When teaching basic rules, mention that there are exceptions. But you don’t need to go into them at this point.
Start with the present tense first and give the student lots of practice using this tense. Move onto past and future tense one at a time.
Start with teaching the present tense first. Irregular verbs can be tricky. In addition, “to be” serves as a foundation for many other types of verb phrases. It’s important to master it before moving on.
Find the subject and predicate (verb) of the sentence. Find direct objects and indirect objects. Discuss which words alter the meaning of other words. Identify dependent and independent clauses.
For example, students will likely be familiar with verb tenses, such as past, present and future. Use these as ways to explain more complicated verb tenses.
For example, your student says, “I catched the ball. ” Don’t respond with “You mean, you caught the ball. ” Instead, say, “You caught the ball? Did you score a point?” Continue the conversation with a gentle correction and an added question or comment.
For example, if you are teaching elementary school kids, you might focus on basic grammar rules that are easy to grasp. If you are teaching adults who are learning English as a second language, you might find these students to be older and highly motivated. They also may need immediate language skills.
Visual learning: These learners prefer reading and want to see what they’re learning. Auditory learning: These learners prefer to listen to instruction. Conversations and interactions are effective ways of teaching this learning style. Tactile learning: These learners prefer to touch and manipulate objects in order to learn about something. Kinesthetic learning: These learners move around a lot and benefit from getting up from a desk frequently.
This approach can minimize student interaction and involvement. Clearly state what the rule allows and limits. Give a clear and brief explanation about what the grammar rule allows. Also describe what the rule does not allow. For example, always use “you were” and never use “you was. ” Then follow up with an example of the rule. Illustrate the grammar rule with an example. You can use a simple sentence to illustrate it once. Then you might choose a more complicated sentence to demonstrate how the rule applies. Describe the rules with simplicity. Boil down the grammatical rules to simple terms. Try not to point out too many exceptions to the rule when you first introduce the rule.
This approach may allow for better memory retention of grammar. In addition, students are more autonomous learners. Don’t choose the inductive approach if you don’t have lots of time. Students need to work out a rule on their own by going through examples. Figuring out the rule may be at the expense of using the rule in practice. Give sentence examples that demonstrate differences. In order to help students pick out the rules, start with two sentences that have slightly different meanings. [15] X Research source For example, write: “I have read every Stephen King book,” and “I read Stephen King’s latest book last week. ” Ask the student to identify the difference between these two sentences.
Beginning students can learn complex concepts and use them in conversation. In this approach, it can be difficult to determine what aspects to focus on first.
Students can choose their own texts or stories that they’d like to use. This will make the lesson more interesting for the students. Students will also benefit from increased vocabulary. The texts can be difficult if they are too advanced for the student’s language level.