Foreign experience in teaching efl: grammar translation method

8) Antonyms/Synonyms: Students are asked to find synonyms or antonyms for a particular set of words in the reading passage or match a word with its synonym/antonym.

9) Parsing: Students are asked to examine parts of the sentence in order to work out subject, predicate, modifiers, type of the clause, etc.

10) Transformation: Students transform affirmative sentences into interrogative or negative, put questions to words in italics.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Which principles of Grammar-Translation do you agree with and follow in your own teaching?

How would you explain the rationale behind them?

How much is it necessary to know about the language in order to use it?

Can you think of any other way to teach grammar besides presenting the rule?

Which techniques of Grammar-Translation do you employ in your classroom? How effective are they? What is your students' reaction to them? Do they look bored and frustrated, or enthusiastic and interested?

Have you ever come across students, "victims" of Grammar-Translation? Who will do any grammar test but won't say a word? Who will rack their brains forever in an attempt to figure out the correct answer to a very simple question? Who will answer first in their native language, and then translate it?

How many grammatical rules can you formulate yourself as a teacher? E.g. what rule is it: Have you got any chalk? Do you like grammar? You should have done it yesterday. I would like to have seen him again. How many grammatical terms did you use to explain these rules?

Is it possible to describe every grammar phenomenon?

Do you know many grammar rules of your native language? How often do you refer to them to produce a correct sentence? Do you ever make mistakes while speaking your native language? If you do, do you get corrected by anybody?

Do you believe that one can find a native language equivalent for every word in the target language?

Should culture be viewed as consisting of literature and the fine arts? What other components of culture can you think of?

In what educational setting would Grammar-Translation completely justify itself?

How would you explain the fact that Grammar-Translation is so popular though "it is remembered with distaste by thousands of school learners, for whom foreign language learning meant a tedious experience of memorizing endless lists of unusable grammar rules and vocabulary and attempting to produce perfect translations of stilted or literary prose?

Although many ESL teachers do have foreign language experience, many are not aware of how much this experience benefits them. Sure, if they are teaching English in Japan, having Japanese language experience is helpful for daily life situations, but how could it bleed into the classroom as well? And the language experience doesn’t necessarily have to involve the first language of the students, either. Having foreign language experiences allows the teacher to understand just how hard learning a language is, can understand where certain errors may come from, see English from a different perspective, and gives them a stronger grasp on English grammar.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sarah D.