Учебное пособие: The English grammar

o note whether the words in the structure are nouns, adjectives, pronouns, etc;

o mark the sentence stress and intonation and note any contractions (see Section 3: Pronunciation );

o give the grammar rule (in this lesson: to make comparative adjectives of words of one syllable, add –er);

o note any special features of the spelling (if the word ends in a single consonant letter, double it: for example, fat - fatter , thin - thinner ).

If you are using translation with a monolingual group you can also write up the translation, if appropriate. Give examples of the language item in sentences, perhaps in the form of a substitution table . If possible, try to make the examples personal and memorable for the students.

Example

I am (I’m)		Sonja.
You are (You’re)		Tomas.
Rick is (He’s)	taller than	his brother
We are (We’re)		our parents
On average Americans are (They’re)		Mexicans

Other means of helping to understanding to understand and remember the meaning can be added - by using ‘time-lines’, for example (see p. 138). Give the students time to copy the information in their note books or to make a note of where the information is recorded in their course book.

Whether you want to do more than this depends on the language item and the class. Further practice may be needed in the form of guided and/or freer practice, integrated into skills work – as part of the same lesson or on another day. You may also want to set some homework to practice the new language. In the lessons that follow you can try to build in activities that will re-activate the language item. Often students need a little time for the new item to ‘sink in’ – they may recognize it, but often delay putting it into active use.

What are the possible stages in a lesson using the deductive approach?

Again, there is no one way of presenting a structure using a deductive approach. However, one possible way of staging such a lesson is as follows:

1 Present the structure and explain the ‘rule’ in a way that involves the students.

Examples

In order to compare ways of talking about the future you could put two sentences on the board: I’m seeing her tomorrow and OK, I’ll see her tomorrow and ask the students to discuss the difference in the situation and the meaning.

With a function you could give the students a number of exponents and ask them to group them – perhaps according to degree of formality – and then discuss when and with which people you would use such expressions. For example, with requests – Open the window. Can you open the window? Open the window, would you? Do you think you could open the window? Would you like to open the window? I don’t suppose you could open the window for me, could you? etc.

2 Write up the language structure(s). (See Stage 6 in the inductive lesson above.)

3 Set up some activities so that the students can practice using the language in a meaningful context – perhaps in a role-play, a discussion or in a piece of writing. The practice can often be integrated into skills work.

How can you check students have understood what is being presented?

There are a number of ways you can check that the students have understood the meaning of a language item and the way it is used. It makes sense to check their understanding before any controlled practice – otherwise they may just be repeating parrot-fashion!