TEACHING GRAMMAR

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Handout 1

1. Read the following statements of two teachers about learning and teaching

grammar. Discuss to what extent you agree or disagree with each one.

You don’t really need to teach grammar explicitly, saying things like, “This is the
past perfect tense and you form it like this.” That’s unnecessary. Learners will pick
it up for themselves. If they want grammar, the teacher can give them exercises to do
outside class, but don’t waste precious class time teaching it. I think it’s better to
teach learners to communicate, to practise as much English as possible in class with
real language. Grammar will look after itself.

Amanda

I always look over a new unit in a book and then teach my

pupils the grammar rule before we even begin a unit; I
explain the rules that are going to come up and then do some
exercises with the class. That really helps them to be clear
about what the unit is about and they can do the activities in
the unit better. I think they learn better that way.

Julio

2. If you were learning the grammar of a foreign language, which teacher would you

prefer to study with? Why?

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English Language Teaching Methodology 2
 TEACHING GRAMMAR
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Handout 2
Presenting a New Structure
Read the two demos below for grammar structure ‘used to’ and answer the questions:

Demonstration 1

Teacher 1
T. writes on the board: ‘He used to smoke a lot.’

T. says:

In the sentence ‘He used to smoke a lot’, used to is a modal auxiliary signifying past

continued habitual action or a past routine. Used to is the past tense of a defective

verb that has no present tense. The ‘-ed’ ending is silent because of the ‘to’ that

follows

T. writes on the board:

s

Subj. + used to + verb (infinitive)

T. says: Now. Look at the board and write it down

T (point to the sentence on the board) says: Listen. He used to smoke. Let’s say it

together. He used to smoke.

T repeats 3 times

T: Can you say it, Nam?

Nam: He used to smoke.

T: Mai.

Mai: He used to smoke.

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Demonstration 2

Teacher 2
T. sets the scene using or drawing pictures on the board.

T asks: Ss reply:
T: (pointing to the first picture) Look – this is my uncle Tom a few years ago.
Did he smoke in the past? yes

When did he smoke? a few years ago

Did he smoke a lot? yes

That’s right. He smoked a lot. 40 cigarettes. (2 packs)

Maybe everyday? yes

Was it a habit? yes

In the past? yes

But it’s finished now? yes

T: (pointing to the second picture) This is Tom now.

Does he still smoke now? no

Right. He no longer smokes. But he used to smoke. He used to smoke 40 cigarettes a day.

Listen. He used to smoke. Let’s say it together. He used to smoke, then writes it on the board.

He used to smoke.

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T asks: Ss reply:
So, when it’s a habit, in the past, but it’s finished now,

what do we use? (T. points at the board) used to

How do we make a sentence with ‘used to’?

(T. points at the board) He (or subject)

Plus? (T. points at the board) used to

Plus? What’s this? verb

Is it in the past form? no

That’s right. It’s not in the past form. It’s the infinitive form

T writes the form on the board:

Subject + used to + verb (infinitive)

Do we say ‘He / used / to / smoke or

‘He used to smoke’? He used to smoke

T. gets Ss to repeat ‘He used to smoke’ chorally and individually

Now. Let’s write it (Write and underline the structure)

T: (asking a student)
Did you often go out during the summer holiday? Yes

Do you go out very often now? No, because I’m busy.

So, what can you say? I used… I used to go out.

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Handout 3

Discussion

• Answer the questions about the two demos in the table below:

Questions Teacher 1 Teacher 2

1. Was there a situation that helped the teacher explain the

grammar?

2. Were the students involved in the presentation?

3. Did the students just sit and listen while the teacher spoke?

4. Did the teacher check whether the students had understood

the new structure?

5. Did the teacher check one thing at a time?

6. Did the teacher use simple questions to find out if the

students had really understood the new language?

7. Did the teacher check through the presentation?

8. Did the teacher stop after it was clear that the students
understood the new language?

A. In what way did Teacher 1 present the grammatical structure?

deductive-traditional grammar method

B. In what way did Teacher

indutive 2 present the grammatical structure?
-
introdu
ce the
situatio
n-

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Handout 4A

What are the steps of presenting the new structure? Number the following steps in

the order of demonstration 2

…….
8 Students copy in their books

6
……. Teacher writes the form of new language on board

7
……. Teacher checks pronunciation & get Ss to repeat in choral and individually

3
……. Teacher says the model sentence & gets Ss to repeat in choral

1 Teacher sets the scene

…….
2
……. Teacher elicits the meaning of a model sentence

5
……. Teacher checks the use, form

9
……. Teacher gives another situation and asks students to give the sentence

4
……. Teacher writes the model sentence on board

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Handout 4B

Discus the following questions:

1. What did the teacher do to check students’ comprehension of new language? Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Text

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. How many things did the teacher check about the new language? What are they?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Did the teacher check one thing at a time? Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. What kinds of questions did the teacher ask?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. When did the teacher use checking?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Handout 5
1. Work in groups. Complete the table by suggesting at least one way you could
convey the meaning of each of the following grammar items. Give details. (Going to
has been done for you, with three suggestions)
Grammar item Demonstration Visual aids Situation
Going to (future Point to a window in Show the class Draw face on board
intention) the classroom. Say something you have, plus thought bubble.
“I’m going to open like tickets, and use Write cinema, gym,
the window”. Pause, these to tell them etc. in bubble, and
and then open it. their future plans. elicit the character’s
Repeat with door, plans for the coming
etc weekend.
Can/can’t (for ability)

Present continuous
(for activities
happening at the
moment of speaking)

must have done (for

making deductions
about past
situations)

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2. Choose one of your presentation ideas from the table above. Plan out the steps

you would take to convey the meaning in class, and then include a stage where you

highlight the spoken and written forms of the new grammar item.

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Handout 6A

The Purposes of the Practice Stage

Read the following text

The first part of the practice stage is controlled practice. This is usually a drill. The teacher

stands at the front of the class, works with the whole class, and controls what they say.

The second part of the practice is less controlled. It is usually pairwork or groupwork. The

students work on their own with the cues that the teacher gives them. The teacher moves

from group to group helping them.

During the practice stage students work in pairs or groups for 3 reasons:

1. Participation: to give everyone in the class a lot more practice time.

2. Independence: to teach students to learn from each other without the teacher always

being there.

3. Confidence: to encourage quieter students who don’t usually like speaking in front of

the whole class.

Practice in not only repetition. In the practice stage students don’t just repeat what the

teacher says because repetition without thinking is not real learning. Instead students use

cues to make sentences for themselves.

Cues are used for two reasons.

1. To help MEMORY: to get students to think for themselves and therefore remember

better.

2. To build CONFIDENCE: to get students to formulate as many sentences as they want

from a basic pattern with confidence.

The teacher does a lot of correction in the practice stage. If the target language is new,

students will make a lot of mistakes with it. If the students don’t make any mistakes then

they haven’t learnt anything new. Mistakes are a positive thing because they are a sign of

progress.

The aim of the practice stage is to get students to say the new language accurately

through a process of controlled to less controlled activities.

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Handout 6B
1. Answer the questions
1. What is the aim of the practice stage?
2. Give three reasons for working in groups or pairs.
3. Why does the teacher need to do a lot of correction in the practice stage?
4. Is repetition the same as practice? Why (not)?
2. Say where statements a-g belong

Statements The 1st part The 2nd part

a. The teacher moves around to help students
b. Students can make sentences for themselves using cues.
c. The teacher stands in front of the class to work with
students.
d. The teacher controls what students say.
e. Students learn from each other without the teacher
f. Drills can be done at this stage
g. Students work in groups or pairs.

3.Controlled Practice Techniques

Look at the different ways of practising the structure used to + verb (infinitive), label each

technique and discuss the aim of each one.

a) T: I used to play tennis. cues (make
b) T: study hard a sentence with given wordsv(2 words)

Ss: I used to play tennis. repetition

Ss: He used to study hard.
T: He used to got out very often. T: go to bed early
Ss: He used to go out very often Ss: He used to go to bed early.
c) T: cry cues

Ss: The baby used to cry so much

T: live
Ss: We used to live in the countryside.
d) usign picture

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Handout 7
Less Controlled Practice Activities

Activity 1: Chain game

Structure “There’s a………”
• Put students in groups of 8. Number them from 1 to 8.
• Student 1 in each says the first sentence: “There’s a hotel near my house.”. Student 2 repeats
what student 1 has just said and add to it. (S2: “There’s a hotel near my house and a
school.”) Student 3 repeats what students 1 & 2 have said and add to it (S3: There’s a hotel
near my house, and a school, and a river)
• Students continue round the circle, each student repeating and then adding something new.
• The game continues around the circle twice.

Activity 2: Guessing game

Structure “I’m going to the…..”
• Each student takes a piece of paper. Ask them to copy the sentence “I’m going to the ……”
but fill the gap with a place of their own (e.g. movie, theatre, park, cinema, library…)
[ the teacher also copies the sentence onto a piece of paper and fills in “restaurant”]
• Elicit yes/No questions from the class until someone asks “Are you going to a restaurant?”
and the teacher gives a Yes answer.
E.g. S1: “Are you going to the movie?” T: “No, I’m not”
S2: “Are you going to the park?” T: “No, I’m not”
S3: “Are you going to the restaurant?” T: “Yes, I am”
• The student who guess correctly will come to the front and other students in the class will
guess where s/he’s going to.
• The game can be played in groups of 8.

Activity 3: Find someone who

Structure: Be going to + V (infinitive)
• Ask students to copy the table below on a piece of paper

Find someone who is going to…… Name

…stay at home
….visit an aunt or uncle
….visit a new city
….stay in a hotel
….camp in the mountains
…stay in a tent

• The teacher models first by asking a student a question about his/her summer holidays
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T: “Are you going to stay at home?”
S1: No, I’m not.
T: Are you going to visit your uncle?
S2: Yes, I am.
T: What’s your name?
S2: Hung.
[ The teacher fills in Hung’s name on the board in the name column]
• Ask the class to mingle and find someone who is going to do each of these things. Remind
students that they cannot fill in someone’s name more than once.
• The fist one with all the names is the winner.
• When finished, ask students to tell the class about some of people they have found.
[ S1: Dao’s going to go camping. Lan’s going to visit her aunt….]

Activity 4: Mapped Dialogue

• Put the mapped dialogue on the board

Can Tho Hanoi

…Hanoi?
…..cold!
…..Can Tho?

….hot!

….like?

…cold…

….Hanoi!

….like?

….hot…

…Can Tho

• Elicit the following dialogue from students

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A: What’s the weather like in Hanoi?
B: It’s cold. What’s the weather like in Can Tho?
A: It’s hot.
B: What kind of weather do you like?
A: I like cold weather.
B: Come to Hanoi!
A: What kind of weather do you like?
B: I like hot weather.
A: Come to Can Tho!
• Ask the whole class to practice the dialogue and then choose 2 students to model the whole
dialogue again.
• Ask the whole class to practice the dialogue in pairs again.

Activity 5: Noughts and Crosses

Structure: Present Continuous tense
• Draw a ca-ro board on the board

walk to school drive a bus travel by bus

wait for a train ride a bicycle play a game

go by plane drive a car ride a motorbike

• Divide the class into two teams: one is NOUGHTS and the other is CROSSES. Ask one
student of the NOUGHTS team to begin by choosing a phrase and making a sentence.[e.g.
S1: I’m riding a bicycle]
• If the sentence is correct, the teacher puts a 0 in the “ride a bicycle” square. If the sentence
is not correct, no 0 is put in the square.
• The CROSSES team take turns to make sentence[e.g. S2: I’m playing a game]. If the
sentence is correct, the teacher puts a X in the “play a game” square.
• The two teams continue until one team wins (the teams can make three noughts or crosses in
a row across, down or a diagonal line)
• The games can be played in pairs

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Handout 8A
Read the following text and answer the question below

PRACTICE STAGE AND PRODUCTION STAGE

DIFFERENCES
1. The practice stage is more controlled than the production stage. Sometimes the
production stage is called free practice.
2. The teacher uses direct correction during practice and indirect (or 'delayed) correction
during production.
3. The teacher gives more cues in the practice stage than in the production stage.
Students have to make their own sentences and think for themselves more in the
production.
4. During practice, students concentrate on accuracy. During production, students
concentrate on fluency.
5. During practice, the teacher's role is to elicit accurate language from the students and
give them lots of exercises so they can memorise the new language or the new language
pattern. During production the teacher has two roles: 'facilitator', helping and encouraging
student to do it by themselves; 'analyser, seeing how well the objective has been achieved
and what further practice the students need.
6. During practice, the target items are isolated and practised on their own. During
production, the target items are added to other structures, functions and vocabulary the
students already know so the students don't just speak in model sentences but in more
natural conversation.

What is important is that the teacher constructs these activities in such a way that they
promote communication and yet ensure that the new language occurs unprompted,
naturally, and frequently in the context of other previously learnt language. The unguided
manner in which the new language occurs is what distinguishes a production stage activity
from a practice stage activity. In other words, the degree of linguistic guidance the
students are given makes these stages different.

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SIMILARITIES
1. The teacher has to set up activities carefully in both stages. Instructions must be clear
demonstrations or examples provided and there should be a whole class run-through
before group work or pair work begins.
2. The teacher must consider mixed ability in the work arrangements.
3. Practice in both stages happens simultaneously; students don't wait until the teacher is
standing by their table before they start talking. Everyone is talking at once.
4.Practice and production are more important than presentation.

(Adapted from Hubbard, P Jones, H, Thornton, B, & R Wheeler. 1983. A Training Course
for TEFL. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 191-192)
ELTTP. The Methodology Course. Book One. p.127-128)

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Handout 8B
What are the differences between practice and production stage? Fill in the table below.

Differences

PRACTICE PRODUCTION
Control

Correction

Cues

Accuracy/ Fluency

Role of the teacher

Language items Ss should

use

Communicative activities for teaching grammar

• http://www.cambridge.org/grammarandbeyond/communicative-activities

• https://www.uop.edu.jo/download/research/members/English%20Book%20-

%20Fun%20With%20Grammar.pdf

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English Language Teaching Methodology 2