Unit 9 Grammar: Topic 2

3.    Create a visual timeline to help ELLs understand the tense in a few sentences from the Fisherman story. Choose 2-3 sentences. Use a visual time line to SHOW where and how the tense occurs in time. The attached Verb Tense Chart will help you understand the 12 Verb Tenses of English. Post the sentence and timelines to the blog.  (see the attached Summary Verb Tense Chart)

4.    Watch the video of TESOL Grammar experts Betty Azar, Keith Folse, and Michael Swan. Consider whether you think grammar can be acquired through immersion or if you think it must be taught?

I was impressed by the video http://www.azargrammar.com/authorsCorner/2008Panel_Intro.html.  It reinforced what I believe, which stems from my experiences learning a second language, that Grammar must not be ignored.  It cannot be totally learned by adult L2 students who are receiving comprehensible input alone.  When I studied Korean, we had a new lesson every day and a half.  Each lesson had about 15-20 vocabulary words and one to three grammar patterns that we learned.  I think that if a student does not get a moderate amount of explicit grammar instruction, you get problems such as those shown in the video by Betty Azar of the student with fossilized grammar and syntax problems.  As she stated, the goal is not to “know a lot” but to create an interlanguage which is increasingly fluent and accurate.

Some other things from the video that I will remember:

From Betty Azar:  We need to use a hybrid of grammar teaching and communicative teaching.  Ultimately they have the same goal.

From Keith Folse:  “The purpose of teaching languages (grammar teaching) is to be able to do something with the language, it’s not to be able to recite the rules back.”

Learn something about the L1 of your students to see if the error is a random occurrence or something that is common to native speakers of that language.

From Michael Swan:  We need to prioritize the teaching of grammar.  Not everything can be taught explicitly.  We should teach what students need most.   Be realistic.