Hammer

Chapter 13: Teaching Grammar.

-Sometimes happens as a result of other work students are doing. It may grow
directly from the tasks students are performing or have just performed as part of a
focus-on-form approach.
-Other times we rely on coursebooks or plan how to teach it.

Introducing grammar.
The Postman​ (Present simple, any age, beginner/elementary level)
Ss learn how to make sentences using present simple in the third person singular.
They already know negative/affirmative in first and second person.
-The teacher shown the students some flashcards with words like dog, uniform, etc.
Ss say them orally before doing a quick cue-response drill using the pictures as
prompts. Then T shows a picture of someone and asks Ss what they think his work
is. Then T explains his routine and Ss have to choose which flashcard suits the
sentence. Ss guess the person is a postman, and T holds up the cards individually
and try to elicit the sentences about each one. Ss can repeat. Ss then think of a
person and write sentences so the rest have to guess the profession.

Girls’ night out:​ Past simple, irregular, young adults +, elementary level.
T asks if girls in Ss’ country go out and where. Then Ss read some texts about nights
in some countries and have to decide what country it is. They answer some
questions. Then Ss have to find some verbs in the past tense (irregular). T can give
them the verbs in phonemic forms to practise pronunciation. Ss can do activities like
fill a text with the correct form, etc.

Disappointment:​ Reported speech, teenage +, intermediate level.

Teaches the differences between RS as it happens and how it changes if we report
thing in the past.
A person is talking with a girl on the phone about a date. The boy is telling his friend
what the girl is saying (She says I’m nice, she likes my jacket) A few hours later, the
boy is sad because the girl didn’t show up, and he’s telling his mom what the girl said
when they were talking. Ss can then pretend to have some conversations.

Should/n’t have done, any age, intermediate/upper.

T engaged Ss into some topic like science fiction. Then Ss read a text, and find
some information, after this they check reading comprehension and T ask them what
they think will happen next Then T asks Ss to list things that the people in the story
said or did that were bad/mean, and write sentences using should/n’t. Finally Ss
share some personal stories.
Discovering grammar:
-Here Ss are encouraged to work out for themselves how language forms are
constructed and used.

Comparative adjectives:​ word formation, comparative adjectives, any age,

elementary/pre-intermediate.
-Ss listen to a dialogue where people compare things. T gives Ss some examples of
comparatives. After this, T writes some words on the board. On St draws an arrow
between two, and Ss have to make sentences with those words.

Rules and freedom:​ functions- expressing obligation (can’t/have to/must/allowed),

adults, intermediate.
First a discussion about rules you would expect to find in certain places. Then Ss
look some signs and say where could you find them and the meaning. After this Ss
have to read some sentences and decide which ones are correct or wrong, and put
some words according to certain categories. Finally, Ss can do an exercise to learn
differences between have to, allowed, etc and make their own sentences.

Practising grammar.
Where am I?:​ present continuous (past simple), younger learners, elementary.
Using PC, Ss imagine a place where they would like to bem and write 3 things they
can see. Then one comes to the front, reads the sentences and the rest have to
guess. Works for PS.

Reading a text:​ past tenses, young adults +, intermediate +

Ss read a story, underline all the past tenses and put them into three different types
(simple, continuous and perfect). They check the answers with the teacher and then
repeat the story to work on fluency. Finally, Ss share similar stories.

Matching sentence halves:​ third conditional, adult, upper interm.

One way to make it more interesting it to give Ss cards, so they have to find the
other person with the other part of the sentence.

Find someone who...: and other surveys: ​elementary language, young adults +,
any level.

Perfect one liners:​ past perfect continuous, any age, interm. to advanced.
T separates the class into small groups. Then she reads sentences as Ss have to
come with an explanation for them. After this, Ss do the same with other sentences.
If it’s correct, the team receives a point (without repeating sentences)

Grammar games
Games from radio or tv can be adapted for classroom use, but we can also invent
some games.

Ask the right question:​ any language, older children +, elementary +.

Two teams. Team A chooses a card with a word written on it. Team B ask questions
until the guess the word.

Putting sentences back together again:​ young learners, intermediate.

Good for practising syntax. Could be a game where the team who finishes first or
does more wins.

One question behind:​ assorted questions, teenagers +, beginner to intermediate.

Ss receive one question, they don’t answer it, then receive another one, and then
they answer the first question.

Grammar books:​ some are for beginners, other could be more complex.
Descriptive grammar:​ describes everything, the whole of the language and its
workings.
Pedagogic grammar:​ designed to be of help to teachers and students of the
language.
The way in which grammar rules are offered depend on the level.
Michael Swan: good grammar rules for a pedagogical grammar should exhibit
simplicity, truth, clarity and relevance.
They can be used for correcting mistakes, check something, etc.