 STORIES

Using ESL stories for teaching English is a very good way of helping students learn

language more deeply and naturally. Just as salespeople and politicians attract

people to their products and ideas using stories - if they are wise - so too, can

English teachers attract students, particularly young learners, by using stories.

Stories are motivating and fun; they create a deep interest and a desire to continue

learning. Listening to stories is a shared social experience; it provokes a shared

response of laughter, sadness, excitement and anticipation. Stories exercise the

imagination; children can become personally involved in a story as they identify with

the characters and try to interpret the narrative and illustrations.

According to Chitravelu (2005), stories are excellent resources for grammar teaching

for several reasons:

1. Children, adolescent and adults all love stories & this generate positive

attitude

2. to the lesson for which the story acts as a framework.

2. Stories provide a context for several grammatical structures.

3. A story can provide contexts for ‘real’ use of English (variety of emotions and

issues).

Below are some activities and approaches to using ESL stories in the classroom.

(Source: http://www.tesolzone.com/esl-stories.html)

(i) Circle Story

A very simple technique which focuses on accuracy of language. The class create

stories word by word. You can begin by saying: "One Monday morning I was" or

whatever beginning you like. Then go round the class in a circle [not randomly]. The first

pupil must repeat "One Monday morning I was" and then add a single word that makes

sense and fits in grammatically. The second pupil repeats all the first pupil has said,

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adding one more word. The third pupil repeats all and adds a word, and so on, until a

story develops around the class.

This technique can be fun, requires no preparation and focuses on the accurate

use of language. It can make a good warmer. With a small class it's possible to

go round the class twice. The teacher can choose whether the story is to be told

in present tense [if they are beginners] or used to practice the simple past tense,

or with no restrictions on the language used.

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(ii) Question Story

Write 4 or 5 questions on the board. For a very low level class these might be:

"What's his/her name?" "Where is he/she?" "What's he/she doing?" "What does

he/she say?" Run through a few possible answers orally with the class. Then

give a piece of paper to every pupil. Tell them you want them to write an answer

to the first question only. Encourage them to be creative.

They then fold back their paper, so the answer they have written is folded away

from the page and not visible when the paper is flat on the desk. All pupils then

pass their paper to the pupil on the left. They all then write the answer to the

second question, fold the paper again, then pass to the next pupil on the left, and

so on, until all the questions have been answered. The pupils can then unfold the

papers, correct where possible, and then read aloud the slightly crazy stories to

the class.

(iii) Retelling Stories

a) Another way of using stories which requires minimal preparation, yet is a very

powerful learning tool, is to have the pupils retell stories. The best stories to

begin with are interesting anecdotes from your life, or interesting or unusual

news stories. Once this activity is familiar, the pupils can then contribute with

their own stories. This activity works well as a warmer and as practice or

review of the simple past tense.

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b) Choose a short story that can be told in several sentences. Write a title on the

board as an introduction. Then write the appropriate verb (in the present

tense) for each sentence of the story. Do not write out the story. Adding

pictures helps, as long as the pictures can be drawn in a few seconds. Then

tell the story, sentence by sentence, pointing to the verbs and eliciting the

correct past tense from the students. The pupils then retell the story. This can

be done by asking individual pupils to retell separate parts. The pupils can

also retell the story to each other in pairs. When the pupils are familiar with

this method of using stories, have some of them prepare a short story for

homework. They can retell it to the other pupils the following class.

4.4.3 NURSERY RHYMES AND POEMS

Nursery Rhymes and poems like songs, contextualize a grammar lesson

effectively. Since poetry is often spoken, repeated, dealt with, and considered, it acts as

an effective tool for practicing a specific grammatical structure. Through repeating and

considering the poem, the grammatical structures become more deeply internalized.

Thus, poetry not only provides a rewarding resource for structured practice of grammar,

but also a proper basis for review.

In the selection of a poem, the teacher should first consider the grammatical

structure to be presented, practiced, or reviewed, then the level and the age of the

students, next the theme and the length of the poem and its appropriateness to the

classroom objectives. Poems, which reflect cultural themes, universal features,

humanistic values, or emotional aspects, will be more relevant to the foreign language

learners. Finally, through taking the classroom objectives into consideration, a teacher

should effectively benefit from poems as teaching aids.

If a poem that exemplifies a particular structure is also a good poem, it engages the

eye, the ear and the tongue simultaneously while also stimulating and moving us; this

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polymorphic effect makes poetry easier to memorize than other things for many

students. Some of its potential is illustrated as the followings:

Example 1: To practice adjectives

The following poem is about hippos. Use the structure of this poem and write

a poem of your own about anything, e.g. people, trees, shoes.

Hippos

Hippos swim.

Hippos snort.

Hippo legs

are rather short.

Hippos ears

are pink and tiny.

Hippo hide

is very shiny.

Hippo tails

are stout and stubby.

Hippo hips

are kind of chubby.

Hippos stay

rather quiet.

Hippos never

like to diet.

(Source: http://www.charlesghigna.com/poems.html)

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Example 2: To teach the imperative

Chivvy 

Grown-ups say things like:

Speak up

Don't talk with your mouth full

Don't stare

Don't point

Don't pick your nose

 

Sit up

Say please

Less noise

Shut the door behind you

Don't drag your feet

Haven't you got a hankie?

Take your hands out of your pockets

 

Pull your socks up

Stand up straight

Say thank you

Don't interrupt

No one thinks you're funny

Take your elbows off the table

 

Can't you make up your own mind about anything? 

By Michael Rosen

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Example 3: To practice verbs

 

Take a grape and eat it slowly. Then read this poem. Then eat a mango and write a poem like this about it.

How to eat a grape

squash, squishcrunch

chew, chewtrickle

twang, bangspit

swallowchoose

squash, squishcrunch

chew, chewtrickle

twang, bangspit

swallowchoke

cough, cough

Anonymous

4.4.4 GAMES

Teaching Grammar through games is another way to help pupils not only gain

knowledge but be able to apply and use that learning in an interesting way.

According to Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin, authors of "Songs, Verse and

Games for Teaching Grammar" , they say that

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1. “Games and problem-solving activities...have a purpose beyond the

production of correct speech, and are examples of the most preferable

communicative activities.“

2. Grammar games help children not only gain knowledge but be able to

apply and use that learning.

3. Games allow the students to "practice and internalize vocabulary, grammar

and structures extensively."  How?

i) They can do this through repeated exposure to the target grammar and

because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to do

deskwork. 

ii) Plus, during the game, the students are focused on the activity and end up

absorbing the grammar subconsciously.

Similarly, Aydan Ersoz, author of "Six Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom" also

explained more reasons why games do work for teaching grammar. Learning a

language requires constant effort and that can be tiring, but Ersoz outlines two

good reasons why games should be included in the classroom:

- Games that are amusing and challenging are highly motivating.

- Games allow meaningful use of the language in context.

(Source:http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_Grammar_with_Games_in_the_ESL_Classroom.htm)

In short, we can conclude that there are many advantages of using games in the

classroom (Lee, 1995):

1. Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class.

2. They are motivating and challenging.

3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to

make and sustain the effort of learning.

4. Games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing,

listening and reading.

5. They encourage students to interact and communicate.

6. They create a meaningful context for language use.'

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What kinds of games work best?

When you are looking for games to use in your classroom, don't just pick

something to be a "time filler" that does not have any linguistic purpose. 

Lin Hong, author of "Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners",

explains that not all games are going to work to teach the students language

skills.

You should consider these questions posed by Hong:

- Which skills do the games practice?

- What type of game is it and what is its purpose?

- Does the difficulty level of the game match with the students' ability level?

- Does the game require maximum involvement by the students?

- Do the students like it?  Do you like it?

- What specific vocabulary or grammar are you introducing or practising with

this game?

- Can you keep control of your class and play this game?

- What materials do you need for the game and can you obtain these easily?

- What controls, if any are needed, will you have in place to ensure the children

are on track?

When to Use Games?

'Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time

left at the end of a lesson.

However, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd

moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do" Lee (1979:3).

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Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests

that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable

and carefully chosen.‘

'Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall

material in a pleasant, entertaining way.

Therefore, it is agreed that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained

students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom

since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate

fluency.'

Tips for Using Grammar Games in Class Successfully (Adapted from http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/grammar-games.html)

1. ORGANIZATION

Figure out how to organize your class i.e. the time spent.

For the younger students you'll want to change your activities every five to ten

minutes because they have shorter attention spans.  If you don't change your

activities, they'll soon start losing interest. 

As you get towards the higher elementary grades, you can expand the time you

spend per activity. 

Additionally, try to have everything ready to go before the students enter the

classroom.  That way you can go from activity to activity with minimal downtime. 

This is essential as you can lose control of the class if you do not keep them

occupied.

2. EXPECTATIONS

If you notice that your class is getting noisy or rambunctious, it's time to change

activities.  Pupils of this age like to be active; in order to balance out the energy

levels in the classroom, alternate between active activities and quiet activities.  

3. VARIATION 

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You want to make sure your activities appeal to all sorts learning styles, so even

when you are using games to teach grammar you'll want to vary the types of

things you expect your students to do. 

For Level One pupils, stick to games that use talking, listening, looking and

moving.  For Level Two pupils, you can continue to use games that use talking,

listening, looking and moving and add in some games that use writing and

reading.

4. RESPECT

To make games work for you and your class, be sure to operate your class with

the utmost respect - both to and from students.  This includes teaching your

students from the very start that you expect respect at all times.  This includes

giving encouragement and following the rules.

5. ROUTINE

Establishing a routine will help the class go smoothly.  If pupils know what to

expect next, they will be more able to participate in what's going on now. 

Set up a schedule for the type of activities you'll be doing at any given time

throughout the class whether it is a game, story or song or whatever you want to

do.  Then, when you are planning your class, plug in the appropriate activities to

each section of time. 

You should also leave a little time at the end of the class period to allow the

pupils to clean up and gather their things as well as time for you to recap the

class, praise the pupils and tell them good-bye.  

EXAMPLES OF GAMES

By incorporating games into your lesson plan, your students will not only stop dreading

grammar lessons, but they’ll actually look forward to them.

Board games, such as Go to Press! A Grammar Game, are sure to be a big hit

with young students, and will have them giggling too. In this unique game, pupils

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try to create a complete newspaper by moving from department to department

(such as entertainment, sports, weather, etc.) finding and correcting errors in the

headlines. The goal is to be the first player to return to the boss’s office and say,

“Go to press!”

If you don’t have access to board games, there are still a number of activities you

can have pupils participate in. Create a crossword puzzle and use the clues to

get pupils to practice critical thinking skills about the grammar lesson of your

choice.

Or, try playing a game of hangman to get pupils focused on adjectives.

CONCLUSION

Using games to teach grammar can be both fun and rewarding for you and your pupils.  

Just remember to keep them engaged and make sure that your games are truly

teaching the skill at hand and you'll soon have a class full of pupils who get excited

about learning grammar! 

4.4.5 PUPPETS

What is a puppet?

- A puppet is an inanimate figure moved by a puppeteer to convey emotion,

character and story.

Some examples of puppets:

1. shadow puppets

2. hand puppets

3. marionette puppets

4. water puppets

5. finger puppets

6. stick puppets

7. robotic puppets

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Main types of Puppets

Hand or glove puppet: these are puppets controlled by one hand which

occupies the interior of the puppet.

Sock puppet: they are particularly simple type of hand puppet made from a sock

and they operated by inserting ones hand inside the sock. One then moves his

hand up and down to give the impersonation of speaking.

Rod puppet: it is constructed around a central rod secured to the head. A large

glove covers the rod and is attached to the neck of the puppet. A rod puppet is

controlled by the puppeteer moving the metal rods attached to the hands of the

puppet and by turning the central rod secured to the head.

Human-arm puppet: it is also called a “two-man puppet” or a “Live-hand

puppet”; it is similar to a hand puppet but is larger and requires two puppeteers.

One puppeteer places a hand inside the puppet’s head and operates its head

and mouth, while the other puppeteer wears gloves and special sleeves attached

to the puppet in order to become the puppet’s arms, so that the puppet can

perform arbitrary hand gestures. This is a form of glove or hand puppetry and rod

puppetry.

The marionette is a particular type of puppet.  It is suspended and controlled by

a number of strings, plus sometimes a central rod attached to a control bar held

from above by the puppeteer. The control bar can be either a horizontal or

vertical one.

This form of puppetry is complex and sophisticated to operate, requiring greater

manipulative control than a finger, glove or rod puppet.

The most famous marionette is Pinocchio, invented by Carlo Collodi.

Why and how should teachers use puppets in their class?

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 Teachers use puppets for the same reason a fisherman puts bait on his hook; to

catch the attention of children. Children love puppets. Puppets are much more

than a cute toy. Puppets are powerful communication tools.  Puppets are tools

you should add to your tool box along with the paper and pencils.

use a puppet (or a set of puppets) to “act out” various grammar concepts. This

can be especially useful for learning verb tenses and prepositions for instance.

4.4.6 DIALOGUES AND PLAYS

Dialogues are popular activities in ESL textbooks for a number of linguistic as

well as cultural reasons.

According to Rivers (1981), there are two broad categories of dialogues:

1. Conversation-facilitation

- Provide students with useful phrases with which they can begin to

communicate. These dialogues are often short and therefore students are

encouraged to memorize them.

2. Grammar-demonstration dialogues.

- The dialogues are longer and contain certain grammatical structures that

are to be studied. They provide contextualized examples from which

students will deduce generalizations about a particular grammatical

structure.

Teachers can use or adapt dialogues to:

• demonstrate grammar in context

• facilitate conversation—This may parallel grammar instruction, but also gives

specific language practice

• provide recreation such as a skit—These dialogues are bridging activities that

provide spontaneous use of learner knowledge.

(b) Plays

Apart from memorization, widely used in the audio-lingual era, dialogues can be

exploited for plays through which students can practice language more freely.

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Larsen-Freeman (2000) has pointed out, plays give pupils the chance of

interacting and practicing communication acts in different contexts and because

of this, they are of primary importance in language teaching.

The play scripts encourage students to read aloud, swap roles, repeat and

understand grammar in context, and make the sentences come alive.

Pupils in pairs or small groups can also be given the task of writing a play script.

After they have learned rules and done some practice, they can undertake the

work of creating a “play” using the newly learned structure.

Some points to keep in mind when writing or adapting dialogues for pupils to

practice

Use “natural” language as much as possible (include exclamations and

expressions where appropriate; avoid a strict question-answer-question

sequence).

Keep the dialogue short enough so that students can easily remember it.

Apply current sociolinguistic norms. For example, an informal introduction is Hi,

nice to meet you, rather than How do you do?

Depict situations in the dialogue that are relevant and useful to the learner.

Retain truth value in the dialogue.

Create characters who “are realistic in that they have some personality and relate

to the learners’ experience in some way”.

(based on Slager 1976 cited in Omaggio 1984 and Graham 1992).

Refer to online websites. Compile articles related to the importance of using different techniques for teaching grammar.

The end of this session…good luck with your activities!

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