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© 2017 by World Learning. Navigating the Grammar Boat PPT for the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit
This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

2. Staging Memorable Grammar Encounters
There is no single recipe or formula for immediate success. However, there are a number of factors that can help us make the right decision for an individual group of students learning English in a specific place at a specific time.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

3. 1. Economy
Quantity does not automatically bring about a better quality:
Input should definitely be shorter than output.  Students need to use language in order to learn it; longer input leaves less time for them to engage in learning.
Don’t teach things that are easy
Keep it simple first, then expand.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

4. 2. Include Explanations, Examples, Exercises
Keep in mind:
You can arrange them in any order depending on the structure you want to present, lesson objective, your students, etc.
It is crucial to vary your approach – sticking to one and the same order all the time inevitably leads to make your presentations If you follow the same pattern all the time, students are more likely to switch off and stop paying attention.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

5. 3. Target Different Senses & Use ‘Hooks’
Give examples in context, use visuals, use timelines, use formulas, use videos, mime, etc. Approach the same pattern from many different learning angles.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

6. 4. Beware of Overburden
If you plan for a first encounter with a grammar structure, attend to its core meaning. When you meet someone you like, you don’t disclose your entire life straight away.
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Rather, you present information that you consider most relevant for that person. It’s the same with grammar: start from the most relevant point for your students. You don’t have to tell them the entire truth all at once!
This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

7. 5. Engage Students
Present grammar in context. Isolated, decontextualized examples are likely to be quickly forgotten.
Use catchy, memorable examples - more likely to stay in students’ short-term memory longer and allow them time to transfer them to their long-term memory. Such examples are easier to recall!
Personalize – ask students to use the target structure to say something about themselves.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

8. 5. Engage Students (cont.)
Involve students in explanations. Check what they know! You can always fill in the missing gaps.
Engage students in discovery. Start from easy things, make sure that they are successful. ‘Scaffold’ them with guiding Socratic questions – that supports their noticing.
Provide input and output opportunities for students that are beyond the sentence level—they need to encounter and use the language not only in context or a situation, but also within written and spoken discourse (paragraphs, stories, discussions, conversations).
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

9. 6. Plan Carefully for Meaningful Practice
learning a language is acquiring a new skill (therefore, practice is a crucial element of language learning process)
practice needs to be consistent and slow
practice should be related to a clear goal, to be purposeful
practice needs to be balanced and varied
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

10. 6. Plan Carefully for Meaningful Practice (cont.)
practice tasks need to be scaffolded (to progress from simple ones to harder ones)
good practice activities are engaging, personalized, meaningful and memorable to students
Practice activities can be sequenced in many ways. Their sequencing will depend on many factors, such as the students’ proficiency level, the difficulty of a grammar point, when it is to be taught during the semester or course.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

11. Language Learning is not Linear
Students will need several encounters with a grammar point before they are able to use it automatically. Don’t forget to make these subsequent encounters varied, engaging and more demanding that the initial ones.
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This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

12. “NOAA chart ” via Wikipedia Commons is licensed under Public Domain; “Rowboat scene” by OpenClipart via Pixabay is licensed under CC0
This is a program of the U.S. Department of State administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning