LANGUAGE_______ Revision o f town and country language IN CLASS_________ The children collect pictures and objects to make a display
contrasting life in the town and in the country.
This could include:
- walks in the town and country to collect materials and take photos
- pictures from magazines, calendars, or holiday brochures - children’s drawings and collages
- written work including that done in 4.18, ‘Town and country poems’, 4.19 ‘Town or country?’, and 4.20 ‘Letters’.
5 Grammar and stories
Stories are an excellent way to introduce language that learners are not yet familiar with, be it a point of grammar, a function, an area of vocabulary, or pronunciation. Stories present language in a context that is easy to understand. They can be told again
The teaching of grammar to young learners is contentious. Even if explicit grammatical references are made, it is generally agreed that the children must first of all have a rich experience of the grammatical items used in a meaningful way. Young children do not analyse language, and new grammatical items are first learnt as ‘lexical chunks’. This is the best way to introduce the simple past tense, for example: the story is a natural vehicle for
exposure to past tenses, which can later be turned into active use. It is best to use a topic- or activity-centred approach to language learning in the primary years, introducing new language elements in a meaningful context when the children are ready for them. Stories are ideal for this.
The current consensus of opinion is that the explicit teaching of grammar should only take place with older children at the
pre-intermediate level. From the age of 10 or 11, you can
actively encourage learners to start hypothesizing about why we say things the way we do. For example, from ‘The litde white
or about singular and plural forms:
‘Hello, witch. Have you got a cat?’
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A word of warning: children must not feel that they are being given stories to sugar the pill of unpleasant grammar! Don’t spoil the quality of the story, and don’t lose the children’s trust and goodwill towards the use of stories in your lessons!
LEVEL AGE TIME
LANGUAGE MATERIALS PREPARATION
IN CLASS
5.1 Making a pattern book
Elementary 9 to 13 60 minutes
Sentence patterns you want the children to practise A piece of paper for each child
1 Choose a story which is based on a sentence pattern which you would like the children to practise. The children should have heard and worked on the story before (see the activities given with the stories and in Chapter 2, ‘A store of 94 activities’). Here 1 use 3.3, ‘The little duckling’, as an example.
2 Fold the pieces of paper as shown to make a concertina book for each child. If you prefer the children can do this themselves in class at Step 3. Make one for yourself to show them.
1 Ask the children to try to remember the story you have chosen and to retell it to you. As they do so try to steer them to
remembering the pattern which is repeated in the story. Write this on the board:
The little duckling sees a peacock.
‘What a beautiful tail! I want a tail like that!’
Suddenly, the little duckling has a big beautiful peacock’s tail!
The little duckling is very pleased.
2 Show the children how to invent a new character in place of the little duckling, and new wishes that it might have, for example:
The big tiger sees an elephant.
‘What a beautiful trunk! I want a trunk like that!’
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VARIATION
COMMENTS
Suddenly, the big tiger has a beautiful trunk.
The big tiger is very pleased.
Here is another, rather more eccentric variation:
The big bus sees a chocolate birthday cake.
‘What beautiful chocolate! I want chocolate like that!’
Suddenly, the big bus has a beautiful chocolate top.
The big bus is very pleased.
3 When you are sure that the children can invent characters of their own and wishes for them, show them the concertina book and explain that:
- the first page will be the cover of their book
- the next two pages will be the different wishes of their animal/
object
- the last page will be the end of their story.
The children might like to cut the tops of their pages to make the shape o f their picture (see page 197).
Other patterns which the children can use to create more pattern stories include:
- Going from big to small locations (see 3.2, ‘In a dark, dark town’, page 78):
In a dark, dark town There is a dark, dark road.
- A person or animal going for a walk (see 3.4, ‘The little Indian boy’, page 84):
He walks along the road.
He runs down the hill.
- An animal looking for its mother/friend:
‘Where’s my mummy/friend?’
‘I don’t know. Go to the station!’
A longer concertina book can be used to make the story longer.
The children might work together in pairs or groups.
m a P w
Almost any sentence pattern can provide the basis for a story, but remember that for a true story you will need some kind of
‘problem’ and some kind of resolution at the end, or it will just remain a description!
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5.2 Half sentences
LEVEL _____ _ Elementary and pre-intermediate AGE_____________ 10 to 14
TIME_____ _______ The whole suggested sequence of steps takes 40 minutes LANGUAGE_______ Syntax and putting sentences in order; listening
comprehension and reading aloud
PREPARATION 1 Choose any story which can be reasonably summarized by half