Activity 2 Analyzing the grammar lesson Objective: to give participants an opportunity to reflect on the grammar lesson
Time: 25 min
Materials: blackboard/whiteboard, chalk/marker
Procedure:
- ☺ (10 min)Tell participants that they are no longer learners but again teachers. Elicit the stages of the lesson they experienced and put them in chronological order on the flipchart/board.
Possible answers: 1. Teacher showed a photo of herself/himself as a child and asked students to tell about changes they noticed.
2. Teacher told us about his/her childhood interacting with students.
3. Teacher worked with sentences on the board.
4. Students worked with the text.
5. Teacher and students analysed more examples together.
6. Teacher summarised the discussion and the rule.
7. Students worked in pairs.
-☺☺ (10 min)Put participants in groups of 4. Ask participants to go through the stages of the lesson and think of the purpose of each of them.
Possible answers: 1. Teacher showed a photo of herself/himself as a child and asked
students to tell about changes they noticed. – Focusing on the Past
2. Teacher told us about his/her childhood interacting with students. – Letting students notice new construction used in context. Using students’ examples in the Simple Past transferred into ‘used to’ to personalize a new grammar structure.
3. Teacher worked with sentences on the board. – Noticing ‘used to’ and trying to make sense of it.
4. Students worked with the text. – Noticing ‘used to’ and trying to make sense of it.
5. Teacher and students analysed more examples together. - Making sense of the construction and putting the structure together.
6. Teacher summarised the discussion and drew attention to the rule. Putting the structure together.
7. Students work in pairs.
Practising the new structure.
- Establish that it is an example of an inductive grammar lesson where:
1. Students first notice a new grammar construction.
2. Then students make sense of what they have noticed (understand meaning).
3. Students try to build or form the structure.
4. Students use the structure.
- ☺ (5 min) Discuss the following questions:
~ Is the lesson that you experienced different from grammar lessons you had at school/university as students? ~ Is it different from the way that you teach grammar to your students? How? ~ Do you think it is worth trying to teach ‘used to’ and other constructions in such a way? Summary Establish the following:
-There is no one way to teach grammar.
- Grammar should be taught in context because it helps students grasp the meaning.
- Grammar can be taught inductively as seen in the example.
- If personalized, a grammar construction is easier to understand and learn.