TEACHING: Making grammar dynamic

As I was going through my planning for the start of the new term, I thought to myself, ‘what would be the best approach to grammar?’. I have always been a true believer of keeping it simple, little and often so that my students can develop the necessary skills without being overwhelmed by unnecessary information. I believe that it is more about assessing a student’s individual needs so that they can use grammar forma in a way that suits them so that they can reach their own personal goals. I generally use the PUZZLE ANALOGY, in which I explain that the understanding of grammar is like a huge puzzle with many simple pieces of information, these pieces are interconnected and all important in their own right, but as I have said, they are all simple parts that make a whole, this whole PUZZLE may appear complex but if we break it down, each part can be easily explained. For me as a teacher it works and it certainly triumphs with my students. Students need to be interested in what they are learning and also see why it is useful for their progression, check out my post on this topic Creating and maintaining the student´s interest

Teaching tip: assess the student´s needs before planning grammar explanations, I don’t mean check what they do or don’t already know  (although that is important), I am referring to, think ‘what do they need to know and understand to be able to fulfil the task?’, explain the necessary points only. We need to think about the main learning goals of our classes to ensure that our students see the relevance of what we are teaching Which should be the main focus of your planning: vocabulary, grammar, exam technique? – How about the students! This and always have a large number of examples on hand, learning through examples is very important. For some examples of lesson plans and activities, I´d recommend reading our grammar section as it has a great bank of resources and an award winning search engine. You´ll be able to find what you need in an instant and it is well worth the subscription fee.