Formation of the basics of intercultural communication

Teaching grammar

Teaching grammar for young learners is different than teaching adult. The children do not understand abstract concepts in grammar rules, so teachers must use clear or concrete concepts which help them to connect the language in their life. The very important thing is reviewing, the children need an opportunity to review and revise in order to be comfortable in the language.

It is recommended to take the following guidelines when teaching grammar to children:

1. It is necessary to present the structure in context and make sure that meaning is clear and easy to understand
2. It is necessary to remember that children are unable to think of abstract terms
3. It is important to use visual materials to avoid confusion and to convey meaning successfully
4. A variety of ways should be used to practice the structure. It is advisable to use songs, chants, games, etc.
5. Grammar should be recycled constantly and in different ways so that children can see how the structure is used in context.
6. It is important to use all five senses. TPR is very important.
7. The teacher should help learners notice elements in the structure (auxiliaries, form of the verb, etc), have them formulate hypotheses about when and how the structure will be used and clarify misconceptions.

For presenting points of grammar for the first time the teacher uses characters. Teacher can create his own characters. Children enjoy making up silly names and giving characters a personality. Teachers could, for instance, use a mad professor who collects things to help practice the plural of nouns (She's got two green parrots, five sharp pencils, three chairs, eighteen hats etc.) Parts of speech can be 'people' - try having a character called the Present Simple. Encourage the children to tell you what the Present Simple does every day (He gets up at three minutes past six. He brushes his tooth. He combs his green hair and so on.)

The teacher can use a soft toy or a puppet as a character. This can be particularly useful and memorable when teaching prepositions. The children give it a name and take turns to put the toy in various places round the classroom.

For practicing the grammatical structure the teacher uses

• Drawing and writing on the board

The board is a wonderful resource. A crossword can be done on the board so that all the children can see it at the same time. Crosswords can be used for practicing countable and uncountable nouns, plurals, irregular verbs and many other things. The teacher tries drawing the outline of a large crocodile or shark on the board. Tell the children that it's a noun-eating crocodile or a verb-eating shark and he's very hungry. Then let the children write in the verbs or nouns to feed him on.

Vanessa Reilly and Sheila Ward's book “Very Young Learners” is packed with ideas of this sort.

• Story telling

One of the best ways to introduce the past simple is through a story - teachers can use well-known traditional tales, like Little Red-Riding Hood, or make up thir own to suit the particular point of grammar.

• Songs and chants
• Rhymes and poems

Just like songs and chants, rhymes and poems can both entertain and inform. Here's a traditional rhyme you could use to introduce children to the past simple:

(Traditional)

• Total Physical Response

One of the ways to practice imperatives or prepositions with children is playing a game of 'Simon says'. The value of total physical response lies in the fact that young children are not able to cope with abstract concepts but rely on their senses to learn new things. Physically doing something helps the child to understand the language. The difference between reading this sentence in a book: 'John is opening the window' and actually performing the task for yourself is immense. Using TPR also means that the teacher can instantly change the pace of his lesson - if children are getting restless or tired, a physical activity can re-energize them.