Err, my dream of teaching grammar has finally come true.Or is it a nightmare?
All us English teacher folk know that just because we are native speakers, doesn't mean we can teach grammar well. There's all sorts of Second Language Acquisition research about this: natives learn the rules inductively (implicitly, subconsiously), while second language learners are taught the rules piece by piece = deductively (explicitly, consciously).
I've only really ever taught grammar in small swaths of a lesson. In Japan, it was using the Audio-Lingual Method. Here in the States, it's only been a peripheral part of other skills-based courses.
Today was my first grammar class for a low-intermediate crowd. Yep, it's true. My students DO know more about grammar than I do. I hope to continue to hide this fact for the next eight weeks. Thank the lord above that I'm a good actress in the classroom.
1 comment:
oh jeez......good luck. if you want to intimidate them with your grammar knowledge, just throw some trees on the board. I have some troubles of my own that i would rather not post on the internet, so instead i will leave you with a quote from the great ralph wiggum:
"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"
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