The organization of teaching grammar
??? What do these abbreviations stand for?
ESA PPP P (I AND E) PT
Presentation
Isolation
Explanation
Practice
Test
Activity.
Read P.Ur`s definitions of stages P (I&E) PT and define the aim of each stage.
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presentation
isolation and explanation
practice
test
a). Presentation
We usually begin by presenting the class with a text in which the grammatical structure appears. The aim of the presentation is to get the learners to perceive the structure- its form and meaning0 in both speech and writing and to take it into short-term memory. Often a story or short dialogue is used which appears in written form in the textbook and is also read aloud by the teacher and/or state. As a follow-up, students may be asked to read aloud, repeat, and reproduce from memory, r copy out instances of the use of the structure within the text. Where the structure is a very simple, easily perceived one, the presentation “text” may be no more than a sample sentence or two, which serves as a model for immediate practice.
b). Isolation and Explanation
At this stage we move away from the context, and focus, temporarily, on the grammatical items themselves: what they sound and look like, what they mean, how they function-in short, what rules govern them. The objective is that the learners should understand these various aspects of the structure. In some classes we may need to make extensive use of the students` native language to explain, translate, and make generalizations and so on.
In more academic classes, or where the structure is particularly difficult for the students to grasp, this stage may take some time. However, where the structure is very simple, or very close to a parallel in the native language, or when the students tend to learn the language intuitively rather than intellectually, it may take only a minute or so or be entirely omitted.
c). Practice
The practice stage consists of a series of exercise done both in the classroom and for home assignments, whose aim is to cause the learners to absorb the structure thoroughly; or, to put it another way, to transfer what they know from short-term to long-term memory. Obviously, not every grammar practice procedure can “cover” all aspects of the structure as listed in the able on page 6; therefore we shall need to use a series of varied exercises which will complement each other and together provide through coverage.
d). Test
Learners do tests in order to demonstrate –to themselves and to the teacher- how well they have mastered the material they have been learning. The main objective of tests within a taught course is to provide feedback, without which neither teacher nor learner would be able to progress very far. We have to know where we are in order to know where to go next.
Formal examinations, usually preceded by revision on the part of the learners, and followed by written evaluation on the part of the teacher, are only one kind of testing, arguably the least useful for immediate teaching purposes. (I do not give here a list of techniques that can or should be used for formal grammar testing, since the subject is outside my terms of reference). Most testing, however, is done automatically and almost unconsciously by teacher and learners as the course proceeds, the most valuable-though necessarily impressionistic-feedback on learning being supplied by the learners` current performance in class and in home assignments. Often “practice” exercises are used to supply such informal feedback, in which case they may function virtually as tests: but if this aspect is stressed, their effectiveness as practice techniques is usually lessened (see the end of Chapter 2).
(from Penny Ur “Grammar Practice Activities”, CUP)
Activity.
Define the stages of these lessons
Sample 1. Construction “It is a…” (beginners)
In our first example, the teacher is working with complete beginners. She starts by walking into the class, greeting the students in a lively and cheerful way. It is the first time she has seen them, so she tells them her name and, with a combination of mime and expression, gets them to tell her their names.
Then, she pantomimes finding an extraordinary object in her bag and holds up a pen as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. She has students repeat the word and then shows other objects which they learn the names of too. Then she demonstrates the sentences “It is a pen/ It is a table and the students practice saving them. If she thinks they can take it, she introduces the question “What is it?” and gets students practising asking and answering questions. As soon as she thinks they are ready, she gets them to the role-play a scene in which two people wake up to find themselves in a darkened room. They have to find out what things in the room are by touch and asking “What is it?” “It is a desk… wait…and a pen…”etc.
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Sample 2. Comparatives(lower intermediate)
The teacher asks the students to look back at the article they read and answer the questions.
What is the comparative form of these adjectives?
Safe-safer
Safe comfortable convenient cheap slow important god bad
What rule can you make about the comparative form of:
most short adjectives
Long adjectives?
Are there any irregular adjectives which do not fit these rules?
Then the teacher says “Trains are cheaper than planes: showing through voice and gesture how the rhythm and stress of the sentence work. After that she gets choral and individual repetition of the words “safer”, “more convenient” etc. And then asks students to say the sentence “Trains are slower than planes”. She can then ensure quick practice by saying “faster” to get students to say” Planes are faster than trains, “cheap “ for “Trains are cheaper than planes” etc.
To check the students have understood the meaning and the construction of comparative adjectives, she can ask them sentences comparing other things such as bicycles and cars using the adjectives from the lesson.
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