Tips and Guidelines in Teaching EFL Grammar
A well-prepared lesson plan is essential for teaching grammar. It should include oral and written examples as well as form, meaning and context use. Tips for teaching ESL grammar include:
- Students must have plenty of examples of the structure and understand when and how to use it.
- Explanations must cover the majority of instances because students are sure to encounter exceptions along the way.
- Too much detail confuses students so explanations must be simple and clear.
- Generalization is helpful even if it’s not always completely accurate.
- Rhyming rules like “i before e, except after c” can be a fun and easy way to remember a rule.
- Students need to experiment by rearranging sentences and playing with them to get a feel for the language.
- Students must be given the essential rules and guidelines and shouldn’t have to guess.
- Role-playing and language games can be fun and give students the opportunity to use a grammatical structure practically.
Grammar may be difficult and boring to teach. However, if a teacher understands the grammatical concepts, is capable of explaining grammar and its structures clearly and simply, follows up with appropriate games, exercises and role-playing activities, s/he will be creating a context for fun and interesting EFL grammar lessons.
