GRAMMAR

According to Britannica, Grammar encompasses rules of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other
elements, as well as their combination and interpretation. The word grammar also denotes the study of these abstract
features or a book presenting these rules. In a restricted sense, the term refers only to the study of sentence and word
structure (syntax and morphology), excluding vocabulary and pronunciation.

The systematic description of the features of a language is also a grammar. These features are the phonology (sound),
morphology (system of word formation), syntax (patterns of word arrangement), and semantics (meaning). 

Depending on the grammarian’s approach, a grammar can be prescriptive (i.e., provide rules for correct usage),
descriptive (i.e., describe how a language is actually used), or generative (i.e., provide instructions for the production of
an infinite number of sentences in a language).

ESSENCE OF TEACHING GRAMMAR

• Enhances communication skills which lead to communicating proficiently.

• Has a beneficial effect on student’s reading
• Helps children to expand competence to include the many grammatical patterns which are needed in adult life
but not found in children’s casual conversation.
• It is because of the grammar of the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language.
• As human beings, we can put sentences together even as children, we can all do grammar. But to be able to talk
about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make-up sentences, that is to
know about grammar.
• Knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear, interesting and
precise.

FOUR TYPES OF GRAMMAR

Prescriptive

A prescriptive grammar is a set of rules about language based on how people think language should be used. In a
prescriptive grammar there is right and wrong language. The term prescriptive grammar refers to a set of norms or rules
governing how a language  should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually
used. It is also called normative grammar and prescriptivism.

Prescriptive grammar describes when people focus on talking about how a language should  or  ought to be used. One
way to remember this association is to think of going to a doctor’s office. When a doctor gives you a prescription for
medication, it often includes directions about how you should take your medication as well as what you should not do
when taking your medication. In a similar way, a prescriptive grammar tells you how you should speak, and what type of
language to avoid. This is commonly found in English classes as well as other language classes, where the aim is to teach
people how to use language in a very particular (typically described as ‘proper’ or ‘correct’) way.

A person who dictates how people should write or speak is called a prescriptivist or a prescriptive grammarian.

Descriptive

A descriptive grammar is a set of rules about language based on how it is actually used. In a descriptive grammar there is
no right or wrong language. The term descriptive  grammar refers to an objective, nonjudgmental description of
the grammatical constructions in a language. It's an examination of how a language is actually being used, in writing and
in speech. Linguists who specialize in descriptive grammar examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of
words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In that respect, the adjective "descriptive" is a bit misleading as descriptive
grammar provides an analysis and explanation of a language's grammar, not simply a description of it.
Descriptive grammar also focuses on describing the language as it is used, not saying how it should be used. For
example, think about a prescriptive rule like “Don’t split infinitives.” A descriptive grammarian would see a sentence like
“To boldly go where no man has gone before” and would try to describe how the mental grammar can cause that
ordering of words, rather than saying that the surface form is faulty due to prescriptive rules (which would require the
sentence “To go boldly where no man has gone before”). Linguistics takes this approach to language.

Functional

Functional grammar, based on systemic linguistics, emphasizes the way spoken and written languages operate in
different social situations. In particular, it is very useful in showing how texts work beyond the level of the sentence, how
different texts are structured, and how language varies to suit the purpose of the users. It takes on a descriptive
approach and focuses on groups of words that function to make meanings and is also concerned with how language is
used in a range of social and cultural contexts. 

In his classic book An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Halliday (1994) points out that functional grammar is so-
called because its conceptual framework is a functional one rather than a formal one. It is functional in three distinct
senses: in its interpretation (1) of texts, (2) of the system, and (3) of the elements of linguistic structures. In the first
sense, functional grammar is designed to account for how the language is used. Every text (everything that is said or
written) unfolds in some context of use. Over tens of thousands of generations of constant use, language has shaped
into a system which can satisfy human needs. Therefore, “A functional grammar is essentially a ‘natural’ grammar, in the
sense that everything in it can be explained, ultimately, by reference to how language is used” (Halliday, 1994).

Pedagogic

A description of how to use grammar of a language to communicate, for people wanting to learn the target language. It
can be compared with a reference grammar of the language.

The focus is on how grammatical items may be made more learnable or teachable.

A pedagogical grammar is designed for teaching and learning purposes rather than as definitive analysis of a language
point. It is designed to the needs of the speakers learning English; the focus is on helping students improve accuracy in
academic writing.

Pedagogical grammar also refers to the grammatical content taught to a student learning a language other than his or
her first language or the methods used in teaching that content. The goal of this type of grammar is primarily to increase
fluency and accuracy of speech rather than impart theoretical knowledge.

A pedagogical grammar may also be a grammar textbook designed to assist in learning a language.

A native English speaker needs little instruction in order to invert words in a sentence to form a question; that is,
“You do know me” becomes “Do you know me?”

What is the goal of pedagogical grammar?

 It is to help non-native speakers achieve fluency, and accuracy.

In order for a language learner to speak well, most of his or her utterances will need to conform to the grammatical rules
set forth in prescriptive grammar. On the other hand, it helps to understand the way native speakers actually use
language through descriptive grammar. This is necessary for the learner to make sense or other non-standard ways of
speaking, such as ending sentences with prepositions.

METHODS, TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES OF TEACHING GRAMMAR

Before anything else, let us distinguish the following terms first,

Strategy

A plan of action designed to achieve an overall aim. Example, "What’s your strategy for setting goals?" is ok to say but
some people might not know what you mean. Strategy is almost like the word 'tactic'.

These are also methods we use to allow learners to access the information we are teaching. For example, we could read
the information to them; we could display it pictorially; we could allow them to research the information themselves; we
could present it as a PowerPoint Presentation. We can use our creativity so as to make every class interesting by using
good strategies for teaching. Your teaching strategies should aim to include all types of learners.

Technique

Technique is a procedure or skill for completing a specific task. If a class room is becoming distracted a teacher may use
the technique to use a quick physical activity to distract their distraction and get them all to do the same thing at the
same time.

It is also referred to steps we follow when we teach. For example, when we want to help students learn the meaning of
new vocabulary words we can use a technique known as Definition Clues. We can teach any topic easily by following
steps. It will help us to more organize in facilitating the students’ learning process.

Method

Method is a way something is done.

It comprises the principles and methods used for instruction. Commonly used teaching methods may include class
participation, demonstration, recitation, memorization, or combinations of these. The choice of teaching method or
methods to be used depends largely on the information or skill that is being taught, and it may also be influenced by the
aptitude and enthusiasm of the students.

If we compare the teaching approach and the teaching method, the difference is that the teaching approach is like the
form or way we teach, how we do it while the teaching method is what kind of activities we use in order to teach. “Tell
me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand.”

Learning grammar (and teaching it) consists of two main stages: learning the meaning and form of each new structure,
and putting it into practice.

TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR

1. Board Work Presentations

For a quick and easy presentation of new language, the board is the obvious resource to exploit. When writing a
grammar explanation or examples on the board bear in mind that students may be copying it down. Using colors, circles
or lines can make things clearer.

Here are some guidelines also in writing board work presentations:

 Use a different color to indicate a typical error or wrong form.

 Use a different color, underline or circle to indicate a part of the sentence you wish students to focus on.
 Dividing the board into sections can help make things clearer.

What makes a good grammar presentation?

The point of any grammar presentations is to help students develop their understanding of, and ability to use a
particular area of language. We can assess our choice of presentation by asking:

Is the presentation we have in mind going to be:

 MEMORABLE;
 CLEAR;
  EFFECTIVE; and
 APPROPRIATE for students?

A good grammar presentation must meet all four of the above criteria.

2. Using the students and you, the teacher.

A direct context for language can often be found in the lives and experiences of the people in the room. Personal
context immediately show how applicable the grammar is, and can also be more memorable than stories of people from
outside the student’s worlds. The teacher can also give activities where students talk about themselves, their
experiences, their lives, their opinions. You can also use stories from your own life to present grammar. For example, the
teacher can use photos of themselves when they were younger when they were younger to introduce was/were.
Students’ photos can also be a great resource. Most students will have photos on their mobile phones that they can
share with each other to support any number of practice activities.

3. Using realia/photos

Bringing objects or presenting photos in the classroom can help bring a grammar point to life. Realia or pictures can be
used to create a physical memory hook. Realia or pictures can be used to create a context for the target language. For
example, we suggest using such things such as a bag of rice, a glass of water, a balloon and a tea bag to introduce the
concept of countable and non-countable nouns, but for convenience you can just present it in pictures as long as the
students can see a visual presentation.

4. Dialogue building

This collaborative technique involves setting a scene and, with the students’ help, writing a dialogue on the board
including the language you want to focus on. For example, the teacher provides a framework for a dialogue between
waiters and customers in a restaurant. This is a familiar situation in which the indefinite pronouns something, anything
and nothing occur naturally. Students then either practice the dialogue in pairs as it is or with variations (eg. different
choices of food and drink, a different type of restaurant). A great way to push students towards memorizing the
language is to gradually erase the text, word by word, until the students are repeating the dialogue from memory.

5. Dictation

With grammar points where the written form is already familiar to the students, but where meaning needs to be
explored in more depth, a quick and effective means of introducing the language is to dictate model sentences to the
class. Dictation immediately gets students working with the language and tests listening skills and spelling, as well as
grammatical knowledge. It also promotes conversation management skills, such as asking to clarify and repeat: “Sorry,
could you say that again, please?” For example, the teacher dictates sentences containing verbs used with and without
reflexive pronouns to start exploring the differences in meaning and use.

7. Drilling

To help students pronounce new language correctly, get them to say it repeatedly so you can check for accuracy. By
experiencing the movement of the mouth as they say it, students reinforce their learning in a different way from when
they write it down and see it. Simple drilling can be either choral, i.e. all students repeat the structure at the same time,
or individually. A suggested order is to let students practice chorally first, but to insist on individual repetition so that you
can check everyone is pronouncing it correctly. There are ways to vary drilling so that it doesn’t get repetitive.

Substitution drilling involves the teacher prompting students to substitute words for other words in a drilled sentence,
for example:
T: He’s been working at the office. 
S1: He’s been working at the office.
T: they 
S2: They’ve been working at the office.
T: at home 
S3: They’ve been working at home.
T: watch TV 
S4: They’ve been watching TV at home.

Drilling can be disguised as a game, as in the circular drill. For example, the students inadvertently ‘drill’ each other.

8. Songs or Composing Jingles

Another popular way of encouraging students to repeat structures as well as to make them memorable is through songs.
Choose songs or jingles that contain the target language multiple times and which contain a natural stress pattern for it,
too. Songs can be used to present the target language through listening tasks such as gap-fills or reordering the lines or
words in the lyrics. They also offer repeated exposure to the language and, if your students enjoy singing, can also offer
a chance to practice pronunciation.

9. Exploiting feedback stages

Feedback on activities is not just about seeing how many questions students got right; it is an opportunity to achieve
several teaching objectives: to check understanding, correct persistent errors, share interesting information, revise rules
and to draw conclusions.

10. Error correction

Students want and expect correction from their teacher. Choosing which mistakes to correct, when to do so and how,
are complex questions. It’s important, however, to remember that students who need the most correction may not be
those that make the most or biggest mistakes. Lower-level or quiet, shy students may benefit from less correction so
that they are not discouraged from using English, however imperfectly we correct students in the hope that they won’t
keep making those mistakes. To encourage them to think about their errors, let them try out new language, listening out
for errors of use. Then point out the errors and show them the corrections. Finally, let them do the activity again, this
time with those common errors fresh in their minds. In a shopping role play for example, students can perform the role-
play first, you correct any errors, and then they swap roles and try again.

11. Direct Explaining

You can explain a grammar rule directly using the students’ mother tongue. This has the advantage of allowing students
to contrast an item of grammar in English with an item of grammar in the students’ own language. For example, the two
languages might use past tenses in different ways. On the other hand, some teachers believe that it’s more effective to
present and explain the grammar directly by using English at all times. Certainly, in classes where the students already
have learnt some English, it’s usually possible to build on what they already know to introduce a new grammar point.

12. Discovering the Grammar

Often, it’s helpful to have students discover the grammar rather than telling them what it is. Do this by choosing a text
which contains lots of examples of the target grammar. For example, if the text includes regular verbs in the past simple
form (e.g. lived, travelled, moved, etc), ask the students to underline all the verbs in the text. Then ask them to say what
they notice about the verbs – which will be that, they all end in -ed.

13. Drawing Timelines

Timelines are useful for teaching grammar structures that refer to aspects of time. Timelines are a simple and visual way
to clarify the actions and events described in a sentence. They are often used by teachers for presenting the meaning of
verb tenses in English.

The basic form of a timeline shows a horizontal line with a point in the middle indicating NOW or the moment of
speaking. Before that point is the past and after it is the future. Some teachers also write the words PAST and FUTURE
along the line. You can indicate single actions with an X and periods of time with an arrow. Continuous actions are often
indicated with a wavy line.
14. Asking Concept Questions (Checking Understanding)

Write a sentence on the board containing the grammar structure. For example, this sentence uses the past simple: He
left university in 2008. Next, ask the students concept questions which check their understanding of when the action
happened. So, the teacher/student conversation would sound like this:

T: Is he at university now?

SS: No.

T: Was the action in the past?

SS: Yes.

Note that concept questions should usually be designed to elicit the answer Yes  or No  from the students because the
aim is only to check their understanding.

15. Using Tables (Showing the Form).

Tables are very useful for showing the form of the grammar on the board. For example, these tables show the
affirmative and negative forms of a verb in the present simple tense. You can refer to the different features of the tense
when introducing it, and the students can copy the table for future reference.

 I/You/We/They live in England

 He/She/It lives
 I/You/We/They don’t live in England.
 He/She/It doesn’t live in England.

16. Contrasting Structures (Showing the Difference in Meaning).

With higher-level grammar, it’s useful to ask students to contrast two grammar structures which are similar in certain
ways, but which have an important difference in meaning. For example, these two sentences contrast two different
meanings of the present perfect tense.

 He has been to London.

 He has gone to London.

A teacher could ask the students to compare these sentences and say what the difference in meaning is.

(Answer: A means: He went to London and returned back whereas B means: He went to London and he is still there).

17. Choosing the Correct Sentence (Correcting Common Grammatical Mistakes).

This is similar to the previous technique because you give students two sentences, but one sentence has a mistake
related to grammar. You write them on the board and get students to say which they think has the mistake and why. For
example:

 I’ve lived here since three years.

 I’ve lived here for three years.

Students discuss the sentences in pairs. Sentence A. is wrong because we use “since” to refer to a fixed point in time
(e.g. March, 1989, etc.) whereas we use “for” to describe duration of time.

STRATEGIES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR

Eight strategies or activities that can be used to enhance student’s knowledge of grammar:

1. Daily Oral Language

Daily oral language is a quick, effective way to teach and reinforce grammar and punctuation. Simply write one or two
sentences on the board in which there are grammar or punctuation errors. Then ask volunteers to come up and correct
an error. Students should correct only one error and then explain why they made their correction. This allows others to
hear their thinking and enables you to conduct quick grammar and punctuation mini-lessons. DOL should be kept fairly
fast-paced.

Eventually, you may include a short paragraph instead of sentences. You can find DOL sentences on the Internet (do a
search using the terms: daily-oral language). You could also buy books with lots of DOL sentences in them. However, I’ve
found that it is always more effective to create your own sentences based on the types of errors you see in students’
writing and hear in their speaking. Also, create sentences and paragraphs that are about (a) your students, (b) your
students’ their lives or experiences, or (c) books, subjects, themes, or topics you may be studying.

2. Sentence Combining

Sentence combining is a method of teaching grammar intuitively. In sentence combing, students are given two or more
sentences. These sentences make come from a book they’re reading, a unit their studying, current events, or their
lives. They must then combine the sentences while keeping the same ideas. The goal is not to make a longer sentence,
rather, to develop more effective sentences. The resulting sentence must be a complete sentence and use as few words
as possible. This is a naturalistic approach to grammar as students naturally look for nouns, verbs, propositions, and
connecting words to construct new sentences.

Sentence combing invites students to experiment with word choice and order. They begin to realize that there’re many
ways to build sentence. This provides a more authentic context in which to talk about nouns, verbs, capital letters, and
periods. These are the steps:

1. Write two sentences on the board (or three for more advanced students). The sentences don’t have to be related to
each other; however, it is helpful if they are related to students’ lives, experiences, or something they may be studying
in another class.

2. Ask students to combine two sentences into one. They can write their sentence ideas down in a journal or on
thinking paper (scratch paper). You can experiment by having students do this orally. They could also do this in pairs or
small groups. This enables them to talk and hear the thinking of others. Students should share their ideas with the group
or class in some way.

3. Share your own combined sentence or write one student’s on the board. Analyze sentences only after students have
created them. Identify and discuss the various types of words used and why. Have a list of possible connecting words
someplace on the board or word wall (and, or, unless, because, also, etc.). You might identify the thing words (nouns),
action words (verbs), and describing words (adjectives). This is a quick and simple way to review the elements that are
needed for a complete sentence.

Important note: Always reinforce the notion that a sentence is a complete idea. It needs to make sense by itself.
Encourage students to read their sentences out loud to see if they make sense. This can be done quickly by having
students turn to a neighbor to share their sentence.

3. Sentence Elaboration

In sentence elaboration, students are given a sentence with the direction to make it better or more interesting. This
allows students to see the basic structure of a sentence while using propositions, adjectives, verbs, and other types of
words and sentence parts to make it more interesting. Creativity and humor should be encouraged. For example, you
might ask students to make the sentence more mysterious, funny, efficient, fancy, exciting, boring, scary, loud, bizarre,
silly, funny, pig-like, old, new, happy, sad, expensive, etc. Again, this is more effective if the original sentence has some
connection to what students are reading or studying or their lives and experiences.

4. Grammar as Inquiry

Inquiry is when students ask a question and then use data to answer the question. In this case, the question is: How
many nouns are in this text? What type of nouns is found in this story? Look for different types of nouns, adjectives, or
verbs. Examples might include floating nouns, nouns that sink, big nouns, little nouns, nouns that bounce, healthy nouns,
etc.
5. Word Sort

Ask students to identify a specific number of a certain type of words. For example, list 30 verbs found in this story. Then,
have students examine the group and arrange the verbs (or some other type of word) into groups or categories. A table
or bar graph can be used to record the results. This would enable you to compare the types of verbs found in different
story. (Make sure you use the same number of verbs from each story.)

6. Grammar Treasure Hunt

Ask students to go on a grammar treasure hunt to find various grammatical elements. Using a book or textbook in which
they are familiar, students use a graphic organizer to collect and organize data. Tally marks are then used to keep track
of how many words put in each category.

7. Peer Editing

Peer editing can also be used for developing grammar skills. Here you would identify three to five specific grammatical
elements upon which to focus. You can use a checklist to create an evaluation.

For example:

8. Wide Reading

This isn’t a specific strategy, but voluntary self-selected, enjoyable reading is the cure for almost everything. Wide
reading provides students with a very implicit sense of the structure of the language.

METHODS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR

English grammar is notoriously difficult to learn for both native and second-language speakers. There are so many
intricacies, obscure rules, and exceptions that it comes as no surprise that different generation of teachers have used
various approaches to teaching grammar to train literate English writers. In the past, memorization-based techniques
that relied on repetition slowly gave way to more creative methods. Today, we live in a society that prizes literacy and is
willing to adapt to more effective methods to achieve the best results in teaching grammar.

1. Diagramming Sentences

One of the older forms of teaching grammar, diagramming sentences, first appeared in the 19th century. This method
involves visually mapping the structures of and relationships between different aspects of a sentence. Especially helpful
for visual learners, this method disappeared from modern teaching at least 30 years ago. Different forms of
diagramming are used to visualize sentences, from the Reed-Kellogg System to dependency grammar, but all organize
the functions of a sentence in a way that illustrates the grammatical relationships between words. 

2. Learning through Writing

This method is often used in schools in the U.S. and Canada. Students are encouraged to explore language through
creative writing and reading, picking up correct grammar usage along the way. If there are specific problems with certain
grammatical rules, these are covered in a more structured lesson. An emphasis is now being placed upon language
acquisition over language learning, as it has been observed that learning grammar by memorization does not work well
and that students are better able to recognize and understand grammatical rules when lessons are more interactive (i.e.,
they have to apply these rules in their own writing). Repeated practice is also important and easily achieved through
creative or personal writing exercises. An article, posted by The Atlantic, suggests that to better equip future adult
writers, teachers in the 21st century should consider dropping outdated grammar teaching techniques in early education
and opt for learning through writing techniques.

3. Inductive Teaching

The inductive method of teaching grammar involves presenting several examples that illustrate a specific concept and
expecting students to notice how the concept works from these examples. No explanation of the concept is given
beforehand, and the expectation is that students learn to recognize the rules of grammar in a more natural way during
their own reading and writing. Discovering grammar and visualizing how these rules work in a sentence, allows for easier
retention of the concept than if the students were given an explanation that was disconnected from examples of the
concept. The main goal of the inductive teaching method is the retention of grammar concepts, with teachers using
techniques that are known to work cognitively and make an impression on students’ contextual memory.

4. Deductive Teaching

The deductive method of teaching grammar is an approach that focuses on instruction before practice. A teacher gives
students an in-depth explanation of a grammatical concept before they encounter the same grammatical concept in
their own writing. After the lesson, students are expected to practice what they have just been shown in a mechanical
way, through worksheets and exercises. This type of teaching, though common, has many people—including teachers—
rethinking such methods, as more post-secondary level students are revealing sub-par literacy skills in adulthood. As one
former teacher states, deductive teaching methods drive many students away from writing because of the tediousness
of rote learning and teacher-centered approaches.

5. Interactive Teaching

Another method of teaching grammar is to incorporate interactivity into lessons. Using games to teach grammar not
only engages students but also helps them to remember what they’ve learned. This method allows teachers to tailor
their lessons to the different learning styles of students. For instance, each student can be given a large flashcard with a
word on it, and the students must physically arrange themselves into a proper sentence. Other games can include word
puzzles or fun online quizzes.

6. Eclectic Approach

It is a method that integrates all the language-teaching methods depending on the classroom circumstances and the
abilities of the learners.

The Eclectic Approach was advocated as almost all the individual methods had their strengths and weaknesses and not
even a single method was responsible to the real and dynamic classroom context. Taking the drawbacks of the various
methods into consideration, Brown (2002) argues that eclecticism finds the right solution as this approach permits the
teacher to select what worlds well in classrooms within their own dynamic contexts.

In this approach teacher has more flexibility and adaptability to choose best elements according to the needs and aims
of the students.

Over the years, many methods have been developed for teaching grammar and have been built upon, abandoned, or
combined, all with the same goal in mind—teaching students how to communicate effectively and understand how to
use the English language. Because of the grammatical complexity of English, each method has its pros and cons. Some
lessons are less likely to be remembered, while others may require more in-depth explanation and practice. Regardless
of how grammar is taught, a well-rounded understanding of English grammar is the most important factor in improving
the literacy of students.

Developing Grammar Activities

Many courses and textbooks, especially those designed for lower proficiency levels, use a specified sequence of
grammatical topics as their organizing principle. When this is the case, classroom activities need to reflect the grammar
point that is being introduced or reviewed. By contrast, when a course curriculum follows a topic sequence, grammar
points can be addressed as they come up.

For curricula that introduce grammatical forms in a specified sequence, you will want to develop activities that relate
form to meaning and use.

 Describe the grammar point, including form, meaning, and use, and give examples (structured input)
 Ask students to practice the grammar point in communicative drills (structured output)
 Have students do a communicative task that provides opportunities to use the grammar point (communicative
output)

For curricula that follow a sequence of topics, you will need to develop activities that relate the topical discourse (use) to
meaning and form.

 Provide oral or written input (audiotape, reading selection) that addresses the topic (structured input)
 Review the point of grammar, using examples from the material (structured input)
 Ask students to practice the grammar point in communicative drills that focus on the topic (structured output)
 Have students do a communicative task on the topic (communicative output)

When you have the opportunity to develop part or the entire course curriculum, you can develop a series of contexts
based on the real-world tasks that students will need to perform using the language, and then teach grammar and
vocabulary in relation to those contexts.

For example, students who plan to travel will need to understand public address announcements in airports and train
stations. You can use recorded simulations to provide input. Teach the grammatical forms that typically occur in such
announcements, and then have students practice by asking and answering questions about what was announced.

Using Textbook Grammar Activities

To use textbook grammar exercises effectively, instructors need to recognize which type they are, devote the
appropriate amount of time to them, and supplement them as needed.

Recognizing Types

Before the teaching term begins, inventory the textbook to see which type(s) of drills it provides. Decide which you will
use in class, which you will assign as homework, and which you will skip.

Textbooks usually provide one or more of the following three types of grammar exercises.

 Mechanical Drills - refers to a controlled practice activity which students can successfully carry out without
necessarily understanding the language they are using. Examples of this kind of activity would be repetition drills
and substitution drills designed to practice use of particular grammatical or other items. Activities of this kind
are of limited value in developing communicative language use.
 Meaningful Drills - refers to an activity where language control is still provided but where students are required
to make meaningful choices when carrying out practice. For example, in order to practice the use of prepositions
to describe locations of places, students might be given a street map with various buildings identified in different
locations. They are also given a list of prepositions such as across from, on the corner of, near, on, next to. They
then have to answer questions such as “Where is the book shop? Where is the café?” etc. The practice is now
meaningful because they have to respond according to the location of places on the map.
 Communicative Drills - refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context
is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable. For
example students might have to draw a map of their neighborhood and answer questions about the location of
different places in their neighborhood, such as the nearest bus stop, the nearest café, etc.

Assigning Time

When deciding which textbook drills to use and how much time to allot to them, keep their relative value in mind.
  Mechanical drills are the least useful because they bear little resemblance to real communication. They do not
require students to learn anything; they only require parroting of a pattern or rule.
 Meaningful drills can help students develop understanding of the workings of rules of grammar because they
require students to make form-meaning-use correlations. Their resemblance to real communication is limited by
the fact that they have only one correct answer.
 Communicative drills require students to be aware of the relationships among form, meaning, and use. In
communicative drills, students test and develop their ability to use language to convey ideas and information.

Supplementing

If the textbook provides few or no meaningful and communicative drills, you may want to create some supplement
activities to substitute for mechanical drills.

Grammar Approaches

1. Deductive Approach –rule driven learning

A deductive approach starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied. The
grammar rule is presented and the learner engages with it through the study and manipulation of examples.

Advantages of a deductive approach:

• It gets straight to the point, and can therefore be time-saving. Many rules — especially rules of form — can be more
simply and quickly explained than elicited from examples. This will allow more time for practice and application.

• It respects the intelligence and maturity of many - especially adult -students, and acknowledges the role of cognitive
processes in language acquisition.

• It confirms many students' expectations about classroom learning, particularly for those learners who have an
analytical learning style.

• It allows the teacher to deal with language points as they come up, rather than having to anticipate them and prepare
for them in advance.

Disadvantages of a deductive approach:

• Starting the lesson with a grammar presentation may be off-putting for some students, especially younger ones. They
may not have sufficient metalanguage (i.e. language used to talk about language such as grammar terminology). Or they
may not be able to understand the concepts involved.

• Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission-style classroom; teacher explanation is often at the
expense of student involvement and interaction.

• Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as demonstration.

• Such an approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simply a case of knowing the rules.

2. Inductive Approach- rule discovery path

This approach is an opposite of deductive approach, where the teaching of language starts with examples and asks
learners to find rules.

What are the advantages of encouraging learners to work rules out for themselves?

 Rules learners discover for themselves are more likely to fit their existing mental structures than rules they have
been presented with. This in turn will make the rules more meaningful, memorable, and serviceable.
 The mental effort involved ensures a greater degree of cognitive depth which, again, ensures greater
memorability.
  Students are more actively involved in the learning process, rather than being simply passive recipients: they are
therefore likely to be more attentive and more motivated.
 It is an approach which favors pattern-recognition and problem-solving abilities which suggests that it is
particularly suitable for learners who like this kind of challenge.
 If the problem-solving is done collaboratively, and in the target language, learners get the opportunity for extra
language practice.
 Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater self-reliance and is therefore conducive to
learner autonomy.

The disadvantages of an inductive approach include:

 The time and energy spent in working out rules may mislead students into believing that rules are the objective
of language learning, rather than a means.
 The time taken to work out a rule may be at the expense of time spent in putting the rule to some sort of
productive practice.
 Students may hypothesize the wrong rule, or their version of the rule may be either too broad or too narrow in
its application: this is especially a danger where there is no overt testing of their hypotheses, either through
practice examples, or by eliciting an explicit statement of the rule.
 It can place heavy demands on teachers in planning a lesson. They need to select and organize the data carefully
so as to guide learners to an accurate formulation of the rule, while also ensuring the data is intelligible.
 However carefully organized the data is, many language areas such as aspect and modality resist easy rule
formulation.
 An inductive approach frustrates students who, by dint of their personal learning style or their past learning
experience (or both), would prefer simply to be told the rule.

Research findings into the relative benefits of deductive and inductive methods have been inconclusive. Short term gains
for deductive learning have been found, and there is some evidence to suggest that some kinds of language items are
better 'given than 'discovered'. Moreover, when surveyed, most learners tend to prefer deductive presentations of
grammar. Nevertheless, once exposed to inductive approaches, there is often less resistance as the learners see the
benefits of solving language problems themselves. Finally, the autonomy argument is not easily dismissed: the capacity
to discern patterns and regularities in naturally occurring input would seem to be an invaluable tool for self-directed
learning, and one, therefore, which might usefully be developed in the classroom.

Teaching Grammar in Situational Contexts - (using a generative situation)

The generative situation is a situation which the teacher sets up in the lesson in order to “generate” several example
sentences of a structure.

Advantages:

A situational context permits presentation of a wide range of language items. The situation serves as a means of
contextualizing the language and this helps clarify its meaning. At the same time the generated examples provide the
learners with data for induction of the rules of form. Students can be involved in the development of the presentation as
well as in solving the grammar 'problem': this makes it less dry than a traditional grammar explanation. Moreover, the
situation, if well chosen, is likely to be more memorable than a simple explanation. All these factors suggest that this
approach rates high in terms of efficacy.

Disadvantages:

If students are in the wrong mind-set they are unlikely to do the kind of cognitive work involved in the induction of
grammar rules. This kind of presentation also takes more time than an explanation. Time spent on presenting language
is inevitably time spent at the expense of language practice, and it is arguable that what most students need is not the
presentation of rules but opportunities to practice them. Thus, the generative situation loses points in terms of its
economy. And it also requires a resourceful teacher who not only is able to conjure up situations that generate several
structurally identical sentences, but who has also the means (and the time) to prepare the necessary visual aids.

Example: Teaching “should have done” using a generative situation

Step 1:

By means of a picture on the board (a drawing, photo, or picture cut from a magazine) the teacher introduces a
character she calls Andy. She draws a rough map of Australia, placing next to it a picture of a four-wheel drive vehicle.
She elicits ideas as to how these pictures are connected, establishing the situation that Andy has decided to drive across
the Australian desert from the east to the west. She elicits the sort of preparations a person would need to make for
such a journey. Students suggest, for example, that Andy would need a map, a spare wheel, lots of water, a travelling
companion, food, a 23 first aid kit, and so on. The teacher selects some of these ideas, and writes them in a column on
the board, and one or two ideas of her own:

To do this kind of journey, you should:

 take a map
 take water
 not travel alone
 advise the police
 not travel in the wet season

Step 2:

The teacher then explains that Andy made no preparations. He didn't take a map, he didn't take water, he travelled
alone, etc. She asks the students to imagine what happened. Using their ideas as well as her own, she constructs the
following story:

Andy set off, got lost, got very thirsty, set off in search of help (leaving his vehicle behind), got trapped by sudden flood
waters, etc. The police set out in search of him but couldn't find him because he had abandoned his vehicle and left no
note. The teacher checks these facts by asking one or two students to recount them.

Step 3:

The teacher asks the class: Well, what do you think of Andy? Eliciting answers like He was stupid. Teacher: Why? At this
point, students may venture sentences, like He must take a map. Having thus established the idea of disapproval of past
actions, the teacher models the sentence: He should have taken a map, repeating it two or three times. The students
repeat the sentence in unison and then individually. The teacher reminds the students of the concept of disapproval by
asking Did he take a map? (No). Was that a good idea? (No). So ...? The students respond: He should have taken a
map. She then repeats this process using the example of travelling alone, eliciting, modeling, drilling, and concept-
checking the sentence: He shouldn't have travelled alone. Further prompting elicits example sentences, such as:

 He should've taken water.

 He shouldn't have left his car

At strategic points, the teacher recaps the sentences that have been generated, using the words on the board as
prompts. So far, nothing has been written on the board.

Step 4:

The teacher then clears the board and writes up the following table:

He should have taken water.

shouldn’t have traveled alone.

She asks students, working in pairs, to add further sentences about the situation to the table. Individual students read
sentences aloud from the table.

Step 5:
The teacher then asks students to imagine the dialogue when the police finally find Andy. She writes the following
exchange on the board:

Police: You should have taken a map.

Andy: I know I should. I didn’t think.

Students, working in pairs, continue writing the dialogue along the same lines, and then practice it aloud, taking it in
turns to be the police officer and Andy.

Other examples:

Teaching Grammar through texts

If learners are to achieve a functional command of a second language, they will need to be able to understand and
produce not just isolated sentences, but whole texts in that language. Language is context-sensitive; which is to say that
an utterance becomes fully intelligible only when it is placed in its context.

Course book texts tend to be specially tailored for ease of understanding and so as to display specific features of
grammar. This often gives them a slightly unreal air, as in this example:

Contrasting Present Progressive – “Going to” Future

This is Mr West. He has a bag in his left hand. Where is he standing? He is standing at the door of his house. What is Mr
West going to do? He is going to put his hand into his pocket. He is going to take a key out of his pocket. He is going to
put the key into the lock. (from Hornby, A.S. Oxford Progressive English Course, Oxford University Press, 1954)

Authentic texts or classroom texts?

Advocates of authentic texts argue that not only are such specially written EFL texts uninteresting - and therefore
unmotivating - but they misrepresent the way the language is used in real-life contexts. On the other hand, the problems
associated with authentic texts cannot be wished away, either, as any teacher who has attempted to use a dense
newspaper article with low level students will have discovered. The linguistic load of unfamiliar vocabulary and syntactic
complexity can make such texts impenetrable, and ultimately very demotivating.

A compromise position is to take authentic texts, and to simplify them in ways which retain their genuine flavour. This is
the approach generally adopted by course book writers nowadays. Another alternative is to write classroom texts, but to
make them more engaging than the example quoted above. In fact, with only the slightest change, the text about Mr
West could be made somewhat more attention-grabbing:

This is Mr. West. He has a bag in his left hand. Where is he standing? He is standing at the door of his house. What is
Mr. West going to do? He is going to put his hand into his pocket. He is going to take a gun out of his pocket. He is
going to point the gun at...

The implications of this context-sensitive view of language on grammar teaching are that:

 Grammar is best taught and practiced in context.

 This means using whole texts as contexts for grammar teaching.

Advantages of using texts:

 They provide co-textual information, allowing learners to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar grammatical items
from the co-text.
 If the texts are authentic they can show how the item is used in real communication. o As well as grammar
input, texts provide vocabulary input, skills practice, and exposure to features of text organization.
 Their use in the classroom is good preparation for independent study.
 If the texts come from the students themselves, they may be more engaging and their language features
therefore more memorable.

Disadvantages:

 The difficulty of the text, especially an authentic one, may mean that some of the above advantages are lost.
 The alternative - to use simplified texts - may give a misleading impression as to how the language item is
naturally used, again defeating the purpose of using texts.
 Not all texts will be of equal interest to students.
 Students who want quick answers to simple questions may consider the use of texts to be the 'scenic route' to
language awareness, and would prefer a quicker, more direct route instead.

No single method of grammar presentation is going to be appropriate for all grammar items, nor for all learners, nor for
all learning contexts. A lot will also depend on the kind of practice opportunities that the teacher provides. In the next
chapter we will look at a range of practice types.

Teaching Grammar through Stories

Everyone loves a story. Stories can be used for both eliciting and illustrating grammar points. The former employs
inductive reasoning, while the latter requires deductive thought, and it is useful to include both approaches in lesson
planning. In addition, a well-told story is the perfect context for a structure-discourse match, but the technique can also
be used effectively for a structure-social factor match. Storytelling is one of these extremely versatile techniques, and
once you get the hang of it, it can be a convenient and natural grammar teaching tool. You may even find that it is the
technique that holds students' attention best, as well as the one they enjoy most.

Grammar points can be contextualized in stories that are absorbing and just plain fun if they are selected with the
interest of the class in mind, are told with a high degree of energy, and involve the students. Students can help create
stories and impersonate characters in them. Students will certainly appreciate and respond to your efforts to include
them in the storytelling process, but they will also enjoy learning about you through your stories.

Stories should last from one to five minutes, and the more exaggerated and bizarre they are, the more likely students
will remember the teaching points they illustrate.

Storytelling is traditional in almost all cultures. We can tap into that tradition for a very portable resource and a
convenient and flexible technique for teaching any phase of a grammar lesson. A story provides a realistic context for
presenting grammar points and holds and focuses students’ attention in a way that no other technique can. Although
some teachers are better at telling stories than others, almost any of us can tell stories with energy and interest.
Students naturally like to listen to stories, and most are remembered long after the lesson is over.

Teaching grammar through Songs and Rhymes

Songs

Since the meaning is an important device in teaching grammar, it is important to contextualize any grammar point.
Songs are one of the most enchanting and culturally rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms. Songs
offer a change from routine classroom activities. They are precious resources to develop students abilities in listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. They can also be used to teach a variety of language items such as sentence patterns,
vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs. Learning English through songs also provides a non-
threatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense when speaking English in a formal classroom setting.

Songs also give new insights into the target culture. They are the means through which cultural themes are presented
effectively. Since they provide authentic texts, they are motivating. Prosodic features of the language such as stress,
rhythm, intonation are presented through songs, thus through using them the language which is cut up into a series of
structural points becomes a whole again.

There are many advantages of using songs in the classroom. Through using contemporary popular songs, which are
already familiar to teenagers, the teacher can meet the challenges of the teenage needs in the classroom. Since songs
are highly memorable and motivating, in many forms they may constitute a powerful subculture with their own rituals.
Furthermore, through using traditional folk songs the base of the learners knowledge of the target culture can be
broadened.

In consequence, if selected properly and adopted carefully, a teacher should benefit from songs in all phases of teaching
grammar. Songs may both be used for the presentation or the practice phase of the grammar lesson. They may
encourage extensive and intensive listening, and inspire creativity and use of imagination in a relaxed classroom
atmosphere. While selecting a song the teacher should take the age, interests of the learners and the language being
used in the song into consideration. To enhance learner commitment, it is also beneficial to allow learners to take part in
the selection of the songs.

Teaching Procedure

There are various ways of using songs in the classroom. The level of the students, the interests and the age of the
learners, the grammar point to be studied, and the song itself have determinant roles on the procedure. Apart from
them, it mainly depends on the creativity of the teacher.
At the primary level of singing the song, the prosodic features of the language is emphasized. At the higher levels, where
the practice of grammar points is at the foreground, songs can be used with several techniques. Some examples of these
techniques are:

• Gap fills or close texts

• Focus questions
• True-false statements
• Put these lines into the correct sequence
• Dictation
• Add a final verse
• Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words
• Discuss

A teacher's selection of a technique or a set of techniques should be based on his or her objectives for the classroom.
After deciding the grammar point to be studied, and the song and the techniques to be used, the teacher should prepare
an effective lesson plan. Since songs are listening activities, it is advisable to present them as a listening lesson, but of
course it is necessary to integrate all the skills in the process in order to achieve successful teaching.

When regarding a lesson plan, as a pre-listening activity, the theme, the title, or the history of the song can be discussed.
By directing the students toward specific areas, problem vocabulary items can be picked up in advance. Before listening
to the song, it is also beneficial to let the students know which grammar points should be studied. At this stage, pictures
may also be used to introduce the theme of the song. In the listening stage, some of the techniques listed above can be
used, but among them gap filling is the most widely used technique. Through such gaps, the vocabulary, grammar, or
pronunciations are highlighted. This stage can be developed by the teacher according to the needs of the students and
the grammar point to be studied.

In the follow-up, integrated skills can be used to complete the overall course structure. Since many songs are on themes
for which it is easy to find related reading texts, it may lead the learner to read a text about the singer or the theme.
Besides, many songs give a chance for a written reaction of some kind. Opinion questions may lead the learner to write
about his own thoughts or reflections. Some songs deal with a theme that can be re-exploited through role plays. Acting
may add enthusiasm to the learning process. Finally, some songs deal with themes, which can lead to guided discussion.
By leading the students into a discussion, the grammar point could be practiced orally and, in a way, naturally.

Exploitation of songs for grammatical structures can be illustrated through several examples. For present tense 'Let It Be'
by the Beatles, for past tense 'Yesterday' by the Beatles, for present progressive 'Sailing' by Rod Stewart, for present
perfect 'Nothing Compares to You' by Sinead Occonor, for past perfect 'Last Night I Had...' by Simon and Garfunkel, for
modals 'Blowing in the Wind' by Bob Dylan, and for conditionals 'El Condor Pasa' by Simon and Garfunkel can be used.
However, it should be kept in mind those songs, which provide frequent repetitions, or tell a story, or provide comments
about life, or introduce cultural themes, are the effective ones, since they provide authentic and meaningful material.

Poems

Poems, like songs, contextualize a grammar lesson effectively. Since poetry is often spoken, repeated, dealt with, and
considered, it acts as an effective tool for practicing a specific grammatical structure. Through repeating and considering
the poem, the grammatical structures become more deeply internalized. Thus, poetry not only provides a rewarding
resource for structured practice of grammar, but also a proper basis for review. If a poem that exemplifies a particular
structure is also a good poem, it engages the eye, the ear and the tongue simultaneously while also stimulating and
moving us; this polymorphic effect makes poetry easier to memorize than other things for many students.

Like songs, poems exaggerate the rhythmic nature of the language. Thus it is an important aspect to be taught, since
English is a syllable timed language with stressed syllables being spoken at roughly equal time pauses, even in everyday
speech. Similar to songs, poems have an enormous linguistic value as they provide authenticity and cultural views. A
poem's capacity to comfort the reader or the listener also increases its effectiveness as a teaching resource. Once a
poem or song has been learned, they stay in the minds of the students for the rest of their lives, with all the rhythms,
grammatical features and vocabulary.

Poems may bring the use of creativity and the rhythm into the language classroom, though they may also bring some
difficulties. Poems are not constructed in a simple way and syntactically they are at a higher level than prose, thus it
might be very difficult for a foreign language learner to comprehend them completely.
There are three main barriers for literature including poetry. They are linguistic, cultural, and intellectual barriers.
Linguistic difficulties are the problems caused by the syntax or the lexicon of the poem. Cultural difficulties include
imagery, tone, and allusion. At the intellectual level, the students should be intellectual and mature enough to
understand the theme of the poem. These difficulties could be easily removed if the teacher provides a poem which is
syntactically and thematically appropriate to the level, age and the interests of the students. Thus, by removing or
minimizing the potential problems, poetry can provide an enormously rich, enjoyable and authentic context for foreign
language learners.

In the selection of a poem, the teacher should first consider the grammatical structure to be presented, practiced, or
reviewed, then the level and the age of the students, next the theme and the length of the poem and its
appropriateness to the classroom objectives. It is advisable to select a poem from 20th century poets. As older poems
often provide a more difficult lexicon and syntax, and as they reflect some old-fashioned ideas, it is more convenient to
use contemporary poems than older ones. Poems, which reflect cultural themes, universal features, humanistic values,
or emotional aspects, will be more relevant to the foreign language learners. Finally, through taking the classroom
objectives into consideration, a teacher should effectively benefit from poems as teaching aids.

Teaching Procedure

At the teaching stage of a poem, it is not advisable to talk about the meaning of the poem in advance. Since they offer a
reading and listening activity, poems could be presented through a reading plan. At the pre-reading stage, students
might be motivated through some enthusiastic talks about poetry or the poet. Some necessary vocabulary can also be
handled at this stage. At the reading stage, in order to create images and stress the prosodic features, the teacher may
want the students to close their eyes while he/she is reading the poem. After the poem has been read at least twice, it is
better to elicit the primary responses of the students about the poem. Next, after distributing the poem to students,
students may be asked to read it either loudly or silently. In order to practice the determined grammar point, students
may be asked to paraphrase the poem. Through transforming the verse into prose students get acquainted with the
structure.

After easing the grammar and understanding the vocabulary, students get an idea about the theme of the poem.
Reading the paraphrased poem reinforces the grammatical structure under consideration. Asking questions about
context may follow the reading. Through asking Whquestions, providing additional information about the culture, and
asking students to share their experience with the subject matter, the cultural content of the poem becomes more real
and vivid. Words, pictures, and shared experiences can eliminate the gap that is created by different cultures, as no one
can deny that poems cannot always evoke the same sounds, sights, smells, and associations for both native speakers
and foreign language learners. After discussing the surface content of the poem, students may again asked to close their
eyes and visualize the poem while listening to it.

As a follow-up activity a discussion may be held. After reviewing the plot of the poem and providing adequate artful
questions, the students will eventually discover the deeper meaning of the poem. As being a facilitator, a teacher should
always avoid telling the meaning. After each student grasps his or her own meaning, it is proper to discuss the depth of
the poem. In this procedure, the teacher's aim is to support the students in their attempts to understand the poem and
make it relevant to their lives. Once they have understood it and perceived its relevance, they will have no objection to
practicing the poem or even memorizing it, for it will have become special for them. At the follow-up stage, providing
the determined structure, students may also be asked to write a poem about anything they want. In such a procedure
the four skills are effectively integrated to practice or present any grammar point.

Since every class is different, teachers should creativity determine the teaching procedure. It is not advisable to apply
one procedure too strictly. A teacher should adopt the activities according to the needs of the learners. However, it
might not be very useful to use poems for young students or for beginners. Instead of poems, using nursery rhymes or
songs would be more helpful since they provide more joyful and easier contexts. From pre-intermediate to advanced
levels, it is really beneficial to use either songs or poems. Several poems can be adopted from contemporary poem
books. The poems of the W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Stanley Kunitz, Delmore Schwartz, W.D. Snodgrass, Theodore
Roethke, Gary Snyder, Richard Wilbur, and Robert Lowell, etc. are suggested for the language teachers who want to use
poems in their grammar lessons.
Some Rules for Teaching Grammar

What conclusions are to be drawn about the teaching of grammar? Here are some rules of thumb:

• The Rule of Context

Teach grammar in context. If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw attention to it, ensure that
it is re-contextualized as soon as possible. Similarly, teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings.
The choice of one grammatical form over another is always determined by the meaning the speaker or writer
wishes to convey.

• The Rule of Use

Teach grammar in order to facilitate the learners' comprehension and production of real language, rather than
as an end in it. Always provide opportunities for learners to put the grammar to some communicative use.

• The Rule of Economy

To fulfill the rule of use, be economical. This means economizing on presentation time in order to provide
maximum practice time. With grammar, a little can go a long way.

• The Rule of Relevance

Teach only the grammar that students have problems with. This means, start off by finding out what they
already know. And don't assume that the grammar of English is a wholly different system from the learner's
mother tongue. Exploit the common ground.

• The Rule of Nurture

Teaching doesn't necessarily cause learning - not in any direct way. Instead of teaching grammar, therefore, try
to provide the right conditions for grammar learning.

Some conditions:
The Rule of Nurture argues for providing the conditions for grammar learning. What are these conditions? If the
answer to this much disputed question could be reduced to a handful of essentials, they would probably be
these:
• The input learners get: Will it be presented in such a way that the learners are likely to engage with it, thus
ensuring a reasonable chance of it becoming intake?
• Their output: Will it be of sufficient quantity and/or quality to ensure that they have opportunities to
develop both accuracy and fluency?
• The feedback they get: Will it be of the type and quantity to ensure that some of their attention is directed
at form?
• Their motivation: Will the content and design of the lesson be such that learners are motivated to attend to
the input, produce optimal output, and take account of the feedback? Here are six teacher “confessions”.
Which rule did the teacher break, in each case?

• I explained it and drilled it - and still they made mistakes. So I explained it and drilled it again.
• I taught my business class the present perfect continuous using a fairy tale.
• I presented the rules of adverb order, and then we did some exercises in the book. Tomorrow I'm going
to do the second conditional.
• They don't have any problems with the past tense, but I'm going to teach it again because it's in the
book.
• I gave them five sentences in different tenses and asked them to work out the difference. Then we did
some sentence gap-fill exercises.
• The presentation took about 40 minutes. That left me ten minutes for the role play.

• The Rule of Appropriacy

Interpret all the above rules according to the level, needs, interests, expectations and learning styles of the
students. This may mean giving a lot of prominence to grammar, or it may mean never actually teaching
grammar at all - in any up-front way. But either way, it is your responsibility as a teacher to know your grammar
inside out.