Some ideas about English teaching and learning 4/11/2015

Some ideas about English teaching and learning 4/11/2015

All languages have two forms, ie, spoken and written forms.

Grammar is all about word Forms and their Functions. 

Chinese words /characters are the language forms of the Chinese language and different word forms have different functions.  So are those of the English language.

Language accuracy

You must have a good knowledge of English grammar in order to use the language accurately.   If you know the English grammar well, you can even correct /edit your own writing.

It is advisable to present the grammar forms systematically like learning the English Alphabet A-Z or numbers 1-100 or more for easy teaching and learning.

Learning which is considered has taken place when you can remember the rules or concepts and apply them at ease and at will.

Thus it is very important to present the English rules systematically for ‘sight learning’ as our eyes are just like camera.  Hence I encourage the ‘whole picture approach’ and let our pupils /students hear and how each grammatical items are related to one another. 

For example, presenting the five cases of Personal Pronouns in table will let them see the forms and with the help of teacher they know how these word forms work in a language. 

I believe in drilling each grammatical item in isolation to get them familiarise with the forms especially and their functions.  There must be at least two periods for grammar drilling.

Teacher may explore learners’ prior knowledge in other languages when you teach nine English word forms ie Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Prepositions, Exclamations and Determiners.  For example, when you teach Proper nouns, you may ask them to tell you about it in the Chinese/Malay language.

Language fluency

I also believe there must be a lot of texts reading in English to reinforce their grammar learning and to build up the stock of the vocabulary.   The best way to pick up English vocabulary /words is learning them in meaningful contexts or in stories.

So there must be at least two periods devoted to reading texts in English.  Our pupils may be asked to look around for good stories to be shared.  Classroom library should be encouraged.   With the convenience of  the modern technology,  the access to the 

abundance of English learning materials geared to different levels is at our fingertip.   

We may make good use of the internet to explore children stories in English.

No matter how good your pupils are at English grammar is never enough if they do not read intensively in class and extensively during their free time.  Pupils must have enough stock of vocabulary and knowledge to speak and write in English. 

They must be enough input in listening and reading to enable the output in speaking and writing.