Wow! There was a lot of reading in this unit however I found it very interesting and made me reflect on my own learning.
The Grammar - Translation method was the original method that was back in the 1780's. I couldn't believe that this method was created that far back! I remember in my youthful days the teachers would talk about what we were learning next and put examples on the chalkboard. Yes, you read that right..a chalkboard. After a discussion and some examples they would hand out a worksheet for us to work on. Sometimes we would correct it right away and sometimes we would hand it in. When I reflect on those days I never thought how the teacher learned to teach. I just assumed they were extremely smart and knew everything.
After all my readings I would say my preferred method of teaching would be the Direct method. I feel that students either children or adults would benefit from this method. It helped me, so I believe it would help others. It also has engagement with the students and that would make know that learning can be fun.
After watching the short video by Betty Azar I was a bit stunned. One comment she made was that there was a student. This student made it all the way to the University level without knowing grammar. How is that possible? It makes me think, did the teachers not care or did they not evaluate? How can a student graduate from high school, go to University and not know.
My cousin is grade 1 ESL teacher at a English Cambridge School in Italy. I reached out to her as she's part of my PLN and asked her how she teaches grammar. She said she does a lot of games, reading, colours, countries etc.. She also taught adults one on one. Most of the time it was just general conversation and reading together.
For my grammar activity I chose the Direct Method I would start of the lesson by explaining what is being taught. On the white board I would be creating the mini chart that is on the handout. We would go over the singular and plural meaning of "to be". After that the sheet below would be handed out to the students. We will go over a few examples and the students are asked if they are okay to try on their own. If every one agrees they'll be given 10-15 minutes to complete as much as they can. After that we would go over it verbally as a class. Once completed the students will have the opportunity to ask questions. Students will be required to hand in their work before leaving. This way I can review their work and see if all students or a specific student requires more help.
After reading the differences between speech and written it made me realize how things have changed overtime. A lot of us now use a lot of netspeak which is a term for LOL, K, OMG..Etc. When writing a letter to say your boss or a co-worker this would not only be unprofessional but it would be improper use of grammar.
I feel that I do need to brush up on my grammar. In the end I think it would be a great subject to teach while making it fun for my students.
Some links I used in this unit are below.
https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/is-grammar-still-important-for-english-learners-to-speak/
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/371476669270500313/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator/direct-method-of-language-teaching/
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