The third part of my creating your own material for teaching grammar in the classroom seris focuses on introducing the grammar form to the students.
When creating your own material in the classroom, the most important thing to do is to make sure the students are aware of jut what is being taught. The simplest way to do this is to introduce the form.
Use more than one grammar point
Unlike many textbooks, I find it is useful to compare two grammar points together if possible. An example would be present simple against present continuous. This is one of the benefits of knowing your students as it allows you to decide just how far you can push them when designing your own material. I often create material combining up to four grammar points into one lesson if I feel my students can deal with it.
Focus on form not function
I will use present simple and present continuous as an example. The introduction of these forms should focus on affirmative statements, negative, statements, and questions. Remember at this point, I just want students to understand the form, not the function.
After I have defined the simple and continuous to the students, I then make sure they can easily reproduce it. Don't spend to long introducing them verbally to the form of the grammar. It is best to have your material push students to produce the form as soon as they can. I may do ones set of 6 sentences on the board as an example for the students, then do the first set of 6 from the worksheet together, before requesting them to attempt to do the rest amongst themselves.
Examples
In general, my worksheets dealing with tense would have 10 sets of 6 examples of form. Hers is an example of the first set of 6.
1. (A) The students __________________(go) to class everyday. They love to study.
2. (N) The students __________________(go) to class everyday. They don't like the teacher.
3. (?) __________ the students__________(go) to class everyday?
4. (A)Look! The students ____________________ (go) to class early. They really want to study.
5. (N)The students ____________________ (go) to class early today. They are too tired.
6. (?) Where __________ the students ________________now?
Obviously you want to use ensure that do/does and is/am/are are used throughout the exercises.
Vocabulary and pictures
I find it is best to try and keep the vocabulary under the same general topic to help students relate to any new words they may be exposed to. To complete the first section of your worksheet, add some nice clip art pictures.
Once the students have gone through the 60 exercise questions and I have had them read them allowed and made sure the majority of the students have a strong understanding of the form, I will then move onto the function. Up to now my material has just be focused on the form.
Grammar in the ESL Classroom - Guide For Preparing Your Own Material
Grammar seems to be dying a slow death in the ESL classroom. Many books are so focused on communication that grammar becomes an afterthought. To remedy this, I have become more and more reliant on material that I develop myself. Using grammar in the ESL classroom should not be neglected.
Teaching Grammar in the ESL Classroom - Why Create Your Own Material?
I feel most textbooks that have been written are rehashing stuff over and over again. In general, the only things that change are the pretty pictures and the multi-roms. Creating your own material is rewarding to both you and to your students.
