English Didactics

TEACHING GRAMMAR TO CHILDREN
Teaching specific aspects of language
Language study, personalization, activation
Explanation, repetition and practice is a form of what we have calledstudy./Sometimes we will spend a lot of time on this language focus. At other times, once our students´ attention has been drawn to the language in question, they may well be able to move fairly quickly to stage ofpersonalization or even full activation./How long we have to spend on language study will depend on who the students are what their level is and what elements of language we are asking them tostudy./Many people have contrasted two approaches:deductive and inductive.
The Deductive Approach
In a deductive approach, students are given explanations or grammar rules, for example, and then, based onthe explanations, they made phrases and sentences using the new language./This explain and practice approach to teaching aspects of the language system looks like a straight arrows sequence in whichthe order is engage-study-activate.
The Inductive Approach
In a inductive approach, things happen the other way round.Instead of going from rules to examples students see examples of language and tryto work out the rules./For example, after students have read a text, we might ask them to find examples of different past tenses and say how and when they are used.This boomerang-type lesson isspecially appropriate where language study arises out of skills work on reading and listening texts./Many people think that the language they understand in this way is more powerfully learnt(because theyhad to make some cognitive effort as they uncovered its patterns)than in the Deductive Approach.
Explaining meaning
One of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of something is to show it.Wecan use pictures to explain situations and concepts.Many teachers use time lines to explain time.The trick is to choose the best method to fit the meaning that needs to be explained./We can also use...