วันอาทิตย์ที่ 24 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2557

Teenagers and Grammar


                Grammar is one of the topics that make teenagers get bored from learning English.  Many teenagers confuse from its complex structure and rules.  However, grammar is one of the most important things in learning languages effectively. Accordingly, teacher has to find the way to solve this problem. If teenager-students can learn grammar without pressure, the lesson will be meaningful and good to their language skills also. To enhance teenager-students enjoy with English grammar is not an easy burden for teacher, so teacher has to prepare a lesson plan to teach them carefully. There are many ways to encourage students to learn grammar. Here are some ideas for making grammar teaching more teen-friendly; to break down negativity, to use texts and to choose the involve students.
                Break down negativity can release students’ pressure in learning grammar, because they think grammar is a difficult thing to learn. If your students are very resistant to grammar, show them why it’s necessary. Record someone using correct vocabulary but confusing grammar and ask them what the problem is. You could also give them written messages without any grammar words and ask them to make sense of them. Sometimes students are put off by metalanguage, such as the names of tenses, or the G–word itself, so avoid it! Talk about language for –ing instead, e.g. ‘Today we’re going to look at language for telling stories’.
                Use texts in teaching grammar can make students easier to understand the rules and the structure. Present grammar in the context of a reading or listening text, an authentic video extract or a song. This way it’s easier to see how the language is used and work out the meaning from the context. Often the key to motivating a class is an interesting topic, so choose a text which will engage your learners. Many grammar areas can also be reinforced through extensive reading or listening. Graded readers are very useful for teenagers. If your students use public transport, encourage them to read on their e-books or look at magazines etc. on their mobiles or listen to podcasts while travelling.
                Involving the students in teaching methods can help them to memorize the lesson. Avoid lecturing on grammar – nothing is more boring – but continually questions the students, either in a whole class situation, or by giving questions about the language to groups/pairs/individuals. Experiment with getting the students to teach each other grammar areas. You could get them to research new areas or revisit areas that you have looked at but which are still problematic. You’ll need to provide or recommend ways of researching the items. Remember the saying: if you want to learn something, teach it to somebody else! Moreover, learning grammar can be fun activity, if teacher choose the new and interesting media to teach the teenager.

                To summarize, it is the fact that most of teenagers do not enjoy learning grammar. Nevertheless, there are the ways to encourage them.  To break down negativity, by avoiding the name of tenses or the name of grammar rule, then give them the errors and ask them to find the error instead. Next, to use the text, students can learn and memorize the grammar point from the context. Then, let students to involve in classroom situation in learning grammar and provide them opportunities to work in group or in pairs. In addition, using the interesting materials and media to show the teenagers that learning grammar can be fun.  Finally, it is very important to the teacher to choose the grammar that match to students challenge. If the students learn happily, the valuable knowledge they can get.

Refrence: Helen Hadkins, 2014, Teenager an Grammar, (cited 23, August, 2014), Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teenagers-grammar

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