MIDTESOL Matters Fall 2001

TEACHING TIPS AND MEMORABLE METHODS
Corner Editor: Ayse G. Stromsdorfer

Teaching Grammar in the Lower ESL Levels

By Ayse G. Stromsdorfer, Ph.D.

This summer session has proven to be a real challenge to me: my upper beginning grammar class has turned out to be a true beginning ESL class. The real challenge is not so much that the majority of these students (7 out of 12) come from the same country and town in the Middle East, and are struggling to understand the concepts of "grammar" even at the interactive, Racias-type game-playing stage, but that they come from the same rural family!

Even with my attempts and (very limited Arabic) intercessions to explain the concepts behind the formulation of structures, what we accomplish one day at great length seems to disappear the next. I have come to the conclusion that these students have had very little formal schooling in the "Western sense" and are unused to the study habits we would expect of our more mainstream ESL students, especially in a college setting.

Yes, I should have mentioned that the average age of these students is 20. And yes, they were in the very beginning level of our program last semester, and were noted to have made progress. Yet, try as I might, I felt defeated each day as auxiliary verbs were routinely omitted from questions and "be" forms totally skipped over in very simple question/answer forms. The fact that male/female pronoun forms were interchangeable was not of much import to me any longer.

Not one to give in easily, I tried several routes to get them to "learn" the proper formulas, the one that they felt most at ease with was the "color coding" method I somewhat devised.You might wish to try this method with your younger students whose pliable minds would respond to the process even more readily. Here are the steps:

Cut out construction paper of various colors (and even sizes) to denote the parts of speech. Write clear word examples on these pieces: red for subject nouns, pink for pro nouns, dark green for main verbs, light green for auxiliary-verbs, beige for prepositions, dark blue for object noun phrases, light blue for adjectives, purple for adverbs, yellow for con junctions, etc. You can even have the students cut and fill out the cards themselves. Try to have at least a dozen cards for each word group to provide an ample selection.

Distribute these cards to groups of two-to three students and ask them to place the cards in order of progression so that they form logical and structurally correct questions and responses. Put up a few sample sentences on the board to help them along. After twenty minutes (or more) ask them to stop working and go around with you and read each group's work. Have the members of the group read their sentences aloud. Others may repeat the sentences after observing as they like.

Subsequently, bring blank colored index cards to class; ask students to arrange them according to the formula learned previously. Repeat this process every morning for a few weeks till the sentence word order becomes familiar.

Many errors will persist if the students are not geared to follow-up repetition at home, but you will be listening to students manipulate the structures of English more confidently in time. The key to successful teaching. as we know, is confidence, persistence and patience. I hope my students' and my efforts will have paid off by semester-end so that we can all enjoy a relaxing summer.

Look for more such teaching tips from Dr. Meyer in our future issues of MIDTESOL MATTERS.

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