Professional Development Workshops for Teachers of English

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Professional Development Workshops for Teachers
of English

• Communicative Learner-Centred Grammar
• Peter Lucantoni

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Peter Lucantoni

• Started teaching in 1979 in UK, lived and worked
  in Europe and Middle East, now based in Cyprus
• MA TESOL (Edinburgh) Dissertation Expectations
  of Cypriot Teachers of English
• Author Teacher Trainer
• Cambridge University Press (IGCSE English as a
  Second Language levels 1 2, Our English Levels
  1, 2 3, Teaching and Assessing Skills in IGCSE
  E2L)
• Longman (KET Practice Tests Plus)
• Macmillan (Super Skills A, B C)
• Hodder Murray (International English Levels 1, 2
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• Cambridge TKT, CELTYL, CELTA DELTA trainer,
  CELTYL assessor examiner for speaking tests
• Classroom teacher

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Workshop overview

• What is grammar?
• What is a mistake?
• Who decides whats wrong?
• Why do learners make mistakes?
• Grammar activities
• Conclusions

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Activity 1

• What is grammar?
• Discuss with your colleagues and try to agree on
  a working definition.

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• Use the words provided here to complete the gaps
  in the paragraph below.
• grammatical parts of speech
• meaning rules
• Grammar is a set of for combining words to
  express . . Words are given labels to
  help us to identify their roles. These
  labels are known as .

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• Grammar is a set of rules for combining words to
  express meaning. Words are given labels to
  help us to identify their grammatical roles.
  These labels are known as parts of speech .

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Words carry more meaning than grammar, so, in
general, words determine grammar Michael Lewis,
The Lexical Approach, LTP 1999 Grammar is a
process for making meaning clear when
contextual information is lacking Scott
Thornbury, How to Teach Grammar, Longman 2001
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Activity 2

• Language without grammar would leave
• us seriously handicapped (Batstone, 2000)
• up and he that the in Bill Jane
• stand announce spring marry

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Activity 3

• Can you understand the following grammar-less
• exchange?
• A Coffee?
• B Please.
• A Milk?
• B Just a drop.
• A Sugar?
• B Im on a diet.
• A Juice?
• B Mmm.

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What is a mistake?

• 6 7 14
• can never be right
• Did you go to the beach yesterday?
• Yes, I go yesterday
• wrong structure, but effective communication,
  comprehensible
• usefully he kitchen like black the by
• wrong and incomprehensible

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Who decides whats wrong?

• English is constantly changing, acquiring new
  words and usages from other languages, and
  excluding others
• English has wide variety of dialects, variations,
  registers, modern vs old-fashioned
• Dictionaries do not always agree
• Anybodys knowledge of language can only ever be
  partial

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• Mistakes are part of learning a language
• They are inevitable
• Teachers/learners may be able to eliminate some
  mistakes, but not all

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Activity 4

• Some mistakes should be encouraged (Bartram
  Walton, 1994)
• Do you agree? Which ones?

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He goed to the cinema yesterday He went to the cinema yesterday He go to the cinema yesterday
Speaker knows everything about past simple Speaker knows nothing about past simple Speaker knows something about past simple
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Im sorry sir, I did a mistake.
You didnt DO a mistake, you idiot, you MADE a
mistake!
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Why do learners make mistakes?

• An L2 learner
• is exposed to language
• forms ideas about how language works
• tries out language using ideas
• is exposed to more language
• changes original ideas
• tries out new ideas
• Adapted from Bartram Walton, 1994

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• Approaches and methods
• in teaching grammar

• The grammar-centred approach, grammar
  translation
• Communicative language teaching CLT
• And now a return to grammar

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Principles

• There is a need for grammar
• If learners attention is directed solely to
  expressing meaning, they may neglect attention to
  accuracy and precision
• Noticing an aspect of form is the first stage of
  learning it teachers can help learners do this
• But, learner has to do the learning just
  teaching grammar doesnt make it happen
• There is a role for the explicit teaching of
  grammar and metalanguage

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• Noticing an active process in which learners
  become aware of structure and notice connections
  between form and meaning
• Structuring bringing new grammar patterns into
  learners internal grammars. Usually requires
  controlled practice
• Procedurising making the new grammar ready for
  instant and fluent use in communication
• Rob Batstone, Grammar, OUP 2000

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• You are going to participate in some more
  activities which involve grammar. What do you
  like/dislike about each one? Which of your
  classes could/nt you use the activities with?
  Why/not? What variations can you think of?

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Sloobie

• A sloobie is a brumpting silop which draches in
  a layod. It okuls from Klooblie, an ert in Fring.
  In order to ning a sloobie, the layod is larted
  by a ticfrous layoder.

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Sloobie

• Use these words
• country, fish, dancing, river,
• comes, Asia, lives
• A sloobie is a brumpting silop.
• It draches in a layod.
• It okuls from Klooblie.
• Klooblie is an ert in Fring.

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Conclusions

• Grammar is more than lists of labels and rules
  found in grammar books it is closely tied to
  the meaning and use of language and
  interconnected with vocabulary
• Communicating through a language and learning a
  language can conflict focussing on meaning does
  not guarantee language development on all fronts

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Contacts

• lucantoni_at_gmail.com
• peter_at_response-education.com.cy
• www.response-education.com.cy
• 357-99386227