Grammar in Teaching a Second Language

By Eskil Løkke

            In the noble endeavor of learning English, there are of course many different “topics” one must go over to have full understanding of it. Among them is grammar. In learning English as a second language, there is a small controversy on the importance of grammar. Many believe that grammar does not need to be studied specifically, since most people understand the basic patterns of the language and can make themselves understood without extra grammar training. However, many other believe that teaching grammar would help the learners to be more specific in their word-choice, and that it would make them more efficient in the use of the second language. I tilt more heavily over to group number two, as I believe that efficiency and accuracy in language is very important in making oneself understood. I believe that ultimately that is the goal of learning a new language, to be able to express thoughts and ideas effectively to a wider audience.

In this part, I will explain how I would go about teaching 5th graders phrases, clauses and sentences. I would start the lecture out with the “traditional” way of learning, I would write the words (sentence, phrase and clause + variations) on the board along with definitions and examples. I start with this so that if all else fails, they’ll have the essentials they need to get the gist of what these points are. The next part, however will be a bit different. Since the students are aware of the variations, I will have them write poems, but each line has to be a specific type of clause. I will create various templates that the students will have to go through to finish this part of the subject.

Example:

a subordinate clause,
an independent clause:

An infinitive phrase and a prepositional phrase,
An infinitive phrase and a prepositional phrase,
An infinitive phrase and a prepositional phrase,
An infinitive phrase and a prepositional phrase,

A final independent clause.

Model:

Because humans are good,
they know these things are good:

To sleep past noon on Saturdays,
To help friends with problems,
To read books in front of the fireplace,
To gaze up toward the stars,

These are good ways of the human.

This is one example of the exercises I would give the students. It helps the students quickly identify the different phrases/clauses and they would be able to see which is which very quickly. Also, I feel like it’s more memorable to write poems using specific clauses/phrases, instead of doing standard work-sheets that go in circulation from year to year.