Teaching Grammar and Vocabulary in the ESL Adult Classroom

2. Past Tense of Regular Verbs

3. Tips for Teaching Grammar Focus on the grammar that is presented in the communication that is taking place. Students are given the basic rules. Grammar is a skill improved upon with experience and practice of the language. Students may know the rules and how to use the grammar, but sometimes don’t use it correctly because they are not thinking when they are speaking. Create activities and games so that the students can practice the grammar presented in class. The activities should be meaningful. Providing reasons and strategies for using a grammar point is more affective than providing only the rules.

4. Get Ready to Teach Grammar What are the objectives of this class? Is the class preparing for an examination? Is the class improving their English for business purposes? Is the class preparing for summer vacation? etc. What type of learning background do the learners have? Are the students attending other classes? When was the last time that they were in a classroom? Do they know the grammar basics? What learning materials and resources are available? Do you have student workbooks? Can the students take their books home with them? Will you be using computers in the classroom? What kind of learning style does each student have? Does the learner work better with listening and repeating exercises?

5. Types of Grammar Tasks Use graphic organizers Jeopardy Who am I? Guess Who? Twenty Questions Crossword Puzzles Scrambled Sentences Charades Bingo

6. Teaching Vocabulary There are at least 2,000 high frequency words in the English Language. Teach word families instead of individual word forms. Use word association The more the students use the word the more likely it will be remembered. Some students will remember more than others.

7. Vocabulary Learning Strategies Guess meaning from context Mnemonic Devices Vocabulary Notebooks Students connect words with personal experiences Students say the words out loud Collocations Lexical Phrases

8. Types of Vocabulary Tasks Use Graphic Organizers Jeopardy Just a Minute Pictionary Board games (made on paper) Hangman Crossword Puzzles Word Bingo