Our Top Six Tips for teaching grammar
Show Notes
We’ve been talking a lot about teaching grammar lately. Mainly because it’s the type of lesson that seems to intimidate teachers the most. There’s often so much information out there that teachers feel overwhelmed at the thought of having to break it all down and present it clearly in the classroom. As teacher trainers, not only have we taught countless grammar lessons ourselves, but we’ve also spent years observing and helping other teachers plan and execute effective grammar lessons. So today, we’re bringing you our top six tips for teaching grammar effectively.
In this Episode
Tip #1: Set context. Context is not the grammar that you’re teaching! It’s the topic or theme of your lesson, and the situation in which the grammar naturally occurs.
Tip #2: Use your whiteboard well. Add a clear visual element to your lesson. Make a board plan before your lesson to make sure you use the space effectively. Color-code the “teach” stage of your lesson by using different colored markers to highlight aspects of meaning, form, and pronunciation.
Tip #3: Use the same examples in the “teach” stage that were in your diagnostic test or text (in a text-based grammar lesson). The sentences you put on the board to clarify during the “teach” stage of the lesson should be the ones students have already looked at and analyzed earlier in the lesson. This gives your lesson a sense of continuity and makes your material work for you.
Tip #4: Pronunciation is just as important as meaning and form. Avoid the temptation to skip the pronunciation part of your grammar lesson. Repeating the grammatical structure several times helps students cement the structure in their minds. It also helps them be prepared to hear natural English (the way the grammar really sounds) in their daily lives outside of class.
Tip #5: Do the practice activities yourself and be prepared to justify the answers. If you are giving students a worksheet to practice the grammar in your lesson, make sure you’ve done the worksheet yourself and are confident in the correct answers. Go a step beyond that and ask yourself why each answer is what it is and be prepared to justify each answer using the grammar rules you taught your students earlier in the lesson.
Tip #6: Make sure your freer (fluency) practice activity is as authentic as possible. Adapt the exercises in the book to mimic real life activities. Try to give the activity a communicative goal: students should have a goal or a purpose in completing the practice activity that’s beyond just using the language itself.
Resources to check out:
Our online grammar course: Be Your Own Grammar Guru
Grammar reference books: Our recommendations
Upcoming webinars on how to teach grammar
Podcast Episode 2: Five Misconceptions About Teaching Grammar