skills Developments

1. Is a surprise
As strange as it might seem, a disbelieving look, a "No, really??" or most of the class getting what you are trying to elicit wrong are all good signs in a grammar explanation- signs that you have really got their attention, that you are teaching them something they don't know yet, and that it is something they are likely to be something they are still thinking about when they leave class and so remember for a longer time than usual. Ways to achieve this sense of surprise include contradicting their previous teacher or lower level textbook, contrasting with L1, contrasting spoken and written English grammar, and contrasting prescriptive grammar and how the language is really used nowadays. Something turning out to be much easier than they originally thought is also a nice surprise!

2. Is interactive
Ways of getting students involved in the grammar explanation stage include: getting them to give you example sentences from their imaginations, previous conversations or the textbook; eliciting the names of grammatical forms; getting them to match grammatical names, example sentences and meanings; getting students to prepare grammar presentations for the class for homework; using guided discovery tasks they work through in pairs; and deliberately making mistakes they can correct you on.

3. Is copied down
After a student has understood your grammar explanation, the next stage should be copying it down. You can ensure that everyone has a chance to copy it down accurately by having the pause for copying written into your lesson plan, making sure nobody copies before you want them to so that they join in the eliciting and don't make others feel guilty for copying down later, and putting your OHP sheets etc somewhere students can see them after class to compare their own versions to.

4. Is easy to copy down
You can make this easier by putting all the text on the board into a table (e.g. 3 columns for tense, example sentence and meaning, and three rows for the three past tenses), using very simple time lines and sketches, limiting the amount of text, and giving them a gapped version of the grammar presentation to copy the important things off the board into.

5. Can be easily referred to
As well as something that is easy to understand and easy to copy down, you will want to make sure that the grammar explanation is something that the students and teacher can easily refer to during later grammar practice and error correction stages. To achieve this you will need to make sure that the grammar explained is exactly the same as is used later in the lesson. You can also make it easy to refer to by keeping it up on the board (in which case you will need to make sure when you write it that there is room around it to write other things that come up), saving it as an OHP slide you can put up when you need it, or by making students write it in a separate grammar part of their notebooks.

6. Is actually referred to
The easiest way of making sure that students actually do refer to the grammar presentation later in the lesson is to make some of the answers to the exercises you have given them exactly the same words as you used in the grammar explanation. The same thing can also be done with useful phrases for communicative activities, or for sentences from the homework. You can also encourage its use by getting students to refer back to it every time you do error correction on that grammar point in future lessons.

7. Stays up on the board
This point is mainly just one aspect of the points above, but you will also need to make sure that at least part of the grammar presentation can stay up on the board without giving too much away- for example by erasing key words from the example sentences so they can't copy the whole of the next grammar exercise straight from the board or by briefly making it unavailable with paper stuck over it with magnets or sellotape or by turning off the OHP.

8. Is at the right time in the lesson
There are two parts to thinking about this- making sure the students are alert enough when the grammar explanation comes to understand it and remember it, and making sure that it fits in with the rest of the lesson. You can make sure they are alert by making the grammar explanation near the beginning of the lesson, perhaps after a quick warmer. The end of the lesson is the second most alert period, with the middle being the worst. You can add to this alertness by making them need the grammar by getting them used to a lesson structure where practice always follows a grammar explanation, or by asking them to do a task where the language could be useful first as in TTT and some versions of TBA.

9. Is at the right stage of the lesson
This depends very much on what your teaching approach is and on the specific grammar point. For example, do you want to introduce the grammar point after the students have had a chance to use a task or text where it could be used and so know why they need the language, or will they feel "safer" if you introduce it from the start? Do you want to tackle it after revising the most recent or most similar grammar point, or is there the chance you will get bogged down in that and not be able to concentrate on the new point? Which stage of the lesson grammar explanations come in can often be a compromise with the timing of the lesson in other ways. For example, lots of revision and seeing the language in context might put the grammar explanation right in the middle of the class when students are least alert.

10. Is at the right point in the day
Similar to being at the right point in the lesson, students are usually most alert first thing in the morning, with the second most alert time being in other parts of the morning, the next being late in the evening and the least alert period being in the hour or two after lunch.

11. Is at the right point in the week
Similar to the points above, for a particularly difficult or important grammar point the beginning and end are good and the middle is bad in terms of alertness, but you will also need to take into account having a chance to practice it enough before they forget it all over the weekend.

12. Is at the right point in the course
Ditto. A particularly big, difficult or important grammar point should be dealt with near the beginning of a course when the students are still keen and unconfused by other input, and if possible the same thing should be revised right at the end of the course after the rest of the less troublesome points. This approach of putting the most important grammar first often doesn't match with a step by step approach to grammar, and how you compromise between the two can depend on things like how likely the students are to actually use that grammar outside the classroom, how possible it is to explain the grammar without studying more "basic" forms first, and how much they will need their confidence boosted with easier points before tackling something big.

13. Is at the right point in their language development
The difficulty of choosing to tackle a grammar point just by when the students are most alert is that their brains still might not be ready to take that particular grammar point in. This is often connected to the idea of Natural Order (the theory that both L1 and L2 language learners make progress with grammar points in a predictable fashion), but sometimes is more just simple logic of whether it is easier to explain the use of will for predictions before or after teaching the use of will for conditionals.

14. Comes at the right interval since the last connected grammar explanation
Another factor worth bearing in mind when putting grammar into a syllabus is how long it will take students to really absorb a grammar point and therefore be ready for the next step with it. This factor can both shorten and lengthen the amount of time you wait. For example, students might be able to produce the first conditional at the end of the lesson but for them to really get a subconscious feeling for what it means and how it is used they will probably need at least another couple of weeks of chances to mull on it, use it in conversation and/ or see it in context before they will benefit from more conscious examination of this or a related grammar point (e.g. will for predictions or the second conditional). At the same time, the theory of Natural Order suggests that however much time and help we give students, they will still make errors with the Present Simple, so we shouldn't get stalled on that before we move onto forms we can contrast it with like the Simple Past or Present Continuous just because they are still making mistakes.

15. Comes at the right interval since the last unconnected grammar explanation
As well as needing time to absorb the last connected or contrasting grammar point, students might just need a bit of a rest for their brains after even a totally unrelated grammar or even vocabulary explanation in order to make sure they have a clear space in their heads and the energy for the next grammar explanation. Ways of giving them a rest whilst still improving their English include mechanical tasks like drilling, skills development like reading and listening, fluency tasks where they can use the language they already know, and other kinds of revision.

16. Is for the most useful language at that point
As well as looking at what language students are mentally ready to learn, we also need to look at what language they need. This can be defined by what they need for their work or studies, what they need for an EFL or other exam, what they need in order to cope with the next class they are going to go into, what they need to catch up with the better students in this class, what they need in order to boost their motivation, what they need to be able to understand classroom instructions, what they need in order to be ready for the next grammar point, what they need in order to understand important functional language (e.g. Can for ability leading onto Can for requests), what they need in order to use a particular communicative skill (e.g. relative clauses for talking your way around a word you don't know), or what they need in order to benefit from English that is all around them (e.g. popular songs or station announcements in English).

17. Is something students understand the need for
A teacher who has decided a particular grammar point is what students need will also need to make sure that students identify that need. This can be achieved by some explanation from the teacher ("With this grammar you will be able to..."), by doing a communicative activity where that grammar would be useful before you present it, or, even better, something that is obvious to students straightaway as something they can use inside or outside the classroom.

18. Is the right length
This usually means short, so that they can write it all down in their notebooks and there is plenty of time for practice. Sometimes, however, grammar presentations can be too short. You might need to plan for extra example sentences if they don't understand the ones you have chosen and/ or an extra little tricky bit of that grammar if they knew all the rest of it before you started the presentation.

19. Includes revision
This could be revision of the form you are contrasting it with (e.g. Going to when presenting Will), revision of the grammatical forms it is similar to (e.g. Present Continuous or Past Continuous when presenting Future Continuous), or revision of a different meaning of the same form (Present Continuous for Present and Future).

20. Gives the students something new
One of the biggest criticisms of PPP is that the teacher often ends up presenting language that the students already know. You can make sure that you are adding something new by gauging what students know as you elicit from them and then add one of the extra back up points you have prepared just in case. Possible back up points include exceptions (e.g. state verbs when presenting the continuous) and extra meanings (e.g. Present Simple when the word makes something true in "I name this ship" or "I do solemnly swear).

21. Gives the students a sense of anticipation
From your own experience of being taught grammar at school, it might seem unrealistic that a class of students could be on the edge of their seats waiting to see how a grammar explanation turns out. There are, however, plenty of techniques to ensure that. One is to make sure that something about the grammar explanation is completely new to them (see other points). Another is to give them a spoken or written task they cannot achieve properly without the grammar and let them try it again after your explanation. In a similar way, starting a grammar presentation with a collection of real student mistakes from that class is great for getting their attention, Perhaps the most effective is to start with a statement that what they thought about the grammar before is (at least in part) wrong.

22. Is asked for by the students
This is an example of the point above. The important thing to aim for is the letter ‘s', i.e. students asking (or at least wanting to know) rather than just one student. If more than one student asks for the same grammar explanation, then that is the ultimate sign that you have planned the lesson perfectly. Again, the best way of achieving this is to give them a task where certain grammar is necessary to complete it. Please note that many tasks in textbooks and communication games books are perfectly doable with much lower level language than the level of the book, and research suggests that at least some of your students will be perfectly happy with having dealt with such a task in pidgin English and so will be unlikely to listen carefully to any further explanation. The secret, then, is to design an activity where it comes to an end without a successful outcome without the language you are about to present, which as mentioned in a point above should be something that is in at least part new to them. It is very difficult to design a free communication task where particular language is absolutely vital, so this is generally easier with a comprehension question that most people will get wrong because of grammatical reasons (sometimes available in EFL exams like IELTS and TOEIC), or pairwork tasks where students try to achieve a language-based task together. Examples of the latter include grammar auctions and pairwork grammar correction tasks where one student has the correct version for each pair of sentences.

23. Is something the students want to use straightaway
Another advantage of giving students a task that stops half way through or comes to an unsuccessful end until they get the grammar is that they are likely to want to turn straight back to the task at hand and finish it off successfully with their new knowledge. As with anything students do unguided by a teacher, this is likely to increase how much they learn.

24. Uses a familiar format
In order to make sure that students can concentrate on the grammar being explained rather than the explanation itself, it is good to develop a familiar format of grammar explanations so that students instantly understand (consciously or unconsciously) what each part of your explanation means. Things to standardize include the colours of pens (red= name of tense etc), the layout of board (you always use tables and the right column is always the meaning of the grammar etc), the use of names and symbols (writing out "noun" or "subject verb" in full or just using first letters etc.), and gestures (hand over the shoulder to illustrate "past", always exactly the same hand positions to illustrate each preposition etc.)

25. Breaks the format
Once you have set up a format, it becomes time to break it. This can be done systematically in steps so that they gain the ability to understand more and more difficult grammar explanations (moving from labelling just SVO to labelling the adverb, noun, pronoun etc.) or just to add a bit of variety to get their attention (the use of amusing pictures, new technology etc.)

26. Is visual
This makes a grammar explanation catch the eye more, cuts down on the amount of difficult language you need to explain the grammar, caters well to students who have a visual learning style, allows you to approach the same grammar for several different directions, and can be easier to copy down and recall than the part of the grammar explanation that has words. Probably the most effective way of using pictures is to have a striking and memorable image such as a famous TV commercial or painting that the whole lesson is built around and students can use to recall the grammar point by picturing the image. Other techniques involving a visual element include the use of different colour pens to mean different things, time lines, simple stick man drawings and using flashcards.

27. Is active
This can partly be a case of getting the students involved by asking you questions or joining in when you are eliciting, and partly a case of making sure the physical movement and noise you can easily build into a warmer doesn't die to be replaced by still bodies staring blankly at the board when this stage comes. This can be achieved by using gestures to illustrate grammatical forms (e.g. pointing forward = future), example sentences ("I was jumping when you shouted stop"), word and sentence stress, and right and wrong answers.

28. Is personalized
As with many things in language learning, making sure the example sentences used in grammar explanations are personalised to the students can really help them understand more easily, and make the language more memorable and obviously useful. Ways of personalising the language include statements about individuals in the class ("William is next to John"), statements about the teacher ("He is wearing a pink tie"), or statements about the class as a whole ("Most people live in a flat"). Another way of looking at personalisation is telling students that the language covered is aimed particularly at their weaknesses, most common mistakes, upcoming test, jobs or studies.

29. Is topical
Another way to make any language stick in the mind is to make it connected to the particular time and day it is being explained on. In a similar way to using a striking picture, many people find they can then help recall the relevant grammar point by bring back to mind the time it was explained. Ways of making it topical include using recent news, celebrity gossip, weather, seasonal changes, natural events, national holiday etc. as an example sentence.

30. Is memorable
The tips about being visual, physical, personalised and topical above can all really help with making a grammar explanation and therefore the grammar you are explaining more memorable. Other tips relevant to this dealt with elsewhere include making sure students are awake and ready to take it in. The use of humour and making sure you connect the grammar to things the students already know can also help a lot. Teaching grammar in context is also important.