TSL3083

Teaching Grammar in the

Primary ESL Classroom

Tan Meng Sean
So Chai Fern
Nursasniza Adilah
Shahirul Afidzi


Song is a vey good tool to motivate the pupils learning
process, it works also as a break for the routine.

Song could be an essential part of English teaching. It
makes the pupils more sensitive to the sounds and the
classes become more interesting and powerful. Be
careful with your students level.

You should choose a song according to their level and
try to see if the song is suitable for them. There are lots
of songs which are unsuitable for the language teaching.
These songs have a bad pronounciation or better the
words are pronounced wrongly
Songs are authentic texts

Songs can be linked to societal issues which
might be interesting to students

Songs provide good context for grammar

Songs can trigger emotional and affective
connections to the target language and culture

Learning through songs involve different skills
Special songs

Childrens songs

Action songs

Teaching structure songs

Telling stories songs

Pop songs
Pupils listen to the song and as they listen they have the
lyrics in gaps in for them to fill in as they listen. This
activity is not as simple as it sounds and before making one
yourself think about why you are taking certain words. It
may be better to take out all the words in one group, such
as prepositions or verbs, and tell the pupils what they
should be listening out for.

Another option is to take out rhyming words. Dont be
tempted to take out too many words, eight or ten is
normally enough. To make the task easier you could
provide the missing words in a box at the side for the
pupils to select, or you could number the gaps and provide
clues for each number.
Change some of the words in the lyrics as pupils
listen, they have to spot and correct mistakes.
As with the gap-fill limit the mistakes to a
maximum of eight or ten and if possible choose a
word set.

Another option of this for higher level is to show
the students the real lyrics and you correct the
English and make it proper. E.g. gonna change
to going to we was change to we were etc.
This is a good way to focus on song language
Songs that tell stories are great for pupils
to make comic strips out of. You have to
choose your song carefully and spend time
looking at the lyrics with pupils and
making sure they have understood the
main ideas.
Lower levels may need guidance to how
to divide up the song into suitable chucks
that can be represented pictorially


Chop up the lyrics of the song by
verse and give a small group of
pupils the jumbled verses. As
they listen they put them in
order.
Certain songs lend to themselves
to discussions and you can use
the song as a nice lead in to the
topic and a way to pre-teach
some of the vocabulary. For
example where is the love? by
the Black Eyed Peas to lead into
discussion about war

Although some teachers oppose all use of
mother tongue in the language classroom,
some pupils really enjoy translating lyrics
into their own language.
Chants are especially effective when used to
help pupils learn problematic forms. Grammar
chants use repetition to engage the right side of
the brains musical intelligence. The use of
multiple intelligence can go a long way to
helping pupils speak English automatically.
Using a chant is pretty straight-forward. The
teacher (or leader) stands up in front of the class
and chants the lines. Its important to be as
rhythmical as posibble because these rhythms
help the brain during its learning process
Teaching grammar through games is another
way to help pupils not only gain knowledge
but be able to apply and use that learning in
an interesting way
Games are welcome break from the usual
routine of the language class
They are motivating and challenging.
Often used as warm-up session or when there is
some time left in the end of lesson.

Games ought to be a the heart of teaching
foreign language. Rixon suggest that games can
be used at all stages of the lesson, provided
that they are suitable and carefully chosen

Games also lend themselves well to revision
exercises helping learners recall material in a
pleasant, entertaining way.
1. Organization
Figure out how to organize your class i.e time spent.
For younger students youll want to change your activities every
five to ten minutes because they have shorter attention spans. If yo
dont change your activities, theyll soon start losing interest.

2. Expectations
If you notice your is getting noisy or rambunctious, its time to
change activities.

3. Variation
You want to make sure your activities appeal to all sorts of learning
styles, o even when you are using your games to teach grammar
your want to vary the types of things you expect your students to
do.
4. Respect
Be sure to operate your class with the utmost respect- both to and
form students. This includes teaching your students from very start
that you expect respect at all times. This includes giving
encouragement and following the rules.

5.Routine
Establishing a routine will help the class go smoothly. If pupils know
what to expect next, they will be more able to participate in
whats going on now
Set up schedule for the type of activities youll be doing at any
given time such throughout the class whether it is a game, song or
whatever you want to do. Then, when you are planning your class,
plug in the appropriate activitis to each section of time.
Board games
Crossword puzzle
Stories can be used to
attract students
motivating
fun
create deep interest and desire to contonue
learning


STORIES
children, adolescent and adults all love stories
& this generate positive attitude
to the lesson for which the story acts as a
framework
stories provide a context for several grammatical
structures.
a story can provide contexts for real use of
English (variety of emotions and issues)
Stories are excellent resources for grammar
teaching for several reasons, -Chitravelu
(2005)
a shared of social experience
Provokes a shared response of laughter,
sadness, excitement, and antipation.
Exercise the imagination

dialogues
new phrases based on certain grammar rules
stories are mini grammar lessons in disguise.
students will absorb the grammar rules
automatically, without even noticing it.
certain phrases that consisted of both
grammar and vocabulary
Each lesson in this series features two or
three fun short stories to help reinforce a
specific target structure, such as a verb
tense or a word form. Content is suitable for
young learners. Each story is followed by
comprehension questions. A writing task is
also included.

Circle story
Question story
Retelling story



Grammar is instilled in to the young
minds through the sentence patterns,
tense and other such grammatical
units found in the rhyme.
Poetry is often spoken, repeated,
dealt with and considered, it acts as
an effective tool for practicing a
specific grammatical structures.
Through repeating and considering
poems, the grammatical structures
become more deeply internalized


Poetry not only provides a rewarding
resources for structured practice of
grammar but also a proper basis for
review.
Poems reflects cultural themes, universal features,
humanistic values or emotional aspects, will be
more relevant to the foreign language learners.
Good poems will engage the eye, the ear and the
tongue simultaneously while also stimulating and
moving us
It makes poetry easier to memorize
Hippos (To practice adjectives)
Chivvy (To teach the imperative)
How to eat grapes (To practice verbs)
An inanimate figure moved by a puppeteer to convey
Emotion
Character
Story
A form of theatre or performance
Great resource to align
Creativity
Inspiration
Flexibility
humour
Shadow puppets
Hand puppets
Water puppets
Stick puppets
Finger puppets
Robotic puppets

Read aloud
Retell stories
Give opinions
Games

Dialogue as an introductory teaching
technique
2 types of dialogues
Conversation facilitation
Grammar-demonstration dialogue
Why dialogue?
Provides a context
Strong link
Direct use of language
Conversation-facilitation
Useful phrases
Dialogues are short
Encourage students to memorize

Grammar-demonstration dialogue
Dialogues are longer
Contain grammatical structure



Acting out parts of speech
Combination of visual, oral, and kinesthetic
approaches
Develop skills
Problem solving
Teamwork
Social confidence

Larsen-Freeman (2000) plays give pupils the
chance of interacting and practicing
communication acts in different contexts
Primary importance in language teaching