Pedagogical Grammar Prof. Penny Ur Articles EFL Beginners Presented by: Amel Dabbah 15 th June, 2011

The Old, Old Classroom Taken from Mr. A This was not taught yet! In an old, old town there’s an old, old road. And on the old, old road there’s an old, old school. And in the old, old school there’s an old, old door. Open the old, old door…. ….to the old, old classroom….. In the old, old pencil box there’s a shiny new pen….

A, An or The? When do we say " the cat" and when do we say " a cat“ or “ an elephant”? the and a/an are called=articles used before a noun to show whether the noun refers to something specific or not

The Indefinite article - a/an a is used before count nouns beginning in consonant sounds For example: I want a mango. no item in particular, just one in general

an is used before count nouns beginning with a vowel sound For example: I want an apple. no item in particular, just one in general

Choose A or An 1. ____ arm 2. ____ banana 3. ____ television 4. ____ egg 5. ____ igloo 6. ____ avocado 7. ____ ambulance 8. ____ book 9. ____ carrot 10. ____ onion

The Definite Article - the the is used before singular and plural nouns used to refer to specific or particular nouns For example: I want the red apple.

the can be used with non count nouns, or can be omitted For example: He spilled the milk on the floor. or He spilled milk on the floor.

Omitting- the to talk about something in general For example: Elephants can’t fly. to talk about cities, countries, streets, etc. For example: I visited Spain.

Fill in a, an or the. Pay attention to capital letters. 1. I see ___ girl at the door. ___ girl is small. 2. I eat ___ banana every day. 3. I see ___ umbrella on my bag. ___ umbrella is black. 4. This dress is red. ___ other dress is blue. 5. I have ___ book. ___ book is big.

Underlying Theory Norris, J. M. & Ortega, L (2001) concluded that explicit instruction of grammar is crucial in the classroom and it is considered more effective than implicit instruction on its own. PPP- Presentation- Practice-Production (Ellis, 2003) a language item is first presented to the learners by means of examples with or without an explanation. This item is then practiced in a controlled manner using (…) ‘exercises’. Finally opportunities for using the item in free language production are provided.

Procedure Deductive– teaching through rules In the first stage of the sequence the teacher introduces the language and forms to be studied. In the second stage students practice using the language and grammar introduced by the teacher. After students have demonstrated that they can accurately use the language and forms introduced, fluency is developed by providing opportunities for students to use what they have learned in a less controlled environment.

Bibliography Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Norris, J. M. & Ortega, L.. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51, Supplement 1,