teaching grammar

• grammar with a communicative aim / pedagogical grammar:
  • form - accuracy - how is it formed?
  • meaning - meaningfulness - what does it mean?
  • use - appropriateness - when/why is it used?
• grammar teaching can be less direct, more implicit, and more engaging. (ask more questions)
• presentation and practice:
  • set the context (why are we using what we are using today?)
  • elicitation
  • modelling
  • drilling
  • story/ dialogue building
  • pair work
  • mingling
  • engagement
    • instead of showing a grammar box, an example or pictures could be used. a timeline is also helpful.
• feedback and correction
  • indicating the error instead of saying what the error was (by raising your eyebrows or shaking your head).
  • indicating what the mistake is or where it is (by repeating the incorrect work with questioning intonation).
  • giving the correction, partly or wholly yourself (saying a corrected verb form) and getting the learner to complete it or repeat it.
  • "you mean (this)?" student: "yes" "would you repeat it, please?"
  • finger contractions
• ask questions to check understanding and to make sure students are following the IDEA/MEANING of the sentence - we are focusing on the communicative aim.
  • the questions have to lead the way to understanding
  • the questions have to be simple and have simple answers (yes/no, I don't know, etc).