GOALS AND TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CLASS

 

( THE GUIDE BELLOW IS FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS, I'M SORRY STUDENTS, NEXT POST WILL BE FOR YOU)

Goals and Techniques for Teaching Grammar

The goal of grammar instruction is to enable students to carry out their communication purposes. This goal has three implications:

• Students need overt instruction that connects grammar points with larger communication contexts.
• Students do not need to master every aspect of each grammar point, only those that are relevant to the immediate communication task.
• Error correction is not always the instructor's first responsibility.

Overt Grammar Instruction

Adult students appreciate and benefit from direct instruction that allows them to apply critical thinking skills to language learning. Instructors can take advantage of this by providing explanations that give students a descriptive understanding (declarative knowledge) of each point of grammar.

• Teach the grammar point in the target language or the students' first language or both. The goal is to facilitate understanding.
• Limit the time you devote to grammar explanations to 10 minutes, especially for lower level students whose ability to sustain attention can be limited.
• Present grammar points in written and oral ways to address the needs of students with different learning styles.

An important part of grammar instruction is providing examples. Teachers need to plan their examples carefully around two basic principles:

• Be sure the examples are accurate and appropriate. They must present the language appropriately, be culturally appropriate for the setting in which they are used, and be to the point of the lesson.
• Use the examples as teaching tools. Focus examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with specific information and vocabulary.

Relevance of Grammar Instruction

In the communicative competence model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn the language of which the grammar is a part. Instructors therefore teach grammar forms and structures in relation to meaning and use for the specific communication tasks that students need to complete.
Compare the traditional model and the communicative competence model for teaching the English past tense:
Traditional: grammar for grammar's sake

• Teach the regular -ed form with its two pronunciation variants
• Teach the doubling rule for verbs that end in d (for example, wed-wedded)
• Hand out a list of irregular verbs that students must memorize
• Do pattern practice drills for -ed
• Do substitution drills for irregular verbs

Communicative competence: grammar for communication's sake

• Distribute two short narratives about recent experiences or events, each one to half of the class
• Teach the regular -ed form, using verbs that occur in the texts as examples. Teach the pronunciation and doubling rules if those forms occur in the texts.
• Teach the irregular verbs that occur in the texts.
• Students read the narratives, ask questions about points they don't understand.
• Students work in pairs in which one member has read Story A and the other Story B. Students interview one another; using the information from the interview, they then write up or orally repeat the story they have not read.

Error Correction

At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language used by native speakers. Some of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts.
In responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction to the detriment of communication and confidence building. Teachers need to let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on improving. Teachers also need to build students' confidence in their ability to use the language by focusing on the content of their communication rather than the grammatical form.
Teachers can use error correction to support language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine students' desire to communicate in the language, by taking cues from context.

• When students are doing structured output activities that focus on development of new language skills, use error correction to guide them.

Example:
Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday.
Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday. Remember, the past tense of buy is bought.

• When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if they interfere with comprehensibility. Respond using correct forms, but without stressing them.

Example:
Student (greeting teacher) : I buy a new car yesterday!
Teacher: You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind?

LEGADO INFINITO

Hello everybody, after four years blogging in Myplaceforenglish I have published my first novel in Spanish LEGADO INFINITO. I hope you have the opportunity to read it, I just leave the links where you can get it.

 Thank you for your support.

Muchas gracias a todos tras cuatro años de apoyo en Myplaceforenglish. He publicado mi primera novela : LEGADO INFINITO. Espero que podáis leerla . Os dejo unos links para adquirirla, en Amazon sólo por 0,98€. Espero que os guste, y mis antiguos alumnos : No me critiquéis.
Muchísimas gracias.

 

 

Click in the cover to get the book.

 

AMAZON

 

BUBOK 

 

Forming Comparatives and Superlatives from Adjectives

CUADRO RESUMEN DE LA COMPARATIVA Y EL SUPERLATIVO DE LOS ADJETIVOS EN INGLÉS.

Forming Comparatives and Superlatives from Adjectives:

Type of Adjective	Example of Type	Comparative	Superlative
One Syllable	strong	add "er" stronger	add "est" strongest
One Syllable Ending Vowel Consonant	big thin	double consonant and add "er" bigger thinner	double consonant and add "est" biggest thinnest
More Than One Syllable	famous	add "less" or "more" more famous	add "most" or "least" least famous
More Than One Syllable Ending "y"	silly	remove "y" add "ier" sillier for less less silly	remove "y" add "iest" silliest for least least silly
Irregular	bad good many	no rules worse etter more	no rules worst best most

BRITISH VS AMERICAN ENGLISH LESSER-KNOWN WORDS

  On the whole, British and American speakers of English have very few problems understanding one another. Over the last half a century or so television and film have done much to familiarise Americans with British English (BrE) and Britons with American English (AmE).
There are actually thousands of vocabulary differences between British and American English. While many of these words can be instantly understood by speakers from the other country, other words might easily baffle someone who hasn’t spent a long period of time in both countries.
First let’s look at some of the well-known vocabulary differences between Britain and the United States. Native speakers from either country should know all of these:

10 well-known vocabulary differences

petrol (BrE), gas (AmE)
pavement (BrE), sidewalk (AmE)
lift (BrE), elevator (AmE)
boot (BrE), trunk (AmE)
lorry (BrE), truck (AmE)
sweets (BrE), candy (AmE)
car park (BrE), parking lot (AmE)
motorway (BrE), highway (AmE)
biscuit (BrE), cookie (AmE)
rubbish (BrE), garbage (AmE)
OK, they were the easy ones. Now try 10 more difficult ones, some of which may be completely unknown or are liable to cause some confusion between an American and British speaker.

10 lesser-known vocabulary differences

How many do you know? (The correct answers are at the bottom of the page.)

1. _______ (BrE) / barf (AmE)
2. pedestrain crossing (BrE) / _______ (AmE)
3. _______ (BrE) / downspout (AmE)
4. drawing pin (BrE) / _______ (AmE)
5. flyover (BrE) / _______(AmE)
6. _______ (BrE) / teeter-totter (AmE)
7. _______ (BrE) / rutabaga (AmE)
8. _______ (BrE) / eggplant (AmE)
9. _______ (BrE) / antsy (AmE)
10. braces (BrE) / _______ (AmE)

(Scroll down to see the answers.)




Here are the answers:

1. vomit (BrE) / barf (AmE)
2. pedestrain crossing (BrE) / crosswalk (AmE)
3. drainpipe (BrE) / downspout (AmE)
4. drawing pin (BrE) / thumbtack (AmE)
5. flyover (BrE) / overpass (AmE)
6. see-saw (BrE) / teeter-totter (AmE)
7. swede (BrE) / rutabaga (AmE)
8. aubergine (BrE) / eggplant (AmE)
9. fidgety (BrE) / antsy (AmE)
10. braces (BrE) / suspenders (AmE)

READING ABOUT... MICKEY MOUSE

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character who has become an icon for the Walt Disney Company. Mickey Mouse is short for Mitchell Mouse. It was created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and voiced by Walt Disney.
The first appearance of Mickey Mouse was in Plane Crazy on May 15, 1928. But the Walt Disney Company celebrates Mickey Mouse birth as November 18, 1928 upon the release of Steamboat Willie, because it is the first Mickey Mouse Cartoon with sound. The anthropomorphic mouse has developed along the years. He first appeared in color in 1935. The first Technicolor Disney film was Flowers and Trees from 1932. He also evolved from being simply a character in animated cartoons and comic strips to become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world.
Mickey's popularity has grown around the world. This was due to his angelic nature. Mickey never does anything immoral. However, in 2009 the Walt Disney Company announced that they will begin to re-brand the Mickey Mouse character by moving away from his pleasant, cheerful image and reintroducing the more devious side of his personality, starting with the upcoming Epic Mickey, a Mickey Mouse video game. The Walt Disney company thus intends to show the mischievous side of Mickey's personality.

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Comprehension:

1. Mickey Mouse's birthday is celebrated on
   a. May 15, 1928
   b. November 18, 1928
2. The first Mickey Mouse with sound first appeared in
   a. Steamboat Willie
   b. Plane Crazy
3. Mickey Mouse first appeared in color in
   a. 1932
   b. 1935
4. Mickey Mouse has always been popular thanks to
   a. his good nature,
   b. mischievous side of his character.

FEWER OR LESS ?

It is not only learners of English who confuse less and fewer – some native speakers also frequently use them incorrectly.

But less and fewer are not actually so difficult to use correctly: less means ’a lower amount’ (menor cantidad de algo), while fewer expresses ‘a lower number’ (menor número de algo).
 In other words:

• fewer and less are both the opposite of more;
• we use fewer with countable nouns; Fewer con nombres contables
• we use less with uncountable nouns. Less se usa con incontables.

Let’s look at some examples:

• I’ve got less time than I had last year. (time = uncountable noun)
• He’s got less money than his wife. (money = uncountable noun)
• Low-fat milk has fewer calories than full-fat. (calories = countable noun)
• The government built fewer houses last year. (houses = countable noun)

Easy-to-remember tip

If thinking about countable and uncountable nouns is a bit too technical for you, here’s an easy way to remember how to get less and fewer right: Use fewer when the noun is plural (e.g.doors, dogs, people, mistakes, days, etc.) and you will always be correct.

READING ABOUT... STEVE JOBS (APPLE'S BRAIN)

Steve Jobs, the American businessman and technology visionary who is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc, was born on February 24, 1955. His parents were two University of Wisconsin graduate students, Joanne Carole Schieble and Syrian-born Abdulfattah Jandali. They were both unmarried at the time. Jandali, who was teaching in Wisconsin when Steve was born, said he had no choice but to put the baby up for adoption because his girlfriend's family objected to their relationship.
     
The baby was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs (1922–1993) and Clara Jobs (1924–1986). Later, when asked about his "adoptive parents," Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and Clara Jobs "were my parents." He stated in his authorized biography that they "were my parents 1,000%." Unknown to him, his biological parents would subsequently marry (December 1955), have a second child, novelist Mona Simpson, in 1957, and divorce in 1962. The Jobs family moved from San Francisco to Mountain View, California when Steve was five years old. The parents later adopted a daughter, Patti. Paul was a machinist for a company that made lasers, and taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. The father showed Steve how to work on electronics in the family garage, demonstrating to his son how to take apart and rebuild electronics such as radios and televisions. As a result, Steve became interested in and developed a hobby of technical tinkering. Clara was an accountant who taught him to read before he went to school. Jobs's youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. At Monta Loma Elementary school in Mountain View, he was a prankster whose fourth-grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined. Jobs then attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. During the following years Jobs met Bill Fernandez and Steve Wozniak, a computer whiz kid. Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Reed was an expensive college which Paul and Clara could ill afford. They were spending much of their life savings on their son's higher education.

Jobs dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes, including a course on calligraphy. He continued auditing classes at Reed while sleeping on the floor in friends' dorm rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple In 1976, Wozniak invented the Apple I computer. Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, an electronics industry worker, founded Apple computer in the garage of Jobs's parents in order to sell it.

They received funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer Mike Markkula. Through Apple, Jobs was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. Jobs died at his California home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a relapse of his previously treated pancreatic cancer. Source: Wikipedia

Comprehension:

1. Steve Jobs never knew who his real parents were.
   a. True
   b. False
2. His adoptive parents were rich.
   a. True.
   b. False.
3. Jobs was a university graduate.
   a. True
   b. False

SO AND SUCH. TOO - ENOUGH

SUCH + Nouns

such + a + (adjective) + singular noun + that + result
(It is common to put an adjective before the noun)

• He is such a tight person that he even reuses his servillettes.
• Christopher is such a handsome man that all the ladies want him.
• She had such a long speech that everyone stopped paying attention to her.

such + plural/uncountable noun + that + result

• She has such big feet that she has to buy special shoes.
• Woodward Restaurant has such good food that it's always full of people.

SO / SUCH in exclamations

In exclamations we drop the word 'that' and use:
i) such + noun (singular/plural)
ii) so + adjective

• You are such an idiot! (noun)
• Celebrities have such weird tastes! (noun)
• You are so stupid! (adjective)
• It's so sunny outside! (adjective)

CLICK HERE TO TRY YOUR UNDERSTANDING 

Too/Enough

Too and Enough are used with adjectives and indicate degree.

 Too means more than necessary, and it precedes the adjective.  

Enough means sufficient and usually follows the adjective and precedes nouns.

He is too old to ride the Merry-Go-Round. She has too much money. Tony was tall enough to play on the basketball team. They were smart enough to pass the test.

(NOT: enough tall) (NOT: enough smart)

Enough can also be used with nouns. In such cases, enough usually precedes the word it modifies.

I have enough money for the CD player.
I don't have enough (money) for the computer.
There aren't enough people to make a team.

In some cases, enough can stand alone.

I have had enough of this nonsense.
Enough is enough!

Common problems include using very in place of too or enough.

She is very young to drink alcohol. She is too young to drink alcohol. He is not very tough to play football. He is not tough enough to play football.

(Wrong) (Correct) (Wrong) (Correct)

BODY VOCABULARY

Adjective Order

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun — for example, “He's a silly young fool,” or “She's a smart, energetic woman.” When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. This page will explain the different types of adjectives and the correct order for them.

1. The basic types of adjectives

Opinion	An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). For example: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult.
Size	A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. For example: large, tiny, enormous, little
Age	An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. For example: ancient, new, young, old
Shape	A shape adjective describes the shape of something. For example: square, round, flat, rectangular
Colour	A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something. For example: blue, pink, reddish, grey
Origin	An origin adjective describes where something comes from. For example: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
Material	A material adjective describes what something is made from.For example: wooden, metal, cotton, paper
Purpose	A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with “-ing”. For example: sleeping (as in “sleeping bag”), roasting (as in “roasting tin”)

The order of adjectives in English is:

 

OPINION+SIZE+AGE+SHAPE+COLOUR+ORIGIN+MATERIAL+PURPOSE+ NOUN