Blog #2

Blog #2

How do I help students learn the grammar they need?

Teaching grammar is a very important to help ESL students communicate. The depth of my instruction in grammar depends on the student's level of English proficiency. The ESL student must have a vocabulary level that enables the student to comprehend sentences and sentence structure of the English language before teaching grammar can be effective.

Once my students reach a certain level of English proficiency, I use both the deductive and inductive methods of teaching grammar. Deductive teaching is a rule-driven, top-down approach . I use a mini-lesson and slide presentation to explain the grammar rule in detail. During the lesson, I provide the students with many examples that we complete together as a group. The students then practice sample problems by themselves, and I ofter individual assistance when necessary. We then check the assignment together, and I explain the answers thoroughly.

Inductive teaching is a rule-discovery, bottom-up approach to teaching. After I feel the students have mastered a particular grammatical structure , I let them examine text using the grammatical rule. The students highlight the information that was presented . Then, the students participate in a group discussion about the concepts that were previously taught. The students explain why the grammatical

rule is important for comprehension. The inductive approach to teaching helps the students make their own explanation about the material presented.