With ESL newcomers, I move quite quickly into teaching grammar. Personally, I don’t think teaching grammar is boring! I love teaching new skills that ESL newcomers can start using THAT DAY in other classes.
But, if teaching grammar is overwhelming for you AND your students seem uninterested, here are my top tips for remedying the problem.
Use the Backward Design method. Identity your desired results, determine what evidence that will require, and plan your instruction based on what will help you achieve that goal. This keeps your lessons focused and helps you pick activities that will be most effective in teaching the topic. Grammar can seem overwhelming, so isolating skills and basing lessons off of that makes the whole process easier.
Use the gradual release method for every grammar lesson. There are various versions of this, but I use the, “Me, We, Two, You” method. Teach it, practice together as a class, practice in partners, and then let students try it on their own. I can’t emphasize enough how important this is with ESL students.
Students are less likely to complete the whole worksheet incorrectly.
It ensures students don’t “get stuck” and just sit there.
It scaffolds the curriculum, so students have many opportunities to learn the concept with the help of the teacher or classmates.
Metacognition: As the teacher is teaching, it demonstrates to students what they should be looking for and thinking about as they are developing English grammar skills.
Have a worksheet and activity for each grammar concept and then plan to review that grammar concept in the next units you teach. This is what is done throughout my 11 unit, year+ long newcomers curriculum. This allows students to get lots of practice in many different ways. Students who struggle have MULTIPLE opportunities to learn the grammar concept without making the whole class wait for them to catch up. Basically, all students can grow without the higher level students becoming bored.
Hit All Four Domains: Since these are ESL students, teach the grammar concept and practice writing it correctly. Then move to speaking, listening, and reading practice, so students are practicing the grammar concept in all 4 categories.
Begin with easy grammar concepts and move to harder ones. Essentially, have a plan! Grammar builds on itself, so if you do a good job teaching it from the start, you can keep track of what your students have learned and the curriculum builds on itself. Here is the order that I teach my grammar in.
Plural and singular nouns
Pronouns
Simple present tense (We practice this one for a LONG time. It’s challenging for ESL students!)
Positive and Negative sentences with be-verbs (She is ___. She is not __.)
Contractions (isn’t & aren’t)
Questions using be-verbs
Questions and Answers using Do & Does
Contractions (don’t & doesn’t)
Have & Has
Present Progressive Tense
Subject Pronouns + Be-Verbs Contractions
Prepositions: At, On, and In
“When” questions
Simple Future Tense
Helping Verbs - Can, May, Must, Should
Adjectives Before Nouns
Comparatives & Superlatives (~er, ~est, more, most)
Demonstrative Adjectives - This, That, These, Those
Object Pronouns
Prepositions: behind, between, next to, under, in, in front of, through, on
Phrasal Verbs
Negative Simple Present Tense
Past Tense Verbs
Possessive Adjectives
Articles
Plural Noun Spelling & Pronunciation Rules
Irregular Adjectives (good/bad)
Past Progressive Tense
Needs to, wants to, has to
Possessive Nouns
Future Tense - is/am/are + going to
Possessive Pronouns
Adverbs of Frequency
Coordinating Adjectives
Countable & Uncountable Nouns
Counting Money
Quantifiers
Cumulative Adjectives
Possessive Plural Nouns
Present Perfect Progressive Tense
Adverbs That Show Sequence
Compound Sentences: FANBOYS
Is the order above the only way to teach grammar? No! But it's the order I've been using for years with success. What tips do you have for making grammar fun?
If you are interested in a curriculum that follows these tips, check out this blog post for a more in-depth explanation of my newcomer curriculum.
Comments