This workshop covers the different ways of presenting grammar, both form and meaning, and provides ideas for controlled student practice. Teachers will understand the basic principles of conveying meaning and highlighting form through techniques such as timelines, concept checking and guided discovery. They will also discover how to select and stage practice according to the needs of their students and the importance of accuracy vs. fluency, as well as how to use techniques such as drilling and personalization to provide practice.

2. Presenting Grammar (1)
• Imagine you are trying to learn how to use a new
piece of computer software. Do you prefer:
– To be told how to do it?
– To be shown how to do it?
– To read about how to do it in the manual?
– To try using it and find out for yourself?
– A combination of these?
– Would you learn the grammar of another language
following the same principles? Why/Why not?

3. Presenting Grammar (1)
• Which lesson did you prefer? Why?
• Which word(s) sum up the approach of each
lesson?
– Demonstration
– Personalisation
– Situation
– Examples
– Explanation
– Text

6. Presenting Grammar (1)
• Why do you think the teacher asks Do we
know for sure?
• Why does the teacher highlight the spoken
form before the written form?
• What is the teacher’s purpose in asking Tell
me about the grammar of ‘left’. What is this?

7. Presenting Grammar (1)
• Involve learners in the process as much as
possible
• Check that learners have understood the
meaning
• Give a lecture about grammar
• Always use the same presentation technique
• Highlight the form
• Remember that different learners may have
different preferences for how new language items
are presented

8. Presenting Grammar (2)
• A good grammar presentation should…

9. Checking Understanding
• Do you understand?
• Do we say ‘used to’ when we talk about things
we used to do or things we do now?
• Translate into the student’s mother tongue
• Concept checking
• Practice activities

10. Concept checking
• I’m going to Hong Kong by plane
• When I met Emily at the coffee shop, she said
had broken up with Chris
• If I was president, I would be very happy

12. Presenting Grammar (2)
• Draw timelines for these sentences
– The business will have closed down by the end of
the year
– I’ll still be lying here when you go back to work
– I’ve been working there for ages
– By the time I met her, she had broken up with
Chris

13. Presenting Grammar (2)
• In what ways are the practice activities similar
and in what ways are they different?
• In each activity, is the emphasis on practising
the form, the meaning or both?
• What language skills (speaking, reading,
writing, listening) are practised in each
activity?

14. Presenting Grammar (2)
• What stages in the presentation can you identify?
• Is the new language contextualised?
• Is the meaning made clear?
• Is the form highlighted?
• Are there any practice activates that focus on the
form?
• Are there any practice activities that focus on the
meaning?
• Do you like the material?
• Do you think the material is suitable for your leaners?
If not, in what ways could it be adapted?

15. Practising new language
• Do you think that either of these learning
experiences compares the experience of learning a
language? For example, what is the role of practice?
• In your own experience in learning an second
language, what kinds of practice were helpful?

16. Practising new language
• Can you remember an instance of a choral drill
(when all the class was drilled together)?
• Can you remember examples of individual drills?
• What was the purpose of the drills?
• Was all the new language drilled? Why/why not?
• How did you feel, being drilled?
• Make two lists: the pros of drilling, and the cons
of drilling. Compare your lists with other pairs.

18. Write a sentence beginning with If for each of
the following instructions
1. I was late for the interview. I didn't get the job
2. Wayne broke his foot. He didn’t play in the final
3. The police officer dropped hid gun. The prisoner
escaped.

19. Practising new language
• Explain the possible advantages of a practice
activity that is:
– repetitive
– contextualised
– interactive
– communicative
– personalised
– fun

20. Practising new language
• Why do learners need to practise language if they
already know the rules?
• How would you respond if learners made errors
in the sort of activities you have seen in this unit?
• As well as the sort of practice activities you have
seen in this unit, what other types of practice
activity would you need for a balanced lesson?
• Is there a correct order for sequencing practice
activities? What factors might influence a
teacher's decision as to which practice activities
to use, and when?