Masaryk University in Brno Pedagogical Fakulty Department of English

Teaching Grammar at The Basic Schools according to The Framework Educational Programme

Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2006

Supervisor: PhDr. Helena Havlkov

Author: Jarmila abatov

I. THEORETICAL PART
1. Introduction 2. The Framework Educational Programme
2.1 The Framework Educational Programme in the Czech Republic 2.2 Language communication 2.3 Key competences 2.4 Expected results in the language communication

3. Grammar and the language curriculum

3.1 Curriculum and communication 3.2 The centrality of language 3.3 The grammar- centred curriculum

4. Identifying grammar
4.1 What is grammar 4.2 Grammar in language teaching

5. Presenting and testing grammar

5.1 Presenting grammatical items 5.2 Discovery techniques 5.2 Practice techniques 5.3 Testing grammar 5.4 My own conclusion of presenting grammar

II. PRACTICAL PART

6. The Framework Educational Programme and the School Educational Programme
6.1 Making the School Educational Programme 6.2 The School Educational Programme for 6th class

7. Grammatical units taken from the School Educational Programme

7.1 The list of grammatical units 7.2 Lesson plans for the main units

8. Teaching process
8.1 Hypotheses about each lesson plan 8.2 Evaluation and experience from the lesson

9. Checking and testing knowledge

9.1 Test for students 9.2 Anticipation of possible problems 9.3 Evaluation of the tests

10. Conclusion
10.1 Advantages and disadvantages of using the School Educational Programme

1. Introduction
I have been teaching English at the basic school for ten years. My students are at the age from ten to fifteen. Basic education in the Czech Republic has been organized by several state educational and curriculum documents during the period that I have been teaching. Two years ago, in 2004, a new educational document for basic schools has been published. It is called the Framework Educational Programme. It offers a new view on our educational system. Main stress is put on results and competences not on subject matter during the process of education. It is obligatory for schools to make their School Educational Programmes. A school year 2007-8 has been established as the first year for realizing these new School Educational Programmes. Now it is the time for making them. This thesis solves this problem in connection with teaching grammar in English. The main aim of the thesis is to show how grammar could be taught. Theoretical part engages in this new document which is described here in details. Then grammar is characterized as a part of language teaching. Main types of presenting and testing grammar are mentioned here. Relationship between teaching grammar and language curriculum as a whole is explained in theoretical part too. Practical part firstly describes the process of making a new School Educational Programme. Then attention is put on the 6th class only. There is a table of subject matter developed from the School Educational Programme. Two lesson plans of main grammatical units are chosen for presenting grammar. There are hypotheses and evaluation for each lesson. In the last part there are tests for learners. Anticipations of possible problems are presented here, then evaluation of each test. Conclusion of this thesis comes out the advantages and disadvantages of the Framework Educational Programme for teachers and students.

2.1 The Framework Educational Programme in the Czech Republic

The national curriculum (also called the Educational Framework or the Framework Educational Programme) is the national educational document which was edited by VP in Prague in 2004. This document consists four parts. Part A specifies the national educational programme for the basic schools. Part B characterizes generally the basic education in the Czech Republic. Part C contains the key competences which are devided into some educational areas. There are ten main educational areas in part C. Teaching English language belongs to the part which is called Language and Language Communication. This chapter contains two parts; Czech language and literature and foreign languages.

2.2 Language and language communication

The educational part called Language and language communication is taken as to one of the most important part in the educational programme. A high level of language culture belongs to the basic items of general education. Language learning supplies knowledge and skills that provide possibilities to receive several messages , it makes pupils understand these messages, it makes them express new things properly. Students should be able to use and enforce the results of their knowledge. Foreign and the second foreign language contribute to understanding and discovering the realities that are above the experience brought by mother tongue. These realities provide the basis of language communication and assumptions for communication in a scope of integrated Europe and the world. The language acquisition helps to reduce a language barrier. It is useful for improving the mobility of the individuals both in their personal life and in their next professional carrier. The language acquisition enables pupils to know the differences of the traditions in foreign country. It intensifies the view of importance of reciprocal understanding and tolerance between countries. It facilitates cooperation between schools in the international projects. The requirements in

foreign language education, that were formulated in The National Curriculum of Basic Education in the Czech Republic, are based on the Common Europe Referential Scope for Languages (Spolen evropsk referenn rmec pro jazyky). This scope describes different levels of the language acquisition.

2.3 The aims of the language communication

The education in this area points to these key competences: pupils are expected: to receive language as a historical and cultural fact to know the historical and cultural development of the country and nation to make a positive view of mother tongue to use the language for receiving the information to require the main structures of communication between people to make a positive view of foreign language in a scope of multicultural communication to require the self confidence for presenting in public to be able to read the literary texts to make a positive view of the classic literature and other arts to require an emotional and esthetic cognition

2.4 The expected results

Level 1, the beginners, 1st period RECEPTIVE, PRODUCTIVE AND INTERACTIVE SKILLS A pupil pronounces correctly, reads with proper pronunciation

 understands simple instructions, reacts on them recognizes written and spoken form of the word understands the meaning of simple, slow conversation uses alphabetical dictionary in a textbook RECEPTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS, 2nd period A pupil understands known words and simple sentences understands the meaning of simple authentic materials, uses them for his work reads loudly with proper pronunciation simple texts with known vocabulary finds out useful information in a simple text, makes the answer to the question uses dictionary PRODUCTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS A pupil forms grammatically correct written statement, short text, an answer to the statement products orally the context of simple text, writes simple text, products simple conversation changes short texts INTERACTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS A pupil reacts actively to the simple conversation, greets and says good bye to a friend, provides information

Level 2, the intermediate RECEPTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS A pupil reads loudly, fluently with a proper pronunciation understands the meaning of simple texts in the textbooks and in the authentic materials, finds known words and phrases in the texts understands simple and clear speech and conversation finds the possible meaning of the new words from the context uses a dictionary and finds the meaning of the words PRODUCTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS A pupil builds simple (written and spoken) statement about situation in daily life, in family, at school and in other topics writes grammatically correct sentences, changes sentences and short texts briefly retells the story or the text asks for simple information INTERACTIVE SPEAKING SKILLS A pupil is able to speak in the common daily situations in a simple way

3. Grammar and the language curriculum

It has been suggested that the design of any language - teaching curriculum is conceived as constituting the answers to three interrelated questions; What is to be

learned? How is learning to be undertaken and achieved? To what extent is the former appropriate and the latter effective? (Breen and Candlin 1980, p. 89).

3.1 Curriculum and communication

There have been increasing efforts to bring curricular objectives into alignment with language-functional aims and learner- behaviour specifications. It has been found that the goals of language-teaching programmes are often articulated in terms of communicative competence, and much discussed in the pedagogic research literature are the so-called communicative approaches to language instruction. The fundamental premise of most such approaches is that the primary function of language is that of communication. Certainly, the viability of any communicative curriculum will need to be linked in important ways to the validity of this premise; yet the premise itself represents a belief about language function. (William E. Rutherford, 1987, p. 147) One well-known researcher, F.Newmeyer, has this to say: Obviously, communication is a function of language-perhaps, according to some plausible but still undervised scale, its most important function. But communication does not appear to be the only function of language. Language is used for thought, for problem solving, for play, for dreaming, for displays of group solidarity, for deception, for certain specialized literary modes such as represented speech,and possibly to fulfill an instinctive need for symbolic behaviour; in fact, language plays an integral role in virtually every conceivable human activity. Now one might, of course, choose to call all these attributes and abilities communication. But doing so, it seems to me, takes from the word communication any meaning other than acting human. ( Newmeyer 1983, p. 100) According to William E. Rutherford there is nothing of intrinsic language organization that can be identified, isolated, and abstracted away for curricular representation as the formal exponent of some set of communicative functions. Grammar is in no sense amenable to such procedures, and this is as true for product as for process-oriented concepts of language form. These observations argue then against any centrality within

the curriculum for systems of communication where decisions concerning grammatical focus are attendant upon communicative points of departure.

3.2 The centrality of language

Letting language itself be at the centre of the pedagogical plan would seem at first glance to represent nothing new. Possible difficulties in accepting the value of a language-centred pedagogical plan would very likely stem from what we already know of so many such attempts in the past- attempts whose apparent failure to lead to desired goals has more recently, in the eyes of some language professionals, discredited the notion of any kind of curricular prominence for language organization. William E. Rutherford says: There are two prime assumptions that are usually identifiable throughout the history of language-centred pedagogy. The first of these amounts to a belief about language, the second about teaching {learning}: 1. the essence of language is an assemblage of hierarchically-arranged constructs; 2. the essence of language teaching/learning is the direct imparting of those constructs by teacher to learner.

3.3 The grammar-centred curriculum

We can say that the learner has to be exposed to the data from which hypotheses may be formed and meaningful generalizations drawn. The exposure factor is a more crucial one than might be supposed; it becomes even more so where the classroom is the only source of target-language date. The need for making the data available to the learner therefore places a special burden of responsibility upon the language curriculum and language syllabus. The responsibility in curriculum planning has three parts to it : 1) some kinds of decision must be made as to what aspects of the grammatical system are the major sources for data from which the learner may ascertain the most formal generalizations (data identification)

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2) choice of language content must be such as to ensure the sufficiently timely appearance of the grammatical aspects identified in 1 3) great care and sensibility must be exercised that the pedagogical instruments maximize the probabilities for learner receptivity. The complexity of language means that if someone learns language, it requires systematic direct contact with each of its possible constructions. It cannot be necessary for the learner to encounter the exhaustive set of target-language constructions. One of the primary responsibilities of the language-teaching curriculum would seem to become as close as possible an identification of the grammar properties of target-language lexicon. It is considered of crucial importance for learner projection to well-formed grammatical constructions.

4. Identifying grammar 4.1 What is grammar

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines grammar as the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences. There are two basic elements in this definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules. The rules of grammar are about how words change and how they are put together into sentences. The knowledge of grammar also tells the learner what to do if he wants to put the some phrase into the sentence. Grammar should be called the way in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences. (Jeremy Harmer, 1991, p. 1)

4.2 Grammar in language teaching

Each teacher should think about these facts and try to answer these questions before teaching grammar: 1) Children do not learn grammar rules when they acquire their first language, so do they need to learn the rules of grammar when they acquire the second language? 2) Pupils need or need not to be given details of grammar rules to study English successfully.

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3) Should pupils get enough chance to practice using a language or should they learn grammar? 4) Should students be aware of grammatical information about the language? A good teacher has several possibilities how to teach grammar. There is a number of techniques for presenting and practicing grammar. According to J.Harmer the grammatical information can be given to students in two major ways. The first one could be extremely covert and the second will be made extremely overt. Covert grammar teaching means that grammatical facts are hidden from the studentseven though they are learning the language. Students may be asked to do any activity where a new grammar is presented or introduced, but their attention will be drawn to this activity not to the grammar. Overt grammar teaching means that the teacher actually provides the students grammatical rules and explanations-the information is openly presented. With overt teaching grammatical rules are explicitly given to students, but with covert teaching students are simply asked to work with new language to absorb grammatical information which will help them to acquire the language as a whole. It is expected to do a lot of structures in teaching and practicing, and less really free communicative activity at the beginner level. The teaching of grammar is likely to be fairly covert since the main aim is to get students to use language as much as possible. On the other hand students at intermediate levels should be involved in more communicative activities and should have less grammar teaching. The teaching grammar would probably be more overt. Then advanced students can actively study grammar in more overt ways.

5. Presenting and testing grammar 5.1 Presenting grammatical items

Presentation means that students are introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new piece of language (e.g. did for past simple in questions). Students can learn how to put the new syntax, words and sounds together. They learn grammar that they will need for their most important experience, applying it to themselves. It is useful to mention the personalization, which means using a piece of grammar to say things which really mean 12

something to learner. (e.g. using present simple to say what he does). Presentation can take place using personalization immediately, teacher uses the students and their lives to introduce a new language ( e.g. personal questions). Personalization can be the final part of a presentation which is done through the use of texts or pictures (e.g. using a situation in daily life, menu in a restaurant). J. Harmer speaks about some characteristics of a good presentation that should be mentioned here: a good presentation should be clear ( no difficulties in understanding for learner) a good presentation should be efficient (students can manipulate the new language) a good presentation should be lively and interesting (to get interest for students, their involving during a presentation) a good presentation should be appropriate (not put so much information) a good presentation should be productive (the introduced situation should allow students to make many sentences or questions with a new language)

5.2 Discovery techniques

We have said that a good presentation should be clear, efficient, lively and interesting, appropriate and productive. These can be fulfilled by many ways that are given to students by teacher. It is only up to teacher how he, she introduces the new grammatical item. Then students repeat and use this new item. Discovery techniques are possible ways where students are given examples of language and then asked to find out how they work, it means to discover the grammar rules. Students find out how grammar is used in a text and they are actually acquiring a grammar rule. By this students involving in the task of grammar acquisition teacher makes sure that they are concentrating fully, using their cognitive powers. Discovery techniques are not just the teacher telling what the grammar is. Students are actually discovering information for themselves.

5.3 Practice techniques

There are various ways of doing practice techniques, which means that pupils do exercise through the techniques which get them to practice grammatical item. There will

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be mentioned four different types of oral practice and written practice too, which are described by J.Harmer. 1) Drills are often done with the whole class, students are given sentence with a new grammatical item and they are asked for right repetition. It is practiced as long as it is necessary for students to be able to say this structure in a proper way. The aim of drill is to give students rapid practice in using a structural item. Advantage is that the teacher can correct any mistakes, can encourage pupils to concentrate on difficulties. But this way is not very creative. 2) Interaction activities are the ways of language practicing which are more meaningful and more enjoyable. Pupils often work together in pairs or in groups. They exchange information in the purposeful and interesting way. They are given some materials (text, picture, map) and asked for some tasks when they use the grammatical item that is introduced. Disadvantage should be that the teacher has no control over all students. He, she cant be sure that all students understood the grammar. 3) Involving the personality is the way when pupils do the exercise and at the same time talk about themselves. They are asked to discuss things that involve their personality and to use this subject matter as a focus for grammar practice. Chain drill is one way of making a practice drill. It is closely drill but in more funny and enjoyable way. It is more interesting than usual, because students are asked for speaking about themselves. 4) Games are surely the most interesting and the most favourite way how to practice grammar. Games are very useful for grammar work. Students are given a new grammatical item through the game, which is exactly the most natural way especially for children. There are several types of grammar games that will be mentioned later in this work. These were oral activities for practicing grammar. But there are some written activities too. Since grammar practice is often done through writing, it is very useful too. Some types of written practices will be mentioned here. These are fill-ins, written drills, word order, parallel writing. Generally speaking, students need to practice their grammar a lot, but it is only up to the teacher how they will do it. A good teacher should remember that students would do the tasks with pleasure not only as a necessity.

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5.4 Testing grammar

It has been said that pupils would do the exercises with pleasure and in a funny way. But it is quite difficult to test grammar in the same way. However it is difficult, it is possible. There are several types of tests. Teacher can test students ability to speak or write, his reading or listening skills. Of course, written tests take less time and they are easier to administer. Thats why most tests are based on written skills. This could cause some problems, because so much teaching in the classroom is based on oral work. Teacher should remember this fact and try to make the tests suitable for students. Good test shows both teacher and learner how well they are all doing. Teacher who writes tests should bear in mind the rules that are offered by J.Hamer: do not test what you have not taught do not test general knowledge do not introduce new techniques in tests do not just test accuracy do not forget to test the test

5.4 Own conclusion of presenting grammar

All grammar teaching should not be covert. Teacher should not always draw students attention to grammatical facts and rules. Sometimes pupils should discover facts about grammar through problem solving activities and sometimes through practicing grammar. Teacher should not think that the only best kind of grammar practice is written grammar practice. Teacher should remember that it is not good to test grammar only with accuracy. The main point in teaching grammar is based on the fact that children do not learn grammar when they acquire first language, so it could work when they learn the second language.

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II. PRACTICAL PART

6. The Framework Educational Programme and The School Educational Programme 6.1 Making The School Educational Programme
The Framework Educational Programme has been done generally for all basic schools in our republic. It has been developed as an educational document by the Institute of Education in Prague. This document is obligatory direction for making the own school programme. Each school in the Czech Republic has to make its own School Educational Programme, which will come from the national form of the document. Each School Educational Programme is expected to be a little different. Firstly, the headmaster puts together several groups of teachers according to their qualification. It means that teachers who belong to the same educational area will work together. Teaching English belongs to the educational area which is called Language and Language Communication. Thats why the teachers of Czech, English, German, Russian and other foreign languages will work on this area together. Each group of teachers is asked to solve several problems. They should evaluate the position of a school, its advantages and disadvantages, its offers, its educational aims, projects etc. Then the teachers make the list of expected school results and knowledge, which has to come from the Framework Educational Programme and its key competences. They are free in choosing the subject matter. This will be set up according to the expected school results. At the end they make a table for each form, which will contain all these points. This is a very hard work for teachers, if they want to do it the best way. It takes a lot of their free time. The final product should be used as an educational programme for this specific area.

6.2 The School Educational Programme 6th class

According to The School Educational Programme there is a table of educational contents for 6th class, English language. (appendix n. 1)

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This table functions both as an educational and a time plan for each teacher at school. It should be binding for teachers. It is only a part of the School Educational Programme but it is the most useful part for teachers of English. This table consists five columns: expected results and the key competences according to the Framework Educational Programme - the key competences are characterized here, some of the expected results taken from FEP are put here. expected results according to the School Educational Programme - the specific results are described here, these results were made by the teachers and they are the most important part of this document, they are binding for teachers and teaching. subject matter coming from expected results - there is a list of grammatical units that should be taught and the list of topics that should be solved during a school year, the subject matter is optional for each school. evaluation, it is optional - it is prepared for teachers notes, experience, evaluative points for the next work, there could be mentioned a students and teachers portfolio. notes, it is optional too - there are methods and forms of work described, this is the place for noting and realizing relationship between the subjects, subjects should fade into one another.

7. Grammatical units taken from the School Educational Programme 7.1 The list of grammatical units
There is solved and described teaching grammar according to the Framework Educational Programme in this thesis. Each school has to respect FEP and each teacher should respect the School Educational Programme. It has been said that the expected results are obligatory and the subject matter is optional for teachers. Teachers have made these documents themselves, so it should be useful especially for them and their students. Thats why it is only up to teacher in what way grammar will be presented. The sequence of presented grammar is free, too. Teacher can use several types of methods, even though he can use several textbooks and authentic materials for his work. 17

He can choose different methods and materials but he has to reach students expected results. The list of grammatical units taken from the School Educational Programme

Expected results
A pupil is able to: - use indefinite article a, an with the nouns - recognize the single and plural form of the nouns

Grammatical units
NOUNS - indefinite article a, an - plural of the nouns ( regular and irregular forms) - genitive of the nouns ADJECTIVES - a position of adjectives in the sentence give the PRONOUNS personal

-posses things to the person

- put the adjectives correctly into the sentence

personal pronouns to the correct person use the pronouns subject and object form possessive

object pronouns in the sentence use the

pronouns interrogativ

possessive pronouns instead of genitive - ask with interrogative pronouns

e pronouns demonstrati

ve pronouns ( that, those, this, these)

- count the things, animals and people

NUMBERS-NUMERALS - numbers 0-100

understand

VERBS verb to be:

simple speech and conversation about personal details statement, negative, question,

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ask for

short answer phrase

personal details photo describe a describe the there is/are verb to have

place, picture, got : statement, negative, question, short answer person, animal, thing or a place in a simple sentence ask for - modal verb can,cant

personal description say what a

person is / isnt able to do ask for

permission - put the prepositions correctly into a sentence PREPOSITIONS - preposition of a place and the time make PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE - statement, negative statement ( dont, doesnt), questions ( do, does), short answers follow the form of English sentence use the

simple sentence in present simple

auxiliary verbs correctly simple follow the make

question in present

form of English

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question

cont. -

make the

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE - statement, negative statement, question

sentence in present

make the

negative sentence in present cont. make the question in present cont.

-describe what happens frequently - describe what is happening now

- present tenses : using and comparing

According to the School Educational Programme teacher should proceed from the expected results, these are the most important points in his work. This table shows how the teacher makes a process. The results are done and the subject matter is chosen by the teacher.

7.2 Lesson plans for the main grammatical units

1) Lesson plan 1 is based on these expected results from the School Educational Programme: a pupil is able to describe a place, thing and a person, to understand the short text with description, to make sentence in present tense. The verb have got has been chosen as a subject matter. The expected results are used in a lesson plan as an aim of the lesson. Several methods of teaching were used there. The covert grammar teaching was used in 20

presenting grammatical unit by using the pictures and speaking about them. Drill was used in a game memory chain. But it is covered in this game. The last part of the lesson is based on childrens natural skill drawing.

Lesson plan 1, verb to have got.

Aim: pupils will be able to use the verb in a sentence, they will be able to understand the sentence with the verb in its two forms: have got, has got and negative forms havent got and hasnt got. Age of students: 10 11 year-old children Material: a blue ball for teacher, two pictures on the plastic folio (a girl with a doll, a boy with a car), one picture for each child with known vocabulary, a piece of paper for each pupil, stick gum. Time plan:

1.

Introduction - teacher shows a ball and says: I have got a

blue ball. Then points to the first picture and says: She has got a small doll. Then points to the second picture and says: He has got a red car. Then writes these three sentences under the pictures. 7 min.

2. 3.

Teacher asks children for repeating the sentences..

3 min.

Each child gets a picture, it is asked to make its own

sentence. I have got an orange. 10 min.

4.

Game: memory chain, teacher starts the game I have got a

blue ball and points to Tom, he says You have got a blue ball and I have got an orange Then the third person is speaking She

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has got a .he has got an .and I have got a several children will be asked for repeating the whole sentence. It should not be very long. 7 min.

5.
it.

Piccasso dictation, teacher dictates the short text with the

verb to have got about the monster and children are asked to draw 10 min.

6.

Feedback, children put their paintings on the board and they

check their work together, they repeat the short text about the monster. 8 min.

The text for children: This is a nice monster. It has got a big head and a big body. It has got four long arms but it hasnt got any legs. It has got lovely green eyes, long nose and a big mouth. It has got long pink hair. Its body is green too. Each arm has got five fingers. It is our friend. Its name is Fanny. (appendix n.2) 2) Lesson plan 2 respects these expected results, taken from the School Educational Programme: a pupil is able to make the question in present simple, to follow the form of question in present simple, to use an auxiliary verb do. Again the aim of the lesson is based on these results. The lead-in activity has been chosen as a revision from the last lesson. The second reason is to introduce several verbs that will be used later in questions. Coloured pieces of paper with auxiliary verb, personal pronouns and with full verbs should help children to remember the structure of the question in present simple. The rule of making question will be given explicitly to students. The important point is mentioned in pair work, the same colours of the words. During the individual practice children can use the coloured pencils too. An important intention is specified in this lesson plan. The students will be working only with the auxiliary verb do and personal pronouns that belong to.

Lesson plan 2, question in present simple

Aim: pupils will be able to make question in present simple, to use the verb do for specific personal pronouns, to follow the form of the question in present simple

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Age: 10-11 year-old pupils Material: coloured card with an auxiliary verb DO (green), personal pronouns I, you, we, they (yellow), full verbs (pink), collections of words for making the questions, textbook Project I, school exercise books, worksheets for pupils. Time plan:

1.

lead in activity, brainstorming: revision from the last lesson, teacher puts pink

cards with verbs on the board and children read them, then children are asked for making the statement about themselves in present simple with these verbs. Pupil says the sentence, puts the card on the board and writes the rest of a sentence. 7 min.

2.

presenting a new grammatical item: teacher explains the form of the question in

present simple with using coloured cards. Several examples are put on the board. 5 min.

3. 4.

then students are asked to make questions and write them on the board, they use all 5 min.

verbs from the lead activity

pair work: each pair of pupils gets a collection of the words in the same coloures as

were used for presenting, they are asked for making the questions in present simple 3 min.

5. 6.

checking the task, each pair reads its question loudly, the rest of a class corrects, 5 min.

all questions are put on one desk for checking together

individual practice: children are asked for writing an exercise from their textbooks

to their school exercise books. The task: complete the question according to a picture. Children can use coloured pencils. After writing the exercise they give it to the teacher for checking, teacher checks it and gives advice for correcting.

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5 min. 7. feedback: children get worksheets with two exercises and try to do it themselves 7 min.

8.

children change their worksheets and check them together, they correct the

mistakes and count the points, then put mark to a friend Materials for this lesson plan are presented as an appendix n. 4a

8. Teaching process 8.1 Hypotheses for each lesson Lesson 1 (according to lesson plan 1)
The main result of this lesson is characterized as a pupils ability of describing something, ability for using the verb have got, ability of understanding a short description. So it is expected that children will be able to use the verb at the end of a lesson. The lesson seems to be enjoyable for children, because of a choice of activities. Pupils are expected to behave well and to be interested in the activities. I assume that a lead in activity will start a good atmosphere in a class. A new grammatical unit will be presented as a cover grammar teaching, which seems to be better way for this unit and for young learners too. Drill, covered in a game, is expected to be done with pleasure. Teacher should anticipate some problems during this game. Especially weak learners are expected to have problem with repeating the whole sentence. I will pay attention of these pupils and I will encourage them and help them. It seems to be helpful if children stand up and show their picture to everybody. Other children could remember the sentence easily with visual support. Piccasso dictation is expected to be funny and enjoyable for children, because they like drawing, monsters and mystery. This activity seems to be useful way how to fix the using of the verb have got. But for fulfilling the results it is necessary to be very careful during this activity. Children have to work themselves, so it would be better if children sit alone. Then the teacher can check their work fairly. Possible problems with using vocabulary should appear during the dictation, but it is good to help children with vocabulary. They will be able to concentrate on understanding the forms of verb have got.

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Lesson 2(according to lesson plan 2)

This grammatical unit is often difficult for children. Thats why I assume that not all the children will be able to make the question in present simple surely. Some children are expected to need more time for practicing. I appreciate that the lead in activity is going to help children to connect the verbs of daily activities with using the present simple. Using the coloured cards, coloured collection of words and the worksheets with coloured words is assumed to be helpful for children. The main intention is to fix these colours in childrens brains. Firstly, the big cards with the words will be stuck on the board (first support), then children will make the questions with coloured small papers (second support), then the worksheets are prepared to use colours again (third support). I anticipate that most of the children will be able to do exercises in the worksheets correctly.

8.2 Experience and evaluation Lesson 1

The first part of a lesson has been taken naturally by children without any problems. They listened carefully and repeated the sentences well. Sometimes children did not pronounce well, so I corrected them and ask for repetition. After getting pictures in the next part of the lesson, some children were confused with using a right word. It would be better next time to name all the pictures together before making sentences. An important point discovered during this part. Children corrected the mistakes each other without any bad intention. Children did not need a long explanation for the game. They had known it from previous lessons. But as it had been assumed, weak learners had a problem with repeating the whole sentences. I tried to choose these children at the beginning of this activity so that they had not such a long sentence. Next important point of this game was that children have to concentrate on the word order of the things in a chain not on the using of verb have got. They used a new grammatical item covered in the game without specific concentration. The most enjoyable part was surely Piccasso dictation. Children did not take it as a dictation, but as a game again. Some of them tried to look around but I explained to them what it is about. Weak learners had a problem with vocabulary that they had not learnt before. Next time it could be better to do this activity in pairs, especially in this class because of several dyslectic children. They would be more

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concentrated on the grammar then on an unknown vocabulary. At the end of the last activity children wanted to put their paintings on the wall. They liked their monsters very much. I know that this type of activities is very interesting for children.

Lesson 2
Lead in activity has been presented according to teachers expectation. Children were able to use ten verbs in several statements. Sometimes they needed help with using the right prepositions. Then it was very useful that these verbs stayed on the board. They were used immediately for explaining the form of questions in present simple and the function of DO. I paid attention to colours. It was very helpful for children. They could change the cards on the board easily. Most children understood quickly. Then in pair work there were no problem with completing the sentences. Children worked quickly and carefully. But during individual work some problems came. Children made mistakes in using right personal pronouns and in spelling. Those children who had problems were asked for using colours again. Quite a big surprise came during the work on worksheets. There were twenty three children in a class and except two boys who are both dyslexic children and need more time for this task all children have done the tasks well. These two boys were asked to finish it at home and bring it next time. I saw this lesson as a big success because there always had been problems with questions in present simple in each class. Next positive point is that children are prepared for using auxiliary verb does which is coming next time.

9. Checking and testing the knowledge

9.1

Test for students

Test 1, verb to have got, (appendix n.3a,3b, 5a,5b)

The first test is put together so that it checks students skills and abilities that are characterized in these expected results: a pupil is able to describe a person, an animal, a thing and place, to understand a simple description, to use the verb have got in simple sentences in all its forms, to work with a short text with this verb. The test has been made with known vocabulary, according to the topics that have been discussed during lessons. Several topics were taught within the verb have got, thats why the exercises in the test 26

use different topics (school subjects, days of a week, animals, colours and things, personal details, parts of the body). The first exercise is based on using the verb to have got for the first and second person singular and plural only. Through the knowledge of the school subjects and the days of the week students should complete the sentences. The second exercise asks student for answering four questions about themselves. They should write true sentences from their real life. The task of the third exercise is to fill in the conversation between two young girls. The main result is to understand this conversation clearly so that the phrase should be used in daily situation. Exercise number 4 finds out how children can make sentence with the verb to have got. All the words are written in capital letters in order not to be recognizable which word goes first. Exercise number 5 is based on translation either form Czech to English or from English to Czech. An easy vocabulary has been chosen, because the translation is often very difficult for children. The main intention is to use the verb have got in a sentence, not to check the vocabulary. The last exercise is something like compensation for children. It has been made for pleasure so that the students will not be stressed so much during the test. At the end of the test children could paint the pictures of William and Wendy. (Taken from Project Grammar, mluvnick cvien, Carolyn Barraclough, by OUP,2004) Children can reach maximum 44 points.

Test 2, present simple, (appendix n. 4b,6a,6b)

Test number 2 was made according to the result of students being able to make simple sentence in present simple tense, to follow the structure of question, to use auxiliary verbs do and does correctly. Test is set up with using known vocabulary. The main attention is put on working with the sentence in present simple. There are eight exercises in which pupils should present their knowledge of present simple tense. In those exercises several methods are used during the one topic, daily activities.

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The first exercise pays attention on using the verbs in statements. The knowledge of adding s in 3rd person sing. is expected. Exercise n. 2 is based on making questions in present simple. These questions come from the previous exercise. There is an example of a question so that students could follow it. Next two exercises are connected. Students should match two halves of these sentences and rewrite them correctly with using our known colours. The fifth exercise is about using correct form of auxiliary verbs. It seems to be easier than in ex. N. 2, because children can choose from two possibilities. As a visual support there are coloured subjects again.(yellow) Exercise n. 6 asks learners for using short or long answer. Students are expected to use short forms of do not and does not, when it is possible. They should be able to make the whole answer. Exercise n. 7 lets children find the correct words for filling in this table. They should use auxiliary verbs do and does, right subject, full verbs and the rest of the sentence(time). Last exercise is based on finding out grammatical mistakes. The number of mistakes is done so that it is easier for children. Children can reach maximum 57 points.

9.2 Anticipation of possible problems with the tests Test 1, verb to have got
There are several topics used in the test, so it is possible that children will have problems with vocabulary. Exercise n.1 assumes knowledge of school subjects and the days of the week. There could appear problems with pronouns too. The second exercise is expected to be uneasy because of making whole answer. This type of exercise often requires a clear explanation. Exercise n.3 is expected to be the most difficult from the test. Children always have problems with filling in the conversations. On the other hand there is an easy vocabulary used and a suitable topic of dialogue for young learners. The fourth exercise seems to be easy for children. The words are done and it is easier than making

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the whole sentence. Possible problems might be with the position of adjectives in sentences three and four. Translation is expected to be the most difficult. The most frequent mistakes are often being done in using definite and indefinite articles and in the structure of the sentence and question. Next problem would appear with using personal pronouns in translation from Czech to English. Last exercise, which should be enjoyable for children, could make problems with some new words, but with visual support children could understand them correctly.

Test 2, present simple

An easy vocabulary concerning one topic is used in all exercises from the test. Thats why it is not expected that students have problems with vocabulary. First exercise should bring problems with using correct form of the full verbs. Children often make mistakes in subject verb concord. They do not recognize clearly to which pronoun subject needs to be connected (her parents=they). I expect mistakes with using do, does in exercise n. 2. Children often forget to put auxiliary verb into the question. The third and fourth exercises are expected to be well done because of using colours as in lessons. Possible problems with subject verb concord are assumed again in exercise n. 5. Next mistakes should appear in using the right form of full verb, right prepositions and the time in the sixth exercise. Children are going to make sentence without any help, thats why there could be some errors. The table in the next task should be made without any problems. The last task anticipates finding grammatical errors. Students could be disappointed with these mistakes. Not all the mistakes will be found. The teacher should respect these problems and will put attention on clear explanation. The teacher will notice the importance of present simple and possible mistakes. Children should not look for other mistakes.

9.3 Evaluation of the tests

The evaluation of the tests is presented in these four tables. The students could reach total score of 44 points for the first test and 57 points for the second one. Tables 1 and 3 show the evaluated data. Tables 2 and 4 present evaluation according to the school expected results. These tables show how teacher can evaluate the tests. This simple way is quick, well-arranged. It provides clear image about fulfilling of the expected results. Table n. 1(verb have got)

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Evaluative score (in points) 44 40 39,5 32 31,5 20 19,5 10 9,5 0

Mark 1 2 3 4 5 2,70

A number of students 2 11 3 3 3 22

According to this result the verb have got should have been practicing more during the lessons and then next short test should be offered to the children. The expected school result of knowing the verb have got has been partially fulfilled. But more frequent mistakes have been done in other grammatical units (personal pronouns, indefinite articles). Table n. 2(verb have got)
Exercise n: Success (%) 1. 85% -in the sentence before the last one, using the long form of the verb have got instead of short form 2. 60% 3. 35% - using the correct subject in two last sentences - finding the correct form of the verb have got - using a short and a long forms of the verb 4. 45% - putting the indefinite articles to the right position in the sentence 5. - using the articles in a - less practice in the - practice the - paying attention to a verb have got - revise indefinite articles, their using and position - missing knowledge of the right forms(subject verb concord) - more practice of this type of conversation -two sentences use 2nd p.sing. - mixed up the subjects in the sentences - it is the only one sentence where should be used a long form - practice more the short forms More frequent errors Probable reasons Notes for next work

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65%

translation from English

lessons - missing knowledge

translation more often - revise personal pronouns

- translation the subjects ( pronouns) to Czech 6. 85% - using the short forms of negative without got

of personal pronouns

- less practice during the lessons, little space for childrens writing

- practice the negative forms once more

Table n. 3 (present simple)

Evaluative score (in points) 57-51 50,5-41 40,5-25 24,5-12 11,5-0 Mark 1 2 3 4 5 2,20 Number of students 6 8 5 3 0 22

Table n. 4 (present simple)

Exercise n: Success (%) 1. 65% - adding s in 3rd p. sing. - difficult to recognize the subject( Janet and Jason) 2. 75% 3. and 4. - are connected, if the child made mistake in - sometimes with using correct auxiliary verb - no visual support, the sentences start with interrogative pronouns - missing knowledge of using auxiliary verb - use the coloures in 3 too - practice with interrogative pronouns - without coloures - practice with names and different subject, not only with personal pronouns More frequent mistakes Probable reason Notes for the next work

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60%

3, it had to be made in 4 - missing any sentence element in the sentence, incorrect auxiliary verb. - often in the fourth exercise children found out the mistake and correct it in ex.n.3

- visual support in 4 helps them

5. 75%

- only in sentence with your father and children as subjects

- your is similar to you, the word children make problems with recognizing the singular or plural

- revise before the test singular and plural forms of the nouns

6. 85%

- only a few mistakes in 3rd and 4th sentences( 3rd p. sing.)

- many sentences have been done during the lessons, children are used of them

- still pay more attention to 3rd p. sing.

7. 95% 8. 40%

- without grammatical mistakes, only in spelling great!

- visual support, children are used of it, it helps a lot - no visual support, too long for children, quite difficult

- continue with this method

- not recognizing the mistakes in subject verb concord

- use the coloures in this exercise,try it again, choose shorter text

This table presents the fact that children are able to use the present simple in different types of exercise. They sometimes made mistakes, but the school result of knowing the present simple was almost fulfilled. It needs to be practised further in the lessons. It has appeared that the method of visual support is very helpful for children. Thats why it should continue.

10.

Conclusion

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Advantages and disadvantages of using the School Educational Programme

Several advantages have been found during this thesis. The Framework Educational Programme provides free and equal opportunity for each school in our republic to present its aims, skills, intentions, position of school in a hierarchy of our state education. The fact that each School Educational Programme will be little bit different seems to be very good for future education. The parents could choose the suitable school for their children. The schools could present themselves. They can offer several possibilities of teaching process. A fair competition between schools will start. The School Educational Programme offers several methods of teaching, the schools can choose various materials for their education, different titles of textbooks, different authentic materials. The teaching process seems to be more free and enjoyable for children. Relationships between subjects appear as a big advantage, too. On the other hand there are several disadvantages, too. This process of making and realizing the School Educational Programme takes a lot of teachers time, not only during the working time, but more often in their free time. It is very difficult to do this work during the school year, during the teaching process. The teachers need to work together but it is often impossible during the teaching process. Next disadvantage is that we can see the function of the Framework Educational Programme in a few next years. It should be evaluated as a whole after one generation of students finish the basic school. Next problem surely come if the family moves and a child has to change the school, because each school can change the sequence of subject matters. All these advantages and disadvantages here are just my observations during studying the Framework Educational Programme and during making of the School Educational Programme. Of course, when this new educational document will be fully transferred into the practical use it will surely bring other possible advantages and disadvantages.

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