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When
Is It Developmentally Appropriate to Begin Teaching
Grammar to Young Learners?
Tara Maceyak, Marketing
Manager
Teaching
grammar rules and structures to children when they are too young may
result in confusion. It is important to account for the stages of
cognitive development (Piaget) to determine when students are ready to
handle concrete references for new skills. This raises an important
question in the classroom: Do we wait to teach grammar until students
can handle the presentation of rules? According to Pearson Longman
author Mario Herrera,
there is another approach for teaching grammar to young learnersthat takes into account their level of cognitive development.
Herrera advocates doing language practice to teach grammar in a
holistic way using a constructivist methodology. Students discover the
language by seeing many repetitions of the grammar points in different
meaningful contexts. Instead of teaching students strict grammar rules,
Herrera offers the alternative of having students learn through
developing their insights. This is accomplished by presenting them with
models of the same grammar point in multiple contexts.
Outlined below is a four-step lesson plan for teaching grammar based on
Mario Herrera’s methods. For more information and examples
about
teaching grammar to young learners, listen to
his podcast.
1.
Model/presentation
2.
Practice
- show pictures
- show grammar in contexts
- present key questions to focus
on grammar points
3.
Apply grammar strategies and skills
- show paragraphs formed with
models of the grammar point students are learning
- ask
reading comprehension questions that model the grammar points so
students can reproduce grammar forms as they answer comprehension
questions
4. Add
critical thinking, information gathering, and interpretations
- teach children how to use
grammar by gathering information and asking and answering questions in the
context
- incorporate critical thinking
strategies by asking students to evaluate information and respond with
grammar models
- find and use models of grammar
being presented
- personalize grammar with
speaking activities so students can practice how to use grammar in
everyday life
Mario Herrera is the author of several Pearson Longman programs for
young learners, and he is an international consultant for Pearson
Longman.
Visit the websites for his two courses:
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