«ПРОСВЕЩЕНИЕ. ИНОСТРАННЫЕ ЯЗЫКИ»

Для того, чтобы быть хорошими учителями английского, нам необходимо владеть методами преподавания иностранных языков, быть точными в использовании грамматики, обладать способностью к самовыражению. Я поддерживаю идею, что нельзя говорить на языке красиво, не зная его грамматики.

To be good English teach­ers we must be efficient in methods of teaching foreign languages, be possess of fluency and grammatical accuracy of speech, and have the ability for self-ex­pression. I support the idea that it is impossible to speak the language correctly without knowing its grammar.

настроение:  творческое

ключевые слова: кейс-метод, грамматика, практика, традиционный метод, коммуникативный метод

город:  г. Симферополь

To be good English teach­ers we must be efficient in methods of teaching foreign languages, be possess of fluency and grammatical accuracy of speech, and have the ability for self-ex­pression. I support the idea that it is impossible to speak the language correctly without knowing its grammar. Thus, we should pay equal attention to what our students say and how they speak and make the process of language acquisition inter­esting and efficient.

There are two approaches to language acquisition: conscious and subconscious. Some Western scholars give preference to subconscious learning, deny the necessity of previous conscious knowledge of a grammar rule and consider the term “grammar” to be synonym for conscious learning (Krashen, 1987). They upgrade the importance of activities for the mean­ingful use of the language and downgrade the contributions made by the exercises that emphasize practice of grammar rules.

Practice shows that grammar-oriented instruction is rather relevant. The teacher should stick to both the traditional ap­proach (from theory to practice, from rules to exercises) and the communica­tive approach to language teaching. The following findings in the English Grammar classes show that much depends on the appropriate materials and procedures. It takes real processing time to remember, acquire and apply conscious rules. But se­lected and sequenced well, they are ac­quired effectively and grammar instruc­tion yields good results: the students suc­cessfully apply the rules to their output during an oral conversation.

Introducing to my students “Oblique Moods”, we inform them of the system of moods in the English language. The rules are supported by examples. The transla­tion exercises from Russian into En­glish alternate with communicative tech­niques. To raise the students’ interest in language learning and make the process more varied we apply different language games. Both individual and group-work activities are used. Here are some of the tasks given in classes:

1. Answer the following questions (What would you do if..?).
2. Change the sentences and use the Conditional Mood.
3. Advise me what to do in the follow­ing situation (use the pattern If I were you, I’d…).
4. Listen to the short stories and spot the sentences in which the Conditional Mood is used.
5. Make up an entertaining story in chain fashion. Every sentence must con­tain a conditional clause. The principal clause of the first students’ sentence must be changed into the conditional clause.
6. Make a remark about a specific item (e.g. your watch) using the patterns: If I didn’t have my watch, I would always be late; If only I’d sell this watch and buy a new one!; I wish I could have a better watch (Dobson, 1992).
7. Play the game “Cross Questions and Crooked Answers”. The class is divided into two teams. Every student on Team I is to write an imaginative question begin­ning with What would you do if… . For example, “What would you do if you saw a tiger in the street?”. Each member of Team II is to write an imaginative an­swer beginning with I would… . For in­stance, “I would dance for hours”. When everyone has finished writing, all the ques­tions and answers are put into two boxes. The questions and answers are read at random. The fun comes from the fact that the questions and answers are so utterly and ridiculously unrelated. To get to know my students’ attitude to the grammar instruction, I offered them the following questionnaire:
8. Do you think Grammar should be
9. taught as a separate aspect?
10. included in the course of conversa­tional English?
11. Do grammar lessons help you in lan­guage acquisition? If yes, be specific.
12. Do you think a) there is no neces­sity for previous conscious knowledge of the rule or b) do you give preference to subconscious language acquisition?
13. Do you think of grammar rules while speaking or writing something?
14. Do you prefer:
15. deductive learning (when grammar rules are given “directly”)?
16. inductive learning (when students are asked to figure out the rules for them­selves)?
17. Should grammar errors be cor­rected?
18. Which techniques and activities ap­plied by your teacher of Grammar do you consider most effective?

The following results were obtained: 95% of the students interviewed are in favor of learning Grammar as a sepa­rate aspect of language acquisition (as it really is); 100% consider that Grammar lessons (in different ways) help them in mastering the language; 57% prefer the conscious approach to learning Gram­mar; 39% think of grammar rules while speaking or writing, 43% do it some­times and 19% never do it; 86% give preference to deductive learning; 90% express the opinion that grammar errors should be corrected. The following ac­tivities applied in class have been men­tioned as the most effective ones: mak­ing up dialogues, playing language games, making up examples to illustrate gram­mar rules, making up stories, etc.

Teaching Grammar

Objectives: Students will be able to (SWBAT):

• Recognize parts of speech in English;
• Learn grammar in English.

Materials: HO1, HO2, HO3, HO4, HO4, HO5, white paper, tape.

Warm-Up (5 min): This activity is called Indian Poker. First cut up paper into approximately the size of playing cards. Next, take a card and draw a picture of a verb on one side and write out the verb on the other side. Prepare all of your cards this way. Divide the class into two teams. One student from the first team should hold the card to his/her forehead and student’s teammates should act out the verb until student guesses the correct verb (30-second time limit). The first team may continue two more times only if they guess each one correctly. Then it is team two’s turn.

Presentation of New Material (10 min): Create a chart on a flip chart or a piece of wallpaper. Turn the paper lengthwise and draw a line down the middle. On one side you will have Russian grammar words with some examples written directly onto your chart. (On the right side you will have the English equivalents with examples, but these will be on separate pieces of paper for further activities.) The titles should be in one colour and the examples in another colour. Please see HO1 for the words used for the Russian side of the chart. Next take the words from HO2 and write each one on a separate sheet of paper. Of course, you can change these words if you wish; these are just ideas.

Review quickly with students the Russian words for nouns, verbs etc. from the chart and their corresponding examples. Then put the Eng­lish word for the title of each category directly across from its Russian equivalent up on the chart. Use a drill to have students call out each term until they are familiar.

Practice (5–7 min): This exercise is used to see how well students understand the English names for the categories. First remove the English grammar titles from the chart and set them aside. Next remove the chart altogether and cover it up. Next tape the English grammar titles to the board. Hold up the first English example and ask students if they can name the category it belongs under. Whoever guesses correctly comes up to the board and places it under the correct category. You can either do these one by one as a class or put students in groups. Once all words have been placed correctly, uncover the Russian side and have students copy down both charts. They will now have a reference to shift from Russian words for grammar to English words.

Grammar Game (5–7 min): Explain to students that you want them to know the words backwards and forwards so it will be easier to teach grammar in the future. For these you will need 3 more examples from each category, preferably written in a different colour from before. Once again cover up the Russian side. Divide the class in half and assign each team a number. Each round, teacher will hand out one word to each team at the same time. The first team to bring up their word and put it in the correct category wins a point. The other team has a chance to win half a point if the first team does not place their word correctly. The 2^nd team then has one chance to place the word correctly. One round is over when both sides have placed their words correctly. When all the words are used up, the game is over. Whoever has the most points, wins.

Fun Grammar Test (3–5 min): Once the game is over, pass out a quick matching test to measure whether students really understand their grammar. See НОЗ.

Grammar Activity Ideas: Find ten nouns in your living room; write ten verbs about things you do everyday; write sentences with a noun, a verb and either an adverb or an adjective; complete a sentence pattern using ten different nouns/verbs/adjectives; Grammar BINGO, scrambled sentences.

Example Lesson Plan with New Terminology (optional): Write the following formula on the board: verb + direct object + indirect object. Then elicit examples for each part of the formula and write them on the board while explaining how indirect objects are different from direct objects. Next, you will need to draw pictures of sample indirect object and direct object sentences. Then bring out the pictures and elicit sentences from the class describing the actions. Next pass out sentences to students. This is a test to see if they understood the grammar point. See HO4 for the scrambled sentences.

Review (5–7 min): Write the Mad-Lib (HO5) on a piece of paper before class. Have students give you 7 nouns, 1 city name, 4 verbs, 1 adjective and 1 adverb, preferably the crazier or funnier the better. Write these on the board. Then bring out the Mad-Lib and fill in the blanks one at a time, starting from the top of each list. Then read it out loud to the class!

HO1

Russian Side of the Chart

Существительное	Наречие	Союз	Местоимение
Город	Светло	Но	Я
Собака	Грустно	Потому что	Мы
Папа	Медленно	Или	Она

 

Глагол	Прилагательное	Предлог
Бегать	Соленый	Под
Читать	Зеленый	Над
Кушать	Большой	Между

 

HO2

English Side of the Chart

Nouns	Adverbs	Conjunctions	Pronouns
Computer	Basically	And	He
Book	Well	Since	They
Water	Fairly	Or	You

 

Verbs	Adjectives	Prepositions
To blink	Cool	Over
To wish for	Green	Up
To ponder	Terrific	Off

HO3

Grammar test

Match the definition with the correct grammar

1.      Describes a noun	a)      Adverb
2.      Action word	b)      Conjunction
3.      Another name for George or Elizabeth or a dog	c)      Verb
4.      The name of a person, place or thing	d)     Adjective
5.      Direction, place and time words	e)      Pronoun
6.      Usually spelled with –ly, describes a verb	f)       Noun
7.      Connects ideas and sentences	g)      Preposition

H04

Scrambled Sentences

I am kicking the ball to Sam.

My sister owes me $10.

She showed her pictures to me.

I am giving you presents tomorrow.

Jon and Colin are taking apples to the bazaar.

H05

Mad-Lib

One day I decided to go visit (city name). I really needed a (noun) and a rest and I really wanted to see the (noun) and the (noun). I had (verb) that they were really (adjective). I also wanted (verb) with my (noun). As we were (-ing verb) along the street, we ran into some (noun). A (noun) (verb) me and then everybody was (-ing verb). The (noun) came and everything was okay. 1 (adverb) took the (noun) home. What a/an (adjective) day!

The above-mentioned results enabled me to make the conscious that:

1. a) we have chosen the appropriate approach to gram­mar instruction (combination of conscious and subconscious);
2. b) our students ap­prove of the techniques and procedures applied in the Grammar class;
3. c) we should make the set of grammar exercises still more varied to make it easier and more interesting for the students to grasp the material, to raise their grammatical accuracy, and use conscious grammar to great advantage.