enhance learner motivation attend to communicative need and purpose place grammatical structures...
TRANSCRIPT
Enhance learner motivation Attend to communicative need and purpose
Place grammatical structures in real or realistic contexts
Make creative use of various sorts of everyday objects,
visuals and special purpose graphics
Incorporate humor or other highly motivating content
Provide challenge and interest through game-like features
Promote choice, independence, creativity, realism and
feedback through pair and small group work
Principles for intermediate learners
Begin to move learners along the continuum from
reproductive to creative use (mimic vs. flexibility and
imagination)
Where possible, personalize the content of practice
activities (bring their own ideas, feelings, attitudes,
and opinions)
Encourage learners to see grammar as a process as
much as a product (i.e. “grammaring” > grammar is
not just a thing, but something you do)
Teaching Language: From Grammar to Grammaring
Tasks and materials Picture-based activities (*not in reading/text)
Information gaps (give learners practice with a particular structure in context)
Problem-solving (engages learners in practicing a range of structures)
Grammar dictation (promotes many skills simultaneously)
Surveys (emphasize meaning over form and fluency over accuracy)
Role-plays (allow for personalization and creativity)
Consciousness-raising (requires learners to solve a grammatical problem in groups)
Grammar charts (allow for a deductive approach and aid visual learners)
Oxford Basics (*not in reading/text)
Picture-based activities
“Lexicarry” (Pro Lingua Associates) + “Week in Pictures” (MSNBC)
1. What is happening (present continuous)?
2. What happened (simple past)?
3. What will happen (future)?
4. Add descriptions with adjectives and adverbs (any tense).
5. Use alternative words and expressions.
6. Make questions and negative statements.
7. Personalize it (communicative): What time do you usually go to bed?
What do you usually do before you go to bed? Is it easy for you to fall
asleep? Do you usually snore? What was the best or strangest dream
you’ve ever had? When was the last time you had a nightmare? Have
you ever walked in your sleep? Have you ever suffered from insomnia?
Information gaps
“English Firsthand 1” (Pearson)
Problem-solving
“Vocabulary Games and Activities for Teachers”
(Penguin)
1. Simple present
2. Simple past
3. Present continuous
4. Present perfect
5. Adjectives
6. Adverbs
Grammar dictation
“Grammar Dictation” (Oxford University Press)
The teacher is a cassette player
Surveys
“Atlas: Learner-Centered Communication” (Heinle &
Heinle)
Role-plays
“www.eslflow.com”
Consciousness-raising
“New Ways in Teaching Grammar”
Grammar charts
“Understanding English Grammar” (Longman)
Oxford Basics
“Teaching Grammar” (Oxford)