Teaching Grammar to Beginners: Tips and Structure for a Perfect Lesson

Summary

In this instructional video, Chris Westergard from the Language House demonstrates a methodology called 'The Five Points' for teaching grammar to beginners. The approach focuses on limiting vocabulary, eliciting responses, extensive drilling, slow-paced presentation, and minimal language use to avoid confusion. The video specifically showcases teaching the present continuous tense through various stages, emphasizing mastery and real-time application over mere memorization. Westergard's tips include using an economy of language, eliciting everything, and ensuring students can ask and answer questions authentically.

Takeaways

• 📚 Focus on a few grammatical variables to simplify the learning process for beginners.
• 🗣️ Elicit everything from students to encourage active participation and understanding.
• 🔄 Drill a lot to reinforce new grammar concepts through repetition.
• 🔍 Move slowly through the presentation to ensure comprehension without overwhelming students.
• 💬 Use an economy of language to avoid confusion and maintain clarity.
• ❓ Focus on questions and negatives to build conversational skills.
• 👕 Keep the vocabulary pool minimal, using familiar or very basic words to avoid confusion.
• 👉 Demonstrate grammar points using mime, visuals, or comparison with known tenses for better understanding.
• 📈 Practice in chunks to gradually build up to mastering the full structure of sentences.
• 🔄 Gradually remove prompts and notes to transition students to free practice.
• 🎯 Aim for mastery by providing multiple reps and variations to make the language come naturally to students.

Q & A

What is the main challenge of teaching grammar to beginners who do not speak English?

The main challenge is explaining or lecturing through a lesson without using translation, as it's not effective, and ensuring they can understand and use the language with limited language understanding.

What is the 'Five Points' methodology mentioned in the script?

The 'Five Points' is a teaching methodology that focuses on a few grammatical variables, eliciting everything, drilling a lot, moving slowly through the presentation, using an economy of language, focusing on questions and negatives, and keeping the vocabulary pool to a minimum.

Why is it important to limit vocabulary when teaching grammar to beginners?

Limiting vocabulary prevents confusion and allows students to focus on the grammatical point itself, rather than getting overwhelmed with new words.

What is the purpose of focusing on questions and negatives in grammar lessons for beginners?

Focusing on questions and negatives helps beginners to understand and use the language in different contexts, promoting a more natural and authentic use of the language.

How does the script suggest eliciting the correct form of a verb from beginners?

The script suggests using examples, miming or demonstrating the action, using visuals like a timeline, and comparing the new tense to a known tense to elicit the correct verb form.

What does the script recommend for the initial vocabulary introduction in a grammar lesson?

The script recommends keeping the vocabulary introduction limited to a few items that the students already know or very basic words to avoid confusion.

Why is drilling important when teaching grammar to beginners?

Drilling is important because it helps beginners to say the sentences correctly and fluently, which can lead to natural usage of the language when they are comfortable with the structure.

How should teachers handle the teaching of grammar structures to beginners?

Teachers should introduce one structural variable at a time and gradually introduce more examples that cover different structures, testing students with variations to ensure understanding.

What is the significance of using visuals and context in teaching grammar to beginners?

Visuals and context help clarify the meaning of the grammar point, making it easier for beginners to understand without the need for extensive explanation or translation.

How does the script suggest moving from guided practice to free practice in grammar lessons?

The script suggests starting with all questions on the board, allowing students to use notes, and gradually removing prompts and questions until students can ask and answer questions in real time without any notes.

What is the final goal of teaching grammar to beginners as outlined in the script?

The final goal is for students to have a solid understanding of the grammar point and be able to ask and answer questions in real time with authenticity and mastery, regardless of their level.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Teaching Grammar to Beginners

This paragraph introduces the challenge of teaching grammar to beginners who do not speak English and the importance of avoiding translation. It emphasizes the need for a methodology to effectively convey grammatical concepts. The speaker, Chris Westergard from the Language House, introduces 'The Five Points' as a teaching strategy and encourages viewers to subscribe for more content. The focus is on limiting vocabulary, eliciting responses, extensive drilling, slow presentation, minimal language use, emphasis on questions and negatives, and maintaining a small lexicon pool. The demonstration will concentrate on the present continuous tense, assuming students have some basic knowledge, and aims to enable students to use the language freely in practice.

05:00

👕 Introducing Vocabulary and Grammar

The speaker discusses the initial steps in teaching a grammar lesson to beginners, which includes limiting new vocabulary to prevent confusion and focusing on essential items like clothing. The approach involves eliciting the verb 'to wear' and using examples that students are already familiar with. The paragraph also covers different methods to convey the meaning of grammar points, such as miming, using visuals, and comparing with known tenses. The goal is to teach the structure of the present continuous tense in a clear and concise manner, using an economy of language to avoid overwhelming the students.

10:02

🔄 Drilling and Practicing Questions

This section details the process of drilling and practicing questions with beginners to ensure they can ask and answer in real time without notes. The speaker explains the importance of breaking down the lesson into small chunks and gradually building up to more complex structures. The method involves eliciting questions and answers, practicing them in pairs and groups, and highlighting structural differences. The paragraph emphasizes the need for repetition and mastery, suggesting the use of visual aids like pictures to introduce variations and maintain student engagement.

15:04

🎓 Mastery and Real-time Application

The final paragraph outlines the transition from guided practice to free practice, where students apply their knowledge independently. It stresses the importance of gradual progression and mastery at each stage before moving on. The speaker suggests using notes and prompts during the initial stages of free practice to scaffold learning. The goal is for students to be able to ask and answer questions naturally and fluently. If students struggle, the speaker advises revisiting previous points for additional practice. The paragraph concludes with tips on maintaining an economy of language, slow and clear presentation, elicitation, extensive drilling, and focusing on actual usage for effective learning.

Keywords

💡Beginner Class

A 'Beginner Class' refers to an educational setting where students have limited or no prior knowledge of the subject being taught, in this case, English. The video's theme revolves around effective strategies for teaching grammar to such students. The script mentions a 'beginner class' multiple times, emphasizing the unique challenges and approaches needed for this level of learners.

💡Grammar

Grammar is the set of structural rules governing the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in a language. In the context of the video, it is the core content that the teacher aims to convey to the students. The script discusses various methods to teach grammatical concepts, such as the present continuous tense, without relying on translation or complex explanations.

💡Elicit

To 'elicit' in teaching means to draw out or bring forth information or responses from students. The script emphasizes the importance of elicitation as a method to engage students and encourage them to produce language forms spontaneously, such as forming questions and negative statements in the present continuous tense.

💡Drill

A 'drill' in language teaching is a repetitive exercise designed to help learners practice and internalize specific language structures or vocabulary. The video script mentions the necessity of extensive drilling to help beginners become comfortable with new grammatical structures, such as the present continuous tense.

💡Economy of Language

An 'economy of language' refers to the use of minimal and clear language to convey maximum meaning, avoiding unnecessary complexity. The script advises teachers to use an economy of language when teaching grammar to beginners to prevent overwhelming them with too much information at once.

💡Lexis Pool

The 'lexis pool' refers to the range of vocabulary available for use in a particular context or lesson. The video script suggests keeping the lexis pool minimal, focusing on vocabulary that students are already familiar with, to avoid confusion and maintain clarity in grammar lessons.

💡Present Continuous

The 'present continuous' is a grammatical tense used to describe actions that are happening at the moment of speaking. The script uses the present continuous tense as an example to demonstrate how to teach a specific grammar point to beginners, focusing on its structure and usage in sentences.

💡Free Practice

In language teaching, 'free practice' is when students use the language without relying on notes or prompts from the teacher. The video script discusses the goal of leading students to free practice, where they can authentically use the language they've learned, such as asking and answering questions in the present continuous tense.

💡Authentic Language

'Authentic language' refers to language that is used by native speakers in real-life situations, as opposed to constructed examples or classroom language. The script mentions the importance of aiming for authentic language use in free practice, encouraging students to sound natural when speaking English.

💡Guided Practice

Guided practice is a stage in language learning where learners are given some support or structure from the teacher while they practice language use. The script describes guided practice as a step before free practice, where students use the language with the help of prompts or notes from the teacher, gradually moving towards independence.

💡Mastery

In the context of the video, 'mastery' refers to the students' ability to use language structures fluently and accurately without hesitation. The script emphasizes the importance of practicing language to the point of mastery, ensuring that students can use the present continuous tense naturally and without error.

Highlights

Teaching grammar to beginners without using their native language or translation.

Introduction of the Five Points methodology for teaching grammar to beginners.

Focusing on a few grammatical variables to simplify the learning process.

Eliciting information from students to encourage active participation.

Drilling extensively to help students internalize new grammar structures.

Moving slowly through the presentation to ensure comprehension.

Using an economy of language to prevent overwhelming beginners.

Focusing on questions and negatives to enhance language use.

Minimizing the use of new vocabulary to avoid confusion.

Demonstration of teaching the present continuous tense to beginners.

Using visuals and miming to convey grammar points without language.

Comparing new grammar points to known tenses for easier understanding.

Teaching the structure of grammar points incrementally.

Using CCQ (Concept Checking Questions) to ensure students grasp the concept.

Practicing grammar points in chunks to facilitate mastery.

Transitioning from guided practice to free practice gradually.

Utilizing pictures and varied scenarios for more dynamic practice.

Encouraging mastery through repetition and varied practice.

Adjusting the difficulty level based on student performance.

Final tips for effective grammar teaching with beginners.

Transcripts

oh boy you've got a beginner class

coming up do you know how to teach them

grammar they don't speak English so

you're not going to be able to explain

or lecture your way through this lesson

and you don't want to use translation

because that's not really good either

how are you going to teach grammatical

Concepts to students if you don't speak

their language and their understanding

of language is really limited and more

importantly how are you going to get

them to be able to use use this language

in free practice you want to learn let's

get started the people have spoken and

by popular demand a video completely

dedicated to teaching grammar to

beginners what's going on teachers it's

Chris westergard from the language house

let me show you how to teach grammar to

beginners using a great methodology

called The Five Points this is

essentially video number four in the

series so if you missed the other videos

do check them out because the content

really good you can find them all in the

description of this video below for you

and one last thing do me a solid and

leave me a like And subscribe I'm at the

school on a Sunday all right nobody is

here my wife and my little baby are at

home waiting for me I've left them so

that you can get this free content do

the right thing and subscribe the trick

to teaching beginners is to one focus on

just a few grammatical variables two

elicit everything three drill a lot four

move slowly through the

presentation five use an economy of

language so don't speak too much six

focus on questions and negatives and

seven keep your Lexus pool to a minimum

in other words if you're teaching a

grammar lesson don't teach a lot of

vocab it will just confuse them ideally

you'll want to stick with language that

they've already seen before or language

that is really B basic instead of using

a lot of vocab we want to focus on the

grammar Point itself this could be

things like comparing tenses or how to

conjugate a specific tense it could be

using different prepositions it could be

word order or sentence structures

whatever it is try to think of the

different variables in the grammar point

and focus on those for this video

demonstration we're going to be focusing

on the present continuous for things

happening now specifically what everyone

is wearing now now obviously guys this

is not the first lesson with beginners

this is the assumption that you've

taught them for a couple weeks or maybe

even a month or so if you want my tips

on your first lesson with beginners I'll

make a video on that but this video

assumes that they know at least

something for time we're going to be

moving through these stages pretty

quickly if you find yourself a little

bit confused do check out my full video

on the Five Points right here for

pre-work I'm going to need to think

about three to five questions that use

the grammar point and showcase some of

the different variables the goal is that

by the end of the lesson students will

be able to ask and answer these

questions to each other in real time

without the use of notes and we want it

to sound as authentic as we can okay

let's get these questions

up as you can see we're not just working

on I am wearing that would be too easy

we're going to be working on all of the

different perspectives I'm also going to

be teaching them the question and the

negative forms so in total we have a lot

of variation with this grammar point and

that's what we want all right so point

one in the five points is I'm going to

start with my vocab and for the most

part with a grammar lesson you want to

keep it limited again or use language

that they already know so in this case I

don't want to teach a whole bunch of

clothing because that's just going to

confuse them we can just do a couple so

it would be like a

shirt shorts

pants a sweater shoes something like

that if you want a full rundown on how

to teach vocab to beginners check out

this video over here it covers

everything I know some of you are

thinking like why not teach a bunch of

vocab if they're going to be talking

about clothing that they're wearing why

not teach 12 different items of clothing

like socks for example and the answer is

the more variables you have them use the

more complicated this whole process gets

and if they feel overwhelmed beginners

just shut down with a grammar lesson we

are mostly focusing on the conjugation

the questions and the negatives of the

verb the most important word to teach

here is the verb to wear as long as I

teach that and they have a couple

different variables in terms of clothing

the lesson's going to go fine if you

move into the grammar before going over

your Lexus it's going going to be

literally impossible for them to

understand what you're trying to

communicate we got the vocab done great

let's teach some grammar grammar to

beginners will follow similar steps to

this video here check it out if you

haven't watched it before but there are

some differences you have a fair amount

of options when it comes to the first

thing to do with a beginner grammar

lesson one is you can always introduce

the actual name of the grammar point and

start from there but I usually tend to

like to begin with my examples and I can

start with

eliciting I so I'll point to myself and

I'll write down I and then I'll point to

an article of clothing that I know they

already know so maybe like jeans or

pants and I'll put that at the end of

the sentence and then I have to elicit

the verb to wear in the correct form so

I can point to that word because it's on

the board and they'll probably say where

but then I'll correct them and I'll

eventually pull out and am wearing often

times having that sentence in the right

context is more than enough to bring

that meaning across but there's a few

other things that I can do one I can

obviously try to mime or demonstrate

what the grammar point is doing two I

can use a timeline or some other visuals

and finally three I can always compare

the grammar point to a known tense I

could compare the present continuous

with the present simple if they already

had exposure to that tense I could say I

wear shorts I am wearing jeans now and

that contrast should be enough to hit

that meaning hone once I'm pretty clear

that the meaning is across I can then

teach them the grammar Point itself I

should try to elicit them that this is

the present

continous then we can go over the

structure so subject plus the form of to

be plus verbing when it comes to

structures a lot of teachers want to put

everything up at one time I generally

find that overwhelming for my students

so I tend to stick with one structural

variable and as I introduce more

examples that cover different structures

I can always kind of like test them with

that right most teachers fumble here

because they simply speak too much they

want to come into the class and in their

head they have a preconceived notion of

what it is to teach and they want to

explain things they want to lecture

about the grammar point they want to

talk about all the different details

related to the grammar point and that

simply doesn't work with this level

beginner specifically the more you speak

the more you use your voice the more

confused they're going to get so we're

looking at a real tight economy of

language like really don't speak at all

let your examples and your visuals do

the work for you throughout this whole

time I'm going to be CC Qing but CC Qing

with beginners is really really really

basic so it could be something like I am

to wear jeans and they would say no no I

am wearing jeans basic things like that

will help check the meaning guys this

whole presentation should take about 5

to 10 minutes anything more than that

you're probably overwhelming them with

extra information so this first sentence

is boarded and what I can do now is have

the students individually talk about

things that they are wearing so one

student might go I am wearing a sweater

jeans shoes or I'm wearing a t-shirt or

I am wearing a jacket whatever the words

that we've taught they can begin to

substitute those in once I felt that the

students can do this first perspective

with relative ease we can then move on

to eliciting the question I'll start by

putting a question mark at the end of

the board and from there I'll try to

elicit out the question to the answer

just like we did with the statement so

what are

are

you wearing like that once again people

are going to be saying ah it's not going

to work they're never going to be able

to get it how are they supposed to know

the question if we haven't even gone

over it yet and blah blah blah blah blah

blah you'll be surprised Again by

eliciting slowly that they will be able

to fill in a lot of these blanks and if

they don't fill in the blanks it's okay

you can give it to them but remember I'm

not explaining I'm not talking my way

through this I'm only using the language

that is necessary to get this question

up on the board the questions up on the

board and now I'm just going to practice

saying it with them and this is going to

look like this what are you wearing what

are you wearing what are you wearing

what are you wearing with beginners I

drill a tremendous amount because I

found that when the language is new to

students they have a hard time just even

saying it correctly they fumble up on

the words and on the sentence structure

and all these other variables and if we

can just get them to say it correctly

and get them to say it fast they'll

naturally start doing it when they can

ask the question with relative ease I'm

going to put them into Pairs and groups

and they will practice asking each other

the question and the answer for question

number one I'm going to do this with all

of my questions we're going to start off

with the statement for question number

two practice that a little bit we're

going to move on to the question for

question number two practice that and

then put them in pairs and have them

practice the question and answer we're

going to do this for all of them with

each new example that I put up there I'm

going to highlight the structural

differences so I am she is we are they

are and remember we're doing this in

chunks because it's better to have

students practice one and get good at it

than overwhelm them with all of these

different variations at this stage if I

feel like it's sinking in I can now

begin to teach some of the negative so

are you wearing a jacket I am not

wearing a jacket I am wearing a sweater

however if I feel that there's

struggling with the material that we've

already taught I can save the negatives

for later on during the lesson or maybe

even a follow-up lesson later on only

you will know how much your students can

handle my philosophy is that I generally

don't teach more information if the

students haven't mastered what I've

already taught all of the questions have

been practiced in little chunks and now

it's time to move to point four with

teaching grammar and as you can imagine

it's doing the whole thing I'm going to

have all of the questions back up on the

board I'm going to put people into Pairs

and groups and they're going to be doing

all of it on their own however we're

still not at actual free practice yet

because I'm still going to have these

boarded questions up and I'm going to

allow students to use their notes and

this stage here this guided practice is

really important if I remove all of the

notes now and say role playay and ask it

and answer all of these questions

they're not going to be able to do it

because they've only practiced one

question at a time give them the

structures that they need give them some

help and as they start to ask and answer

these questions you can begin to remove

some of these questions and some of

these promps point 4 is over and now

we're at the final stage five this is

where the students are going to be doing

it completely on their own can they do

it can they ask and answer these

questions in real time and include some

authentic language and the answer is yes

because you've taken them through every

single step and you haven't moved to a

different point until they've mastered

any of the previous points and what I

can do to keep things fresh and keep the

variables new is I can give each student

a piece of paper that has pictures of

different people wearing different

articles of clothing this way they can

run through it once exchange the paper

and they have a bunch of new variables

to use I don't want people just saying

the same answers over and over again so

something like this will make it really

work you are going to be doing a lot of

variations of this you're going to do it

about five times because with beginners

it's not just about saying it once we

want to work on Mastery we want it to be

that when our students leave our

classroom these questions almost come

naturally to them so the more versions

and the more reps you do the better it

is if you get to your final stage and

your students aren't able to do it

without the use of notes or it's really

choppy or there's a lot of mistakes or

there's a lot of pauses you can always

jump back to a previous Point practice

there a bit and then skip back into five

again likewise if it's too easy I can

always add more language and more

variables to make it more difficult and

that is basically it I'm going to have

all of the different steps that we went

over in written form in the description

here so do click on that if the video is

a little confusing remember to watch the

other beginner videos because that stuff

is important too but now students have a

solid understanding of the present

continuous and the next lesson that I

teach can focus more on language we can

teach a lot of cool verbs and a lot of

cool nouns to really bring out that

natural communication but whenever I'm

teaching a grammar point for the first

time I just stick with the basics and I

try to keep the Lexus pool low so final

tips guys remember keep your TT and use

an economy of language that's number one

number two go slowly through the

presentation number three elicit

everything number four drill a lot drill

to death and then drill once more and

number five remember that it's all about

actual usage it's not just teaching some

rules you want we want our students to

be able to ask and answer questions in

real time regardless of their level

thanks so much for watching I hope you

enjoyed the video take care