One of the subjects our INGL 3103/3104 students most frequently request our help with (and point out as their personal Achilles’ heel) is the elusive matter of grammar. And, while the explicit focus of INGL 3103 and 3104 is not grammar, per se, we must necessarily address grammar in our students’ compositions. How, then, can we integrate grammar into our classes without making it the exclusive focus, without boring our students to tears, and definitely without the use of fill-in-the-blank worksheets? The latter, in fact, are not at all typically recommended as an effective means of teaching grammar - to either first or second language learners - among most contemporary scholars in literacy studies, English as a Second Language (ESL), bilingual education, and second language acquisition. Here, then, are a few alternative possibilities for you to explore:
1) The National Council of Teachers of English, courtesy of Traci Gardner, publishes an excellent weblog for teachers called the NCTE Inbox and occasionally covers topics relating to English Language Learners (ELLs). In March of 2008, one of the topics explored was Grammar Myths for the ELL/ESL classroom. This posting included an exceedingly useful overview of grammar myths, but it also provided a number of helpful strategies for supporting ELLs’ grammar learning, not to mention additional links for supporting ELL students in the classroom more generally.
2) A rather entertaining way to integrate grammar instruction in your classroom might be to take advantage of students’ affinity for digital technologies and introduce them to Grammar Girl (AKA Mignon Fogarty) who routinely publishes podcasts providing sometimes comical and always witty advice on grammar (Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing). As of today, she has recorded a total of 137 podcasts and their popularity recently led her to capitalize on their success and publish a book.
With Grammar Girl, then, you might assign students a weekly podcast to listen to and that you might discuss in relation to their own writing, particularly if you hunt down the podcasts that address particular limitations or weaknesses in their grammar that you have been observing.
3) I always find it useful to use students’ essays as a basis for creating my own PowerPoint presentations on grammar and other related writing issues. See, for example, my Common Essay Errors Round I, for a presentation I shared with them after they submitted, and I began correcting, their first essay assignment. I typically create one of these documents after each essay submission to personalize my grammar instruction (hence Round I is followed by Round 2, Round 3, etc.). Students appear to especially enjoy these presentations and have asked me to post them to WebCT where they can go back and refer to them over the course of the semester as needed. One strategy I particularly recommend, however, is having them apply the rules presented in creating their own grammatically correct sentences. For example, last week, my students collectively made up the following sentence: Even though I threw the ball into the trough, it went through the window first, which I thought was a tough thing to do. This sentence was created after a review of troubling t-words they constantly tend to confuse (refer to above PowerPoint presentation).
