Grammar is a well-known but disliked subject for many adult learners of English. Years of observation of teaching this language to different groups by various teachers make it possible to know the most common mistakes in teaching grammar. Knowing these mistakes will allow you, as a tutor, to protect your students from them and thus make your lessons more effective. It is very important because we cannot completely dispense with grammar. After all, it is essential for effective communication in English. By using appropriate grammatical structures, you will be easily understood by other people.
Comparisons and bluntness do not make sense
In teaching grammar, a lot depends on the attitude and the way of learning of the learners. Unfortunately, most adult learners have already developed this attitude during their schooldays. An attitude is one thing, and another thing is the unconscious repeating of stereotypes. One of them is the attempt to translate certain sentences literally. It results from the belief that grammatical constructions that exist in English certainly have their equivalents in the grammar of another language or languages that the person is fluent in. This kind of thinking makes learners believe that certain sentences can, or even should, be understood bluntly, which causes many people to start translating idioms that cannot be translated word for word. Comparing and looking for similarities does not make any sense, and is, in fact, a barrier to learning not only grammar but the English language in general.
A lesson plan full of theory
The basis of the success of any lesson is the careful choice of ESL Lesson Plans. It is important not only for success in teaching grammar but also for mastering other language skills. Grammar is quite demanding because certain structures are difficult to explain since they have no equivalents in another language. It is not a good idea to spend an entire lesson solely on grammatical issues. It is much more effective to spend time learning different skills. The theory itself is often very tedious for adult learners and requires concentration, which adult learners often lack after working all day. So how to protect yourself from it? Choose attractive ESL Lesson Plans or provide many interesting examples. Make sure that the examples come from authentic materials. Show, for example, a part of a movie, a series, or a video on YouTube that perfectly shows the use of the grammatical structure in practice. Adult learners usually like audiovisual and graphic materials because they help them understand certain grammatical issues better and at the same time they are easier to understand and remember.
What exactly does practice mean?
In teaching grammar, exercises play the most important role in revising the theory learned during the lessons. That is right, but that is not all! Besides, practice and revision can be understood in many ways. In the modern approach to teaching English to adult learners, practice is definitely more than a few hours of writing exercises and tedious completion of worksheets. A practical approach to teaching English focuses primarily on speaking! This skill is the basis of communication, which is extremely important for adult learners, especially in their professional life. Listening plays a significant role in the teaching of grammar. Thanks to listening, it is possible to learn to pick out grammatical structures and see how they are used in practice by native speakers. The teaching of grammar is multithreaded and should emphasize the development of many skills. For this purpose, they must be closely intertwined. Keep this in mind when you choose ESL Lesson Plans for your next lesson.
