Seven ways to help students enjoy grammar Elena Babina EL teacher, Gubkin 1Elena Babina, Gubkin

Seven Ways 1. Provide a context 2. Help students to say the target language 3. Provide a written record 4. Personalize the target language 5. Help students to guess the grammar rules of the target language 6. Help students to understand the communicative importance of grammar 7. Help students to understand the importance of grammatical accuracy 2Elena Babina, Gubkin

Provide a context Get the students really interested in. Use language that is easy for the students to understand. Make the situation clear enough for the students to hazard a guess about the target language. And do make it clear that you want the students to come up with the target language! Be sure to spend enough time on the ‘tease’ – don’t jump in too early with providing the target language yourself. 3Elena Babina, Gubkin

Sample teacher language I don’t earn very much money in my job. At the moment I’m renting a flat. I’d really like to buy a flat, but I don’t have enough money to do that. I know that I’m not going to buy my own flat, but I like to dream about it anyway…so, what could I say about buying a flat, anyone? 4Elena Babina, Gubkin

Help students to say the target language Make a point of actually asking the students to say something (rather than just listen to you)! Make it clear what the target language is. Give the students enough time to ‘get their tongues round’ the target language. Make sure that you get each individual student to say the target language – in a ‘comprehensible’ way. Elena Babina, Gubkin5

Sample teacher language So can you all repeat this after me, please? ‘Have you had your hair cut?’… Good… Now say it as many times to yourself as you like…and then tell me when you’re happy… OK? Now let me hear you say it, please. Elena Babina, Gubkin6

Provide a written record Make a point of putting up (on the board) the written record directly after initial oral work. Make sure that the students write the written record down. Write big enough for all the students to see. Write as concisely as you can. Be sure to include both the target language itself, the stressed syllables and a mini ‘concept statement’. Elena Babina, Gubkin7

Sample teacher language Ok, now, I’d like you to copy this down in your special ‘grammar’ sections of your notebooks… Elena Babina, Gubkin8

Personalize the target language Always ask the students to apply the target language to their own lives. Elena Babina, Gubkin9

Sample teacher language So it’s nearly the end of December now. It’s nearly the New Year. Does anyone her want to make changes to their life next year?… yes, …? … What are you going to do next year? Elena Babina, Gubkin10

Help students to guess the grammar rules of the target language Encourage the students to manipulate the new grammar (e.g. by asking them how to construct more difficult sentences using questions, negatives, or question tags). If they are struggling to guess, provide them with assistance by referring to other (known) patterns. Elena Babina, Gubkin11

Sample teacher language OK, so we’ve practised ‘I’d like…’, and we know it means ‘I want’…but can anyone ask me a question with ‘would like’? … Can anyone ask me if I’d like a cup of coffee? … No? Well, how do we ask a question with ‘will’? …Good!… ’Would’ works in the same way… Elena Babina, Gubkin12

Help students to understand the communicative importance of grammar Ask students to choose between two different communicative outcomes for one piece of language. Get students to follow certain instructions in class. Elena Babina, Gubkin13

Sample teacher language K., please take these chocolates… Ok, now go to N. and M. …now give him a chocolate…no, give him a chocolate… Good!… Now go to A., and give her a chocolate… Good!… And now go to L. and S., and give them the last chocolate… Well done, K.!… And now here's a chocolate for you, K.! Elena Babina, Gubkin14

Help students to understand the importance of grammatical accuracy Discuss with your students the importance of making a good impression with some formal correspondence, e.g. a job application. Encourage them to edit 'roughly-tuned’ texts. Elena Babina, Gubkin15

Sample teacher language …so you know that, sometimes, it’s important to write very accurately (for example, like you said, if you’re applying for a job here in Russia)… I want you now to look at this text… You can understand what the writer means, but there are some mistakes which will leave a bad impression on the reader… See if you can find the mistakes. Elena Babina, Gubkin16

Sources Paul Bress. Seven ways to help students enjoy grammar // Elena Babina, Gubkin