1. Making Grammar Lessons Fun with examples from Grammar Tour and Grammar Goals Magdalena Panova BETA Conference, May 2008, Sofia

2. Main Points  Identifying the problematic areas  Ideas on how to deal with specific aspects of teaching grammar  Making grammar lessons more interesting  Conclusions

3. Make Learning Load Lighter  Draw students’ attention to helpful patterns.  Help them discover those patterns for themselves.  The ability to recognise items which are similar will make it easier for the student to learn.

5. Rules  Rules should be descriptive and clear.  They should say how the language is used, not how it should be used.  Explanation, example, practice.

8. Involve both oral and written practice Oral Practice  Develop the ability to understand and respond quickly. Written Practice  Students have time to pause, think and consciously construct. First oral practice Then written practice Finally further oral free practice

10. Move from controlled to free practice  Controlled practice – the first step  Free practice – teacher has least control, students have the chance to make mistakes (show what they have not learned)  Free practice (situations, dialogue building, information gap-based pair work, discussion, writing/talking about student’s own interest) essential part of learning

12. Different Games  Beehive practice  Hangman  Who am I?

13. Illustrations  Create more friendly and relaxed atmosphere  Help learn better  Lots of fun

19. Conclusions  Grammar practice can be lively and amusing – it should be done frequently, briskly and with a touch of humour.  The teaching of structure can be made fun if students can be encouraged to explore and discover for themselves.  Emphasis should be on the student exploring rather than on the teacher explaining.

20. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!