Planning a grammar lesson

Without grammar, words hang together without any real meaning or sense. In order to
be able to speak a language to some degree of proficiency and to be able to say what
we really want to say, we need to have some grammatical knowledge.
By teaching grammar we not only give our students the means to express themselves,
but we also fulfil their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves.
Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a communicative approach and a wealth of
stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation
of verbs or grammar translation.

Which approach?

Presentation, practice and production (PPP) Presentation

Presentation

Practice

Production

Conclusion

Which approach?
There are two main approaches to teaching grammar. These are the deductive and the
inductive approach.

A deductive approach is when the rule is presented and the language is produced
based on the rule. (The teacher gives the rule.)

An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some form of guided
discovery. (The teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves.)

In other words, the former is more teacher centred and the latter more learner centred.
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. In my own experience, the
deductive approach is undoubtedly time saving and allows more time for practising the
language items thus making it an effective approach with lower level students. The
inductive approach, on the other hand, is often more beneficial to students who already
have a base in the language as it encourages them to work things out for themselves
based on their existing knowledge.
Presentation, practice and production (PPP)
A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure known as PPP (Presentation,

Practice, Production). The teacher presents the target language and then gives students
the opportunity to practise it through very controlled activities. The final stage of the
lesson gives the students the opportunity to practise the target language in freer
activities which bring in other language elements.
In a 60-minute lesson each stage would last approximately 20 minutes. This model
works well as it can be used for most isolated grammatical items. It also allows the
teacher to time each stage of the lesson fairly accurately and to anticipate and be
prepared for the problems students may encounter. It is less workable at higher levels
when students need to compare and contrast several grammatical items at the same
time and when their linguistic abilities are far less uniform.
Presentation
In this stage the teacher presents the new language in a meaningful context. I find that
building up stories on the board, using realia or flashcards and miming are fun ways to
present the language.
For example, when presenting the 2nd conditional, I often draw a picture of myself with
thought bubbles of lots of money, a sports car, a big house and a world map.

I ask my students what I'm thinking about and then introduce the target
language.
"If I had a lot of money, I would buy a sports car and a big house."

I practise and drill the sentence orally before writing it on the board (positive,
negative, question and short answer).

I then focus on form by asking the students questions. E.g."What do we use

after 'if'?" and on meaning by asking the students questions to check that they have
understood the concept (E.g."Do I have lots of money?" No."What am I doing?"
Imagining.)

When I am satisfied that my students understand the form and the meaning, I
move on to the practice stage of the lesson. During this stage of the lesson it is
important to correct phonological and grammatical mistakes.
Practice
There are numerous activities which can be used for this stage including gap fill
exercises, substitution drills, sentence transformations, split sentences, picture
dictations, class questionnaires, reordering sentences and matching sentences to
pictures.

It is important that the activities are fairly controlled at this stage as students
have only just met the new language. Many students' books and workbooks have
exercises and activities which can be used at this stage.

When teaching the 2nd conditional, I would use split sentences as a controlled
practice activity. I give students lots of sentence halves and in pairs they try and match

the beginnings and ends of the sentences.

Example: "If I won the lottery," . "I'd travel around the world."

I would then do a communicative follow up game like pelmanism or snap using the
same sentence halves.

Production
Again there are numerous activities for this stage and what you choose will depend on
the language you are teaching and on the level of your students. However, information
gaps, role plays, interviews, simulations, find someone who, spot the differences
between two pictures, picture cues, problem solving, personalisation activities and board
games are all meaningful activities which give students the opportunity to practise the
language more freely.

When teaching the 2nd conditional, I would try to personalise the lesson at this
stage by giving students a list of question prompts to ask others in the class.
Example: do / if / win the lottery?

Although the questions are controlled the students are given the opportunity to
answer more spontaneously using other language items and thus the activity becomes
much less predictable.

It is important to monitor and make a note of any errors so that you can build in
class feedback and error analysis at the end of the lesson.

Conclusion
When teaching grammar, there are several factors we need to take into consideration
and the following are some of the questions we should ask ourselves:

How useful and relevant is the language?

What other language do my students need to know in order to learn the new
structure effectively?

What problems might my students face when learning the new language?

How can I make the lesson fun, meaningful and memorable?

Although I try to only use English when teaching a grammar lesson, it is sometimes
beneficial to the students to make a comparison to L1 in the presentation stage. This is
particularly true in the case of more problematic grammatical structures which students
are not able to transfer to their own language.
It is also important to note that using the PPP model does not necessarily exclude using
a more inductive approach since some form of learner-centred guided discovery could

be built into the presentation stage. When presenting the 2nd conditional I sometimes
present the language in context and then give the students a worksheet with a series of
analysis questions to do in pairs.
PPP is one model for planning a lesson. Other models include TTT (Test, Teach, Test),
ARC (Authentic use, Restricted use, Clarification and focus) and ESA (Engage, Study,
Activate). All models have their advantages and disadvantages and I, like many other
teachers I know, use different models depending on the lesson, class, level and learner
styles.
Further reading
Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Penny Ur, Cambridge
Handbooks for Language Teachers 1988
Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers. Peter Watcyn Jones, Penguin Books 1995
How to Teach English. Jeremy Harmer, Longman 1998
How to Teach Grammar. Scott Thornbury, Longman 1999
Tanya Cotter, British Council, Morocco

Test Teach Test

Test, teach, test (TTT) is an approach to teaching where learners first complete a task or
activity without help from the teacher. Then, based on the problems seen, the teacher
plans and presents the target language. Then the learners do another task to practise
the new language.
Example
The learners, who have not studied phrasal verbs, are given a text and asked to find
examples. They are able to do this but not to deduce meaning. The teacher plans a
lesson to help learners develop this, and then asks them to do a similar activity.
In the classroom
TTT is a useful approach as it enables teachers to identify the specific needs of learners
concerning a language area and address this need suitably. It can be particularly useful
at intermediate levels and above, where learners may have seen language before, but
have specific problems with it, and also in mixed level classes to help identify objectives
for each individual.

How to Teach Grammar: What Methods Are

Quickest and Easiest?
FEBRUARY 3, 2014 BY LARAN JOSEPH

Teaching grammar is an essential part of school

education or adult learning. Without good grammar, spoken or written words lose much
of their meaning and most of their value. Grammar is a very important thing to get right,
and teachers should take extra care to impart proper grammar to all their students. Sadly,
grammar is often seen as a difficult and boring subject and one popular method of
teaching is to just repeat the correct grammar for a certain situation over and over until it
is memorised and able to be repeated, like a parrot. This is dull for both teachers and
students, and often only results in the students being able to repeat what they have
learned, rather than resulting in a complete understanding that can be applied to all
situations.
English grammar is very complex, and all its intricacies cannot truly be learned by rote,
they must be really understood and understanding is most easily achieved when
students are engaged, interested and having fun during a lesson. To make sure youre
covering all the necessary topics with your students, you could check out the Grammar
Boost lesson plans here.
Word puzzles are a useful and interactive method whereby students can learn all sorts of
important parts of English grammar. They can be used to encourage students to identify
and understand various parts of a sentence; grammatical concepts like synonyms, tenses
and conjugations; or incorrectly used grammar. Word puzzles such as crosswords are
easily modified to suit all age and skill levels and introduce an element of fun competition
into the learning process, so they can be invaluable in forging a full and lasting
understanding of English grammar.
Another game-based method of teaching grammar that you could use in teaching your
students is Bingo. The game of Bingo is based on people marking off spaces on their card

until they fill in a row or column fully. In normal Bingo these are numbers, drawn at
random from a pool. In grammar lesson Bingo, they could be pronouns, verbs, nouns,
sentence structure, antonyms, and so on students could use the daily newspaper and
attempt to find correct examples of these grammatical concepts faster than each other,
thereby winning the game and learning in the process! Short and fun grammar
exercises like this can be included on a regular basis during your lessons to keep correct
grammar usage fresh your students minds and improve their recall of the topics at
hand. Advanced English Grammar is an online lesson plan featuring quizzes and
lectures to help you teach your students all the elements of good grammar.
In lessons where you are not incorporating some sort of game, it is beneficial to consider
inductive teaching. This is a method where you lead the students to the correct conclusion,
rather than feeding them the information straight away. Getting the students to think
about what the correct answer might be and figure it out for themselves will leave a longer
lasting impression in their brain and result in better retention. It is worth getting your
students to speak using the grammar that you are attempting to teach, in sentences that
relate to themselves. They will have to process the knowledge you have given them in a
way that is relevant to them, and in doing so they will forge a clearer understanding of the
context and a memory of how to use the grammar you have taught in the future. You
should also encourage your students to write down the important sentences and
grammatical concepts that you teach them, so that they have something to refer back to if
they need to, but also because writing something out improves contextual memory
One particularly useful lesson could be spent on highlighting common mistakes that
people make, and incidences of grammar not fitting the expected pattern. By teaching
your students what is incorrect in this way, you can help them to avoid making these
common mistakes. Turning it into a funny or amusing session of picking out subtle
mistakes or ways that poor grammar has led a normal sentence to become ambiguous,
funny or wrong can really help make your lesson very memorable, and one lesson of
showing students what is wrong can often be more valuable than several lessons of trying
to teach what is right.
Teaching English as a second language to adults or children is a more involved process
than teaching native English speakers, as ESL/EFL students have in-depth knowledge of
their own languages grammar rules, most of which are completely different than English.
You may need to focus more deeply on sentence structure, pronouns, descriptors and
tenses to help them become fluent in English grammar because of this innate difference
between English and their native language. This Elementary Course in English as a
Foreign Language can help you to plan your lessons to accommodate any non-native
speakers in your classes, and more in-depth detail can be found here, a course
on Listening Skills for English as a Second Language, which might help you
troubleshoot any issues you come across with any more advanced learners in your
classroom.

In summation, all education depends on a foundation of good grammar. If students

cannot understand grammar, they will struggle to read, write or speak clearly in any other
area of education, from maths and science to history or geography. Good language is the
base on which all other education has to stand. Teachers can use a variety of ways to make
their grammar lessons memorable and enjoyable for students. Students who enjoy their
lessons will pay closer attention, and you will then have an easier time while teaching. This
is why great lessons are important for everyone involved, and why you should take the
time to ensure you are teaching grammar in the best and most engaging way for the skill
level and requirements of your individual students.