The English grammar - Конспект урока

Question Using a sentence from a course book you know, find at least one of each of these categories: subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial. Parts of speech The main parts of speech are: - nouns (such as horse, Syria) - verbs (such as swim, remain) - adjectives (such as black, serious) - adverbs (such as quickly, perhaps) - pronouns (such as he, those) - auxiliary verbs (such as is, do before a main verb) - modal verbs (such as can, must) - determiners (such as the, some) - prepositions (such as in, before) Question Open a newspaper. Can you find and underline examples of some or all of the categories? Unit four: Presenting and explaining grammar Task Classroom or peer-teaching Stage 1: Presentation Present and explain a grammatical structure to a class; the presentation should not take longer than five minutes. The presentation should be recorded in some way; you might tape-record it or ask another participant to observe and take notes. If neither of these is possible, then write down as accurate an account as possible immediately after the lesson. Stage 2 (optional) If you did not do so before, look up a grammar book to check your explanation: was there anything important you omitted or misrepresented? Stage 3: Feedback. Ask another participant or student to tell you immediately afterwards how clear they thought your presentation was, and if they have any particular comments. You may find it useful to use the questions in Box 2 as points of reference. Stage 4 In the light of critical discussion of your presentation, write out for yourself a set of guidelines for presenting and explaining grammar. Box 2. Questions on grammar presentations. 1. The structure itself. Was the structure presented in both speech and writing, both form and meaning? 2. Examples. Were enough examples provided of the structure in a meaningful context? Are you sure the students understood their meanings? 3. Terminology. Did you call the structure by its (grammar-book) name?. (There is no definitive list of functions as there is for grammatical structures.) Many coursebooks aim to have an integrated syllabus - one which combines certain grammatical structures with the functions thought most useful for students at a particular level. So at beginner level the present simple is introduced with the function of describing ‘facts’: My name’s Marta. I’m 18 and I live in Mexico City. I have three brothers. At intermediate level the same verb form can be introduced with a different use - timetabled events in the future: The plane leaves at 10.00 am. We arrive at Orly Airport at noon. From there we go straight to the hotel. Then at advanced level we may want to introduce the use of the present simple to tell stories and anecdotes about past events: So there I am, in the café, when up comes Jeff. He picks up my drink and he pours it all over my head. Some books may be designed with particular groups of people in mind, and introduce structures with functions thought most useful for the students’ special needs and situation. For example, books targeted at business people usually focus on the language needed for making introductions, for arranging meetings, for negotiating, and other business-oriented functions. What aspects of a structure should you consider? When focusing on a structure, either for the first time or for revision, the following can be considered: 1 The form o The parts of speech. For example, is it made up of a verb plus a preposition (to put off)? o Whether it is regular or irregular. For example, a regular simple past ends in -ed (listened), irregular verbs have different forms (heard, spoke, read, wrote); o The spelling; o the pronunciation. For example, does the structure contain contractions (I’m, haven’t, should’ve)? o the word order and whether the item follows or is followed by any particular words or structures. For example, does the verb usually have to be followed by a noun (I bought the car)? You need also to decide how many aspects of the form you want to focus on at any one time: for example, when presenting a new verb form, you probably wouldn’t want to introduce the affirmative, the question forms, the negative, short answers and question tags all in the same lesson! The meaning The exact meaning(s) you are concentrating on.