_____________________ [307762]

[anonimizat], [anonimizat]. Children are not the same as five or ten years ago. At the beginning of my teaching career, I have to admit that I was a little bit confused regarding what materials to use. I was given textbooks which I [anonimizat]’ needs and level not being taken into consideration. Then I realised that teaching was more than a textbook. I was learning to teach and all of my attention was on trying to do my best to follow the methods I was instructed. But there were moments when I grew dissatisfied with my teaching process and I wanted to make some changes and improve my teaching methods and techniques. I found that it had reached a level where I could give less attention to what I [anonimizat]. I think that was the moment when I really started learning teaching. I was experiencing and I was learning a great deal from the experience. I am still learning to teach and I think that the process of learning teaching is a continuous one. “[anonimizat]. [anonimizat].” (Larsen-Freeman, 2008:187)

The purpose of this paper is to outline the importance of using communicative methods and techniques (plays, role-plays, games, songs, poems) in teaching and learning grammar and especially the present tense simple at the primary level.

I always want to improve my teaching methods for the benefit of my students. I chose the present tense simple as the main focus of my theoretical study due to the importance it has in the student’s acquiring and using the English language. Present tense simple is important because it’s the tense of communication. [anonimizat]! [anonimizat]’s [anonimizat]. It’s [anonimizat] I, as a teacher, [anonimizat]

I [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], [anonimizat], sometimes even cooking activities, I thought of using pleasant and joyful activities in the classroom for teaching different vocabulary issues mixed up with “a little bit” [anonimizat], [anonimizat].

[anonimizat]. [anonimizat], [anonimizat], [anonimizat] will be outlined the level of development of the four skills in English to students from two classes of 2nd grade.

I think we, as teachers, should continuously revise and refresh our methods and techniques quite often, for each generation of students is different from one another, their needs and interests change from year to year. As a teacher, I feel the need adapt my lessons according to students’ interests and the requirements of our changing society. I have to admit that sometimes I experience difficulties and feel that I am at a dead end with the teaching process, but I always try to find something that would raise my Ss’ interests and curiosity. Of course, as always, there are moments when I succeed, but there are moments when I have to embrace the failure. That’s why I try to build my teaching process around activities that are unexpected for my pupils, activities that they don’t usually do during any other class. The reward I get is sometimes beyond my expectations: happy little faces hardly waiting for the English teacher to come, curious and joyful pupils with a positive attitude towards the learning process. For me, these are the greatest accomplishments I can get as a teacher, together with the knowledge conveyed to my students.

In addition to imparting English skills, I think that teachers of foreign languages must foster socialization; heighten an awareness of the self, the immediate classroom community, and the community beyond the walls of the school.

They must also accomplish these goals through activities that are appropriate for both the chronological age and the cognitive development of the students and that hold their attention. In short, teachers must address the learner as a ‘whole person’ – the learner’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional aspects – with activities that are enjoyable

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

“Familiarity with German, English, Spanish, French and Italian is no longer sufficient for anyone wanting to keep abreast of modern civilisation… The tendency is for the world to have a single civilisation; but there is a multitude of languages of civilisation”

(Antoine Meillet, 1918)

This section of my paper will examine the globalisation of English language. It is unanimously acknowledged that the phenomenon of globalization involves new frequencies, systems and exercise of communication which are not reliant on geographical closeness, but also on one obvious outcome: the fact that globalization asks for new ways of using English language, as well as new directions of thinking about English as a language.

English language is found everywhere: on food containers, TV advertisements, millions of people speak it, it is the language of business, diplomacy and politics. It is the language of IT and communications, the language of computers, you can see English posters all over the world, you can hear English songs from artists that are not native speakers of English, “You’ll see it on posters in Côte d’Ivoire, you will hear it in pop songs in Tokyo, you will read it in official documents in Phnom Penh. Deutsche Welle broadcasts in it. Bjork, an Icelander, sings in it. French business schools teach in it. It is the medium of expression in cabinet meetings in Bolivia. Truly, the tongue spoken back in the 1300s only by the ‘low people’ of England, as Robert of Gloucester put it at the time, has come a long way. It is now the global language.” (The Economist, December 20th 2001)

The term “the globalization of English” can be understood in many ways, differing on how you look upon this matter. According to Heather Murray, a senior lecturer at the University of Berne, Switzerland, in her article, “The Globalization of English and the English Language Classroom” (www.doc.rero.ch) “globalisation” may denote the growing interference of the English language into the lives of town and city inhabitants all over the world. This could be an alarming phenomenon, which I personally agree upon. As Murray put it, “not only does it threaten to contaminate or wipe out local languages and cultures, but it also skews the socioeconomic order in favour of those who are proficient in English. How should the non-English speaking world react?”. Secondly, the globalization of English can also refer to the fast spread of English as a second and foreign language, in Murray’s opinion. With such a great number of non-native speakers of English, it seems to be communication between non-native speakers of English is far more common than the communication between native speaker or non-native speaker – native speaker communication. In a nutshell, English used as a lingua franca seems to be by far the most common form of English in the world today. If English lingua franca can be considered a variety of English in its own right remains a question to be answered. According to Murray’s research, there is a geographical classification into ‘inner circle’ countries (where English is considered the L1), ‘outer circle’ countries (where English is the L2), and ‘expanding circle’ countries (where English is learnt as a foreign language). It seems that “Inner circle Englishes have been described and codified, and outer circle varieties are also in the process of standardizing”. Whether learners from expanding circle countries should continue to look upon native-speaker English as their model or they should follow the example of outer circle countries, it’s a confusing matter. I believe that English teachers nowadays grow into confusion when referring to such a development and some of them don’t even know what or how much knowledge they should have or use about this phenomenon. Lastly, the globalisation of English language can refer to alterations that take place in all diversities of English owed to the contact with other varieties. (Murray, 2006:204)

There are case studies to demonstrate that poverty can sentence speakers of English as a second language to low-level of English proficiency, which, on the other hand, blocks access to better-paid jobs. People from poor countries, like South Africa and India, deal with the exclusion from the chance to improve their socio-economic status and they prefer to become more proficient in English rather than preserve their mother tongue. In India, for example, global English and IT ensure that economic power belong to the ‘whiz kids’ of the new elite, whose parents can afford to send them to English-medium schools. Also, another phenomenon happens with English words assimilated into the German language, a change that has been going on for some time, but which has recently intensified. The German language is in no way threatened by borrowed English words, but there are voices that call for development of a more critical attitude to the use of anglicisms in the media.

According to other studies, easily accessible presence of English language in many European countries, both inside and outside schools, is leading to different groups of learners creating ‘their personal language environments according to their individual needs and capacities’ (Murray, 2006:210). This situation, as well as differing attitudes to learning English, helps to explain differences in teenagers’ English proficiency. It is believed that for many Europeans, English is often learnt as a third language, simplified by previous language learning and contributing to general language awareness. Students are equally open to teaching materials that contain various native-speaker and non-native speaker accents, and they are generally receptive to the notion that the main pronunciation objective should be international intelligibility as opposed to near-native pronunciation. However, whether or not to correct ‘s’ for ‘th’ or ‘if you would be’ for ‘if you were’, the majority agree with the native speaker variant.

GLOSSARY

Conceptual delimitations

Lingua franca – also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language or link language; it is a language or dialect systematically used to make communication possible between people who do not share a native language or dialect, particularly when it is a third language that is distinct from both native languages. (www.wikipedia.com)

EAL – English as an additional language is a contemporary term (particularly in the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union) for English as a second language: the use or study of the English language by non-native speakers in an English-speaking environment.

GTM – Grammar Translation Method – a method of teaching foreign languages derived from the classical (sometimes called traditional) method of teaching Greek and Latin. In grammar translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native language.

CLT – Communicative language teaching or the communicative approach, is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study

CLL – Community language learning – a language-teaching method in which students collaborate in order to develop what parts of a language they would like to learn. It is founded on the Counselling-approach, where the teacher acts as a counsellor and a paraphraser, whereas the learner is seen as a client/collaborator.

CBT – Content-Based Teaching – or Content-based instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in language education, designed to provide second-language learners instruction in content and language , it is also called content-based language teaching – CBLT. Historically, the word content has altered its meaning in second language teaching. Content can be used to refer to the methods of grammar-translation, audio-lingual methodology, and vocabulary or sound patterns in dialog form. Lately, content is understood as the use of subject matter as a vehicle for second/foreign language teaching/learning – linguistic immersion.

TBLT – Task-Based Language Teaching – Task-Based Language Teaching is mainly a student-centred approach. It originates from the communicative approach, but it has developed its own distinct principles. It can be understood as a response to more traditional teacher-led and grammar-oriented approaches of language instruction, such as presentation-practice-production.

PYP – Primary Years Programme  is an educational programme managed by the International Baccalaureate (IB) for students aged 3 to 12. The subject areas of the PYP are language, social studies, mathematics, science and technology, arts, and personal, social and physical education. Students are required to learn a second language during the programme. Assessment is carried out by teachers according to strategies provided by the IB, and with respect to guidelines to what the students should learn specified in the curriculum model. The philosophy of the PYP is to make the students into “inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk takers, knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, well-balanced, and reflective”, using transdisciplinary themes.

IB – The International Baccalaureate (IB) previously known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is an international educational foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Diploma Programme and the IB Career-related Programme for students aged 16 to 19, the IB Middle Years Programme, designed for students aged 11 to 16, and the IB Primary Years Programme for children aged 3 to 12. To teach these programmes, schools need to be authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Tense = a set of forms taken by a verb to indicate the time (and sometimes also the continuance or completeness) of the action in relation to the time of the utterance.

PRESENTATION – PRACTICE – PRODUCTION, or PPP, is a method for teaching structures (e.g. grammar or vocabulary) in a foreign language. As its name suggests, PPP is divided into three phases, moving from tight teacher control towards greater learner freedom. Note that some writers use the name to refer to a specific method that focuses on oral skills, but it can also be applied more broadly to a family of related methods which rely on the progression from presentation, through controlled practice, to free production. (https://achilleaskostoulas.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ppp.pdf, 02.08.2018)

English as a Foreign Language = A traditional term for the use or study of the English language by non-native speakers in countries where English is generally not a local medium of communication. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) corresponds roughly to the Expanding Circle described by linguist Braj Kachru in “Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle” (1985). (http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/English-As-A-Foreign-Language-Efl.htm, 02.08.2018)

List of abbreviations

NNS – non-native speaker

NS – native speaker

L1 – a speaker’s first language, native language, or your mother tongue

L2 – a speaker’s second language, a foreign language, a target language, or a foreign tongue

ELT – English Language Teaching

SLA – Second Language Acquisition

ESL – English as a second language

EIA – English In Action

EAL – English as an additional language

T – teacher

S – student

Ss – students

GTM – Grammar Translation Method

CHAPTER I

THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAMMAR IN LEARNING AND TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE

“History has shown that the destructive potential of a single incorrect character can be staggering.” (Cameron Fennell)

1. The importance of grammar in everyday communication

It well known that grammar is very important when learning a language. Whether we talk about a native speaker or a non-native speaker, grammar plays a significant role in understanding each other and conveying the right message to the interlocutor. A simple comma or a misplaced word can change the whole meaning of a sentence.

English is a language generally accepted for communication between two non-native speakers. Many people often work in English as well as in their own language. The economic and cultural influence of the United States has led to an extensive use of English in many areas of the world. English seems to be one of the main languages of international communication, and even people who are not speakers of English often know words such as hot-dog, hotel, job, taxi, bank, computer, hamburger etc. However, the impact of media and internet is great, particularly upon young people and by some means English seems to be yet again the communication code.

In 1983, Kachru made a prediction which, if truthful, signifies that the number of second language speakers is greater than first language speakers: “One might hazard a linguistic guess. If the spread of English continues at the current rate, by the year 2000 its non-native speakers will outnumber its native speakers” (Kachru, 1983:3)

According to David Crystal anywhere between 600 and 700 million people in the world speak English, and of that huge number, a significant minority speak it as a second language. I personally agree with the idea that English will not necessarily remain dominant among world languages, but it is and will remain a vital linguistic tool for many business people, academics, tourists and citizens around the world who want to communicate at ease for many years to come.

English is such a popular and common language that everybody seems to understand it and tries to speak it. The focus is on its communicative role and its correctness is many times left aside. It seems that if two people understand each other’s message, it doesn’t matter whether grammar is used properly or not. However, the grammar of a language is the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and meanings, grammar is the path through which words can be combined into sentences, conveying a meaningful message in a language. As Harmer put it, “if grammar rules are too carelessly violated, communication may suffer, although creating a „good” grammar rule is extremely difficult” (Harmer, 2001:12).

A typical tree diagram will show one such description and demonstrate how grammar rules provide the scaffolding on which we can create any number of different sentences. If we take a simple sentence like “The boy kicked the dog”. it can be represented in the following diagram:

The boy kicked the dog.

Figure 1 – A grammar tree (Harmer, 1991:13)

This formulation tells that the/any sentence (S) contains a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP). The noun phrase contains a determiner (D) and a noun (N) whilst the verb phrase contains a verb (V) and another noun phrase (NP). The importance doesn’t necessarily fall on the particular way the grammar is represented here, but on the fact that the representation shows how this simple sentence is structured. Grammar gives people the possibility to make completely different sentences with totally different words: Michael speaks French. They don’t like ice-cream, etc.

In my opinion such descriptions are mainly the field of linguists, yet they give considerable awareness of the structure of a language. These rules are identified, at some subconsciously level, by all competent speakers of the language. As described in grammar books, this knowledge is frequently called competence, and its realization is defined as performance.

As we know there are many other rules that make a native speaker`s competence. We are used to say “It`s dad”, but when we hear the sentence “It`s the dad”, we notice that something is wrong. This is because there is the rule which says that before family names like mother, father, etc. the zero article is used. In my view, there are many people that use the correct form, without obviously knowing to explain why.

I believe that competent speakers know, consciously or subconsciously, how to use morphemes to modify the meaning or grammar of a word, area called morphology, and the order of words, which we call syntax, both being essential in communication, whether in writing or in speech.

The grammar of speech has its own principles of construction and it is usually organized differently from writing. Spoken English has its own discourse markers too (Biber et alii, 1991: 1066-1108): frequent non-clausal units (Mmm, No, Yeah) interjections (Ah, Oh, Wow), echo questions (Oh, did you say America?), hesitators (er, umm), condensed questions (Any luck?), response forms ( Sure, Ok, Yeah), fixed polite speech formulae (Congratulations!), and a variety of tags not found in written style (You`re OK, aren`t you?). According to Carter and McCarthy we need different grammar rules for speech and for writing as in any other language, too. Once we know the grammatical rules of a language we are in position to create an infinite number of sentences. However, while some rules are quite „easy”, others seem to be extremely complex. Nevertheless, competent language users know the grammar of the language and surely, they have some lexical knowledge, too – they possess vocabulary and know how to use and change words and structures.

As far as I’m concerned, the least difficult matter concerning vocabulary is the meaning: a word can have more than one meaning and the polysemy can be resolved when we see the word in context, the context being the key for conveying the precise meaning of the word/expression used. (see Figure 2)

Figure 2

The meaning of a word is often defined by its relationship to other words. As we know, a synonym, for example, is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. (Figure 3)

Figure 3

Words have synonyms that mean exactly or nearly the same as each other. Much will depend on the context the words appear in Figure 4:

Figure 4

Another relationship which outlines the meaning of words to each other is that of hyponymy, where words like potato, onion, cucumber, radish, leek, etc. are all hyponyms of the superordinate vegetables. And vegetables is a hyponym of other items which are members of the food family. We can express this relationship in the following diagram: (Harmer, 2001)

Figure 5: Hyponyms and superordinates

It is worth mentioning that the meaning of a word is not necessarily the same with what it suggests, i.e. words have different connotations, often depending on the context they appear in. For example, the word chubby has a very positive connotation when combined with baby, but it becomes negative in tone when associated with middle-age teacher.

Metaphors allow us to go beyond their denotational use, helping us to extend our range of expressions and interpretation, usually giving us the chance to explain our feelings in a way that portrays existing imageries.

While words can appear as single items which are combined in a sentence (Every mother praises her child when he/she learns a new word), they also occur in two or more item groups and these word combinations are known as collocations (She does the laundry every Friday and pays the bills on Thursdays.). Below (Figure 6) I have some examples of collocations with the verb “take”:

Figure 6

The way in which words and phrases meet up on the one hand, and grammar on the other, is through the operation of word classes or parts of speech, such as a noun, an adjective, an article, etc. If a word is a noun we then know how it can operate in a sentence. It’s the case as with word classes. i.e. verbs, determiners or prepositions. Only if we know the part of speech of a word, we are able to place correctly the other words in a phrase or sentence.

English words have been traditionally classified into nine lexical categories or parts of speech (Levițchi, 1970), as shown in the following table (Figure 7):

Figure 7

The four main parts of speech in English, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are labelled form classes. This is because prototypical members of each class share the ability to change their form by accepting derivational or inflectional morpheme. The term form is used because it refers literally to the similarities in shape of the word, in its pronunciation and spelling for each part of speech.

Neither written nor spoken English generally marks words as belonging to one part of speech or another, as they tend to be understood in the context of the sentence. There are many different ways of organizing words into sentences and to be sure what part of speech a word is, we have to look not only at the word itself but also at its meaning, position and usage in a sentence.

The parts of the sentence are a set of terms for describing how to construct sentences from smaller pieces (Figure 8). In sentences words take various syntactic functions, such as (Bădescu, 1984):

Figure 8

In my view, it is very important for students from secondary school to be taught clearly the rules of grammar, especially regarding the words and their place in the sentences. If there is a weak grasp over this, the purpose of the sentence dies because the writer or the speaker will be unable to communicate the message effectively. But, on the other hand, when talking about primary school students, I believe that teaching them rules of grammar is a waste of time. While at a higher level we can explain rules to students, at a lower level we should focus on conveying short messages, without explaining grammar, but rather making them talk through games, drills, helping the pupils to presume the place or meaning or words.

Of all the parts of speech or word classes mentioned above, I stopped at the verb and more precisely, the Present tense simple, as the main issue of my study because of the importance it has in students’ acquiring and use of the English language at a primary level. Present tense simple is important in English especially when used at lower levels.

A conventional approach, which I don’t entirely agree with, to teaching present tense simple may involve explanation of the grammar involved followed by oral or written exercises for reinforcement and confirmation that the student has mastered the form. Of course, this is applicable when talking about older student, not zero, first or second grade pupils. A much more effective method involves utilizing a game setup. Not only is it far more efficient; it is much more enjoyable, engaging and fun for both learner and teacher. However, the following chapters deal with lots of examples of exercises and methods practiced with my students when teaching and learning Present tense simple at a primary level.

2. The place of grammar in language teaching methods

The role and type of grammar instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching has been one of the most debatable issues for decades. The word grammar itself has a rather interesting etymology, coming from the Greek expression “grammatikē technē”, meaning “art of letters”, which also contains gramma “letter”- from graphene, meaning “to draw, to write”. Grammar is a widespread notion and has been defined in a number of ways by language teachers and grammarians. The Collins Concise English Dictionary (1982) defines it as (Figure 1):

Figure 1

In recent times, however, grammar instruction has come to reconsideration and regained its central role in the language learning and use. It is seen as valuable, if not indispensable, within the context of EFL teaching and learning, as without good command of grammar, learner’s language development will be severely constrained. “Grammar is a kind of sentence-making machine. In addition, some researchers suggest that learners who receive no grammar instruction seem to be at risk of fossilizing sooner than those who do receive instruction” (Thornbury, 2000)

The continuous debate over the effectiveness and the form of grammar teaching (and, consequently, of grammar instruction) has resulted in plenty of different methods and techniques of formulating grammar instruction, among which two stand out, namely the inductive and deductive method. Thornbury (2001), states that “no other issue has preoccupied the theorists and the practitioners as the grammar debate”. The discussion was centred on the methods that should be used for introducing new grammatical structures.

This cognitive or intellectual approach to language learning is commonly associated with the learning of copious grammar rules, or with boring exercises where the learner has to translate rules into skills. Krashen (1985) with “The Input Hypothesis. Issues and Implications” presented two different procedures of “language-rule accomplishment, conscious learning process and subconscious acquisition process”. Built on Krashen’s theory, consciously-learned grammar is capable to function as monitoring, instead of being a productive ability. A productive ability, such as speaking, can only be accomplished through “natural exposure to comprehensible inputs”. Therefore, proper and conscious study of grammar should be strongly rejected if the objective of learning a language is productive competence. This is an issue that I agree entirely with, especially if the language is taught in primary level.

Whereas Grammar Translation Method and Natural Approach drop at the end of contrary limits, some other methods are somewhere in between. Figure 2 below evidently designates the importance of grammar or just the importance of explicit or conscious grammar teaching, in different methods as illustrated by Thornbury, (2001) in his work “How to Teach Grammar.”

Figure 2 – The Relative Importance of Grammar in Different Language Teaching Methods

The picture describes the pattern of teaching of grammar from totally implicit to explicit teaching (zero grammar), to conscious grammar teaching that exists in Grammar Translation Method (GTM). GTM used grammar as the starting point for instruction. The teaching under this method started with explicit grammar rules presentation, followed by practices including translation into and out of the students’ mother tongue. The syllabus which was used was structural.

In between the two opposites, the Direct Method appeared to challenge the way GTM focused exclusively on written language. This method prioritized oral skills and while using structural syllabus, excluded explicit grammar teaching. Students were supposed to learn grammar simply by being immersed in the language.

As known, the Audio-lingual Method, which is very much similar to Direct Method, was also in favour of the importance of speech or oral skills, and it was even firmer in its rejection of explicit grammar teaching. The students were supposed to acquire grammar through drills.

Natural Approach and Deep-end Communicative Language Teaching (frequently called as Strong-version Communicative Language Teaching) totally reject explicit grammar instruction. The authors of the two approaches embrace the idea that grammar should be acquired subconsciously and naturally through direct exposure to language in use. The syllabus is not structural, but more functional and task-based. Though, in later progress, another version of Communicative Language Teaching Method, i.e. Shallow-end or Weak version, emerged because of the interpretation that grammar was too important to ignore. The method did not discard grammar teaching and although functional syllabus was used in this method, grammar was, in fact, still the key component of the syllabus, even though it was disguised in functional labels.

Another direction is given by F. De Saussure, the father of modern linguistics, who tried to express grammar as the “servant” and not the “master” of language. According to him (1916), language happened in speech and writing, and grammar had nothing to do outside of language.

Around the turn of the 20th century, linguists gave rise to Direct Method and Audio-lingual Method. The former came into existence as a response to GTM, as students should learn a second language in the same manner they learned their mother tongue. Grammar was taught through oral practice, drills, and repetition, not through memorisation and written manipulation of explicit rules. Audiolingualism, on the other hand, was another structural method that shared this implicit orientation toward grammar. However, inspired by Chomsky’s theory of UG (1965), cognitive approaches represented a shift back to more explicit grammar instruction. Then, the pendulum swung again toward the 1970s with the advent of humanistic approaches, particularly Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).

Unlike previous approaches, CLT emphasized meaningful interaction and authenticity in learning activities, which I am in favour of, too. It demonstrates that communication should be the goal of instruction. Moreover, grammar was not explicitly taught, followers instead believed that accuracy would be acquired naturally over time.

At the end of the twentieth century, another method has been announced in several places of the world, labelled Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT). CBLT is among the latest methods of the twenty-first century, focusing on outcomes or outputs of learning. Hence, CBLT focuses on competencies of a language, but also on the capabilities to perform the basic language functions to communicate in society. However, certain aspects of grammar are necessary before the students can perform the function successfully, which are at best obtained through communicative exercise.

Briefly, the twentieth century was a century of methods and approaches in the field of language teaching. Even though the principles of the methods are different from one another, there is always a focus on grammar, whether explicit or implicit. Therefore, at any time, at any stage and in any circumstances, grammar teaching cannot be diluted. I too believe and agree that grammar ought to be an important part in foreign language teaching, but not at a primary level teaching. Children cannot understand grammar at this point, so I think that they should learn it unconsciously, without explanations of theoretical structures at all.

Grammar teaching textbooks often go into various fashions, appropriate for verbal presentation, yet unsuitable for grammar workbooks. Moreover, grammar teachers can make their presentation as lively as possible by using some techniques and aids, such as: dialogues, pictures, time lines, highlighting, or some discovery techniques. To conclude, the presentation needs to be appropriate for the grammar point followed and for the target learners. All these principles make an effective grammar presentation.

In Harmer’s book Teaching and Learning Grammar (Harmer, 1987:18) and in Thornbury’s book How to Teach Grammar (Thornbury, 1999:25-27) there are presented several principles recommended for an effective teaching: efficiency, clarity, attention and motivation, and approach. Efficiency points to the fact that grammar should be presented in a way that students can use it on their own. Clarity is another important factor in a good presentation, Harmer (1987:18) claiming that “students should have no difficulty in understanding the situation or what the new language means”. Furthermore, the item should not reveal any difficulty to students to concentrate on it, and learners should be motivated to learn it. To conclude, the grammar presentation should be appropriately conveyed for the target learners. In my opinion, all these principles make an effective grammar presentation.

CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE

1. A FEW DEFINITIONS OF TERMS: APPROACH, METHOD, STRATEGY AND TECHNIQUE

There are many definitions for the word “approach” when referring to teaching and learning, but they all refer at the same thing (an overall picture on what teaching and learning is perceived), through different words. In my view and how I understand the term, it can refer to the way we, as teachers, look at teaching and learning. At the origin, any language teaching approach is a theoretical view of what language is and how it can be learnt. An approach can be the bigger picture of teaching and learning, and from it methods convey. In other words, an approach gives rise to methods, a method being a way of teaching something. Consequently, we use methods to teach something and the activities or the techniques are the means through which a method is put in practice. Therefore, we use activities or techniques, which at their turn, are means through which students learn.

For example, the communicative approach is the most popular contemporary approach to language teaching. Task-based teaching is a methodology associated with it. Other approaches include the cognitive-code approach, and the audiolingual method.

In the year of 1963, the linguist Edward Anthony made a distinction between the terms “approach,” “method” and “technique” as applied to language teaching and his concepts had a great effect on teachers and those who guided them. In his work “Approach, Method and Technique” Anthony suggested that an approach is the great organization of ideas and thoughts behind a teacher’s lesson plans, while a method denotes precise ways to teach English, and every method makes use of a variety of definite techniques: “The arrangement is hierarchical. The organizational key is that techniques carry out a method which is consistent with an approach …an approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning. An approach is axiomatic. It describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught…method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part of which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural…. Within one approach, there can be many methods…A technique is implementational – that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in harmony with an approach as well.” (Anthony 1963:63-67).

To put it simpler, I would say that a technique is a way of achieving a task. It is a plan designed for a specific result and it implies teacher’s personal style, it’s the personal art of the teacher in the process of teaching.

In an analysis of Anthony’s philosophies, later thinkers – Jack C. Richards and Theodore Rodgers – suggest reconsidering this hierarchy. Anthony’s set of rules can be improved, they suggest, by removing the notion of “technique” from the pyramid, and adding “design” and procedure. The next two categories replaced “technique” at the bottom of their hierarchy:

– Design: the two thinkers define design as “that level in which objectives, syllabus, and content are determined, and in which objectives, the roles of teachers, learners and instructional materials are specified.” (Richards and Rodgers 2001:24-30).

– Procedure: the implementation phase of language classes is where the “rubber hits the road”– the activities that help language learning occur. Rather than use the term implementation, they prefer the “slightly more comprehensive term procedure.” (Richards and Rodgers 2001:24-30).

The two researchers conclude their revised suggestion with the words: “…a method is theoretically related to an approach, is organizationally determined by a design, and is practically realized in a procedure.” (Richards and Rodgers 2001:24-30).

While an approach is general, a method is specific. As I understand the two terms, using less sophisticated words, approach is the way in which the teaching is approached, what we teach and why we do it, while method can be the way in which the teaching is done. Approach refers to the direction or angle from which we look at the teaching process, whereas method refers to the process itself. An approach refers to the theoretical context in general, it is a perspective, a method refers to step by step guiding principle. Generally speaking, the approach has to be decided before selecting the method, while the method can be chosen after deciding the approach, the direction.

I would say that a teaching method is an organised way of doing something. It implies an arrangement of steps in a logical and organised way. It is more procedural. Whereas a teaching strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.

2. APPROACHES TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The Deductive Approach

A deductive approach to teaching language means giving learners a set of rules at first, then some examples and finally practice. It is a teacher-centred approach. This is compared with the inductive approach, which on the other hand begins with examples and continues with asking learners to find rules, thus being more learner-centred.

The deductive approach is the most traditional method of teaching grammar. Fundamentally, the teacher describes the rule, usually in L1, and then has the students practice some examples. If a teacher was teaching present tense simple using this method, the explanation would be given and translated into the students’ first language. The teacher would explain how the verb changes into the third person singular when conjugating and would show a few examples. The teacher could then have the students practice in pairs while checking that they understood.

The advantage or disadvantage of this approach is that it is easy and familiar. Many students are accustomed to learning passively in this way. Likewise, students can be certain that they understand the rule as it was stated in their own language.

The reason why it could also be disadvantageous is because students aren’t as focused on memorising what words mean or what the rule is because it is clearly laid out for them. It’s easier to forget, because the student didn’t need to use his mental energy to memorise it initially. As well, as it’s not as engaging, it’s easy for the students not to keep focused and mentally drift off.

The clearest disadvantage is that if the teacher doesn’t speak the students’ L1 fluently, (when referring to non-native speaker teacher of Ss’ mother tongue), they won’t be able to explain the grammar. If the teacher does a long grammatical explanation that isn’t in the students’ mother tongue, there is a good chance that the students will get confused. Either way, this makes lengthy grammatical explanations a dicey procedure.

Another example of the deductive approach is when the teacher gives students the forms of present simple affirmative, then they do a fill-in exercise and finally the students prepare their own examples. This is an approach that I consider being not very suitable with young learners, especially for zero, first and second grade learners, because they (zero and second grade) don’t know to read and write very well/at all. It’s not engaging at all and may be boring for pupils from third and fourth grade. On the other hand, the deductive approach may be suitable with lower level students who need a clear ground from which to begin with a new language item, or with students who are familiar with a more traditional approach and who lack or are not used to find the rules themselves. So, it depends on the students we teach and the way we choose to conduct our learning. There are times during a class when we can approach the deductive approach, but I sincerely don’t use it every hour and with every class. As a teacher, I need to vary my approaches and methods, in order to arouse Ss’ interest.

The Inductive Approach

For the inductive approach, rules are also discovered and not directly discussed. As an alternative, students learn the rules through examples and testing them out. If a teacher is trying to teach how to change regular verbs into the third person singular, he/she can put verbs on the board (Figure 1) and show how they are changed from present first/second person to the third person singular by writing sample sentences and getting the students to repeat. Once the teacher thinks the students get it, the teacher can ask students to try and change additional verbs into the third person singular. Although the student may not be 100% sure, they will probably successfully add -s at the end of the verb and other grammatical features (e.g. “es” when the verbs end in “ch”, “sh”, “o”, etc.) as long as the teacher has given enough examples. This is applicable with the third and fourth grade students.

Figure 1

As an apprentice, this approach keeps your brain active as you try to figure out how the grammar works. When using this approach, the teacher will notice students asking questions, not necessarily directly, but by giving examples to test their theories. The teacher can then correct errors when appropriate or, if students don’t ask questions to set the rule in their mind, the teacher can give examples of incorrect sentences and make sure to show why they are mistaken.

I usually do not explain grammar using rules (in this case present simple tense, 3rd person singular, affirmative and interrogative forms, etc) but with the help of the inductive method which involves presenting several examples that illustrate the specific concept, e.g. Where does the teacher work? She works in a school. and expecting students to notice how the concept works from these examples. No explanation of the concept is given forehand because the expectation was that students learn to recognize the rules of grammar in a more natural way during their own reading, writing, speaking. Discovering grammar and visualizing how these rules work in a sentence allow for easier retention of the concept. The main goal of this teaching method is the retention of grammar concepts with teacher using techniques that are known to work cognitively and make an impression on students’ contextual memory.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it takes longer. It takes more time to prepare for, and it takes up more class time. That being said, as a teacher gets used to using this method, the amount of time will decrease. Actually, if a teacher teaches a specific grammar point a number of times, it would become quite naturally.

In my opinion there is no right or wrong approach to use when it comes to teaching language. The truth is that different situations call for different approaches. It’s important for me as a teacher to recognize these situations and use the right method, to keep my students on their toes, vary my methods, keep things fresh.

The Functional Approach

“In second language acquisition (SLA) functional approaches are of similarities with Chomsky's Universal Grammar (UG). Focus is on the use of language in real situations (performance), as well as underlying knowledge (competence)”. (www.en.wikipedia.org)

The functional approach is supposed to permit the learner to function effectively and is based on a teaching content designated for students’ needs. Earlier instruction focused more on the forms of the language rather than the deeper functional levels of language.

The forms of language refer to morphemes, words, sentences and the rules that govern them. Functions, on the other hand, are the “meaningful, interactive, purposes within a social context” (www.prezi.com), including greeting, requesting, giving advice, etc.

Michael Halliday (1975) (www.journals.linguisticsociety.org) defines seven functions of the language:

Instrumental: language used to satisfy a need on the part of the speaker, being directly concerned with obtaining food, drink and comfort.

Regulatory: language used to influence the behaviour of others, concerned with persuading, commanding, requesting other people to do things you want.

Interactional: language used to develop social relationships and ease the process of interaction, related to the phatic dimension of talk.

Personal: language used to express the personal preferences and identity of the speaker, sometimes referred to as the ‘Here I am!’, function announcing oneself to the world.

Representational: language used to exchange information, related to relaying or requesting information.

Heuristic: language used to learn and explore the environment; a child uses language to learn (questions and answers), or the kind of running commentary that frequently accompanies children’s play.

Imaginative: language used to explore the imagination and it may also accompany play as children create imaginary worlds, or may arise from storytelling.

The functional approach is said to be a model of performance. It is concerned with meaning, language in use and function. According to Halliday (1985), the functional approach has the next three features:

It is based on systemic theory. It means starting with the most general features and proceeding step by step so as to become even more specific.

It is functional in three ways:

– it deals with the way language is organized to achieve communicative functions;

– it points out three basic types of meaning, the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual;

– each component in a language is explained by reference to its function;

It is discourse approach. Its goal is to provide two levels of discourse analysis:

– the understanding of the text

– the evaluation of the text.

This approach aims to the use of language, not just to learning. Recent methods give priority to classroom activities that inspire students to use the language, rather than simply study it, and to exchange information. Communicative activities also demand a focus not just on the forms of language, but on the information that is conveyed through language.

The functional approach supports skill integration. Listening, speaking, reading, writing translating and learning language are seen as mutually supportive.

Grammar is considered to be just a tool to use language well, there is no need wasting much time on actual explanation. Surely, people connect or communicate not only in language, but also with their gestures, body posture and mind.

3. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF METHODS AND APPROACHES IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Marianne Celce-Murcia refers to nine approaches to language teaching: The Grammar-Translation, the Direct Method, Reading Approach, The Audiolingualism, The Oral-Situational Approach, The Cognitive Approach, the Affective-Humanistic Approach, the Comprehension-Based Approach, the Communicative Approach. (Celce-Murcia, 2001:5).

A very detailed, easy to understand and well-structured presentation of teaching methods is made by Diane Larsen-Freeman in her language teaching methodology book “Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching”. It is a very useful and valuable methodology book for teachers either beginners or experienced ones, which I recommend. The methods detailed in the book are: The Grammar-Translation Method, The Direct Method, The Audio-Lingual Method, The Silent Way, Desuggestopedia, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, Communicative Language Teaching, Content-based, Task-based, and Participatory, Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning and Multiple Intelligences. (Larsen-Freeman, 2008)

I anticipated to find and choose only the best method for teaching grammar. Thus, I tried to find the answer to the question ‘which method is best?’. Unfortunately, I couldn’t decide, and neither the author of the book gave a clear answer but I think that the best way to teach grammatical structures is through a combination of methods, depending on what grammar issue is to be taught, what is the language level of the learners, the teaching conditions, the teacher’s goal, etc. Among the methods mentioned above, I chose only those that I consider are suitable for teaching grammar. These will be detailed below and can be used in teaching process individually or combined.

The Grammar – Translation Method

The Grammar-Translation Method has been used by language teachers for many years. At one time it was called the Classical Method since it was first used in the teaching of the classical languages. Earlier in this century, this method was used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature. Finally, it was thought that foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually.

The principles of the Grammar-Translation Method are as follows:

The main purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language

The teacher is the ‘authority’ in the classroom and students do as T says

The teacher doesn’t have to be able to speak the target language and the instruction is given in the native language of the students

There is little use of the target language for communication

Focus is on grammatical parsing (i.e. the form and inflection of words)

There is early reading of difficult texts

A typical exercise is to translate sentences from the target language into the mother tongue or vice versa (Celce – Murcia, 2001: 6)

Techniques used in the Grammar – Translation Method are:

– Translating texts

– Reading comprehension questions

– Giving the antonyms/synonyms of some words

– Recognizing cognates

– Applying grammatical rules in examples

– Fill-in-the-blanks

– Memorization of words

– Use words in sentences

– Composition

I have used this method and I can’t say I’m totally for or against using it in the class. But when it is about speaking activities, this method is not very helpful. Students can hardly make a sentence or have a short conversation with one another, using only the grammar translation method.

However, I have noticed that this method helps some students to learn a certain number of words then they can translate simple texts and maybe ask and answer simple questions. This can be a real progress and makes them more confident in their capacity of learning English. But it isn’t enough because they have to speak as well. I use some of the techniques of this method but they are combined with other more communicative ones.

This method could be used in the case of visual learners as well, who learn better if they see a schematic and logical presentation as they have a logical thinking. It is also useful in the case of learners who are academically successful and reach high levels of language proficiency. However, it is better used in combination with other communicative methods.

The result of this approach is usually an inability on the student’s part to use the language for communication. Nowadays speaking English is a skill required on the market.

The Direct Method

Its principles have been applied by language teachers for many years. Most recently, it was revived as a method when the goal of instruction became learning how to use a foreign language to communicate. The Direct Method has one very basic rule: no translation is allowed; the meaning has to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students' native language. (Larsen-Freeman, 2008:23)

The principles of the Direct Method are:

The students learn to think in the target language

It is not permitted the use of mother tongue

In order to make meaning clear, there are used actions, real objects, pictures

Language is primarily spoken, not written

Lessons begin with dialogues and anecdotes in modern conversational style

Grammar is learned inductively, that is, students figure out the rule from the examples

Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations’

The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching and learning process

Literary texts are read for pleasure and are not analysed grammatically

The target culture is also taught inductively

Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar

The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible

Techniques of Direct Method are:

– Reading aloud

– Question and answer exercise

– Getting students to self-correct

– Conversation practice

– Fill-in-the-blanks exercise

– Dictation

– Map drawing

– Paragraph writing

– Suggestopedia

The Audio – Lingual Method

The Audio-Lingual Method is also an oral-based approach, it drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns and it also has a strong theoretical base in linguistics and psychology. It was thought that the way to obtain the sentence patterns of the target language was through conditioning – helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement. Learners could overcome the habits of their native language and form the new habits required to be target language speakers.

Principles of the Audio-Lingual Method are:

Students try to form new habits in the target language overcoming the old habits of their native language

Pronunciation is stressed from the beginning

The teacher is like an orchestra leader, directing and controlling the language behaviour of her students

Students are imitators of the teacher's model or the tapes she supplies of model speakers

New vocabulary and structural patterns are presented through dialogs

Grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are induced from the examples given, but explicit grammar rules are not provided

Drills are conducted based upon the patterns present in the dialog

Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-Lingual Method

Vocabulary is kept to a minimum while the students are mastering the sound system and grammatical patterns

The natural order of skills presentation is adhered to: listening, speaking, reading, and writing

I think that the level of complexity of the speech used in the classroom should be graded, so that younger students to be confronted with simple patterns.

Techniques of the Audio-Lingual Method are:

– Dialog memorization

– Transformation drill

– Question-and-answer drill

– Use of minimal pairs

– Completion of a dialog

– Grammar game (Larsen-Freeman, 2008: 46, 47)

In my opinion this method is used (involuntarily) by people who emigrate to a country where English is spoken by natives. They learn English from everyday situations, they form some habits of asking and answering questions by listening to native speakers and being involved in conversational situations, they have some patterns in their mind. But they don’t learn anything about grammar. When they have to produce some sentences, they are not always able to do it correctly, unless they have heard a pattern of that sentence.

Desuggestopedia

This method is illustrative of that which Celce-Murcia (1991) calls an affective-humanistic approach, an approach in which there is respect for students' feelings. The originator of this method, Georgi Lozanov, asserts that, the reason for our inefficiency is that we set up psychological barriers to learning: we fear that we will be unable to perform, that we will be limited in our ability to learn, that we will fail. Desuggestopedia, the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful or the negative association they may have toward studying and, thus, to help them overcome the barriers of learning.

One of the ways the students' mental reserves are stimulated is through integration of the fine arts, an important contribution to the method made by Lozanov's colleague Evelyna Careva.

One of the fundamental principles of the method is that if students are relaxed and confident, they will not need to try hard to learn the language, it will just come naturally and easily.

Principles that rule Desuggestopedia are:

Respect for the student/teacher and for their feelings is emphasized

The teacher is a counsellor or facilitator

Indirect positive suggestions are made to increase students' self-confidence and to convince them that success is reachable

Vocabulary is emphasized and Grammar is explicitly but minimally conferred

Speaking communicatively is emphasized – meaningful communication

The teacher also uses the native language in class when necessary

Instruction involves work in pairs and small groups

Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials and methods

Learning a foreign language is viewed as a self-realization experience

Techniques that characterize Desuggestopedia are:

– Classroom set-up

– Peripheral learning

– Choose a new identity

– Role-play

– Primary activation

– Creative adaptation

This method is easier to use with small children at kindergarten and primary school than students from secondary school, as they are more courageous and willing to assume a new identity. I have noticed that if they are familiarised to these techniques from an early age, students will be more receptive and will not have so many fears when they are asked to play a role and they will be more creative.

Total Physical Response (TPR)

Teachers who use TPR believe in the importance of having their students enjoy the

experience of communicating in a foreign language. The first phase of a lesson is one of modelling. The instructor issues commands to a few students, then performs the actions with them. In the second phase, the students demonstrate they can understand the commands by performing them.

One of the main reasons TPR was developed was to reduce the anxiety people feel when

studying foreign languages. One of the primary ways in which this is accomplished is to allow learners to speak when they are prepared.

Principles of TPR Method involve:

It is not permitted the use of mother tongue

Vocabulary and grammatical structures are emphasized over other language areas

The spoken language is emphasized over written language

Learners speak when they are ready

TPR is usually introduced in the student's native language, after that rarely would the native language be used

Meaning is made clear through body movements

Techniques used with TPR Method include the following actions:

– Using commands to direct behaviour

– Role reversal

– Action sequence (Freeman, 2008: 114 – 117)

This is another method I used successfully from kindergarten to 8th grade. Of course, teachers should adapt the level of difficulty according to their students’ progress in speaking English. For the beginner level I used the song and video clip of “The Penguin Dance” from the internet. It is very useful for teaching: Giving and obeying commands and practicing the adverbs, and for developing listening skill. Children love it so much that almost every lesson they ask me to allow them to sing it and dance

The Communicative Language Teaching Method (CLT)

Communicative Language Teaching aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of the Communicative Approach (Widdowson, 1990) by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication.

Principles of (CLT) Method are:

The goal of language teaching is learner ability to communicate in the target language

The content of a language course will include semantic notions and social functions, not just linguistic structures

Students work in groups or pairs to transfer or negotiate meaning in situations in which one person has information that the other(s) doesn’t (don’t)

Students often engage in role-plays

Classroom materials and activities are authentic to reflect real-life situations

Skills are integrated from the beginning: reading, speaking, listening and writing

The teacher’s role is primarily to facilitate communication and secondly to correct errors

Judicious use of the students' native language is permitted in CLT (Celce-Murcia, 2001:8)

Techniques used with (CLT) Method:

– Authentic materials

– Scrambled sentences

– Language games

– Picture strip story (scrambled sentences)

– Role-play

One of the basic assumptions of CLT is that learning to communicate will keep students more motivated (to learn a foreign language) since they feel they are learning to do something useful with the language.

Learning-centred grammar

Lynne Cameron, in her book “Teaching Languages to Young Learners” (2001) deals with another method of teaching grammar to young learners that is Learning-centred grammar. This method puts learning in the centre of the frame. At the basis of learning is the process of making meaning out of participation in the social world. As young learners’ minds stretch to find meanings in new experiences, so learning occurs. Good learning-centred grammar teaching is meaningful and interesting and requires participation from learners, and deals with how children learn and what they are capable of learning. Some principles of learning-centred grammar are presented by Lynne Cameron as follows:

The need for grammar

Grammatical accuracy and precision matter for meaning

Without attention to form, form will not be learnt accurately

Form-focused instruction is particularly relevant for those features of the foreign language grammar that are different from the first language or are not very noticeable

Potential conflict between meaning and grammar

If learners’ attention is directed to expressing meaning, they may neglect attention to accuracy and precision

Importance of attention in the learning process

teaching can help learners notice and attend to features of grammar in the language they hear and read, or speak and write

noticing an aspect of form is the first stage of learning it; it then needs to become part of the learner’s internal grammar, and to become part of the learner’s language resources ready to use in a range of situations

Learning grammar as the development of internal grammar

The learner has to do the learning; just teaching grammar does not make it happen

Grammar learning can work outwards from participation in discourse, from vocabulary and from learnt chunks

Learners’ errors can give teachers useful information about their learning processes and their internal grammars

The role of explicit grammar rules

Teaching grammar explicitly requires the learner to think about language in very abstract and formal ways, that some enjoy and some find it difficult

Children can master metalanguage if it is well taught; metalanguage can be a useful tool. (Cameron, 2001: 110)

It is true that sometimes grammar has no place in teaching English as a foreign language to young learners, as some teachers admit, when referring to the method of teaching grammar to primary and secondary school pupils. In my opinion, it is true that grammar is represented only by the lists of labels and rules written in the grammar books, but nevertheless it is closely tied to the meaning and use of language, and is interconnected with vocabulary. Young children can learn grammar but without knowing it’s actually grammar. Nowadays there are many communicative techniques that teachers use to teach grammar to young learners. Some of the young students are capable of learning terms like word, sentence, letter, moving on to learn about word classes and their labels (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions), about sentence construction (from seeing punctuation in written English) and early ideas about clauses as parts of sentences (for example, a sentence with two clauses joined with and), but I believe that it is not imperatively necessary. Graded introduction of metalanguage across the primary years, if done meaningfully and through discourse contexts, can give children a solid foundation for later study of languages (Cameron, 2001:106), but I think that is important keeping in mind that not all of them can master grammar notions from early age and that we, as teachers don’t have to insist very much upon this.

I believe that young learners need to be surrounded by and participate in meaningful discourse in the foreign language, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for grammar to be explicitly taught as formal, explicit rules in young learner classrooms to children under the age of 8-9, even till fourth grade. As children get older, so they are increasingly able to learn from more formal instruction, but we should remember that grammar teaching can often destroy motivation and puzzle children rather than enlighten them.

As I have noticed the most recent trends in language teaching remind us that grammar is needed, but CLT also teaches us that meaning-focused, communicative classroom activities do increase fluency in language use, and that there are interesting and meaningful ways to help learners to understand grammar.

Another aspect that is worth to be considered is that all communicative methods emphasize a change in the role of the teacher and of the students during the lessons. There is a shift from a teacher-centred model to a learner-centred approach to learning and teaching. Lessons will be carried on in an active and participatory environment. Further I will layout two grids that reflect the changes in roles mentioned.

The graphic below is showing the shift in the role of the teacher in creating an active classroom environment:

These changes in the role of the teacher will inevitably result in transforming the role of pupils in the classroom.

Next graphic is showing the shift in the role played by pupils in an active classroom environment:

These changes encourage teachers to reflect not only on the key principles of learning and teaching, but also on their role in the process.

In my opinion, the methods above-detailed are methods appropriate to teaching grammar. I think that a method used successfully by a teacher is not necessarily successful to other ones. There are methods more suitable for adult learners, others for younger ones and some that might be more appropriate for beginning-level language study, but not for intermediate or advanced. Using only one method in a lesson is not always the best choice made by the teacher, that’s why I consider many methods when preparing a lesson. The methods we put into practice can be shaped by the teacher, the students, the conditions of instruction, and the sociocultural context. Even if we prepare attentively language teaching activities for next day, this preparation does not always fit to what happens in the classroom, because not all circumstances depend on the teacher.

To conclude with, different methods are suitable for different teachers and learners in different contexts.

The Natural Approach

In 1977 Tracy Terrell, a teacher of Spanish, outlined a proposal for a new philosophy of language teaching called “The Natural Approach”. This was an attempt to develop a language teaching proposal that incorporated the “naturalistic” principles researchers had identified in studies of second language acquisition. At the same time, he joined forces with Stephen Krashen, to elaborate a theoretical basis for the Natural Approach, drawing on Krashen’s influential theory of second language acquisition. Krashen and Terrell’s combined statement of the principles and practices of the Natural Approach appeared in their book “The Natural Approach” published in 1983. (www.books.google.ro)

They see communication as the main function of language, and since their approach focuses on teaching communicative abilities, they refer to the Natural Approach as a sample of a communicative approach. Language is viewed as a vehicle for communicating meanings and messages.

“Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language – natural communication – in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding… The best methods are therefore those that supply ‘comprehensible input’ in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are ‘ready’, recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production. In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to help the acquirer understand are very helpful.” (Stephen Krashen, 1994: 47)

Much of Krashen’s recent research has involved the study of non-English and bilingual language acquisition. Krashen's widely known and well accepted theory of second language acquisition has had a large impact in all areas of second language research and teaching since the 1980s.

Krashen's “Theory of Second Language Acquisition” consists of five main hypotheses:

The Acquisition – Learning hypothesis

The Monitor hypothesis

The Natural Order hypothesis

The Input hypothesis

The Affective Filter hypothesis

A quote that captures the essence of the book: “What theory implies, quite simply, is that language acquisition, first or second, occurs when comprehension of real messages occurs, and when the acquirer is not “on the defensive” …Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. It does not occur overnight, however. Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills emerge significantly later than listening skills, even when conditions are perfect. The best methods are therefore those that supply ‘comprehensible input’ in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are ‘ready’, recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production” (Krashen 1982:16)

The Acquisition-Learning Distinction

Adults have two different ways to develop competence in a language: language acquisition and language learning. Language acquisition is a subconscious process not unlike the way a child learns language. Language acquirers are not consciously aware of the grammatical rules of the language, but rather develop a “feel” for correctness. “In non-technical language, acquisition is “picking-up” a language. “Language learning, on the other hand, refers to the “conscious knowledge of a second language, knowing the rules, being aware of them, and being able to talk about them.” (Krashen, 1987: 10-12) Therefore language learning can be compared to learning about a language. The acquisition – learning distinction hypothesis favors the idea that adults do not drop the ability to acquire languages the way that children do. Similarly, error correction has little effect on children learning a first language, so too much error correction has little effect on language acquisition. (www.sk.com.br)

The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Natural Order hypothesis is founded on research results quoted in Krashen which suggested that the achievement of grammatical structures follows a “natural order” which is foreseeable. For a certain language, some grammatical structures tend to be learnt early while others late. This order appeared to be independent from the learners' age, L1 background, conditions of exposure. There were statistically significant similarities that reinforced the existence of a natural order of language acquisition. The natural order hypothesis states that “the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order.” (www.sdkrashen.com). However, this does not mean that grammar should be taught in this natural order of acquisition.

The Monitor Hypothesis

The language that people/learners have subconsciously assimilated “initiates our utterances in a second language and is responsible for our fluency,” (Krashen, 1982: 83) while the language that learners have deliberately learnt tuns to be an editor in situations where the apprentice has sufficient time to edit is focused on form, and knowing the rule – like on a grammar test in a language classroom or when cautiously writing a composition. This conscious editor is so-called the Monitor. Different people practise their ‘monitors’ in different ways, with different degrees of success. ‘Monitor over-users’ try to constantly use their ‘monitor’, and end up “so concerned with correctness that they cannot speak with any real fluency.” (www.languageimpact.com) ‘Monitor under-users’ either have not consciously learnt or choose not to use their ‘conscious knowledge of the language’. Even though error correction by others has slight impact on them, they can often correct and improve their language based on a “feel” for accuracy. Teachers should focus on creating ‘optimal monitor users’, who “use the monitor when it is appropriate and when it does not interfere with communication.” (Krashen, 1982: 181) They don’t make use of their conscious knowledge of grammar in usual conversation, but will practise it in writing and planned speech. “Optimal monitor users can therefore use their learned competence as a supplement to their acquired competence.” (Krashen, 1987: 14-19)

The Input Hypothesis

The input hypothesis answers the question of how a language learner develops competence over time. It states that a language learner who is at “level I” must receive comprehensible input that is at “level i+1.” “We acquire, in other words, only when we understand language that contains structure that is 'a little beyond' where we are now.” This understanding is possible via the context of the language we are hearing or reading and our knowledge of the world. Yet, instead of aiming to obtain input that is exactly at our i+1 level, or instead of having the aim to teach us grammatical structure that is at our i+1 level, we should instead just focus on communication that is understandable. If we do this, and if we get enough of that type of input, then we will be receiving and thus acquiring out i+1. “Production ability emerges. It is not taught directly.” Confirmations for the input hypothesis can be found in the effectiveness of caretaker speech from an adult to a child, of teacher-talk from a teacher to a language student, and of foreigner-talk from a sympathetic conversation partner to a language learner.

One result of this hypothesis is that language students should be given an initial “silent period” where they are building up acquired competence in a language before they begin to produce it. Whenever language learners try to produce language beyond what they have acquired, they tend to use the rules they have already acquired from their first language, thus allowing them to communicate but not really progress in the second language. (Krashen 1987: 20-30)

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

Finally, the fifth hypothesis embodies Krashen's view that a number of “affective variables” play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to raise the affective filter and form a mental block that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it obstructs language acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition. Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety all affect language acquisition, raising or lowering the ‘stickiness’ or ‘penetration’ of any comprehensible input that is received. These five hypotheses of second language acquisition can be reduced to (Krashen, 1987: 30-33):

In sight of these conclusions, a question is raised: does classroom language teaching help? Krashen answers that classroom teaching helps when it delivers the necessary comprehensible input to those learners who are not at a level yet, which allows them to receive comprehensible input from “the real world”, or who do not have access to “real world” language speakers. It is also helpful when it provides students communication tools to make better use of the outside world, and it can provide useful conscious learning for optimal Monitor users.

Several research studies have been done comparing the volume of language competence and the amount of exposure to the language, either in classroom-years or length of residence, the age of the language learner, and the acculturation of the language acquirer. The results of these studies are consistent with the above acquisition hypotheses: the more comprehensible input one receives in low-stress situations, the more language competence that learner will have. Once it is understood that receiving comprehensible input is essential in acquiring a second language, questions are immediately raised regarding the nature and sources of this type of input and the role of the second language classroom.

Providing Input for Acquisition

According to Krashen, classrooms help when they provide the comprehensible input that the acquirer is going to receive. If learners have access to real world input, and if their current ability allows them understand at least some of it, then the classroom is not nearly as important. An informal environment has the opportunity to provide tons of input. Still, that input is not always comprehensible to a beginner and frequently, for an adult beginner the classroom, it is better than the real world in providing comprehensible input. Nevertheless, for the intermediate level student and above, living and interacting in an environment in which the language is spoken will probably prove to be better for the student, especially since a language classroom will not be able to reflect the broad range of language use that the real world provides. The classroom's goal line is to prepare students to be able to understand the language used outside the classroom.

Speaking (output) plays has no direct role in second language acquisition, since language is acquired by comprehensible input. Actually, someone who is not able to speak for physical reasons can still acquire the full ability to understand language. Nonetheless, speaking does indirectly help in two ways. First, speaking produces conversation, which produces comprehensible input, and second, your speaking allows native speakers to judge what level you are at, then adjust their speaking downward to you, providing you input that is more easily understood. The best input for acquisition is comprehensible, which sometimes means that it needs to be slower and more carefully articulated, using common vocabulary, not as much of slang, and shorter sentences. Optimal input is interesting, relevant and lets the learner to concentrate on the meaning of the message, not on the form of the message. Krashen sustains that optimal input is not grammatically sequenced, and a grammatical syllabus should not be used in the language classroom, as not all students will be at exactly the same level and also because each structure is often only introduced once, before moving on to something else.

Finally, optimal input has to focus on quantity, though most language teachers have to date seriously underestimated how much comprehensible input is actually needed for a learner to make progress. Moreover, for receiving the right kind of input students ought to have their affective filter kept low, meaning that classroom stress should be minimized and students “should not be put on the defensive.” One outcome of this is that students’ errors should not be corrected. Students should be taught how to increase their input from the outside world, as well as helping them get conversational competence, the resource of managing conversation. (Krashen, 1987: 57-81)

Community Language Learning

This method advises teachers to consider their students as “whole persons” (Moskowitz 1978). Whole-person learning signifies that teachers consider not only their students’ feelings and intellect, but also have some understanding of the relationship among students’ physical reactions, their natural protective reactions and their desire to study.

The Community Language Learning Method takes its principle from the more general Counseling-Learning approach developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates. Curran researched adult learning for many years. He revealed that adults often feel vulnerable in front of a new learning situation. Adults are afraid of the change, essential in learning and they are concerned not to look silly. Curran thought that a way to deal with the fears of students is for teachers to become “language counselors”. A language counsellor does not mean someone trained in psychology, it means someone who is a skilful individual who understands the struggle students face as they try to internalize another language. The teacher who “can understand” can show his acceptance to the student. By understanding students’ fears and being sensitive to them, he/she can support students overcome their negative feelings and turn them into positive energy to go on with their learning. (Curran 1976)

Teachers using this method want their students to use the target language communicatively. More, they want their students to learn about their own learning, to take increasing responsibility in it. These things are to be accomplished in a non-defensive manner. Non-defensive learning can result when teacher and learner treat each other as a whole person, and do not separate each other’s intellect from his or her feelings. The teacher’s initial role is that of a counsellor. At first the student is very reliant on the teacher. He/she is a “client” of the counsellor’s. It is known, however, that as a learner continues to study, he becomes more and more independent.

Methodologists identified five stages in this movement from dependency to independency. During stage four, roles switch. The student no longer needs the teacher’s reassurance and has an absolute sense of security. In a Stage one class students typically have a conversation in their native language. The teacher helps them express what they want to say by giving them the target language translation in chunks. These chunks are recorded, and when they are replayed, it sounds like a fairly fluid conversation, and mother tongue equivalents are written beneath the target language words. The transcription of the conversation becomes a “text”, with which students work in various activities: pronunciation drills, grammar exercises, creating new sentences, etc.

According to Curran there are six elements necessary for non-defensive learning. The first is security, followed by aggression (by which Curran means that students should be given the opportunity to express themselves, to get involved and devote themselves to the process of learning).

The third element is attention, students must directly focus on one task at a time. Afterward it is reflection, students reflecting on the target language. Retention is the fifth, the integration of the new material. The last element is discrimination, sorting out the differences among target language forms.

As time passes, the teacher removes himself from the circle of learning, encouraging students to interact with one another. According to Rardin (1977: 383 – 387), this method is teacher-student centred, where the student and the teacher are decision makers in the class. Building a relationship with and between students is very important. In a trustful relationship the threat that students feel is reduced, non-defensive learning is encouraged. Students can learn from their interaction with each other, as well as from their interaction with the teacher.

Yet, critics question the suitability of the counselling metaphor on which the method is built. Questions also rise whether teachers should take on special training. Other concerns have been about the lack of syllabus, which makes objectives blurred and evaluation difficult to accomplish, and the focus on fluency rather than accuracy, which may lead to poor control of the grammatical system of the target language.

Cooperative Language Learning

Cooperative Language Learning (CLL) is part of a more general instructional approach also known as Collaborative Learning (CL). Cooperative Learning is an approach to teaching that makes maximum use of cooperative activities involving pairs and small groups of learners in the classroom.

It has been defined as follows: “Cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others” (Olsen and Kagan, 1992: 8).

Cooperative Learning has backgrounds in suggestions for peer-tutoring and peer-monitoring that go back in time. The early twentieth century U.S. educator John Dewey is frequently credited with encouraging the idea of building cooperation in learning into regular classrooms on a regular and systematic basis (Rodgers 1988). It was more promoted and developed in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s as a response to the imposed integration of public schools. It has been substantially refined and developed since then. Educators were worried that traditional models of classroom learning were teacher fronted, fostered competition rather than cooperation, and favored majority students. They believed that minority students might fall behind higher-achieving students in this kind of learning environment.

In this context, Cooperative Learning wanted to do the following:

– raise the success of all students, including those who are gifted or academically handicapped

– help teachers build positive relationships among students

– give students the practices they need for healthy social, psychological, and cognitive development

– replace the competitive organizational structure of most classrooms and schools with a team-based, high-performance organizational structure (Johnson, et al. 1994).

In second language teaching, CL (where it is often referred to as Cooperative Language Learning – CLL) has been incorporated as a way of encouraging communicative interaction in the classroom and is seen as an extension of the principles of Communicative Language Teaching. It is seen as a learner-centred approach to teaching thought to offer advantages over teacher-fronted classroom methods.

In language teaching its goals are:

– to provide occasions for naturalistic second language acquisition through the use of interactive pair and group activities

– to provide teachers with a methodology which allows them to achieve this goal and one that can be applied in a variety of curriculum settings (e.g. content-based, mainstreaming, foreign language classrooms)

– to enable intensive care to particular lexical items, language structures, and communicative functions through the use of interactive tasks

– to provide chances for learners to develop successful learning and communication strategies

– to increase learner motivation and reduce learner stress, also to create a positive affective classroom climate.

Cooperative Language Learning is founded on some basic premises about the interactive/cooperative nature of language and language learning, building on premises in several ways.

Premise one mirrors the title of a book on child language titled “Born to Talk”. The author holds (along with many others) that “all normal children growing up in a normal environment learn to talk. We are born to talk … we may think of ourselves as having been programmed to talk … communication is generally considered to be the primary purpose of language” (Weeks, 1979: 1).

Premise two is that most speech is organized as conversation. “Human beings spend a large part of their lives engaging in conversation.” (Richards and Schmidt, 1983:117)

Premise three is that conversation works according to a certain agreed-upon set of cooperative rules. (Grice, 1975: 41-58)

Premise four is that an individual learns how these cooperative maxims are built in one’s native language through casual, everyday conversational interaction.

Premise five is that one learns how the maxims are built in a second language through participation in cooperatively structured interactional activities. This comprises using a progressive format or sequencing of strategies in the conversation class which carefully prepares students, that systematically breaks down stereotypes of classroom procedure and allows them to begin interacting fairly and independently.

Through this approach, students learn step-by-step, functional interaction techniques. Meanwhile the group spirit or trust is being built. (Christison and Bassano 1981: xvi).

Practices that attempt to organize second language learning according to these premises, explicitly or implicitly, are jointly labeled Cooperative Language Learning. In its applications, CLL is used to support both structural and functional models, as well as interactional models of language, since CLL activities may be used to focus on language form as well as to practice particular language functions.

Cooperative learning believers draw heavily on the theoretical work of developmental psychologists Jean Piaget (e.g., 1965) and Lev Vygotsky (e.g., 1962), both of whom stress the central role of social interaction in learning. As I have noticed, a central premise of CLL is that learners develop communicative competence in a language by conversing in socially or pedagogically structured situations. CLL supporters have proposed certain interactive structures that are considered ideal for learning the appropriate rules and practices in conversing in a new language. CLL also searches for developing learners’ critical thinking skills, which are seen as central to learning of any sort. Some authors have even elevated critical thinking to the same level of focus as that of the basic language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking (Kagan, 1992).

The word cooperative in Cooperative Learning highlights another important dimension of CLL. It tries to develop classrooms that foster cooperation rather than competition in learning.

From the perspective of second language teaching, McGroarty (1989) offers six learning advantages for ESL students in CLL classrooms:

increased occurrence and diversity of second language practice through different types of interaction

opportunity to develop or use language in ways that support cognitive development and increased language skills

prospects to integrate language with content-based instruction

opportunities to comprise a greater variety of curricular materials for stimulating language as well as concept learning

teachers’ autonomy to master new professional skills, particularly those emphasizing communication

chances for students to perform as resources to each other, assuming a more active role in their learning

The role of the teacher differs considerably from the role in a traditional classroom. The teacher has to create a very structured and well-organized learning atmosphere in the classroom, setting goals, scheduling and structuring tasks, creating the physical arrangement of the classroom, assigning students to groups, selecting materials and time. The teacher is a facilitator of learning, moving around the class and helping students as needs arise.

However, some have questioned CLL’s use with learners of different proficiency levels, suggesting that some groups of students (e.g., intermediate and advanced learners) may obtain more benefits from it than others. In addition, it places considerable demand on teachers, who may have difficulty adapting to the new roles required of them.

Content-Based Language Teaching

Content-Based Teaching or CBT denotes an approach where teaching is planned around the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus.

Krahnke offers the following definition: “It is the teaching of content or information in the language being learned with little or direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content being taught. (Krahnke, 1987:65)

The term ‘content’ became popular both within language teaching and in the popular media. “New York Times” columnist and linguist expert William Safire addressed it in one of his columns in 1998 and noted: “If any word in English language is hot, buzzworthy and finger snappingly with it, surpassing even millennium in both general discourse and insiderese, that word is content. Get used to it because we won’t soon get over it.” (New York Times, August 19, 1998, 15)

Even though content is used with a variation of different meanings in language teaching, it frequently refers to the substance or subject matter that we learn or communicate through language rather than the language used to convey it. Attempts to give priority to meaning in language teaching are not innovative. Approaches encouraging demonstration, imitation, miming, those recommending the use of objects, pictures and audio-visual presentation, and proposals supporting translations, explanation and definition as aids to understanding meaning have appeared at different times in the history of language teaching. Brinton, Snow and Wesche (1989) propose that Saint Augustine was an early proponent of Content-Based Teaching and quote his recommendations regarding focus on meaningful content in language teaching.

Content-based approaches have been widely used in a variety of different settings since the 1980s. From its earliest applications in ESP, EOP and immersion programs, it is now widely used in K-12 programs, in university foreign language programs, and in business and vocational courses in EFL settings. Its advocates claim that it leads to more successful program outcomes than alternative language teaching approaches. As it offers unlimited opportunities for teachers to match students’ interests and needs with interesting and meaningful content, it offers many practical advantages for teachers and course designers. Brinton and his associates observe: “In a content-based approach, the activities of the language class are specific to the subject being taught, and are geared to stimulate students to think and learn through the target language. Such an approach lends itself quite naturally to the integrated teaching of the four traditional language skills. For example, it employs authentic reading materials which require students not only to understand information but to interpret and evaluate it as well. It provides a forum in which students can respond orally to reading and lecture materials. It recognizes that academic writing follows from listening, and reading, and thus requires students to synthesize facts and ideas from multiple sources as preparation for writing. In this approach, students are exposed to study skills which prepare them for a range of academic tasks they will encounter.” (Brinton et al., 1989: 2)

Critics have noted that most language teachers have been trained to teach language as a skill rather than to teach a content subject. Thus, language teachers may be insufficiently grounded to teach subject matter in which they have not been trained. Team-teaching proposals involving language teachers are often considered unwieldy and likely to reduce the efficiency of both. However, because CBT is based on a set of broad principles that can be applied in many different ways and is widely used as the basis for many different kinds of successful language programs, we can expect to see CBT continue as one of the leading curricular approaches in language teaching.

Task – Based Instruction

Task-Based Instruction refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the central unit of planning and instruction in language teaching. Some of its proponents present it as a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching since it draws on several principles that formed part of the communicative language teaching movement from the 1980s. For example:

Activities that involve real communication are essential to language teaching

Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning

Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process

Tasks are proposed as useful vehicles for applying these principles. The role of tasks has received further support from some researchers in second language acquisition, who are interested in developing pedagogical applications of second language acquisition theory. (e.g. Long and Crookes 1993). In their view language learning is believed to depend on immersing students not merely in “comprehensible input”, but also in tasks that require them to negotiate meaning and engage in naturalistic and meaningful communication.

The key assumptions of task-based instruction are summarized by Feez (1998) in his work on a task-based syllabus:

The focus is on process rather than on product

Basic elements are focused activities and tasks that highlight communication and meaning

Learners learn language by interacting communicatively and decisively while engaged in activities

Activities and tasks can be the activities that learners might need to achieve language in real life and those that have a pedagogical purpose, specific for the classroom

Activities and tasks of a task-based syllabus are sequenced according to difficulty

The difficulty of a task depends on a range from several factors, including the previous experience of the learner, the complexity of the task, the essential language to take on the task, and the degree of sustenance available.

Tasks are alleged to stand-in processes of negotiation, modification, rephrasing, and experimentation, that are at the basis of second language learning. This interpretation is part of a more general focus on the critical importance of conversation in language acquisition. (e.g. Sato 1988). Tasks ought to also improve student motivation and therefore encourage learning. Students have to use authentic language, they have definite dimensions and conclusion, they are diverse in format and operation, they typically embrace physical activity, they include partnership and collaboration, they may rely on learners’ past experience, and they accept and encourage a variety of communication styles.

The materials used for instruction play an important part in TBLT because it is reliant on a sufficient supply of appropriate classroom tasks, some of which may need considerable time, inventiveness and resources to advance. Materials that can be exploited are restricted only by the imagination of the task designer. An extensive variety of realia, such as popular media can also be used as resources: Internet, newspapers, television, etc.

CHAPTER III

PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE IN DETAILED CONTOUR

1. General remarks on English Tenses

The first English grammar book is usually considered to be “A Bref Grammar for English” by William Bullokar and published in 1586. The English word “tense” comes from Old French “tens” “time” (spelled “temps” in modern French through deliberate archaization), from Latin “tempus” meaning “time”. It is not connected to the adjective “tense”, which comes from Latin “tensus”, the perfect passive participle of “tendere” –“stretch” (www.wikipedia.com).

The term “tense” in less formal contexts is sometimes used to represent any combination of tense proper, aspect, and mood. When referring to English, there are many verb forms/ constructions which link time reference to continuous and/or perfect aspect, and with indicative, subjunctive or conditional mood. Mainly in some English language teaching materials, some/ all of these forms can be represented by simply as “tenses”.

Using the correct tense and verb form is important in English grammar.

Time is a limitless interval in which things are considered as happening in the past, present or future. Time stands for an idea or concept with which all mankind is familiar. Time is independent of language. Tense refers to a verb form used to express a relation of time. Time is the same all over the world, whereas tenses differ in different languages. Explicitly, time can be represented as a conventional line, the past represented to the left, the future to the right. Between past and future points there is the present. As we know, time can be expressed in language in two simple elementary directions: lexical and grammatical. In the example “Maria is in her study at the moment”, the sentence delivers the present time in two ways: grammatically (is) and lexically (at the moment). When referring to lexical means, English has three sets of temporal “helpers”:

– those which denote the present (now, today, this morning, this week, this month, this century, etc.);

– those which state the past (yesterday, last week/month/year, last century, two minutes/days/weeks/months ago etc.);

– those which express the future (tomorrow, next minute/ hour/week/year, etc.; a minute/hour/day/week/month/decade from now, etc.).

But English cannot dispense with tense. On the one hand, if we consider the examples: “She + eat + now” or She + eat + yesterday” or She + read + tomorrow”, only the first construction could replace the grammaticalized way of expressing the ongoing process at the time of speaking. The other constructions cannot substitute the corresponding tenses, situation is generally expressed in English by using two tense forms: She ate yesterday/She was eating yesterday or She will eat tomorrow/She will be eating tomorrow. So, in English lexicalized time is semantically poorer as compared to grammaticalized time. On the other hand, if we delete the temporal markers from the above sentences, i.e. “She ate/She was eating’/She will eat/ She will be eating” the sentences will sound indefinite, they express time distinction in a general way, time is not made explicit.

To conclude with, English language needs both ways of expressing time, lexical and grammatical. Still, as has been exposed by John Lyons (1996: 312-3), there are languages (e.g. Chinese, Malay) that do not have tense. But tenseless languages are not semantically or expressively inferior than languages with tenses, the only condition being that they have enough range of lexical expressions (which express time).

It is known that tense does not always show real time. Let’s consider the present tense: “This man comes up to me and tells me that he wants to see the boss, so I didn’t think anything of it, and take him back to the office”. This sentence designates an event that occurred in the past but the verbs are mostly used in their present forms. Such a use, termed as the ‘historic’ present (or the ‘past’ present), is motivated by the wish to reach a dramatic effect, by bringing the situation into the moment of speaking. Other examples would be: “A rolling stone gathers no moss”, “Diane walks to school every morning.” “I leave for Paris tomorrow.”. The present forms of the verbs used in the above sentences do not show real time, they are not directly connected with the moment of speaking: a rolling stone may not now be in the process of gathering moss, Diane may not be walking to school now and I may not be leaving for Paris now. The first two sentences describe a habitual situation, a situation that holds at all times. Still, this does not mean that it does not hold at the time of speaking. In the last sentence, the present tense simple is used to refer to the future. As it is known, present simple is generally used for programmed (planned) events and timetables. A crash between tense and time can also be observed in sentences describing the plots of books/films: “This book describes a situation where a man is going off to report some trouble somewhere in America…On the way he gets on the wrong train and ends up in the wrong place. (Downing and Locke, 1992)

The present tense with a past connotation is frequently used in reporting information: “Paul tells me (i.e. told) he has changed his job”/ “The weatherman forecasts (i.e. forecast) heavy showers in the north”, etc.

When talking about past forms, a few examples are needed, too: “I thought you were at the seaside. / I was wondering whether you needed any help. / Did you want to see me now? /I wish I weighed less than I do. / If he went tomorrow, he could get all his work done. /He said he would not marry her.” In all these examples the past forms of the verbs do not express the past time: they express present time with the exception of the last sentence in which the past form would refers to future time. (Valeika and Buitkienė, 2003: 74-80). In conclusion, we cannot simply connect the Present Tense with the meaning of ‘present time’ and the Past Tense with the meaning of ‘past time’. Though, the basic sense of the present form of the verb is present time and the basic connotation of the past form of the verb is past time. The meanings expressed by the above sentences are resultant from the basic meanings, they are secondary meanings.

Tense can be considered as a deictic category; any process must be located in time. If not, it is useless communicatively. For locating it in time, it is necessary to establish some arbitrary reference point – the present moment, or the moment of speaking. Tenses suggest situations either at the same time as the present moment, or prior to the present moment, or subsequent to the present moment. A system, which recounts processes to a reference point is called a deictic [´daiktik] system. Tense is “deictic” because it relates processes to the present moment: “processes that occur at the same time as the present moment are expressed by the present tense; processes that occur before the present moment are expressed by the past tense and processes that occur after the present moment are expressed by the future tense. These tenses we will call absolute. Tenses that are established with reference to some other point in time are relative” (Valeika and Buitkienė, 2003: 74-80).

The category of tense in English is a system of two-member antagonisms showing the relation of the time of the process denoted by the verb to the present moment, or the moment of speaking.

The present tense is the unmarked member of the opposition. It is the least specific in sense and thus can be used to show a varied range of temporal meanings. The present tense is also unmarked morphologically, except for the –s inflection. Its forms are identical with the forms of the ‘bare’ infinitive. The past tense is marked both semantically and morphologically. Past tense refers to a process that is imagined as remote, either in time or as unreality, and in the vast majority of verbs it has a separate past form.

The learning of all English tenses is very important for English learners, being them native or non-native speakers, in order to improve their communication skills, both in written and spoken English. Additionally, correct use of tenses supports them in speaking with other people clearly and effectively, besides, it allows students to increase their level of readability or to write accurately.

For maintaining a good and effective communication student should use appropriate tense, also it is necessary to use accurate form of English verbs for appropriate time. Students need to conjugate verbs properly by focusing on the structures of tenses and modal tenses, so that they can create clear and effective sentences.

English tenses are divided into three general categories: Present Tenses, Past Tenses, Future Tenses, each category including several tenses. The basic tenses of English language will help language learners in gaining effective communication skills.

There are twelve basic tenses in English, which I will illustrate in the following scheme.

Each tense differs in form, spelling rules, use and time expressions. In the following pages I will talk about present tense simple and its important features, how young learners from primary level understand and use it in the classroom and the way in which I succeeded to teach it, the activities I conceived and the exercises I proposed.

2. Formation of Present Simple

Present Simple is formed using the subject (i.e. the subject pronoun or noun) and the main verb. We usually add an “-s” to the third person singular in the affirmative. In the interrogative and negative forms we use the auxiliary verb do/don’t with I, you, we and they and does/doesn’t with he, she and it. We do not add -s to the main verb when it appears with does/doesn’t.

As we can see, affirmative sentences in the simple present tense do not have an auxiliary verb. However, this rule has an exception. And this exception adds extra emphasis to the sentence.

I do agree with you. (More emphatic than I agree with you.)

She does want to come with us. (She really wants to come with us.)

He does want to quit smoking. (He really wants to quit smoking.)

She does want to go on a vacation.

I do respect him.

There are also other exceptions from the rule. The verbs: be, have or modal verbs have different forms in the present simple.

The verb “to be”

The verb “be” has no auxiliary verb in the negative or interrogative forms. It is a verb that can function alone, without the need of any other adjuncts.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs behave differently from other verbs. They do not take ‘s’ in the third person, there is no difference between first person, second person or third person forms. As the verb “to be” described above, modal verbs also have different question forms and negative forms in simple present.

The same happens with other modal verbs (he must/he must not/he mustn’t; he may/he may not/; he might/ he might not) with slight differences: ‘may’ doesn’t have a short form, as well as ‘might’.

The verb ’need’ can be used with or without auxiliary verb in the present, with changes in meaning.

The verb “to have”

The verb “have” is irregular in positive, third-person forms

3. Spelling rules of the third person singular

Most verbs take ‘-s’ in the third person singular. Verbs ending in ‘-ss’, ‘-sh’, ‘ch’, ‘-x’ and ‘o’ take ‘-es’.

e.g.: I miss – He misses

I finish – He finishes

I watch – He watches

I mix – He mixes

I go – he goes

Verbs ending in a consonant + y, drop the ‘y’ and take ‘-ies’.

e.g.: I study – He studies

I cry – He cries

I try – he tries

Verbs ending in a vowel-y, take ‘-s’.

e.g.: I play – He plays

I say – He says

I pay – He pays

I annoy – He annoys

The verbs can, may, might, must, shall remain the same in all forms.

e.g.: He can ride a bike.

She must study hard.

4. Pronunciation of verbs in the third person singular

The suffix of the third person singular is pronounced in three different ways:

– /s/ when the verb ends in /f/, /k/, /p/ or /t/ sounds: laughs, stops, sits

– /iz/when the verb ends in /s/, /ʃ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, or /z/sounds: kisses, washes, watches, changes

– /z/ when the verb ends in any other sound: swims, plays, runs, reads, studies

5. Use of Present Simple

The basic meaning of present tense is the setting of a situation at the present moment/ the moment of speaking. Generally, situations designated by simple present tense start before the moment of speaking and may even continue into the future, but this is an implicature which derives from the context of the verb. The simple present does not explicate anything about the quality of the situation it just locates it at the present moment, thus the simple present tense is neutral to aspect. Utterances like “I sing” make implications about the situation being imperfective, which are however not made explicit. However, the simple present tense has multiple uses, it can be applied to refer to states, events and present habits as well as to future and past time. (Leech et al., 2001: 423-424). The simple present can in the same way be used in proverbs and geographical statements like “Honesty is the best policy” and “Rome stands on the River Tiber”, since they are identical in their temporal structuring. (Leech, 1971: 6)

Additionally, the simple present can be used to refer to eventualities in the future, as in sentences like “I start work next Tuesday” or “The plane leaves at eight o’clock tomorrow”. But this is only possible when the future situation is fixed or marked by a high degree of certainty, such as being part of a time schedule (The sun rises at 4.40 this morning).

The simple present tense can also be used to refer to eventualities in the past. This is usually done when the author of a (fictional) narration wants to make it more intense and is therefore telling the story not in past time reference, but in present tense. This type of present tense is also called historic present. Kirsten explains the various possibilities of using the simple present tense as follows: the present time reference of the present tense can be extended to a time reference which is not constrained to any time, henceforth the present tense can refer to any time, past, present or future. Besides, he elucidates the realistic character of the simple present tense and its characteristic of viewing possibilities as a complex whole from outside, making it inclined to be used in descriptive, argumentative and explicative texts for an objective communication of facts. (www.tu-chemnitz.de)

To put it simpler, using a more accessible language, we use the present simple:

– for permanent states, repeated actions and daily routines

e.g.: He works in a shop. (permanent state)

He takes the train to work every day. (daily routine/repeated action)

– for general truths and laws of nature

e.g.: The sun sets in the west.

– for timetables (planes, trains, buses, etc.) and programmes

e.g.: The plane from Bucharest arrives at a quarter past seven.

– for sports commentaries, reviews and narration

e.g.: Sanderson overtakes Williams and wins the race. (sports commentary)

Michael Dalton plays the part of Macbeth. (review)

Then the prince gets on his horse and quickly rides away. (narration)

– to give instructions or directions (instead of the imperative)

e.g.: You sprinkle some cheese on the pizza and then you bake it. (instead of: Sprinkle some cheese…) (Dooley and Evans, 1999: 6)

6. Time expressions

Time expressions show whether an action happened in the past, present or future. For instance, when we use the phrase ‘two years ago’, we are clearly referring to the past. On the other hand, if we say ‘next week’, the direction is to the future.

There are no fixed grammar rules for the use of time expressions. Time expressions can normally be used at the beginning or at the end of the sentence. There are plenty of time expressions for the present, past and future. There are some expressions that we can use both with the present simple or with the past simple.

e.g.: I wake up at 6 o’clock every morning (present routine)

I used to wake up at six o’clock every morning when I was a child. (past routine)

The present simple is used with the following time expressions:

Days of the Week

On Monday(s), on Tuesday(s), on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday, on Sunday

e.g.: Jennifer has her programming course on Wednesday.

When speaking about an action that is repeated every Saturday, Monday, etc., we use the day of the week adding ‘s’ at the end, and use either the present simple to speak about present routines or the past simple to discuss past habits. We do not use these expressions with continuous, perfect or perfect continuous forms.

The Weekend

In British English: at the weekend or at weekends (in general) and in American English: on the weekend or on weekends (in general)

e.g.: I play tennis at weekends.

She visits her mother on the weekend.

Moments of the Day

We use the following time expressions to express things that happen during the day

In the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night

e.g.: They do the cleaning in the morning.

He goes to bed late at night.

every + day, month, year, every two months etc.

We use these expressions to talk about actions that repeat at a certain time

e.g.: She travels to Las Vegas every year.

Jack tries to exercise every day.

Expressions such as every day, once/twice a week/month, etc., most mornings/evenings, etc, go at the beginning or the end of a sentence.

e.g.: We go on holiday twice a week.

7. Adverbs of frequency

The present simple is often used with adverbs of frequency (always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely, never, etc.) to show how often something happens. The adverbs of frequency answer the question “How often…?”

e.g.: How often do you go to bed early?

I always/usually go to bed early.

Adverbs of frequency come before the main verb (listen, watch, etc.), but after the verb to be and auxiliary or modal verbs, such as can, must, should etc.). They go before the auxiliary verbs in short answers.

e.g.: Susan often goes skiing at the weekend.

Kim is sometimes rude to other people.

You can always call me if you need help.

Do you help your mother with the housework?

Yes, I usually do.

Does Roger often call you during the week?

Usually, often, sometimes, normally and occasionally can go at the beginning or at the end of a sentence for more emphasis.

e.g.: Usually, I finish work at five.

I feel bored sometimes.

The adverbs rarely, seldom and never have a negative meaning and are never used with the word ‘not’.

e.g.: Emily never watches horror films.

You must always behave yourself at school.

8. Non-continuous verbs

State verbs are verbs which describe a state rather than an action and therefore are not normally used into continuous tenses. These include:

verbs which express likes and dislikes: like, love, dislike, hate, enjoy, prefer, adore, etc. (e.g.: I love chocolate ice-cream.)

verbs of perception: believe, know, notice, remember, forget, recognise, understand, realise, seem, think, see (= understand), expect (= think), etc. (e.g.: I expect they will be late.)

verbs of the senses: see, hear, smell, taste, feel, look, sound. We often use can or could with these verbs when we refer to what we see, hear, etc. at the moment of speaking (e.g.: Jim must be at home. I can see his car parked outside.)

some other verbs such as: be, contain, include, belong, fit, need, matter, cost, mean, own, want, owe, have (= possess), require, weigh, appear, wish, keep, (= continue), etc. (e.g.: My uncle owns a hotel.)

Some state verbs have continuous tenses, but there is a difference in meaning, i.e. they describe actions and not states. Below, I have given some examples:

I think he’s lying. (= believe)

I’m thinking about the plan. (= am considering)

The food tastes delicious. (= has a delicious flavour)

He is tasting the food (= is testing the flavour of)

I can see some people. (= perceive with my eyes)

I see what you mean. (= understand)

I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow. (= am meeting)

It looks as if they’ve finished the job. (= appears)

Mike is looking out of the window. (= is viewing)

The perfume smells nice. (= has a nice smell)

He is smelling the milk. (= is sniffing)

The baby’s hair feels like silk. (= has the texture of)

She is feeling the baby’s forehead. (= is touching)

The chicken weighs two kilos. (= has a weight of)

The butcher is weighing the meat. (= is measuring how heavy it is)

This dress fits you perfectly. (= it is the right size)

We are fitting new locks. (= are putting in)

He appears to be nervous. (= seems)

He is appearing in a new play. (= is acting)

He is a rude person. (= character – permanent state)

He is being rude. (= behaviour – temporary situation, usually with adjectives such as careful, silly, (im)polite, lazy, etc.)

Bob has a Porsche. (= possesses)

He’s having a shower at the moment. (= is taking a shower – idiom)

Some idioms with ‘have’ include:

– have breakfast/lunch/dinner

– have a bath/shower/swim/party, etc.

– have a(n) accident/experience/dream, etc.

– have a baby

– have difficulty/fun/trouble, etc. (Dooley and Evans, 2006: 10)

The verb ‘enjoy’ can be used in continuous tenses to express specific preference.

e.g.: I’m enjoying this party a lot. (specific preference)

I enjoy going to parties. (I enjoy parties in general)

The verb ‘look’ (when we refer to a person’s appearance), feel (= experience a particular emotion), ‘hurt’ and ‘ache’ can be used in either the continuous or simple tenses with no difference in meaning.

e.g.: You look/are looking great today.

9. Common mistakes

In his book on mistakes and correction Julian Edge suggests that we can divide mistakes into three broad categories:

slips: mistakes that Ss can correct themselves, once the mistake has been pointed out to them

errors: mistakes which Ss cannot correct themselves and which therefore need explanation

attempts: when a student tries to say something but does not yet know the correct way of saying it (Edge 1989, Chapter2) (Harmer, 2003: 99)

The causes for the errors which most of the students make at various stages are L1 interference and developmental errors, as stated by Harmer.

Since the 1960s to 1970s the error analysis is used to find the answers to the problems students encounter during the learning process. As specified by Corder and revised by Richards, errors are weighty in three ways: “A learner’s errors …are significant in three different ways. First to the teacher, in that they tell him if he undertakes a systematic analysis, how far towards the goals the learner has progressed…. Second, they provide researchers with evidence of how language is learned and acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the language. Third, they are indispensable to the learner himself because we regard to the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn.” (www.sciencedirect.com)

Some students are so eager to know about English grammar and to learn the ‘rules’, forgetting that grammar is just one element used in communication to express yourself and understand others.

A common mistake in the present tense simple is to forget to put the -s ending on the he/she/it forms. All verbs, except modals, must end in -s in the third person singular affirmative as in the following examples: “Peter drink water” instead of “Peter drinks water”. When referring to primary students, I can say that I usually don’t correct them verbally when they speak, I usually repeat their sentence correctly one or two times but I don’t tell them they are wrong. I simply don’t correct them because I don’t want to inhibit them. When talking about writing the correction is necessary and clear (especially in the third and fourth grade written texts)

A second common mistake that my students make is to add the -s to the he/she/it forms of negatives and questions, instead of adding the -es form to the auxiliary (do), they put it to main verb (work): “Sam doesn’t works in in a shop.”, instead of “Sam doesn't work in a shop”. In the chart below, there are mentioned other mistakes that Students usually make.

(www.engames.eu)

Subject/verb agreement

The idea is to match a plural verb with a plural noun and vice versa. Some people also get confused with subjects such as “nobody” or “everyone”. These nouns are singular and refer to more than one person: “Everyone has an important thing to do” or “Nobody wants to feel disappointed” and not “Nobody want….” Or “Everyone have….”

Mixing up the past and present tenses

This is a common error in fiction literature writing but it becomes obvious in business correspondences too. In some cases, service or product descriptions are written in the present tense to depict a sense of urgency or immediacy. The error that occurs in such instances is the failure to maintain the present tense.

Apostrophe errors

As I know apostrophes are typically used for two reasons: to represent a letter(s) omitted from contractions (i.e. ‘don’t’ for ‘do not’) or to express possession (A toy is the boy’s best present). Nowadays, however, a common grammatical mistake is to misuse apostrophes to express plural tense: “Only dog’s should eat dog food” instead write “Only dogs should eat dog food”

There is a confusion of “It’s” and “its”, typos in common writing, especially in descriptive writing. “Your car has lost it’s value instead of “Your car has lost its value”.

CHAPTER IV

TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE TO PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

Classifying types of play is as problematic as giving a concise definition to what play is. “Play cannot be easily defined or categorized because it is always context dependent, and the contexts are varied. There are many different forms of play including role play, imaginative play, socio-dramatic play, heuristic play, constructive play, fantasy play, free flow play, structured play, rough and tumble play, all of which involve a wide range of activities and behaviours and result in varied learning and developmental outcomes.” (Wood, 2005)

Detailed play activities may be described by more than one of the proposers above. It is likely to look at themes across play activity. For children play is mainly a fun activity engaged in by choice. In the situation of teaching, the teacher has the possibility to choose, by persuasion or by limiting the variety of possible play activities. The teacher can manipulate the learning environment and provide for a series of play occasions that possibly will be of interest to the child. The play will be planned according to Ss’ potential, as a way to offer developmental and learning experiences. The teacher plans for learning, controls and helps the learner, but does not control the outcomes. The child is an active learner taking part in activity with his own potential for learning. Learning is likely to happen but not certain. Sometimes what is learned is not what was intended but even so valuable. (Irish Conference, 2007: 29).

1. TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE THROUGH IMAGINATIVE PLAY

What is imaginative play?

As a teacher I realise the value of play for making learning entertaining, and I believe in the idea of developing an attitude toward playing creatively. Play is a valuable tool for learning and life and significant for students to experience in schools. While play appears in diverse ways across content, it usually reflects an attitude toward learning and a way to teach and learn through creative experimental play. I support the idea of the importance of play for developing a brighter, creative approach to learning, giving children a mental break from the current educational climate of based on testing, indoor teaching and standardized assessment. I have to admit that we focus so much on curriculum, and I think our students need an opportunity to give their brains a break and play, leading to a lot of interesting thinking. It means creativity, pupils discover, experience and try new things. It is believed that play leads to creative thinking (Root-Bernstein, 2003: 267–278) (Mishra et al., 2011: 22-28) One of the things my students remember when asked about English lessons was that their favourite thing about third grade was inventing songs for learning.

Reasons for using imaginative play

The recognition of play as a natural stage of childhood creativity is similar Vygotsky’s (1978) notion of imaginative play as a developmental phase for creative development.

Play is an essential factor in childhood and in learning and thinking in ways that are fun and creative. But the structure of schools separates play from learning, and it is my responsibility to share that sense of playful learning with students. As a teacher, I feel like it is somewhat my responsibility to let pupils play, oftentimes it leads to a state of mind when creativity can happen more willingly, and also can be a starting point for ideas. The need to play is in contrast with the difficulty of having it in traditional school environments. Kids get all excited about going to kindergarten and they’re just encouraged to get there. By the time they get to school in primary or secondary school, they are mostly disappointed with education and it’s just not fun anymore.

Play excites the mind's eye and enlarges the child’s perception of the world they live in. Creativity and imagination are indispensable to a child’s play and carry the child from their own existence towards vast alternative universes, limited only by the child’s own capacity to invent. The influence of play, as a primary approach to teaching and learning in the early years, is widely acknowledged. “The informality of the learning experience inherent in the curriculum for infant classes, and the emphasis it gives to the element of play, are particularly suited to the learning needs of young children.” (Irish Conf, 2007: 29)

During imaginative play, children manipulate materials, express themselves verbally and non-verbally, plan (intentionally or unintentionally), act, interact, react, and try different roles. Imaginative play contains role-play and any form of play where “the children pretend they are someone else or somewhere else. It taps into the child’s capacity for fantasy and builds on his/her experience of story”, as stated in “Approaches to Teaching and Learning”, Conference on Education driven by the Irish National Teachers’ Organization, 2007, in Dublin.

Types of imaginative play activities

Furthermore, I will describe a few imaginative play activities that can successfully used during English classes. These kinds of activities engage students in doing something with their own hands and then enjoy their work by playing with their work. But teachers have to pay attention that children do not use their mother tongue during these activities. Teachers monitors them and helps them during the activity, also provides the necessary vocabulary and verbs they need to act in their imaginative role plays. This can be done before the project itself: children learn the new vocabulary items through different activities, worksheets, pictures, short video sequences, even outdoor in natural surroundings.

Small World Desert Play

This is an activity that promotes imaginative play. It’s an activity through which pupils can learn and discover about deserts, the climate, plant life, animal life and much more. For arousing interest in the early years learning the children can build their very own Small World Desert.

Materials

– a large tray or container

– clean sand

– mixed desert animal figurines

Activities

– Re-create the sand dunes in a desert by pushing sand together and patting gently to form hills.

– Create prints in the sand using the figurines.

– Compare the foot print sizes of the camels and other creatures.

– Play imaginatively and make up pretend stories with the desert animals.

– Hide the figurines in the sand and try and find them again

– Introduce a large paint brush to sift the sand around to find the hidden figurines.

– Count out loud the number of figurines.

– Talk about the names of the animals and search for them in books/ flashcards

Learning opportunities

– Creativity

– Fine Motor Development

– Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

– Problem solving

– Language development – naming desert animals

– Imagination and pretend play

– Sensory play

(www.learning4kids.net)

Creating your own Small World Desert provides an opportunity to play and learn imaginatively. It is also a sensory activity that encourages creativity and oral language development. We can tell children about camels and/or we can play a video for them (I think a video is more appropriate because Ss are exposed to language and can see in the same time, for example. For example, we can tell Ss that camels are a huge part of the Arabian culture and were domesticated for transporting both people and goods, but also provide a good source of milk, meat and wool. Also, we can use pictures for desert animals/ food/milk and gestures. Primary students are very captivated by such an activity and from my own experience, I can affirm that my pupils hardly wait the English class. What can be more satisfying for a teacher than hearing applauses and pupil’s voices asking for you to come in the class and have an English hour?

Underwater Zoo Aquarium

Similar to the previous activity, creating an Underwater Zoo Aquarium provides an opportunity to play and learn imaginatively. This is also a sensory activity that encourages creativity, oral language development and early classifying skills.

Materials

– aquarium tank or large container

– blue pebbles

– water

– mixed sea creature figurines

Activities

– Use a small toy net to catch the sea creatures and name them as you catch them.

– Sort the sea creatures into dangerous and non-dangerous or water animals and water/land animals.

– Play imaginatively and make up pretend stories with the sea creatures.

– Talk about the different animals, their names and what they look like.

As a part of this imaginative play experience, the teacher can add three tubs labelled ‘water only’, ‘land and water’ and ‘land only’ – for sorting and classifying the different sea creature figurines. This offers a chance to name and talk about the different animals and where they live and what they eat, maybe describe them in terms of colour, size (big, small, little, tall, short) shape (round, oval), body parts (long/ short legs/neck/tail, big/ small eyes/ears/mouth, it has/doesn’t have hair/sharp teeth, etc)

Learning Opportunities

– Creativity

– Fine Motor Development

– Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

– Problem solving

– Language development – naming sea creatures in English

– Imagination and pretend play

– Classifying and sorting

Pool Noodle Activities

This is an activity through with pupils pick up different coloured pompons with tweezers (or small tongs) and place them into the matching hole of the pool noodle. involves picking up different coloured pompoms with tweezers (or small tongs) and placing them into the matching hole of the pool noodle.

Threading activities are brilliant for providing opportunities to develop fine motor and coordination skills. Threading Pool Noodles is an ‘enlarged’ or ‘supersized’ version of other threading activities. For this activity, a long and thick ribbon is used for threading and tied one portion of the pool noodle to the end. This acts as a stopper and prevents the other pool noodles from falling off as the child is threading them on.

“Balancing Pompoms on Pool Noodles” is very similar to the “Matching Coloured Pompoms” activity mentioned earlier, but this time using larger pompoms. The larger pompoms do not fit inside the hole of the pool noodle and the child is required to try and balance the pompoms without them falling. The challenge to try and make the pompoms balance is very exciting for children and they will have so much fun completing this activity. This activity can also be completed using fingers as children are still performing the pincer grasp to pick up the pompoms and are coordinating their actions to place them into the matching pool noodle. Adding cut up portions of pool noodles to a child’s play area provides them with another tool to play creatively and imaginatively with. Children can create structures and add other toys such as dolls or toy cars to the experience. (www.learning4kids.net)

Learning Opportunities

– Fine Motor Development

– Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

– Experimentation – trial and error

– Problem solving – over challenges

– Concentration

– Spatial awareness – experimenting with shape and space

– English language development – colour names, communication of process, numbers

– Mathematics – counting, measurement

– Colour recognition in English

Play Dough Flower Pots

Making a dough flower pot and making a potted garden with play dough is a fun way for children to play resourcefully and imaginatively. Children can imagine themselves to be gardeners, horticulturalists, they can make patterns, press, squish, roll and manipulate the play dough to create whatever comes to mind.

Materials

– fake/ real flowers

– pebbles

– small garden pots/ice cream cups that have the form flower pot

– play dough from the shop/ play dough recipe (see Appendix 5)

The ideas are endless to make and create imaginatively using the play dough and other props.

Learning opportunities

– Fine Motor Development

– Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

– Cause and Effect

– Concentration

– Language development

– Imaginative play

– Creativity

This activity is great for numbers in English, practising counting out loud and one-to-one correspondence. Another activity in this project could be that of sorting and classifying – Arrange each pot with one type of flower or one colour flower only. Ss can practice names of flowers, colours, why not component parts of a plant. It can be varied, modified and adapted at any level of study.

Making Patterns and Sorting Colours

A basket full with a variety of coloured fake flowers can give Ss the opportunity to learn in different ways different things. Children can explore ideas, concepts, using their imagination, they can make patterns or learn colours.

Materials

– coloured fake flowers

– coloured paper

– jars

This activity can lead the pupils into the role of a florist and play creatively as they pretend to make bouquets of flowers using fake flowers and other props. This activity could be extended and other pops could be added to create a pretend play Florist.

As a teacher you can improve the activity, by making the fake pots resemble as much as possible to real flower pots, by adding tubs of dirt or an array of different size vases/flower pots. Also, you can bring in watering cans, gardening gloves, tissue paper to make bouquets of flowers, office equipment such as a telephone for taking orders, paper or clipboard and pencils, different types of cards, such as Get Well, Congratulations, or Happy Birthday.

Sorting Coloured Flowers is a fun, interactive and motivating way to reinforce and extend learning colours. You can cut out coloured paper that matched the colours of the flowers and label the jars for sorting the different colours. Integrating patterns activities into the classroom helps Ss to be aware of patterns in their surroundings. Pupils benefit a lot from sorting. grouping objects and patterning. Primary school students like recognising, creating, copying and extending patterns.

Learning Opportunities

– Self-correcting and problem solving

– Fine Motor Development

– Hand-Eye Coordination and Control

– Predicting – what is coming next?

– Concentration

– Language skills: naming labelling and pronunciation.

– Literacy: Connecting the written word with the colour.

– Mathematics – recognise, copy and create simple two-part patterns

– Explore ideas, theories using imagination

Teaching patterns to children is not only Algebra. Algebra is about seeing relationships and when Ss recognise and create patterns they begin to see and understand how things work together.

2. TEACHING PRESENT SIMPLE THROUGH MANIPULATIVE PLAY

What is manipulative play?

Manipulative or constructive play is play with natural and man-made (toys and equipment) materials. It is physical play in which the fine and unpolished motor skills are important. Playing with sand, water and Lego are examples of this type of play. Small world play belongs here too because it involves recreating the world the child knows in miniature form, though the manipulation of real world objects in miniature. It is also imaginative, as the child has to suspend disbelief and pretend. (Irish Conf, 2007: 30)

Manipulative play can denote those activities where children move, command, turn or screw objects to make them fit. It permits children to take control of their world by understanding the objects they use. It is said to be an individual activity, but when enough resources are provided it can also be a cooperative activity.

Manipulative play is believed to allow children to exercise control with their fingers and hands, develop eye-hand coordination, as well as improve their fine motor skills.

Additionally, manipulative play supports the communication strand, where children experience the symbols of their culture, such as those related to mathematical notions; and as well the exploration strand, where children develop working theories about spatial understandings and where they learn strategies for active thinking, reasoning and exploration. (www.education.govt.nz)

Reasons for using manipulative play

Manipulative play can help children to practise making decisions, study about size, shape, height, weight, length, get used to sequences, comparison, order, textures, patterns, colours. Also, pupils learn to examine and solve problems, develop awareness and determination, learn about cause and effect.

Teachers, as well as parents, or school can support students by providing a series of manipulative equipment and resources: talking to them about what they are doing, to encourage discussion, allowing them to explore at their own pace, keeping the area and the resources tidy and attractively displayed.

Types of manipulative play activities

Manipulative play can happen indoors or out: the floor indoors or a protected spot outdoors, a carpet square will give warmth and comfort. Equipment needs to be clearly labelled in storage containers, and children are encouraged to bring items from home.

A group daytrip could be planned to gather things such as shells and stones. Ideas for equipment could include: threading materials (i.e. beads and cotton reels) screwing materials (i.e. nuts, bolts and small plastic jars with lids), a variety of items for sorting and matching for colour, shape and size, stacking toys (e.g. blocks, Lego), a sensory treasure basket for pupils.

The sensory basket

A sensory basket contains things from the natural world: pine cones of different sizes, big feathers, fruit, vegetable, balls of wool, large leaves, rose petals, sticks, stones, small cloth bags containing lavender, rosemary or thyme; material world wooden objects: egg cups, cotton reels, bowls, coloured beads on string, blocks, door knobs, wooden spoons; leather or rubber: leather purse, leather glass case, tennis balls or other rubber balls; metal objects: pots and pans, egg cups, shiny bowls, lengths of chain, measuring spoons, keys, lemon squeezer, strainer, sieve; and other objects: scarves, bracelets, beach balls, blow-up swimming rings, cardboard boxes, ribbons, woollen balls, etc.(www.education.govt.nz)

As seen, these objects are related to a theme or have a common characteristic. Treasure baskets can be an inexpensive, fun, focused way to speak English with kids in a classroom.

At the origin of this concept is the Montessori method of education, which designated this activity for toddlers and babies up to the age of two. Adapted for language learners, treasure baskets can be used with a wide range of ages. In addition, in the traditional Montessori concept, a child explores the objects herself, and adult interaction is not essential. As a second language learning activity, treasure baskets depend on a teacher providing language input.

With primary school students, the teacher may want to move to boxes or other containers depending on the objects collected. There has to be a designated space on the floor or a table top to play with the collection. If children spread out too much, it is hard to engage them with the target language.

The teacher can add an object that prompts an action. A hand-held mirror can be used, so pupils can see themselves with scarves, sunglasses, hats, etc. They can reactivate vocabulary items such as: sunglasses, eyes, ears, action verbs: put on, wear, take off; light, dark, etc. We can include small objects to put in a collection of boxes or jars.

With groups, we can pass objects around or have children exchange objects after a short time. There is a fair amount of chaos, but also lots of opportunity for language. Here they can take a word flashcard and exchange it for the object. They can describe the object, etc. There are many variations of this activity that we can use in the classroom. We can take picture of them playing, providing another way to re-enter language later. A teacher can take photos of the treasure basket collections for speaking or writing prompts. Treasure baskets are best as a hands-on activity, but displaying items and photographing them can also be useful.

There are several benefits of using Treasure Baskets with English language learners:

– they are inexpensive and easy to create using objects around the house

– themed treasure baskets provide the opportunity for focused language and repetition

– baskets are high-interest and can be easily changed when the children are ready for new items to explore

– a collection of objects engages children with the language for a period of time

– the baskets hold their attention in the way a single object would not

– the activity is student-centred: T provides the basket, but the student decides how to examine and play with the objects. No matter how the objects are used, there is potential for comprehensible input and repetition because the objects relate to a theme

– Baskets make comprehensible input easier by limiting references, the language is naturally focused on the objects

– treasure baskets let you use verbs, adjectives and prepositions with a limited set of references so that children understand.

– vocabulary can be repeated as objects are used in different baskets. For example, a red glove could be included in a basket of gloves and later in a basket of red objects

Other objects that can be included in treasure baskets are: items of a certain colour, items of a certain shape, items of a certain texture, nuts and bolts, magnets and metal items, magnifying glasses and small things to magnify. boxes and jars, jewellery and a mirror, noise makers, rattles, shakers, drum sticks and pad, whistles, eye glasses or sunglasses and a mirror, stones, shells, scraps of cloth, seeds, spoons, animal figures, old photographs, hats and a mirror, scarves and a mirror, beads and pipe cleaners, things with wheels, coins from different countries, stamps from different countries, flash lights of different sizes, decorative cut scissors and scrap paper, feathers, bells, ribbons, etc (www.spanishplayground.net)

Story Dice or Story Stones

When teacher’s goal is to get students talking, this activity is a perfect stimulus.  Either blank dice or flat smooth rocks can be used. The teacher can write words on those rocks or draw pictures on them. We can include some nouns such as people, objects or places as well as some actions. Then students roll the dice or choose five to seven rocks from the bag. They must then tell a story incorporating each of the items they have chosen or rolled.

Popsicle Stick Vocabulary

We can make a simple manipulative with popsicle sticks and a marker. We just write one word on each of several popsicle sticks. Then we place them in a learning centre and students can give each other practice spelling tests. They can be used to play a game of charades or Pictionary. Or, students pull three or four and put them into a sentence, filling in the necessary grammatical blanks for those sentences.

Action Dice

It can be used to make an action game for a great verb teaching activity. Each side of the dice is labelled and each student takes a turn rolling them. The student must then do the action on the dice. An alternative is to combine the action dice with a second dice labelled with nouns, animals or people for example. Then each student acts out the animal or person doing the verb that they rolled.

Vocabulary Cards

Vocabulary cards include a variety of cards that can be used for many purposes in the ESL classroom.  Also, one sided vocabulary cards can be used for matching games. Students lay all the cards on a flat surface and turn over one pair at a time. They can match pictures to vocabulary words, definitions, synonyms or antonyms. These cards to create Bingo boards for vocabulary practice and review.

Magnetic Letters

Using magnetic letters for spelling activities give students something to handle when they practice forming words. We can provide a cookie sheet or oil drip pan as a magnetic board on which students can work. Next, vocabulary cards are provided, or a list of vocabulary, for students to use as models when arranging their magnetic letters. Young children will particularly enjoy this activity and will absorb vocabulary and spelling as they play.

Ice Breaker Blocks

One ice breaker on each block is written. When students pull a block from the tower, they must answer the question before putting the block on the top of the tower. Students love this game, and they often want everyone to answer the question before the next person takes a turn. This game is good for more than just the first week of class, too. Even students who know each other well enjoy finding out interesting facts about their friends and classmates.

Articulation Boxes

We start with a small box and cut a piece of paper with the right height to fit into the box. Then we fold the paper accordion style and glue the first page to the lid of the box and the last page to the bottom of the box. On each page, pictures /small items are glued, that will get students talking. Pictures of vocabulary words can be used, even students can make their own boxes. Then we can use them as story starters, vocabulary drillers or puzzles. (a question on the first page can be written and then one clue is glued on each subsequent page. The answer is written to the puzzle on the last page of the book.) Once having a decent collection of articulation boxes, they make for a great learning centre for students’ free learning time.

Lego Words

Duplo or large connecting blocks are more suitable giving more room for word labels. First, we have to print out labels with various words and stick them to the blocks. We can use random colours or coordinate the block colour with the part of speech for each word. Then, students have to put them together to make sentences or words. We can make colour patterns for them to follow using the different parts of speech, or we can challenge students to see who can come up with the longest grammatical sentence and, resultantly, the largest tower of blocks. We can also use these blocks for many other vocabulary games. (www.busyteacher.org)

3. TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE THROUGH CREATIVE PLAY

What is creative play?

Creative play refers to play where there is an end product that was not there when play commenced. Creative play can track from free play when the children express their ideas and feelings imaginatively in new constructions, sounds, movements or series of movements. Some commentators see play as essential to the creative process. Carl Jung puts it: “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” (Irish Conf, 2007: 33)

Another definition of creative play would be “children's play (as modelling or painting) that tends to satisfy the need for self-expression as well as to develop manual skills.” (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

Reasons for using creative play

Bill Gates echoed the previous comments when he said that the child’s “impulse to make a toy do more is at the heart of innovative childhood play. It is also the essence of creativity.” (www.books.google.ro) It seems that discouraging play will have a limiting effect on progress and creativity, reducing our world’s capacity to imagine and achieve what could be amazing and possible. Play is vital. Those who wish call a child away from play to do work instead, may be in great error when they believe that the work will be more productive. (Irish Conf, 2007: 33)

Types of creative play activities

There are many activities that can be carried out at school, as part of creative play activities. Great prospects for learning are possible when children take part in creative play with dolls, vehicles, blocks, rocks, cardboard, or boxes. Using creative thinking while manipulating play dough, creating recipes by mixing dirt and water, working with art materials, splashing in puddles, or pretending to fly can further child development.

Singing and Dancing

Most pupils love to perform, from nursery rhymes and songs to current pop hits. A song during English class is a fun session for young learners. They can make their own music. A wooden spoon and an old pot can be just as much fun as a shop bought children's instrument.

Role play

Children love to pretend playing and like disguising. A good idea to use is the shop role play. Ss take turns at being the buyer and the shopkeeper. Role play is an excellent way to let the child’s imagination take over.

Reading

Picture books are a great way of communicating with your pupils at an early age. They have short reading texts with adequate language and vocabulary. Reading aloud is a good way to develop language, communication skills and learn new vocabulary.

Craft activities

Painting, drawing, gluing, colouring in, playdoh, stamping, chalking, modelling clay, stencils

Baking:

Kids love to help out in the kitchen. Some simple baking with them will help stimulate their imagination. They can help to weigh out the food, mix the ingredients and ice/decorate the cakes or biscuits.

Gardening:

Children love being out in the fresh air and like the independence of carrying out simple tasks at this age. They like to be independent and would love a little patch of the garden to call their own, or even a grow bag that they can put some plants in and take care of. Choose a few plants that are quick to grow as children become bored easily and lose interest quickly. Sunflowers are a good choice of plant for outdoors, and cress is great for growing indoors, with quick results. Gardening not only provides the child with physical exercise, but teaches them about the environment too.

4. TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE THROUGH GAMES

Games in teaching grammar

“Language is immensely powerful, but it can also be loads of fun. In fact, a sense of fun can make language more powerful …. Language and play complement and enrich each other. A fusion of the two produces language games.” (Rooyackers, 2002: Preface)

Games have a significant didactic value, used in the classroom to encourage learners to cooperate, to be original, spontaneous in using the language in a meaningful way, without thinking that they can make grammatical mistakes. Young learners enjoy taking part in activities, play games and having fun while learning.

Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin, authors of “Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar” clarify in what way and why games are useful for teaching grammar in an ESL classroom. They sustain that “Games and problem-solving activities, which are task-based and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, are the examples of the most preferable communicative activities.” (www.eslbase.com)

In my opinion, grammar games help children not only increase their knowledge, but also apply and use that learning in a fun way, without any constrains and consequences. Games are used as methods or techniques to involve students in learning. Well-chosen and designed games are priceless, giving students a break and at the same time as allowing them to practise language skills.

Games in education have the advantage of letting learners to repeat and internalise vocabulary and grammar structures. That’s because students are frequently more interested in playing games than they are to work wilfully. Besides, while playing students are absorbed by the activity and end up internalising the language subconsciously. Fun learning games usually contain repetition, which allows the language to be learnt.

The benefits of using games in the classroom

The benefits of games grow from the cognitive aspect of language learning to further co-operative group dynamics. As a result, games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. I believe that games can be used for practising all language skills and many types of communicative topics.

In my opinion, one of the advantages of using games is that pupils learn vocabulary and grammar in the classroom:

– Games are relaxing and fun, so the learners keep in mind words more easily;

– Games involve friendly competition, keeping learners interested and motivated;

– they create a meaningful context for language use;

– games encourages active learning, collaboration and interaction;

– Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class;

– They are motivating and challenging;

– Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning, as learning a language requires a great deal of effort;

– Games provide language practice in the various skills – speaking, writing, listening and reading.

– Games can connect to various types of intelligences (www.ac.els-cdn.com)

– games reduces student’s anxiety to speak in front of the others, Ss feel less overwhelmed in this less formal learning situation;

Students acquire knowledge through experimenting, discovering and interacting with the close environment. Students need variation to increase their motivation. By using games, students already have a context in which the use of the target language is immediately useful. This learning situation is similar to how native language speakers would learn without being aware they are studying.

I think that that using game activities increase the collaborative and the competitive instinct among students in a classroom. A game can enhance excitement over competition or even generate connections and closeness among students and teacher. Learning a language requires continuous effort and sometimes it can be exhausting or even boring. There are several benefits of games that I became aware of during my teaching activity: games are amusing, challenging and extremely motivating in a classroom, they tolerate mistakes and lead to meaningful use of the language in context; and the last but not the least important advantage is that young learners are more interested in learning grammar through games, than through any other activity.

The theory of intrinsic motivation also confirms and supports the idea that teaching grammar through games truly works. As I read, the intrinsic motivation refers to the internal reasons that encourage us to do something. The majority of young learners do not internally agree that they want to learn grammar. They don’t yet know or understand the concept of necessity of proper grammar, so the external factors, as a teacher telling them that this is important, won’t affect them much either. But intrinsic motivation can lead to encourage them to play games. If a game is good, pupils will be learning while playing.

Characteristics of educational games

A game is an activity which has rules, a goal and an element of fun.

According to the principle of competitiveness there are two kinds of games: competitive games, where players/ teams race to be the first to reach the goal, and co-operative games, in which players or teams work together towards a common goal.

According to the goal of the activity there are: communicative games, as different from linguistic games; i.e., they are activities with a non-linguistic goal or aim. Successful accomplishment of the game involves resolving a task, as drawing in a route on a map, filling in a chart, or finding two matching pictures, rather than the correct production of a structure. Nevertheless, in order to carry out this task it will be necessary to use language, and by careful construction of the task it will be possible to specify in advance roughly what language will be required. (Hadfield, 1990: V)

If we think about the skills we want to develop during a lesson, games can be receptive games (listening and reading games) and productive games (speaking and writing games). Games are exceptional learning activities for children.

When I am in search for games to use in my classroom, I usually don’t just pick a game as a ‘time filler’, which does not have a definite linguistic result. Sometimes there is not necessary time to do games for the game’s sake, I usually want my game to be in harmony with the lesson, and the benefit is double: Learners are both entertained and introduced to specific language or vocabulary. Using gestures and movement is a key that opens and activates students’ mental capacities. Gestures and movement stimulate neural networks, therefore promoting learning and retention. Children can stand up or sit down, move various parts and pass things around to one another.

The game can be a listening game, which allows students to repeatedly hear a new grammatical structure in use.

It can be a speaking game, practising the grammar once it has been absorbed through listening beforehand. There are degrees of difficulty with speaking games: from basic repetition in a fun context to more original sentence creation for revision or more advanced practise once the basics have been understood. I agree with the idea that playing a speaking game closely after the new grammar has been offered can be not so suitable. Preferably reading, spelling and writing games come after the fresh grammar has been absorbed and learners can use it orally. A few characteristics of games I tried to sum up in the chart below. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

Techniques used in playing games, learning styles and organisation of students

Games make use of a variety of techniques. Variety is important in language teaching, and a succession of games based on the same principles, thought exciting and innovative at first, would soon pall. Techniques used include information gap, guessing, search, matching, exchanging, collecting, combining, arranging, and card games, board games, problems and puzzles, role-play and simulation techniques.

The simplest activities are based on the information gap principle. In these activities student A has access to some information which is not held by Student B. Student B must acquire this information to complete a task successfully.

Guessing games are a familiar variant on this principle. The player with the information deliberately withholds it, while others guess what it might be.

Search games are another variant, involving the whole class. In these games everyone in the class has one piece of information. Players must obtain all or a large amount of the information available to fill in a questionnaire or to solve a problem. Each student is thus simultaneously a giver and a collector of information.

Matching games are based on a different principle, but also involve a transfer of information. These games involve matching corresponding pairs of cards or pictures, and may be played as a whole class activity, where everyone has to move around until they find a partner with a corresponding card or picture; or as a pair work or small group activity, where players must choose pictures or cards from a selection to match those chosen by their partner from the same selection; or as a card game on the ‘snap’ principle.

Matching-up games are based on a jigsaw or ‘fitting together’ principle. Each player in a group has a list of opinions, preferences, wants or possibilities. Through discussion and compromise the group must reach an agreement.

Exchanging games are based on the ‘barter’ principle. Players have certain articles, cards or ideas which they wish to exchange for others. The aim of the game is to make an exchange which is satisfactory to both sides. Exchanging and collecting games are an extension of this. Players have certain articles or cards which they are willing to exchange for others in order to complete a set. This may be played as a whole class activity, where players move freely, exchanging cards or articles at random; or as an inter-group activity, where players agree to collect a certain set of articles as a group and then exchange articles between groups; or as a card game on the ‘rummy’ principle.

Combining activities are those in which the players must act on certain information in order to arrange themselves in groups such as families or people spending holidays together.

Arranging games are also sometimes called sequencing or ordering games. These are games where the players must acquire information and act on it in order to arrange items in a specific order. Items to be arranged can be picture cards, events in a narrative, or even the players themselves.

Board games and card games are familiar game types, where the aim is to be first round the board, or to collect most cards, or get rid of cards first. The cards and squares on the board are used as stimuli to provoke a communication exchange. All the above activities may include elements of puzzle-solving, role-play, or simulation.

Puzzle-solving activities occur when participants in the game share or pool information in order to solve a problem or a mystery.

Many games include an element of role-play. Players are given the name and some characteristics of a fictive character. However, these are not role-play in the true sense, as the role-play element is always subordinate to the game for the purposes of language use. The outcome of a game is ‘closed’; once cards are distributed it develops in a certain predetermined way, while role-play proper is open-ended and may develop in any number of ways.

Simulations – the imitation in the classroom of a total situation, where the classroom becomes a street, a hotel, or an office – are also used in the book, particularly in those games which practise interaction between the individual and services such as cinemas, theatres and estate agents. However, these activities are simulation-games rather than true simulations since the outcome is again ‘closed’: students have a specific task or series of tasks to complete within the context of the simulation. (Hadfield, 1990: VI)

Learning styles

Choosing the most appropriate game for a grammar lesson is not an easy task. In addition to the grammar point that is going to be taught and has to be part in the game, there are many other things to consider before deciding to use a certain game. One of these central aspects is the students’ learning styles. Learning styles may differ from one student to other and from class to class. Clearly, we can’t remember each student’s learning style, teaching so many students, it would be impossible. But we can submit a survey in each class in order to find out which are the predominant learning styles, using standardised tests. I think this helps teachers in finding suitable games which satisfy the majority of the class. Though, we must vary the types of games in each lesson for covering all students’ learning styles. There are four types of learners considering the four basic learning styles: auditory learners, visual learners, kinaesthetic learners and tactile learners. (Piaget, 1965: 34). Below, I am going to briefly present a few characteristics of each type of learners and the type of game that suits them.

Auditory learners are students who learn better if they listen to tapes, to teacher’s oral explanations and instructions. Listening games are suitable for these learners, including: repetition, dictation, listening comprehension, instructions, storytelling, sentence building, etc.

Visual learners are students who prefer silent reading, illustrations, photos linked with the text, tables, schemes, etc. they learn better from written instructions and like watching demonstrations on the blackboard or projections, power point, etc. There are many language games appropriate to this type of learners: board games, description games, picture games, reading, language games, etc.

Kinaesthetic learners and tactile learners are often the students who don’t understand what the teacher is talking about in a traditional lesson. Kinaesthetic learners get the information the best when they use their body to complete practice exercises. Teachers should search for games that involve whole body responses or touching and moving things around as a part of the activity, such as: Touch Games, Spatial Games and Craft Games. (Fletcher, 1990:25) Some examples of games are: Map drawing, describing some objects by touching them, arrange the objects/people.

Games are used frequently in CLT. The students find them enjoyable, and if they are properly designed, they give students valuable communicative practice. Games are activities ideal for communicative practice of grammar if they can be structured to focus learners’ attention on a few specific forms before the communicative practice. They may also be used for revising or reinforcing different grammar points through an entertaining context.

Games are best set up by demonstration, rather than by lengthy explanation. The teacher should describe briefly what the game involves, give the photocopied cards, giving the students a little time to study them, and then demonstrate the game with one of the students in front of the class. The idea of the game is probably easier for students to grasp from seeing the cards than from a verbal explanation; and as they become more familiar with the idea of games and the techniques used, any initial problems caused by unfamiliarity will quickly disappear. When the role cards are more complex, teacher should attach a photocopied rules sheet to cards for each group of students. The average time necessary for some extended games is 20-30 minutes, depending on the number of students playing and of the goal of the game. Teachers may also extend the game into a follow-up writing activity to consolidate the language practiced in the game.

Organisation of the students

The teacher has to organize the classroom and the students in order to be able to play different types of activities during the games. There are three main types of grouping students:

Pair work: involving two partners

Small group work: involving groups of three or four

Whole class: where everyone moves freely around the room

All these activities require some flexibility in the structure of groups and organization of the classroom. It is best to have the desks in a U-shape if possible. Students can work with the person sitting next to them for pair work, and groups of three and four can easily be established, by alternate pairs moving their chairs to the inner side of U, opposite another pair. Whole class activities can take place in the empty area in the centre of the U-shape. The latter activities present a little more of a problem, but often there is a space big enough for the students to move around in at the front of the class, or desks can be pushed back to clear a space in the centre.

During the games, we can use small prizes, depending on age (stickers, stamps, reward points, etc.)

I use games like “Pictionary”, “Charades”, “Bingo”, “Hangman”, “Snakes and Ladders”, “Chinese Whisper”, “Battleships”, “Who wants to be a millionaire?” etc. because they can be modified according to my learners and teaching content.

Taboo is a popular game where a student from each team sits back to the board, the teacher writes a word on the board and the rest of the group must explain the word without using/saying it. The first team to guess the word correctly wins. Other games that can be used successfully in class are: 30 Seconds, ABC game (it can be used where students have to provide a word beginning with the next letter of the alphabet), Chain spelling (a game where a student is asked to spell a word and after the next student must say and spell a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word).

Teachers can use Directed Activities Related to Texts (DARTs), as jigsaws, prediction, sequencing etc in a competitive way to create a game; i.e. the first team to assemble their jigsaw wins; the team who properly sequences events/storyline wins. The teacher can use DARTs for the stage of presentation or practice stage. In my opinion there are uncountable ideas for games that are accessible, but the success of a games depends on me, as a teacher. I have to ensure that the games are appropriate for pupils and that they are relevant to their interests and real-life.

Games lower anxiety levels, are entertaining, educational and give students aims to use the target language. It is a natural way of learning and exposes students to real learning opportunities. “Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems that at times seem overwhelming.” (Uberman, 1998)

Teaching present tense simple through games

Playing games while teaching grammar is an alternative to get out of the routine of language drills, worksheets, boring and uninteresting repetitions and individual work. Occasionally, games can save us from a boring textbook as states W. Scott in his book Teaching English to Children “Games are a fantastic way to enliven a boring textbook” (Scott, 1990:45)

In the following pages of the present paper I want to describe some games I used in the class with different language level students from zero graders to fourth grade students. The purposes of the games were: teaching grammar, especially present tense simple and developing different language skills. I believe that during a lesson, teaching grammar or vocabulary should go hand in hand with developing skill. The games presented below can be played for learning nearly any grammar or vocabulary, at any language level.

Listening games

Teachers can use listening games to introduce new vocabulary and grammar, or to consolidate new language. It is important for the children/students playing enough listening games, in order to recognise the words well before proceeding to speaking games. If a game is not working it is most likely because the learners cannot handle the language well enough yet. We have to keep games simple and build progressively so that everyone has fun. If we pass too quickly to a speaking or writing game before the children have absorbed the new language or vocabulary on board the game can fail.

Before playing any games, I usually present the new vocabulary. It can be done by using pictures or realia (i.e. school pencil box objects, classroom items, clothes), video sequences, etc. As students play the game, I usually provide Ss with more new words, if necessary. These games also allow effective revision of many words in a short space of time. It is useful to refresh your pupils’ memories with a quick listening game before any speaking activity.

Chinese Whispers

In this game a sentence is whispered around the circle of students. It can be played perfectly with sentences in the present tense simple. The last student to receive the message either says it aloud or writes it on the board. A variation of this is to get the students into two lines (team A and B) in front of the board, so the first student in both lines is really near the board and the teams are lined up behind him/her. T whispers a sentence or a question to the two students at the end of the line and they pass it down the line until it reaches the students nearest the board who then have to write the sentence on the board.

Kinaesthetic True or False

T places two posters at opposite ends of the classroom – TRUE and FALSE. T reads out statements, i.e. “The lion has five legs/four legs”/ “The monkey can fly””/ “The card can sing”/ “The apple is black/red”, “The elephants are blue”, etc., and students have to move to the position they think is correct. Students who are wrong have to sit down. T continue until there is a winner. Then, move onto the next statement. At the end of the activity, T asks students to recite, or write down as many of the true statements as they can remember.

The K-W-L strategy allows students to take inventory of what they already know and what they want to know. Students can categorize information about the topic that they expect to use.

On the chalkboard, on a handout, or on students’ individual clean sheets, three columns can be drawn and labelled: Column 1 K, Column 2 W, Column 3 L. (see Figure 0 below)

Figure 0

Before reading statements, students fill in the Know column with everything they already know about the topic (e.g.: when teaching description of animals/people, Ss can write down in the K column: “legs, mouth, big ears, long neck, long hair”, etc). This helps generate their background knowledge. Then T has students predict what they might learn about the topic, which might follow a quick glance at the topic headings, pictures, and charts that are found in the reading. This helps set their purpose for reading and focuses their attention on key ideas. Alternatively, T might have students put in the middle column what they want to learn about the topic. After reading, students should fill in their new knowledge gained from reading the content. They can also clear up misperceptions about the topic which might have shown up in the Know column before they actually read anything. This is the stage of metacognition where T sees if Ss learnt it or not.

The Fruit Bowl

For this game the students must be seated in a circle, on chairs, being needed at least 12 students. The teacher goes around and assign each a cat – tiger, lion, panther, etc (2, 3, 4, or 5 cats, depending on group size.) T stand in the middle and explains: ‘When I say ‘lion’, all the lions have to get up and swap seats. When I say ‘tiger’ all the tigers have to swap seats, etc. When I say ‘Big cats!’, everybody has to get up and swap seats. It can go on with each student saying what animal he/she is, i.e. “I am a cat”, “I am a strawberry” and T can alternate this with having children pointing at the other children and saying “He is a carrot”/ “She is an onion”, etc., depending on what T wants to emphasize, i.e. subject pronouns, verb “be” into the present simple, etc. T does this one or two/three times. By now, the students are wondering what the big deal is. Third time round, T takes away a chair. Ss play the game again – someone is left without a seat. He/she must give a forfeit, or answer a question. We have to be careful, as it can be very lively. I only play this at the end of English classes. The teacher’s imagination can develop all kind of varieties of this game.

Get Rid of It

The teacher needs two sets of cards for this activity game: white cards for the words and another colour for the questions. T puts all questions in a bag or hat at the beginning of the game. Next, T gives each student at least three-word cards, placed in front of them on their desks. After, T chooses one card from the hat and read the question. Students study their word cards. Whoever has the corresponding word can get rid of it. The winner gets rid of all his cards first. As an example, when practising present simple questions and answers, we can replace the words with their pictures, as practising vocabulary and present simple: T asks “Who has a shopkeeper?” the S having the picture/word can not only get rid of it, but also say “I do”, showing it and then getting rid of it; this way they can play short answers too.

Speaking games

Collaborative Class Surveys

The aim of this activity is to get students speak in the target language, but the T has to pay attention the Ss do not use mother tongue. In order to prevent it, T goes around the class and provides pupils with the language needed. During this game students have to go around the class to find out information about other students. It may be easily employed to ask about preferences, likes and dislikes, age, etc., i.e. “What is your favourite colour/animal? What colour eyes have you got? How many people are there in your family?”, using present forms of verbs. The responses of the whole class are collected to make a survey display.

The guessing game

For this game the teacher needs post-it notes, or pieces of paper and blu tack (adhesive). T puts the students in pairs writes the target words on the post-it notes. T sticks one on each of the students’ foreheads, without letting the student see what is on his/her forehead. The task is for each partner to guess what is on his forehead, by asking questions of his partner, i.e. “Is it an animal? Is it green?”, etc. The answer can only be ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or short answers. It can be employed for practising present simple questions and short answers, together with vocabulary topics.

Draw, Fold and Pass

The aim of this game is to draw crazy people or monsters and afterwards describe them. The teacher gives each child a piece of paper. They draw a head and then fold the page back at the base of the head and everyone passes their paper to the person on the right. They draw the next part of the body and fold the papers back again and pass them on again. The drawing game continues until the feet. When all the pictures are finished, unfold them to reveal the crazy creations. In turns, children describe the pictures using all the phrases they know. The themes of the pictures can be various: vehicles, buildings, animals, etc. using present simple sentences.

Drawing dictation

It’s a very simple game where the teacher dictates some words that Children have to draw in a sheet of paper.

Add to the picture

It is a suitable activity for zero/first grade learners and not only. All you need is a board and a pen/chalk. It can easily be transformed into and activity practising present simple of the verb ‘to be’ and many other topics, vocabulary or grammar. T begins the activity by drawing a line on the board and says ‘This is the ground’. T elicits a student and asks or show S that she/he has to add something on the line. S may add: a house/flower/tree/person/animal plane/sun/birds/car etc, whatever he/she likes. Then, S has to say what it is, “This is a …’/ It is a..” or T/ S asks the other Ss the name the thing. Each student gets a turn. At the end, each S says a sentence to describe the picture. T can go even further with this activity (with students from the third and fourth grade), Ss can do a writing activity writing sentences about what they see in the picture. T can then have a True/false session, based on the picture Ss created.

Describe and Draw

In this activity, T can put the students in pairs and gives each a picture. Student A describes his picture (but mustn’t show it) to Student B, who then has to draw it. At the end, they compare their pictures and discuss what is different. Then they swap roles. Excellent tool for beginners and for practising ‘has/have got’, colours, etc.

Back to the Board

It’s a game which makes use of Present simple quite a lot, as Ss have to describe what they see. Descriptions of objects, animals, people, landscapes are usually in the present simple. One student comes in front of the class, standing with his back to the board. The teacher and the rest of the class check that the pupil doesn’t look. T writes a word or draws something. The rest of the class must describe it, or give clues, but cannot say the word.

The teacher can split them into teams to make it a competition. Hence, pupils get in groups of three. Two of them can see the blackboard; the other one has his/her back turned. The teacher writes or sticks a word on the blackboard. The two children that can see the blackboard have to give clues to the third one to be able to guess it: “It’s a kind of food”, “It’s sweet”, etc.

Beat the Clock

This a game that is very funny and students like it very much. I would consider it a writing activity also, as Ss have to write down the questions. But being a game where they ask and answer question orally made me classify it as being a more speaking game. It’ an activity that can be great for revision. T can use it to revise present tense simple questions and affirmative sentences in the present simple. It can be varied and used for any other tense. During the procedure of this game Ss take turns in the hot seat. The rest of the class prepare questions – the object of the exercise is for the hot seater not to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ So the students need to write questions which are the most likely to elicit a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ The questions can be general, ‘Have you got any sisters?’, Do you like milk? Are you ten? Do you sing? Do you play football? etc, or it could be based on a topic you have studied ‘Do you like ice-cream/ strawberries/bananas/ watermelons/pears?’ etc. It is an excellent way to practise tag questions, as these are the most likely to get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. ‘Diane swims on Saturdays, doesn’t she?’

Rules:

– Students cannot mislead – ‘maybe’ ‘I don’t know’ ‘obviously’ etc are not allowed. I sometimes insist on a full sentence. ‘Mr Bean went to the dentist’s.’ ‘Diane swims on Saturdays’

– No nodding or shaking of the head is allowed

– If the hot seater answers the questions for more than 90 seconds, then he/she has beaten the clock!

– If he says ‘yes’ or ‘no’, then he is out.

Compare and Contrast

In this game T gives two pictures and asks the students to make comparisons between them. It can be a pair work, and at the end they each pair can compare their pictures in front of the others. Ideally, all pairs present their pictures in front of the class. If the time does not allow it, it may be given as a written homework, the rest of the Ss to be verified the following English class. It can be seen an example in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1

Colour the Card

It is a game which develops the speaking skill, in the third and fourth grade. All a teacher needs are pairs of pictures, one black and one white. It can be used to practise present simple together with other vocabulary topics, such as colours adjectives. During the procedure T divides Ss into pairs and gives the first player from each pair a coloured picture and the second player the same picture but in black and white. Player 1 must not show the coloured picture to player 2. Player 2 has to ask what colour the items are in the picture so that he or she can colour it in. For example, if T gives girls a picture of a lady in a dress, player two can ask questions like “What colour is the dress? What colour are the shoes? What colour is her hair? What colour is her belt?” Player 1 replies: “The dress is red, her shoes are white”, etc. 3. Player 2 takes the relevant colour and puts a bullet of it on the picture, but does not colour the whole thing in at this stage. Once player 2 has made a note of all the colours, the players swap roles. When player one has all the colours down, T can either let the children colour their pictures in all together or they can take them home and colour them later.

Reading games

Many of the listening and speaking games can be used with word flash cards as well as picture cards in order to familiarize players with spelling. Here are some examples of reading games used to teach present tense simple in context ant not only.

Treasure Hunt

It is a game that can be played at any level, from second to fourth grade. As materials we need pictures and slips of paper. It can be very well use for describing the things from a house, or a short fable/story. The game can be played with two classes/ two groups from the same class. A class/group selects a tale or the teacher provides them with a tale. The plot of the tale is simplified into a sequence of events that can be transcribed onto cards in short sections. Students hide the cards throughout the classroom. A treasure map showing the exact location where all the cards are hidden, is given to another class/group (or, with clues, one card can lead to the next). Groups of students must find the cards and assemble them in correct order. The treasure is finding the whole story. Two classes/ groups can trade treasure hunts by putting the stories on two different-coloured cards.

A variation of this activity is playing it in pairs and using slips of paper with descriptions of household items, and pictures of them, e.g. It is a large rectangular white object. You can find it in other colours too and is usually placed in the kitchen. It is for doing the washing up (a dish washer picture). One S in each pair reads the paragraph for his partner, after that they give their opinions about what might the object be. Then they search for the object that matches the description on their desk. If the picture is not on the table the Ss go to other pairs and ask for their objects (e.g. We need a fridge. Have you got one? / Yes, we have. Here you are. / No, we haven’t, sorry) When all pairs have accomplished the task, the descriptions are read aloud by a S from each pair and the other Ss agree or not, using the words ‘right/wrong’.

Back Writing

It is a game that can be used with all kind of words, verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. Each pupil uses his/her finger as a pencil and writes a word on his/her classmate’s back. This classmate tries to guess the word. If he or she guesses it before the “writer” finishes, he/she get three points. If he or she guesses it after the word has been written once, both children get two points. If the word has to be written a second time, they only get one point. T can reward them with stickers to motivate them.

The words written can be words studied that they, if they studied “be” , “have”, “can” or action verbs into present simple affirmative/negative/questions they can the theme of the game.

Where do you go?

The aim of this game is to develop the reading ability of students. Students have 10 minutes to play the Where do you go game. The game is designed for students in the first years of learning English, but can be adapted to any level too. The “Where do you go?” game uses playing cards to teach students where to search for different kinds of objects/jobs/food/actions etc., when they need/want to do them (i.e. shop/library/bookshop/greengrocer’s/bathroom/kitchen/living room, etc.) The blue cards are a mix of different places the students could go and the yellow cards detail the things needed/actions etc. The cards are jumbled up and the students

are encouraged to match the cards (see a sample of the cards in Figure 2) into correct pairs. Students are not allowed to consult any other materials or computers during the Where do you go game. Following the game play, the facilitator provides students with an explanation of correct play to link the game to the learning objectives and student projects to reinforce learning and increase retention.

Dominoes

“Dominoes” is a game T can do this as a whole class activity, with just one set of dominoes. T gives each student one or 2. On one box, there is a question, on the other an answer. The first student reads out his question, then the student with the right answer puts his hand up, reads it out and then reads his question etc. This can be done in pairs. It’s very good for developing reading skills.

Flap books

They are useful to work grammatical structures such as Subject + Verb + Complement. It consists on a number of strips stapled together that can be combined between them (Figure 3

Figure 3

Writing games

Key Words Chart Tally

In this game the teacher asks some students to keep a tally of how many times T says a certain word. This can be a way of allowing a beginner to participate in a more advanced lesson. The teacher shows a list of words (three/four). Pupils have to memorise them for one minute. Then, the teacher hides them and they have to write them down.

Letter Jumble

The class is divided into pair or groups. The teacher writes some words about a topic on the blackboard and gives each group a set of small cards where children write each letter of the words written on the blackboard (e.g.: am, is, are/ have, has, etc.) Then they have to mix the letters and then recompose each word. The teacher walks around checking the words and asking the children to read out the words. For older students, the teacher can write sentences better than words and pupils have to recompose the sentence word by word, stead letter by letter. T can reward children with stickers, verbal appreciation, etc.

Running Dictation

“Running dictation” is a very useful activity because it develops the four skills. Children are divided into groups of four/five people. The teacher sits down on a chair in the centre of the classroom

with some sheets of paper that contain some written information in them. A child of each group has to run from their seat to teacher’s seat to read the information and then, he/she has to come back his/her seat and dictate what she/he has read in the sheet of paper. Then, other child goes to look for some more information. It can be used on all vocabulary and grammar topic.

Sentence Anagrams

T writes the words of a sentence on the board in random order, uses structures that reflect the language T is covering. (e.g.: Present simple “wh-” questions: “Where does the elephant live?”) T shows the children how to decipher the sentences, reminding them about capital letters and full stops.

Stop the Bus

For this game the teacher puts the students into teams of three or four. Then T draws on the board a table like the one below (Figure 4) and gets each team to copy it onto a piece of paper. Students simply have to think of one item to go in each category beginning with the set letter. The first team to finish shouts “Stop the Bus!”

T checks their answers (or asks them to answer in a full sentence: “We have the words…” and then teacher looks at the word’s accuracy) and write them up on the board and if they are all correct, that team wins a point. If there are mistakes, T lets the game continue for another few minutes. If it gets too difficult with certain letters (and T can’t think of one for each category) reduce the amount of words they have to get. T can “Stop the Bus” with four columns.

Figure 4

The Pen Game

The Pen Game begins with teacher writing a word on the board. Then T elicits a word beginning with each of the letters. T asks the children to take a piece of paper and write words on the board for the children to copy. Then T lets the children work in pairs to see how many of the word puzzles they can complete. T check the answers with the whole class. T can go on with a variation of this game, such as asking Ss to make up sentences and tell them to the class. Also, Ss could write the sentences into their notebooks.

5. TEACHING PRESENT SIMPLE THROUGH SONGS/POEMS

Why teaching grammar through songs/poems?

For primary students’ songs involve body movements, they like moving, dancing, acting and singing. Many students are kinaesthetic learners. As Asher proposes with his Total Physical Response Approach (1969), “they seem to learn language quickly and thoroughly when the brain and the body work together.” (apud Celce-Murcia, 2001:143)

The meaning is an important device in teaching grammar, it is important to contextualize any grammar point. Songs are one of the most delightful and culturally rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms. Songs give an alternative to routine classroom activities. They are valuable resources to develop students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Songs can be used to teach various language items, as sentence patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives, and adverbs. Learning English through songs also provides a non-threatening and less stressing atmosphere for students, who usually are anxious when speaking English in a formal classroom setting. Songs also give new understandings into the target culture. They are the resources through which cultural themes are presented efficiently. Because they provide authentic texts, they are motivating and encouraging. Prosodic structures of the language: stress, rhythm, intonation are presented through songs, hence through using them the language which is cut up into a series of structural points becomes a whole once more.

There are many advantages of using songs in the classroom. Through using contemporary popular songs, which are already familiar to students, the teacher can meet the challenges of their needs in the classroom. As songs are highly unforgettable and motivating, in many forms they may create a powerful subculture with their own rituals. Also, through using traditional folk songs, the foundation of the learners’ knowledge of the target culture can be widened.

Music and language part various characteristics. Firstly, both originate in processing of sounds. Secondly, they are used together by authors/speakers to express a message, though language is much more accurate than music, its effect being predominantly emotional. Also, music and language have intrinsic characteristics in common, for example pitch, volume, prominence, stress, tone, rhythm and pauses. We learn both of them through exposure. No language can be learnt without oral or written input, and in a similar style we acquire our notions of music, from what we hear around us. (www.repositori.uvic.cat)

Some authors have studied this technique to verify this effectiveness. They agree that the main advantage of using songs and music is the enjoyable experience they bring to students and the relaxed atmosphere they create in a class. The more relaxed the students, the more receptive to learning they are. In addition, through songs, learners are exposed to authentic examples of the second language. It is also important to know that music and songs in the classroom can stimulate positive associations to the study of English language.

Choosing a song/poem

If selected correctly and adopted wisely, a teacher should take advantage from songs in all stages of teaching grammar. Songs may either be used for the presentation or the practice stage of the grammar lesson. Songs may encourage extensive and intensive listening, and stimulate creativity and use of imagination in a stress-free classroom atmosphere. When choosing a song, the teacher should keep in mind learners’ age and interests. To improve learner commitment, it is also helpful to allow learners to take part in the selection of the songs.

Songs, when used in the EFL classroom, must be carefully chosen. Pomeroy, Gasser and Waldman (apud Celce-Murcia and Hilles, 1988: 118) offer guidelines for selecting songs, an outline of their suggestions would include:

Songs must be of a singable length, range and rhythm. Verses should be short, and melodies should have one octave range and an uncomplicated rhythmic pattern.

Songs should have repetitive lyrics or a chorus which is easy to learn. This allows even the slowest students to participate.

Lyrics should reflect standard spoken English, with respect to register, subject-verb agreement, and word order.

The emotional and conceptual content of a song should be appropriate to the age and maturity of the student.

Songs must be pedagogically appropriate to the teaching point, and not so colloquial as to require that the lyrics be changed into Standard English.

Techniques used in teaching grammar through songs/poems

There are many ways of using songs in the classroom. The interests and level of the students, the age, the grammar point to be studied, and the actual song have decisive roles on the procedure. Separately, it mainly depends on the creativity of the teacher.

At the primary level of singing the song, the prosodic features of the language are highlighted. At the higher levels, where the practice of grammar points is at the foreground, songs can be used with several techniques (gap fills or close texts, focus questions, true-false statements, put these lines into the correct sequence, dictation, add a final verse, circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words etc.)

A teacher's selection of a technique/ set of techniques should be based on the objectives of the lesson. After deciding the grammar point to be studied, and the song and the techniques to be used, the teacher should prepare effective activities.

Since songs are listening activities, it is advisable to present them as a listening lesson, but of course it is necessary to integrate all the skills in the process in order to achieve successful teaching.

A pre-listening activity, the theme, the title, directing the students toward specific areas, vocabulary items can be picked up in advance. At this stage, pictures may also be used to introduce the theme of the song.

For example, primary students can be introduced action verbs before listening to the song, through pictures, physical motion drills, miming actions, the teacher can mime an action and the students guess it. Then the roles can change: a student mimes and the teacher guess the action. Finally, a student comes in front of the class and mimes an action, another student guesses and comes in his place in front of the class and mimes it again so other student guesses and so on. After this activity the song is introduced and students watch it/listen to it carefully. Afterwards, they are encouraged to sing together, while watching/listening to the song. Finally, the whole sings the song without any visual/listening aid, while miming the action. Of course, as a teacher I help them through singing at first, then little by little I let them sing by their own.

Some songs deal with a theme that can be re-exploited through role plays. Acting may add enthusiasm to the learning process.

In my opinion present tense simple in primary school should not be taught for its own sake. Teaching it the traditional way, meaning teaching form (affirmative, negative, questions) it is not a way that children learn unwillingly, they are forced to learn it by heart, and this is not effective as it leads to no real communicative situation. Ss learn it by heart and the following class they have already forgotten it. They learned it mechanically, without using it in a certain functional context. Moreover, learning the form of present simple for its own sake does not assure improvement of communicative conditions. I do teach present simple, but I teach pupils to present themselves and to ask each other their name. I teach them greeting together with expressing their state of mind in the present (“Hello! How are you? I’m fine thank you”). In primary school present simple is taught through communicative functions, children do not know they learn grammar, the grammar structure is conveyed together with other vocabulary items/parts of speech, and combined it leads to real communication. Below I am going to present some English language songs that can help children learn Present Simple forms, through different songs.

What’s Your Name? Song

Hello, hello, what’s your name?
What’s your name? What’s your name?
Hello, hello, what’s your name?
My name is Peter.

Hello, hello, what’s your name?
What’s your name? What’s your name?
Hello, hello, what’s your name?
My name is Sally.

Hello, hello, what’s your name?
What’s your name? What’s your name?
Hello, hello, what’s your name?
My name is Pirate Bob.

Hello, hello, what’s your name?
What’s your name? What’s your name?
Hello, hello, what’s your name?
My name is Marty Moose.

What’s your name?

This song is suitable for students in the zero, first class. Of course, as a way to entertain, it may be used in the third/fourth grade. We are not constrained to use or not a certain song at a certain level. The names Pirate Bob, Marty Moose, etc can be replaced with the names of students. All the student sing in a choir, and when it comes the verse “My name is…”, each student, in turns, tell their names and the others listen, and the song continues. Surely, we cannot let all the children tell their name, it would take too much time, but the teacher could choose for example, the children that are on duty that day, or the children whose name begin with a certain letter, or the children that the teacher assigns, writing their names on the blackboard, Ss could announce themselves the previous class, etc.

There are many variations of this song that a teacher can use.

Where is…? Song (Tune: Are you sleeping?)

Where is (child’s name)?

Where is (child’s name)?

Please stand up,

please stand up,

Do a little wave,

Do a little clapping,

Sit back down

Sit back down.

Other variation of this song is:

Where is (child’s name)?

Where is (child’s name)?

Here I am (child sings)

Here I am (child sings)

We’re glad to see you,

We’re glad to see you,

At our school.

At our school.

This could be a welcome song for a new student in the classroom.

In all three songs that I have mentioned above, the use of present simple of the verb “to be” is obvious. Before exposing the children to the song, I usually sing it to in English, then give them a Romanian variant (also sung), because I consider children have to know what they are singing about. Also, I try to use as many gestures as I can, to be as expressive as I can. I usually do not write the Romanian translation on the blackboard, I consider it useless and a time waster. While I write a translation, I could do other activities to entertain and keep students motivated; as we know, at the age of seven to eleven years old, students do not write very quickly.

What’s in your school bag?

What’s in your school bag?

Let’s take a look:

A pencil, a pen

A rubber, a book.

This is a song dedicated to zero/first grade learners. Before introducing this song, I usually teach the school objects vocabulary. First, I show them flashcards with the words and have them repeat the words after me. Or I use the projector instead of flashcards. I prefer using flashcard after presenting the words on the projector, because I have the possibility to change the order of words. I may use flashcards with pictures and words which Ss match (first grade pupils) or a worksheet where they have to colour the objects from the schoolbag (see Appendix 10). After, children can play a little bit: they can use their colourings to talk to their colleagues: “(My) pen is (blue)”, or “I have a blue pen”. Now it’s the moment when the student listens to the song, maybe point to the objects they see or even sing, depending on their level of understanding. Then, we can use real objects from their pencil boxes, each pupil tells the class the objects from his/her pencil box: I have a pen, a rubber and a pencil in my pencil box. According to the amount of vocabulary studied, students can say more or less objects, depending on the student.

Finally, they can play the Feely Bag Game and do the exercise trace and say (See Appendix 11). Activities may go on and teacher can always find imaginative ideas for their lessons.

This is my house

This is my house

This is the roof

this is the window

This is the door

This is my house

This is the roof

This is the wall

This is the floor

This song is about the elements of a house. With the help of present simple, at a zero/first grade level, we can teach students parts of a house as: roof, window, door, wall, floor, etc. At the beginning of the activity we expose children to the vocabulary related to the house, using physical pictures/ flashcards or images projected on the video projector. As well as before we can use chorus and imitation drills, where Ss/S repeat(S) after the T. Then Ss can colour on a worksheet the parts of a house, choosing the colour they prefer for each component (see Appendix 12). Next, Ss have to do some substitution drills. T exemplifies with an example of the task: “This is the (roof). It’s (red)”. Now, it’s time to listen for/watch the song and sing. After that, children can do a matching exercise and then they can create their own little house from a pattern that the teacher gives them. Finally, each pupil uses his/her handmade house to describe it, in turns, to the other colleagues: “This is my house. The (wall) is (green).” The follow up lesson can continue with object from the inside of the house and so on.

“I have a pet” song

Do you have a pet?

Yes, I have a dog.

I have a pet.

He is a dog.

And he says, “Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. Woof woof.”

I have a cat.

I have a pet.

She is a cat.

And she says, “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow meow.”

I have a mouse.

I have a pet.

He is a mouse.

And he says, “Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeak squeak.”

Woof woof.

Meow meow.

Squeak squeak.

I have a bird.

I have a pet.

He is a bird.

And he says, “Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet. Tweet tweet.”

I have a fish.

I have a pet.

She is a fish.

And she says, “Glub, glub, glub, glub, glub. Glub glub.”

I have a lion.

A lion?!

I have a pet.

He is a lion.

And he says, “Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar. Roar roar.”

Tweet tweet.

Glub glub.

ROAR!

This is another enjoyable song that we can use in the classroom, but this time the grammar focus is on the verb “to have” and pets/animals. This is a very lively song that makes the little one laugh when hearing animal sounds. As I described before the stages of this activity can be varied. At the beginning I would introduce the new vocabulary, not necessarily the verb, through pictures/flashcards/ short presentation on projector, followed by some practice of the new words using the verb to have. Here we can use some small flashcards from which pupils choose their favourite animals and then come in front of the class and say what animals they have. (e.g.: I have a dog, I have cat, etc.). T can give them a reward, such as a sticker or verbal appreciation, pupils enjoy this very much. The song can be now watched by Ss and then sung, following some other activities like: matching parts of animals with the appropriate animal, mime game where a child mimes and other guesses the animal, etc.

Another song where we encounter the verb “to have” in the present simple is called “Lovely toys”:

I’ve got a train,

I’ve got a ball!

I’ve got a teddy,

I’ve got a doll!

All the girls

And all the boys

Have got a lot of

Lovely toys!

The Wheels on the Bus” is a modern rhyme, originating back to late 20th century, frequently sung by children and pre-teenagers through bus trips. The song is based on the traditional nursery rhyme “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” having the same tune, while the author of the lyrics is unknown.

The Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All day long.

The men on the bus say ‘How are you?’

The women on the bus say ‘Fine, thank you.’

The babies on the bus go ‘Wa! Wa! Wa!’

The children on the bus go ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’

The people on the bus all wave goodbye.

I usually teach this song in the fourth grade. Of course, there are many alternatives of this song. I usually choose the above mentioned because it is suitable for practicing irregular plurals (man-men, woman-women, child-children, person-people). Also, there are many verbs in the present simple. If I decide to introduce other funny sounds I use other alternatives from this song too.

I like ice-cream

I like ice-cream,

I like ice-cream.

What about you?

What about you?

Chocolate and strawberry,

Chocolate and strawberry.

I like ice-cream, too.

I like ice-cream,

I like ice-cream.

What about you?

What about you?

Lemon and banana

Lemon and banana.

I like ice-cream, too.

I usually use this song after teaching likes and dislikes in the fourth grade. I combine this grammar function with food vocabulary and animals’ names.

The animals walk two by two

The animals walk two by two,

Hooray! Hooray!

The animals walk two by two,

Hooray! Hooray!

The animals walk two by two,

The lions, the tigers, the elephants too.

And they all stand under the tree

Just to get out of the rain.

The camels, the hippos, the crocodiles too.

The bears, the penguins, the pandas too.

The zebras, the monkeys, the kangaroos too.

Even if it’s an old-fashioned song I still use it. I personally like this song very much and my students too. I generally teach it in the fourth grade, but there are times when I use it in the third grade as well. Old songs, like this one, are full of meaning and also very lively and interesting. It contains various names of animals and it can be used for revising too. I generally use it after teaching the theme “Countries and locations”, where present simple affirmative, negative and questions make their presence too. At the beginning of the teaching process students usually listen to a recording where various children present themselves, tell the place they come from, where they live and what language they speak, followed by a reading aloud activity. Then I usually ask students questions, such as: “Where does Scott come from/live?”, “What language does Linda speak?” and I elicit students to answer. After Ss have learnt this structure and are able to answer correctly I can have them ask each other questions in pairs/role play of teacher, etc. Usually after this activity I can substitute names of people with names of animals and ask the same questions, as in substitution drills. Maybe I give students a writing task such as to talk about a certain animal/ person using the information they have. Finally, I play the song and they enjoy it very much, I usually encourage students to march like soldiers as they sing.

Two little dinosaurs

Two little dinosaurs go out to play,

Out to play on a sunny, sunny day.

They jump and hop and have such fun, so…

They call for another dinosaur to come.

Three little dinosaurs…

This is a song that I usually teach in the third grade after numbers (associating number and colour adjectives). First, I give Ss a listening exercise where they have to listen to a recording where they hear sequences as: “one yellow dinosaur/two green dinosaurs/three red…” Next, I usually ask students to tell me the number of blue dinosaurs, red dinosaurs, etc. I vary this exercise by allowing Ss to work in pairs, asking/answering questions. I may give them some matching exercise, such as match the number with the writing. To reinforce their knowledge, I can give another exercise, similar to substitution drills, where they have pictures not only with dinosaurs, but other animals too: elephants, bears, monkeys, etc. and ask questions: “How many lions/tigers/elephants etc. are there?”; if they are prepared I may introduce also there are/there is in their answers, if not they can only answer “3 brown bears/5 yellow parrots, etc.” As a break, we can audition the song and sing it together.

Poems, like songs, can put in context a grammar lesson effectively. Since poetry is often vocalised, repeated, it is an active tool for practicing a specific grammatical construction. Through repeating and considering the poem, the grammatical structures become more deeply internalized. Therefore, poetry not only provides a satisfying resource for controlled practice of grammar, but also a suitable basis for review. If a poem that exemplifies a particular structure is also a good poem, it absorbs the eye, the ear and the tongue at the same time inspiring and moving us. This makes poetry easier to remember than other things for many learners.

Similar to songs, poems amplify the rhythmic nature of the language. So, it is an important aspect to be taught, since English is a syllable timed language with stressed syllables being articulated at roughly identical time pauses, even in everyday talking. Like songs, poems have a huge linguistic worth because they provide authenticity and cultural sights. A poem’s capacity to relieve the reader or the listener also increases its effectiveness as a teaching resource. As soon as a poem or song has been learnt, it can remain in the mind of the student for the rest of his/her life, with all the rhythms, grammatical features and vocabulary.

Molly has a red dress

Molly has a red dress,

A red dress, a red dress,

Molly has a red dress,

Now sing this song.

Billy has a blue shirt,

A blue shirt, a blue shirt,

Billy has a blue shirt,

Now sing this song.

I have a blue shirt,

A blue shirt, a blue shirt

I have a blue shirt,

Now sing this song.

In the song “Molly has a red dress” we can find the two present affirmative forms of “have”. It is a verb that primary school students often make mistakes with. They often use “have” instead of “has” and vice versa. I often make use of this song when teaching clothes or parts of the body. Before the song I normally teach them body parts/ clothes. I begin with pictures representing clothes/face parts, continue with description of clothes/faces in term of colour/size. Ss can describe their own clothes/face, i.e. “I have a blue t-shirt, black trousers and white shoes. / I have blue eyes, brown hair and small nose” This activity can be varied, using instead of the pronoun “I”, the third person pronoun; Ss can describe each other’s clothes/ appearance.

There are many other songs that can be used for the sake of action verbs, where children do not only sing, but they also do the actions, as the famous song “If you’re happy and you know it” or “The can song”, where Ss are exposed not only to action verbs, but also to the modal “can”:

“The Can – Can Song”

Can, can you dance

Like I can?

Can you sing like I can?

Can you run?

And can you jump

Like me?

Can, can you walk

Like I can?

Can you talk like I can?

Can you swim

And can you climb

Like me

Poems may bring creativity and the rhythm into the language classroom, yet they may also bring some problems. A poem is not made in a simple way and syntactically it is at a higher level than prose, so it can be very hard for a foreign language learner to understand it completely.

Hence, the teacher has to provide a poem which is syntactically and thematically appropriate to the level, age and the interests of the students. Poems, which echo cultural themes, universal features, humanistic principles, or emotional aspects, will be more appropriate to the foreign language learners. Through taking the classroom objectives into consideration, a teacher should effectively benefit from poems as teaching aids.

In my opinion, when teaching a poem to primary school students, first we have to provide the necessary vocabulary, if needed. The procedure of using poems in the classroom is different from primary, to secondary school and high school. It may not be very useful to use poems for young students or for beginners. As an alternative to poems, using nursery rhymes or songs would be more appropriate since they provide more joyful and easier contexts in teaching grammar issues.

Rhymes are made up of fixed phrases or blocks of language that are put together to make a rhyme. I usually introduce rhymes to my Ss as an entertainment and only when they know it very well and I notice they like repeating it, I use it as context for teaching a grammar point. In the preliminary stage of learning children should repeat the rhyme several times. It is important to children as it gives them opportunities to subconsciously revise language and sounds. The rhymes also give the chance to confirm what they know and this gives them self-confidence.

Below there are some of the rhymes and short poems suitable for teaching present simple and other grammar structures and vocabulary items.

For describing seasons there is one short rhyme which I personally used with my students. There are more rhymes, but I consider the following rhyme as being appropriate for primary school students.

The four seasons

“Spring is green

Summer is bright

Autumn is yellow

Winter is white.”

There are many other rhymes that can be used for the sake of action verbs, where children do not only recite, but they also do the actions:

I close my eyes,

I count to ten,

I yawn and stretch,

I yawn again.

I jump out of bed

And touch my toes.

It’s seven o’clock.

It’s time to go.

Wind the Bobbin Up

Wind the bobbin up,
Wind the bobbin up,
Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap.
Wind it back again,
Wind it back again,
Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap,
Point to the ceiling,
Point to the floor,
Point to the window,
Point to the door,
Clap your hands together, 1, 2, 3,
Do a roly-poly, put your hands upon your knee.

“Wind the Bobbin Up” is an entertaining song/rhyme and it is also an educational tool to develop the vocabulary of young learners from primary school. The object of the game is to identify some items and simulate some actions, that are told in each verse of the rhyme. I usually do the actions together with my students, until they are able to do them alone, by holding their hands and mimic the actions together.

Tie my shoe

One, two, tie my shoe;

Three, four, knock at the door;

Five, six, pick up sticks;

Seven, eight, stand up straight:

Nine, ten, a big fat hen;

Eleven, twelve, dig and delve;

Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;

Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen;

Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting

Nineteen, twenty, my plate is empty.

“Tie my shoe” is a popular counting-out rhyme. I usually use it after teaching numbers to zero/first or second grade. As many other rhymes and songs, once students learnt them, they can be used as warmers or when children are tired and need a break. It’s a fun way to relax for them and to disconnect from learning. Even if it does not contain present form verbs, but the imperative, I use this rhyme for the sake of numbers and actions. The actions can be then used for communicative purposes, used in present simple. If I say I knock at the door, Ss understand and at their turn they can speak the actions and simulate them.

Simple rhyme with Present simple of “be”

I am small.
You are tall.
He is fat.
It is bad.
She is late.
It´s not great.
We are old.
They are cold.

Simple rhyme with present simple of “have got”

She’s got a cat
He’s got a pet.
I’ve got a ball.
You’ve got a doll.
We’ve got a house.
They’ve got a mouse.
Sue’s got a parrot
It’s got a carrot.

Rhymes with the modal verb “can”

“Abracadabra”

Abracadabra, wizzy woo.

I can fly, and so can you!

“Can you tell me”

Can you tell me,

Can you tell me

What little boys can do?

They can run and jump.

They can run and jump.

So, I can jump, too.

Can you tell me,

Can you tell me

What little girls can do?

They can dance and skip.

They can dance and skip.

So, I can skip, too.

Can you tell me,

Can you tell me

What little soldiers can do?

They can fight and march.

They can fight and march.

So, I can march, too.

Can you tell me,

Can you tell me

What little babies can do?

They can eat and sleep.

They can eat and sleep.

So, I can sleep, too

Grammatical structure rhyme

“What does the cat say?”

What does the cat say? Meow, Meow.

What does the dog say? Bow wow.

What does the donkey say? Ee Aw.

What does the crow say? Caw, caw.

What does the farmer say? Shoo, shoo.

What does the cow say? Moo. Moo.

What do they all say?

A simple rhyme as “What does the cat say?” has limited possibilities. It is more of a drill on one type of sentence pattern – the simple question. But it is very useful because it uses the auxiliary “does”, which often confuses children. By the repetition of this rhyme, the children can learn the question pattern using “does”. The rhyme can also be used to practice “do”. Another interesting variation is to ask students to create their own animals and the sound that their fantastic animals make. This is an opening for the children’s imagination and enthusiasm. The last line of the rhyme is very funny, because everyone in the class is actually talking at the same time very loudly when reciting: “What do they all say?”

6. TEACHING PRESENT SIMPLE THROUGH ROLE-PLAYS

Defining a role-play

Role-play is any talking activity when you put yourself into somebody else’s place. A role is also when you put your real identity into an imaginary situation. Therefore, role plays go into two directions: on the one hand that of imaginary characters and the other hand that of imaginary situations.

Students can become whoever they want or they are coordinated in a role play by the teacher. At a secondary school level, they can also take on the opinions of someone else as being their own, take part into “For and Against” debates.

At a lower level, it can be limited to simple imaginary situations/ characters in contexts of functional language, with scenarios that can be activated and practised through role plays. Possible role plays can include: “at the shop”, “playing in the park”, “at the party,” etc.

Reasons for using role-play

Integrating role-play into the classroom improves the learning process, adds variety and offers occasions for a lot of language production, being entertaining and fun in the same time.

It is generally approved that learning takes place when activities are engaging and unforgettable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:

1. It's fun and motivating

2. Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way

3. The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world – hence offering a much wider range of language opportunities (Harmer, 2003)

Additionally, real situations can be created and Ss can benefit from the practice. The students can make mistakes, without severe consequences.

Setting up a role-play – practical ideas

As a teacher, I believe in the planning and preparation of role-plays. I have to think through the language the students need and make sure this language is presented and assimilated. A good idea in primary classes is to write down the language on the board.

There are some rules for organising role play activities. As a teacher, it is important for me to reflect on the rules which might help me to organise successfully role playing. There are a few general directions that we can keep in mind when planning a role play for primary school students:

1. Set up the task progressively

2. Begin with pair work, rather than using groupwork

3. Keep the activity short

4. Start the activity after the students have read the role cards

5. The role cards must contain simple and clear task

6. Make sure the cards can be used with different number of students

7. Make sure students have understood the situation and know what they have to do

8. Do not use role cards that are too difficult for their level of understanding and knowledge of language

9. Write concise role cards that contain only the essentials

10. Set up a time limit and stick to it

11. Do not interrupt when Ss make mistakes, it will destroy the flow of conversation

12. During the activity, we should note down things that wet well and the mistakes Ss made

13. Delay correction for later. (Balan R. et all, 2003: 130)

Types of roles of the teacher

– Facilitator – students may need new language to be given by the teacher. If rehearsal time is appropriate the assimilation of new language should take place at this stage.

– Spectator – The teacher watches the role-play and offers comments and advice at the end.

– Participant – It is sometimes appropriate to get involved and take part in the role-play yourself.

When working with young children, I think we should try to exploit their natural ability to “play”. Pupils are used to acting out a visit to the shops or preparing food, because it is the way they play with their friends.

When students practise the role-play, they might need help for words and phrases. In the practice stage the teacher has a chance to offer the appropriate language. The teacher might need to act as a “dictionary”, monitoring the class and helping when necessary. Ss could even take a break from practising, to search words they need in dictionaries, becoming more autonomous.

Error correction

There are many ways to correct mistakes when using role-play. It is not appropriate for the teacher to intervene and correct every mistake. This could be very demotivating and constraining for the students. There are students who like to be corrected straight after a role-play activity, whereas the language is still fresh in their minds. A solution can be to write sentences with errors on the board and Ss can correct together.

When talking about self-correction, a good idea is to record the role-plays, thus students can be given the chance to listen to the recording and reflect on the language used. They could find it easy to identify their own mistakes.

In peer-correction – partners may be able to correct some mistakes made by their peers. We have to be careful to keep peer-correction a positive and profitable experience for all Ss involved.

Making notes of the common mistakes as a teacher and dealing with them in future classes ensures that the students don’t lose enthusiasm by being corrected immediately or straight after the role-play. A good idea is to negotiate with the students and ask them how they would like to be corrected.

Role-play activities in primary school

Getting everyone to speak is a very important part of role plays. A traditional method is to ask the class to pair off. Of course, the teacher cannot monitor every student, if the class is quite large. Consequently, it is important to make sure that everyone is speaking and getting the most out of the language they know. If time allows it, each pair of students can come and speak in front of the class. This allow students to use their language more creatively.

Body language is as important as spoken language. For this, Ss have to feel comfortable and not stressed when acting, but it is important to get a feel of the flow of the conversation. Using body language effectively gives Ss the opportunity to become familiarised with the language they use.

Having fun is essential in role plays. In my opinion it is important to allow students to be as creative as they can. Sometimes we can put Ss into challenging situations, permitting them to think of new ways of expressing things.

Role plays can also work as a great ice breaker for the beginning of the class. They can be scripted and non-scripted. With a scripted role play, the teacher can use an example from the book. This is a good idea for a warm up exercise, getting everyone to split up in pairs and permitting them to speak to their partner, taking on different roles. Non-scripted role plays are those where pupils are provided with a role. Each student must use the knowledge they have in order to speak with their peer. Below I have described some role play ideas for a primary English class. Of course, they can be adapted to fit any situation.

Phone Conversation

Speaking on the phone is unlike to a face-to-face conversation. The first relies exclusively on language to communicate, while face to face conversation includes gestures and mimics too. As a suggestion, pupils who are practising a phone conversation may sit back to back.

Going to the Shop

It is a great activity as it teaches Ss the basics of interacting with people. Children mostly rely on their parents to buy things, so this increases their general confidence in purchasing things. It may be as simple or as complex as wished, depending on the situation. The key phrases are very important here, such as “I would like…” “How much are…” “Good morning…” and so on.

Booking A Room in A Hotel

This role play allows children to practise a precise type of language. Usually it is a formal language. There is an extensive range of opportunity for the students to learn new vocabulary.

Presentations

A very nice role play that I employ with my Ss is the presentation role play. I use this kind of presentation with second/third grade children. Ss have a specific pattern that they have to follow and they usually feel comfortable doing it. At first, I allow them having the pattern in front of their eyes when acting it for the first time.

They can pretend to be someone else or stick to their own identity. I usually prepare the role play in advance through drills, little games or fractions of conversation, as then leading to a whole conversation without any aid. I revise the alphabet, using as a warmer the Alphabet song. I elicit students to spell their names. After that, I continue with greetings and asking their names and then I put them into pairs to practise by their own. Then a few pairs come in front of the class and act the first part, i.e. “Hi, I’m Alex. What’s your name? My name is/I am….; How do you spell that? …Nice to meet you… Nice to meet you, too”. We go on this short role play till all the students get used to present themselves. If I find it is too much for them, I can divide the role play in two shorter ones and join them when Ss are prepared. It can be varied: one time they use their real identity and some other time they use an imaginary identity. Sometimes I can ask them to choose to be an imaginary/ their real person and some other time I let them choose their character, depending on how comfortable they are with the role play.

Next lesson, or other time, we can go on with expressing age. Previously to age questions/answers, we can revise numbers, by using flashcards with numbers, matching exercise (See Appendix 14), multiple choice exercise, etc.

We can go even further with the presentations, we can add information, such as the country, nationality, likes, dislikes, favourite food/sports/animal, etc. Of course, all these are added gradually and repeated in role plays whenever we have the chance.

Another variation of presentation role play can be presentation of Ss families. Students bring photos of their family or drawings and in pairs talk about their families. Before this activity, the have to be provided with family vocabulary (mother, father, sister, brother, etc.), through different types of exercises: gap filling exercises, matching exercises, etc. We can also add age questions/answers, etc. Through all this role play we have to pay attention to the verb ‘to be’ and do as many exercises as necessary for Ss to learn.

Taxi driver role play

When pretending, children can choose to be a certain person with a certain job. Previously, I usually provide Ss job vocabulary through different exercises, games or activities.

At the greengrocer’s

Children can easily put themselves in to the shoes of a shopkeeper and a customer. With previously learning vocabulary and grammar structure they can now role play. I usually use some fake fruit and vegetable, but also flashcards can be used or even textbook exercises, as exemplified in the picture on the left.

At the pet shop, at the toyshop, etc., could be other role plays that can be successfully brought to life into the classroom. Ss can be successful fashion critics or sellers of a house, farmers or even pretend to be their favourite “talking” animal, fruit or vegetable, zoo owner or even teacher! They can be explorers going on a trip to the jungle or they can be friends that go together on a seaside holiday, they can be friends that talk about their likes and dislikes, they can put themselves into the shoes of their parents, etc. Providing appropriate language and vocabulary, children can play an amount of role plays, even with low knowledge of English and using only Present Simple.

CHAPTER V

TEACHING PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE THROUGH INTER OR TRANSDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES

“Teaching is never about ‘getting it right.’ It’s about inquiry: using children as our curricular informants to continue to grow and learn as professionals.” (Short, 1996)

1. New ideologies in teaching and learning

The teaching and learning of second languages in schools has been the source of much debate and investigation over the years.

Times have changed, teachers have progressed, and we now have a new variety of learning technologies. The first changes started in the classroom itself – new technologies such as computers overhead projectors, interactive whiteboards, laptops and wireless internet have unlocked the classroom for the outside world. Teachers who spent their lives handling with a textbook, a tape recorder and a blackboard are now skilful at using PowerPoint to present grammar, playing podcasts to practise listening skills, pulling texts off the world wide web to introduce reading skills and perhaps most revolutionary of all – empowering students by giving them access to a wide range of web-based tools that allow them to publish work and engage with live audiences in real contexts.

And that seems to be just the beginning – because just as technologies have begun to change the way that English is learned in the classroom, even bigger changes seem to be taking place outside it. In fact, the digital revolution in learning now threatens to undermine the classroom completely as a place of study. Learning English through mobile devices gains credibility every day and the increasing popularity and rapidly diminishing cost of tablet devices reinforce this by providing a format that really is capable of delivering courseware. (Gary Motteram, 2013: Foreword)

In a study that promoted Bangladeshi primary school learners’ experience of English language classroom practices (Shrestha, P., 2013: 147-162), in which technology-enhanced communicative language teaching activities were promoted through a project called English in Action (EIA). EIA is a large-scale 9-year long international English language development project in Bangladesh, funded by the UK government. The conclusion was that learners found communicative language learning activities such as dialogue and role play more effective than translation and memorising grammar rules for learning English, although they enjoyed reciting and drills. The results also showed that these learners’ English teachers tended to mix both traditional and communicative approaches in their lessons.

Communicative approaches in their various forms have been practised in English language teaching (ELT) for over three decades and yet, their application by classroom teachers has often met with challenges. Despite resistance from teachers, particularly those accustomed to the ‘knowledge transmission’ model of learning, CLT has been introduced to the national English language curriculum in many countries where English is used as a second or foreign language, including Romania.

I believe that, in Romania and not only, the language teaching methodology and the status of foreign languages are clearly connected to the changes in society and its education system. Our society has developed from an inward-looking agrarian country into an economically and technologically advanced and industrialized society, connecting in various ways to the rest of Europe and global community. In that development, learning English has become inevitable for every Romanian, although it is commonly agreed that other foreign languages are needed, as well.

Historically, researchers of syllabus studies, particularly those working from a critical viewpoint have long recognized the need for cross disciplinary conversations, and despite the pressures to “canonize,” “rigorize,” and create a new academic storage, many have adopted an interdisciplinary approach to some of the most fundamental and “valuable” questions facing humanity and its implications for educational practice and policy. The question of “what is meaningful?” has been the basis of the field of curriculum inquiry/studies for many years and has traversed many ideological/pragmatic tensions (Schubert, 2010). Schwab (2004) argues that the field has become “moribund,” and this is partially due to an unexamined reliance on theory in an area where theory alone is inadequate; he states, “The field of curriculum is moribund, unable by its present methods and principles to continue its work and desperately in search of new and more effective principles and methods” (Schwab, 2004, p. 103). What should be learned? How should it be organized for teaching? What knowledge is most worthwhile? and Whose knowledge is of most worth? (Apple, 2000). (www.journal.jctonline.org), these are the questions that researchers have tried to answer along the history of teaching languages.

Some critics say that ideologies are not only ideas, concepts, notions, or representations; they are practices through which those notions are enacted. When human beings use language, they are simultaneously displaying their beliefs about language as well as other world views. Language ideologies makes an explicit connection between language use and the interests of the nation-state power structure. Therefore, ideologies may refer to beliefs about the nature, function, and purpose of a language.

In a an article from 2012, writing about a research on cross curricular strategies undergone in some schools from England (2007-2009), “Creativity and cross-curriculum strategies in England: Tales of doing, forgetting and not knowing”, revealed that primary teachers often believed that children’s learning would be ‘better’ if they could understand the ways in which subject knowledges related to each other (as might be advocated in primary teacher education in England, see Barnes, 2011; H. Cooper & Rowley, 2007). They typically worked together, occasionally asking children about their interests, as to identify prospects for developing a theme around which specific subject teachings could be gathered together. History, English and Art, for example, could easily work together to address topics such as the Great Fire of London (Mulberry), World War 11 (Elmtree) or Exploration of Egypt (Hazel Tree). On the other hand, Science, Art, English and Geography were other common combinations. Themes were typically taught over a specific time period – a thematised week or two. Teachers typically taught their own class for such thematic work, although there might also be combined excursions or whole school events (e.g. Elmtree held a World War 11 style picnic in costume, following an excursion to London to the Imperial War Museum) facilitated by the creative practitioners offered through CP. Schools often provided some cover-time for teachers engaged in planning ambitious cross-curriculum ‘events’. (www.researchgate.net)

2. Definitions of trans-, intra-, cross-, multi-, inter-disciplinary concepts

Transdisciplinary

In some education literature, transdisciplinarity means to create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and translational innovations that integrate and move beyond the disciplinary boundaries to address a problem (Aboelela et al., 2007; Meeth, 1978)

Otherwise, transdisciplinary can mean the dissolving of existing disciplinary boundaries and the creation of new academic groups around new functions or perspectives (Davies & Devlin, 2007).

Transdisciplinarity goes between the disciplines, across the different disciplines, and beyond each individual discipline. Its goal is the understanding of the present world, of which one of the imperatives is the unity of knowledge. (www.wikipedia.com)

Basarab Nicolescu defines transdisciplinarity through three methodological postulates:

– the existence of levels of Reality

– the logic of the included middle

– complexity (Hampton Press, Cresskill, USA, 2008)

In the existence of several levels of Reality the space between disciplines and beyond disciplines is full of information. Disciplinary research refers to one and the same level of reality. On the contrary, transdisciplinarity refers to the dynamics produced by the action of several levels of Reality at once. The discovery of these subtleties automatically passes through disciplinary knowledge. Transdisciplinarity is nurtured by disciplinary research. Chronologically, disciplinary research is clarified by transdisciplinary knowledge in a new, productive way. From this point of view, disciplinary and transdisciplinary research are not antagonistic, but complementary. As in the situation of disciplinarity, transdisciplinary research is not antagonistic but complementary to multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity research. (www.wikipedia.com)

According to Nicolescu, transdisciplinarity is however completely different from multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity for of its goal, the understanding of the present world, which cannot be accomplished in the background of disciplinary research. He says that the goal line of multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity always stays within the framework of disciplinary research. If transdisciplinarity is often mistaken for interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity (the same that interdisciplinarity is often mistaken for multidisciplinarity) this is generally clarified by the fact that all three exceed disciplinary boundaries. (Hult, F.M., 2010: 19-32)

Intradisciplinary

According to Merriam Webster dictionary(online) intradisciplinary is being or occurring within the scope of a scholarly or academic discipline or between the people active in such a discipline

Cross-disciplinary

In some education literature, cross-disciplinarity means to view or investigate a topic in one discipline using the perspective or approaches from another discipline (Davies & Devlin, 2007; Meeth, 1978)

There was a story depicting people working in a multistore office-building complaining about the long waiting time for lifts. While engineers focused on improving the service of the lifts (but found it not possible in that old building), one young man suggested installing mirrors in the lift boarding areas to reduce the boredom of the waiting people, which successfully stopped the grumbles at a low cost. In this case, an apparently ‘engineering’ problem was solved by a non-engineering approach.

Multidisciplinary

In the Cambridge English Dictionary (online) multidisciplinary means “involving different subjects of study in one activity”. In some education literature, multidisciplinarity means the “co-existence of a number of disciplines” (Davies & Devlin, 2007; Meeth, 1978; Petrie, 1976).

An example in the classroom might be two groups of students from two disciplines taking one course together without any interactions.

Interdisciplinary

In the Cambridge English Dictionary (online) – ‘involving two or more different subjects or areas of knowledge’

In some education literature, interdisciplinarity means to consciously apply methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a central theme, issue, problem, topic, or experience (Jacobs, 1989; Davies & Devlin, 2007)

Yet the senses of ‘interdisciplinary’ and ‘multidisciplinary’ are not very different in the Cambridge dictionary, the educational literature has separated ‘interdisciplinarity’ from its related terms. One important characteristic is that ‘interdisciplinarity’ involves to some extent integration of the disciplines while the inquiry to a problem is proceeding (Davies & Devlin, 2007; Golding, 2009; Petrie, 1976). The worth and visions generated from the integration process are likely to surpass the summing of the possible contributions from each discipline (Pharo, Davison, McGregor, Warr & Brown, 2014).

Golding (2009) offers a recommendation for designing an interdisciplinary subject, based on a series of questions:

1. What is the key issue that I want to involve my students in and request them to adopt an interdisciplinary approach? (e.g., climate change, waste management, sustainable energy, obesity)

2. Why is an interdisciplinary approach important for this topic?

3. What are students expected to produce using an interdisciplinary approach? (e.g., an integrated solution, a balanced judgment, a feasibility study)

3. What kind of approaches do students need to generate the above output? (e.g., synthesis, accommodation, bridging)

4. For each of the disciplines to be involved in the subject, what significant contribution does it make? What will be different if one of the disciplines is not represented?

Interdisciplinarity represents nowadays one of the most complex theoretical and practical issues, highly important not only for the progress of science, but also for an innovative pedagogy of unity. Interdisciplinarity can be a condition for achieving a modern academic system of education. The pedagogic concept of interdisciplinarity shows clearly its necessity and action in the teaching-learning process of the English language by revealing its theoretical and methodological connection with other academic fields, which facilitates the application of the linguistic knowledge in various areas.

Steps in designing interdisciplinary units

1. Assess Your Students and Setting

Analysing environment and students’ diverse learning styles help teachers adapt a unit to meet Ss needs and interests. For learning more about our students, we have to think about a few issues:

– Ss’ ability to work by themselves and in groups

– Ss’ engagement levels during different lessons

– Ss’ evolution throughout the year or past years

For evaluating the classroom environment, a teacher has to consider if:

– Involving other teachers is needed/ possible

– Devoting enough time and resources to the unit is possible

– Enlarging learning settings by doing field trips/ outdoor studies is required

A proper assessment reveals what T can and should do.

2. Create an Organizing Centre

Running an interdisciplinary unit lacking of an organizing centre is like passing on a project without directions.

The organizing centre is the main focus. All the activities and lessons must relate to it, the same as all the approaches and topics that students use will connect with it.

Organizing centres can take the form of:

– Topics

– Issues – is the topic relevant to learning and teaching?

– Themes

– Problem solving ideas

Having an organizing centre, it’s easier to focus on the next steps.

3. Develop Essential Questions

Like a mind map to a writer, students need help when applying ideas to an organizing centre. This is when essential questions appear. When dealing with a new activity, students should be able to position its fundamental essential question and, after thinking, they have to understand how it applies to the organizing centre.

Each essential question should be:

– a little complicated, encouraging students to divide it into simpler problems

– Rooted in concepts that are clearly applicable across subjects

– achievable within the allowed time frame

– related to student’s interest

– interesting for the students

By framing and putting things into a context in the organizing centre with, students can make natural connections between skills and disciplines.

4. Plan and Run Activities

Now it’s time for delivering and solving exercises that tie into specific essential questions. Each exercise/lesson has to introduce or reinforce ideas and skills, borrowing from different subjects – this indicating the importance of merging disciplines.

Similar to any lesson or unit plan, T can vary activity types to raise the level of involvement/ to give students opportunities to reflect on content and their work.

5. Review Student Performance and the Unit Itself

When using the interdisciplinary approach and the unit concludes, T assesses students and activities. This is not only an exercise in giving feedback to your class, but informing future interdisciplinary lessons. When reviewing student performance, the teacher evaluates:

– products

– teamwork

– participation

– Critical thinking

When assessing the interdisciplinary unit itself, the teacher reflects upon:

– Student involvement

– Connections with varied subjects

– Efficiency of the organizing centre

– Relevance and application of essential questions

Students may appreciate subjects they hated after participating in interdisciplinary units, lessons or activities, because they learnt how skills and concepts relate to disciplines they enjoy.

Interdisciplinary approaches are based on: active learning strategies, activities built on experiences, adaptive learning, project-based learning and inquiry-based learning. (www.prodigygame.com)

3. Reasons for using transdisciplinary activities in teaching English

A meaningful quotation, that I personally like very much, is Halliday’s understanding of learning a language: “Language development is a continuous process. Even the move into written language, which is often made to seem as if it was a totally new experience unrelated to what the child has already learned, is simply part of the same massive project in which every child is engaged; the construction of the ability to mean.” (Halliday, 1980)

The term “transdisciplinary” has progressed from an initial step – to overcome the inter-disciplinarity by the meaning given by Jean Piaget, who suggests that “a holistic approach of the real world that is interactive” and extremely complex; hence “trans-disciplinarity concerns – as indicated by the prefix “trans” – which is at the same time across disciplines, and inside different disciplines, and beyond all discipline. Its goal is the understanding of the present world, one of its imperatives is the unity of knowledge.” (Niculescu, 2010: 181)

Transdisciplinary Skills

1. Thinking Skills (acquisition of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, metacognition)

2. Social Skills (accepting responsibility, respecting others, cooperating, resolving conflict, group decision-making, adopting a variety of roles)

3. Communication Skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting, non-verbal communication)

4. Self-management Skills (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, organization, time management, safety, healthy lifestyle, codes of behaviour, informed choices)

5. Research Skills (formulating questions, observing, planning, collecting data, recording data, organizing data, interpreting data, presenting research findings)

Transdisciplinary themes

(www.aris.edu.gh)

1. Who we are: an inquiry into the nature of the self, beliefs and values, personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health. Human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures, rights and responsibilities. What it means to be human is a specific question in transdisciplinary approach.

2. Where we are in place and time: an inquiry into positioning in place and time. Personal histories, homes and journeys are important. The discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind too. The relationships between/and the interconnections of people and civilizations, from local to global perspectives.

3. How we express ourselves: an inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, and feelings, as well as nature, culture, beliefs and values. The ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity and our appreciation of the aesthetic are all important.

4. How the world works: an inquiry into the natural world and its laws. The interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies. How humans use their understanding of scientific principles is important. An accent is put on the impact of scientific and technological development on society and on the environment.

5. How we organize ourselves: an inquiry into the interconnections of human-made systems and communities. The structure and function of organizations are considered. Societal decision-making is central. The economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment is also taken in mind.

6. Sharing the planet: an inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things. Communities and the relationships within and between them are essential. The access to equal opportunities is an ideal. Peace and conflict resolution are important issues in the world. (www.bhamcityschools.org)

4. Examples of activities

1. Field Study

It is an activity that introduce new learning environments by using an outdoor field study as the basis for a short unit. For example, T could take the Ss, from the third or fourth grade, to visit the Zoo, or a short walk in the forest where they can see insects and other small animals. T can tell them about animals that live in the forest.

It uses an interdisciplinary approach – it is fixed in an organizing centre (e.g.: the field study can focus on finding local bugs and animals/ visiting the Zoo, after which T can build the unit on exploring a specific theme related to wildlife.

Activities:

In the primary school students could:

Listen and then read about wild animals, from a text or accessible poem (see Appendix 19)

Write/describe wildlife animals spotted

Watch documentaries about animals on the projector in the classroom

Research and deliver presentations about how certain environments sustain wildlife

To launch the in-class part of the unit, T can speak about how the field study connected with past lessons. Perfect for gratifying outdoorsy students.

Time: One to Two Weeks

Age Range: 3rd Grade and Up

2. All About Weather

This is another interdisciplinary activity which connects science with social studies and language, by presenting a unit that explores the impact of weather.

It can be a unit about weather and atmosphere, which T can supplement by studying how they affect societies. For example, T could bring materials which examine diverse regions and countries, looking into how climate influences labour, agriculture and cultural practices. Students can deliver products that depict how weather has historically shaped life and ecology in the area. Of course, again the language and vocabulary should be simple, accessible, pictures can be used because sometimes they express more than words do.

Time: One to Two Weeks

Age Range: 4th Grade and Up

3. More than a “Just” Book

T can make language arts class more extraordinary by examining a book’s underlying contexts, running engaging exercises while reading it.

Every book lends itself to unique interdisciplinary activities. T can start by dividing the setting. For example, if it takes place centuries ago, students can recreate the era’s scientific breakthroughs, i.e. making small windmills/simple telescopes, etc. A book’s topic can also draw on different subjects. When reading George Orwell, T can set up learning stations that teach political ideologies. For a more accessible approach, students can rebuild scenes from novels, putting themselves in characters’ shoes. A such an English class can be multipurpose.

Time: Two Weeks or Longer

Age Range: 4th Grade and Up

4. Study-Free Test Preparation

T can prepare the students for an upcoming test by exploring how to prepare apart from studying, giving them methods to use throughout their academic careers. Irrespective of specific structure, this unit’s lessons and activities should be based on one guiding question or organizing centre: “As well as studying, what are the top ways to prepare oneself for a future test?” T can focus on stress, sleep, nutrition, active listening and other factors that influence performance. To close the unit, each student can give a research presentation about a study-free preparation tactic.

Time: One Week or Longer

Age Range: 5th Grade and Up

5. Present Simple through inter/trans disciplinary activities

When referring to transdisciplinary, teaching has the main strands as any teaching approach that we are used to. It includes oral, visual and written learning directions, such as language speaking and listening, viewing and presenting, reading and writing. Up to this point, it is nothing new or innovative in teaching and learning practices. But the way in which all these elements are conveyed to students is somehow different from what we are normally used to in school mass teaching. In transdisciplinary approaches, language inquiries are meant to help learners inquire into and learn about the construction of meaning, the way in which language is used to support and develop thinking. It is important how to communicate effectively by understanding different systems and patterns in language.

Other features that stand at the basis of transdisciplinary approach might be:

– Ss learn about different ways of communicating, both receptively and expressively

– Language is contextualised and helps Ss create ideas and develop beliefs and values

– Ss learn about the function and impact of different text types

– Ss learn about the systems needed for writing and word creation

– the history and development of language is discussed

– Ss are expose to the structures and power of spoken language, the importance of visual language, the systems of non-verbal communication

– the systems needed to decode, comprehend expression and meaning, etc.

To put it simpler, transdisciplinary thinking may be summed up in a few words: “The way we learn language, we learn through language and learn about language.” (www.beconwiz.com)

1. How the world works

Planets and days of the week

This activity is an inquiry into the natural world and its laws. The interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies, how humans use their understanding of scientific principles and the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

Level of students: IVth grade

CENTRAL IDEA- The earth is part of a vast and complex universe.

LINES OF INQUIRY – Components of the universe, how current scientific theories about the universe evolved. Advances in technology continue to increase our knowledge and thinking.

AIM: to revise days of the week and link them to planet names

PROCEDURE

Previously, having learned the days of the week, T does some oral revision, using drills or flashcards in Romanian with the days of the week and Ss have to say them in English. T may use a worksheet or the poem days of the week (Appendix 20). T continues the activity with a little talk about the planets, using simple words and present simple. With the aids of picture flashcards of planets, using gestures and intonation tries to captivate the students in the story. She asks the question: “Do you know that planets names are associated with the days of the week?”. Then T provides with several examples in written on the board, in Romanian, but does not pronounce them loudly, only in written. T gives each Ss a picture with days and planets association and read aloud the names of planets. (Appendix 21). T may show additional pictures of planets, so Ss can visually see their distinctive features.

After reading activity, T puts students in groups and gives them flashcards with days of the week and planet names, together with planet pictures that they have to match and stick on a carton board. T announces them that the first team to finish will be awarded with stickers/points and that at the end o the class they will receive diplomas for their entire activity.

T tells the Ss Earth has different properties and that it provides may of the resources that people use. T brings these materials into the classroom by giving examples from the surrounding environment: “School objects are made of…” etc.

T places a poster with earth materials, their English words and pictures. T has a set of cards with classroom objects which Ss are invited to choose from and describe them orally: “The pencil is made of wood”, “The notebook is made of paper.”, etc.

The next activity I called “Everything is made from a flower” (Figure 1)

Figure 1

I usually conclude the activity with the Solar System song, which they enjoy very much (Appendix 22), which they have to listen first and fill in the gaps with ne names of planets. They can then sing it together.

2. How we express ourselves

Fairy tales

An essential part of childhood that can take us on adventures of fantasy and culture is through fairy tales.

Level of students: 2nd, 3rd, 4th

LINES OF INQUIRY: this unit of inquiry investigates into the imaginative world of classic fairy tales from around the world. Questions as: “How does literature invite different interpretations? How beliefs and values are taught through stories. What are different methods of storytelling?” are very important to answer.

CENTRAL IDEA: People around the world create stories to express emotion, ideas and values.

AIMS: inquiry-based activities that provoke and engage, we develop Ss’ reading skills and strategies as they analyse different tales and text.

Through this kind of activity teachers can use different texts for comparing/contrasting,

An important theme can be that of morals and values (during the EFL class adjectives can be introduced here), Character traits (describing people lesson).

As techniques and strategies, a teacher can use inferring, sequencing, etc.

Puppets and puppet shows can be used, as well as digital storytelling, rubrics & checklists, etc.

At the end of the activity children can create their own fairy tale or recreate a well-known tale, telling it in a way that demonstrates their own unique form of expression, using present simple verbs.

Learning English through science experiments

Skittles experiment

This skittles experiment is easy, low cost and provides lots of investigative opportunities. During the experiment you can try using different temperatures of water, white vinegar or lemonade to discover what happens.

The materials used in this experiment is: A plate or container – preferably white, Skittles or other coated sweets and water

During this experiment Ss place skittles or sweets into a white container and tried to alternate the colours. Carefully a student pour water into the container, paying attention that the sweets don’t move. After that, Ss just watch what happens.

As an English teacher, I used this experiment when learning colours, as a revision tool for children in the primary classes. They used the verb “to be” to express themselves. For example, they practised to say the structure: “It is black, it is yellow, etc.” Or I asked questions, such as “Is it pink? Is it blue? etc” and Ss answered “Yes, it is. / No, it isn’t.”. Or I asked them to spell the word of each colour, or spell the world “skittles”. With older students the teacher can go even further, asking Ss: “Why do the colours spread? Can you time how long the colours take to reach the centre of the plate using cold and warm water? Which do you think will be faster?” Other extension questions Ss can think about could be: “Why do you think the colours don’t mix? How could you speed up the reaction?” Skittles are coated in food colouring and sugar. When you pour water over the skittles the coloured coating dissolves spreading through the water. The colour and sugar dissolve into the water and then diffuse through the water, making it the colour of the skittle. T can give student some task to do at home, such as to try using other sweets and find if any work as well as skittles.

Tornado in a jar

It’s an activity that a teacher can use in the classroom when teaching weather unit. T could start with a little story about tornados, telling Ss that tornados are dangerous force of nature but this one is safe. T could use pictures, mimics and gestures to emphasize words. In a primary class, I usually do this story telling to help Ss make connections with the real force of nature. I usually make sure Ss understood, by translating words, while I am speaking, or even short sentences in mother tongue, i.e. Romanian, then ask for feedback from Ss. I could ask: “What did you understand from the story?”, they could give answers in Romanian.

The materials needed for this experiment are: clear plastic/glass jar with a lid, water and dish soap and glitter (if you want). Ss have to fill the jar with water, then add one or two drops of dish soap to the jar, add some glitter if you want too. Then Ss have to shake the jar a few different ways to find what best works. Holding the jar upright and shaking in a counter clockwise circular fashion worked best for us. It is an experiment that can be easily explained in English and Ss can easily understand and try it. It is fun and makes learning meaningful, giving an insight of the real-world natural phenomena. Ss can make sentences using present simple with the things they see: “It is interesting/ It is fun/ It sparkles” etc, or even have them to explain the experiment to Ss from another class. This way they can collaborate with other than their colleagues.

Other experiments from this area can be: Rain in a jar, Inflate a balloon, Storm in a jar, Exploring density of liquids, etc.

CHAPTER 6

THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Purpose

Objectives

Hypothesis

Subjects, stages and methods

Results

Conclusions of the research

CHAPTER 6

THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Purpose

Lately, the word trans-disciplinary receives attention from various area and particularly from education, that employs such an approach in order to update the education and training, as well as to sustain the achievement of its central purpose – preparing Ss for integration in real social life. The final goal of teaching is that students / children comprehend and learn how to live beautifully in a multicultural, complex world. Throughout the trans-disciplinary approach of the curriculum the teacher helps Ss reaching such expectations. Thus, imagination has a fundamental role in education and teaching. The trans-disciplinary approaches support the idea of thinking creatively and flexibly.

While the new technologies have entered the world of teaching and learning as means to educate and provide an innovative exercises and possibilities, other, such as transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches come to complete the whole picture of innovation and evolution in the system of education. The purpose of my research is to see how these approaches can help children develop and make them open to new themes, taught through these new approaches.

Giving children the possibility to a new way of approaching learning and improving their knowledge of language through learning about the language itself through giving meaning to their learning process, using real experiences in the classroom, can be the goal of a teacher. Feeling confident and not stressed in the classroom, not being obliged to sit down and do exercises all the time, giving them the possibility to think by their own, making them aware of their own desires and needs, finding motivations and learning how to learn, …these are things that surely help children develop their own scale of beliefs and values. This is an experimental or quantitative research which tries to investigate the impact of integrating transdisciplinary activities in students’ English learning process.

Objectives

The process of teaching and learning is a two-way process, through which teachers convey or send information to students and the way Ss receive and internalise the information. Every teacher wants and struggles to share his knowledge to his/her students through the best ways possible. Therefore, any approach/method/technique that serves the purpose of teaching, without ignoring the main objectives of the process of teaching, could be considered as appropriate ways of teaching. the openness of teachers to new ways of teaching in the educational institutions, can not only improve education, but also helps people from an early age to take responsibilities, to think by their own judgements, form their own values and beliefs about life, growing into successful individuals, that means empowering people with the control of making significant changes in the world.

In view of all these aspects, the objectives of this research are:

– to understand the role of inter or transdisciplinary approaches and to integrate them in EFL lessons

– to evaluate inter/ transdisciplinary tools to support teaching and learning;

– to explore how students succeed to adapt themselves to learn English through inter/ transdisciplinary activities

Hypothesis

The experimental investigation in this research involves the control or manipulation of two variables. Variables are the parts of the experiment that can change or vary. So, the two variables in this case are:

1. The independent variable (or manipulated variable) is the one that can cause changes in the other variable. This means it is the one thing that has been chosen to be manipulated: in this case, the use of traditional associated with communicative approaches and transdisciplinary approaches. It is, actually, what I am testing; the difference between two classes of students, one taught through traditional and communicative approaches, while the other has been exposed to transdisciplinary activities as well.

2. The dependent variable (or responding variable) is the one that can change in response to the manipulation of the independent variable. It is the answer that can be observed and measured. This dependent variable is associated with the use of only traditional and communicative methodology.

Given that methodologies are continuously changing and learning arises from using communicative tools by social groups for social purposes, this research paper asks, how can the use of new ideologies in teaching, such as transdisciplinary approach, can be used to support English language learner’s development?

Subjects, stages and methods

1. Subjects

In my research I chose to teach two groups/classes. Both of the groups had the same number of lessons per week, i.e. one, they were of similar age (second grade, which means children between the ages of nine or ten), and they were approximately at the same level. The experiment took place during two months, during which we had eight lessons.

Group 1 (control sample): twenty eight children -16 girls and 12 boys – in the second grade of a public school – Școala Gimnazială Nr. 1 Tileagd (chart 1). This was a mixed ability class. They have been learning English for two years. I used the traditional methodology and communicative approaches with this group.

Group 2 (experimental sample): seventeen children – 5 girls and 11 boys – in the second grade of a public school – Școala Gimnazială Nr. 2 Tilecuș (chart 2). This was also a mixed-ability class. They have been learning English four two years. I used interactive methods and technological tools, transdisciplinary themes with this group.

2. Stages of the experiment

The experiment happened in three stages as revealed in the following table:

As highlighted in the above table, throughout the pre-experimental stage, the same test was applied to both the experimental sample and control sample aiming to check students’ level of language before the experimental stage. In the next stage, the independent variable was introduced and applied only to the experimental sample. This is how teaching and learning are carried out when using the transdisciplinary activities. In the final stage of the research, i.e. post-experimental stage, a final test was taken by both the experimental sample, and control sample. The test applied in this stage was meant to confirm or invalidate the hypothesis from which I started the research.

a) The pre-experimental stages

It began at the beginning of the second semester of the school year (February, 2018) and it lasted until the end of March, 2018. During this period, I collected the bibliography that I needed and I also included here the initial evaluation of the participants. The initial evaluation (appendix 23) was meant to check students’ language level which proved to be approximately equal for both the experimental sample (group 2) and control sample (group 1) in the sufficient and insufficient marks proportions, while the number of very good marks in the control sample group was greater than the number of good marks. Furthermore, the number of good marks in the experimental group was slightly lower than very good marks. This represented the preliminary point in establishing the teaching strategy for the next stage. The results of the initial evaluation in the pre-experimental stage are as follow:

Group 1 (control sample)

Group 2 (experimental sample)

Graphically, the results are represented in the following way:

The results obtained in the initial evaluation will be compared with those from the final test of the experiment after applying transdisciplinary tools with group 2 (the experimental sample), in order to check if/or they can contribute to improving students’ language skills

b) The experimental stage

The experimental stage began at the middle of the second semester of the school year (the beginning of April, 2018) and it lasted until the beginning of May, 2018, i.e. 4 weeks, two classes per week, in total 4 hours of English lessons. At this stage, my entire attention was focused only on group 2 (experimental sample). My desire was to bring something new to the teaching process and improve the didactic methods, trying to enrich the communicative activities, within applying methods with a solid aim towards improving Ss’ level of understanding English in meaningful context, re- evaluating new teaching and learning activities with the purpose of developing the student`s whole potential. I tried to bring the outside world inside the classroom and to experiment reality within closed doors of the classroom, while still learning English grammar, vocabulary, not only through worksheets and games, videos and role plays, but also through real activities that makes Ss feel important, responsible and open minded.

The methodological toolkits used in this stage were meant to see if, in the end, when giving the final test, there would be differences between the two samples of subjects: group 1 (control sample) and group 2 (experimental sample).

Activities used with Group 1 (control sample)

I tried to use communicative teaching approaches in this group, also I integrated technology (CD games and exercises, video stories), interactive techniques. Learners learn through using it to communicate. I tried to use as a goal of classroom activities – the authentic and meaningful communication. I took in mind the idea fluency, as an important dimension of communication. I also tried the integration of different language skills, as communication cannot be done without them. The final aim of CLT is communicative competence, learning is a process of creative construction and involves experimentation and error.

Moreover, I tried to incorporate interactivity into lessons in order to engage students and help them remember what they have learnt. I guided the children to the meaning and appropriate usage of language. I let the pupils listen for gist as well as for details in different exercises; we practised reading and writing in forms suitable and attractive for this group. Instead of glossaries, I used flashcards for new lexical items which were shown up with the help of a laptop and a LCD projector. They started to like this way of teaching and learning. I used a great deal of pair work and group work and we did a lot of creative activities, such as making crosswords or role plays where people were talking to each other. We also did matching, gap-filling and spelling exercises, as well as performing dialogues and guessing games.

As a teacher I tried to facilitate the communication process in the classroom and to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group

In CLT the teacher is also expected to act as a resource, an organizer of resources, a motivator, a counsellor, a guide, an analyst and a researcher. There are many other minor roles of a teacher, some of these would include being an actor and an entertainer.

Besides, a good lesson must be interesting or the students will ‘switch off’ and learn nothing.

During my research I taught a module called “A sweet tooth”, which consisted of 5 lessons concerning: presenting food/drink items, talking about food preferences, listening to a story about the characters from the lesson, meeting the Sweet Monster, developing listening comprehension skills through a dialogue, consolidating the language learnt. In the following pages I will describe some of the activities that I did with this group of students.

In the first lesson of this unit pupils learnt about food/ drinks items. As objectives of the lesson we had: presenting food/ drink items, talking about food preferences. In this lesson the pupils learnt to understand: “Do you like (chocolate)?” and learnt to use: Food/drink items: chocolate, jam, cake, lollipops, juice, sweets in sentences like “I like (chocolate). I don’t like (jam)”.

Warm up activity

At the beginning of the lesson I drew a rough sketch of a dog’s tail on the board. Pupils asked questions in order to guess animal. (e.g. Pupil 1: Is it big? Teacher: No, it isn’t.; Pupil 2: Is it green? Teacher: No, it isn’t.; Pupil 3: Has it got big ears? Teacher: No, it hasn’t; Can it run? Teacher: Yes, it can.; Class: It’s a dog! Teacher: Correct! etc.)

PRESENTATION AND PRACTICE

During the stage of presentation and practice, we had and activity to present food/drink items. Ss hand to listen, point and say the items. After that I asked students to close their book. I put a picture of the sweet tooth monster on the board. I pointed to the food/drink items, one at a time, and say the words. The pupils repeated after me. Then I pointed to the food/drink items in random order and name them. The pupils repeated after me. I then continued miming eating/drinking one of the items. I asked pupils to guess which item it was. (e.g. Teacher: mimes holding a carton of juice and drinking from a straw; Class: Juice! etc.

Listening activities

The pupils listened, pointed and repeated. Then, I asked them to point and say what they like/don’t like, e.g. I don’t like (jam). etc

Matching activities

I asked pupils to look at the picture of the Sweet Monster. I elicited the names of the food/drink items he was holding and those around him. I explained the activity. The pupils then matched the words to the items in their notebooks. Then pointing to the food/drink items I encouraged them to say, e.g. I’ve got a sweet tooth. I love (lollipops).

Singing activity

During this activity I pointed to images to and said: I love lollipops and chocolate, too! The pupils repeated after me. Then we repeated with the rest of the song. Then I played the recording. The pupils listened and pointed to the food/drink items. I played the recording again. The pupils listened and sang along:

I’m a Sweet Monster

And I’ve got a sweet tooth!

I love lollipops

And chocolate, too!

I love jam

And cake and juice!

I’m a Sweet Monster

And I’ve got a sweet tooth!

Another song I used throughout the unit was the “Rainbow song”:

Rainbow food is good for you:

Red tomatoes and apples, too!

Green peas, green pears all for you.

Orange for carrots and oranges, too!

Yummy potatoes.

Red, yellow, green

Rainbow food

A rainbow dream!

Listen and choose yes or no – activity

Here I voiced the names of the food items by pointing and asking: What’s this? I Point to the lollipops and said: I like lollipops. Do you like lollipops? I elicited a response: Yes, I do./No, I don’t. Ss repeated the procedure with the remaining food items. I said the instructions twice as I mimed them. Then I played the recording, twice if necessary. The pupils listened and completed the task in their notebooks. Finally, I checked pupils’ answers.

PRODUCTION

Role play

The pupils acted out the following exchange. I demonstrated this myself first.

e.g. Pupil 1: Do you like juice?

Pupil 2: Yes, I do. /No, I don’t. Do you like juice? etc

Chinese Whispers

At the end of the lesson I had an activity to consolidate the language of the lesson I told the pupils they are going to play a game called Chinese Whispers. I explained the rules. I approached a pupil at the front desk and whispered a food/drink item. I asked him/her to whisper the same word to his/her partner, who then whispered it to the next pupil, etc. I asked the last pupil to call out the food/drink item. I checked if the food/drink said was the correct one. I repeated the procedure as many times as it was necessary.

I then continued with the rest of the lessons, where I used activities according to the following objectives:

– To present and practise food items (fruit and vegetables)

– To listen to a story about the characters meeting the Sweet Monster

– To develop listening comprehension skills through a dialogue

– To consolidate the language used in the unit

– To talk about fruit and vegetables

– To draw their favourite fruit and vegetable.

For language acquisition, I used activities through which pupils could understand: What colour are (tomatoes)? What has the Sweet Monster got? Is a (carrot) a fruit or vegetable? It’s a (vegetable). What’s your favourite fruit?

I used role plays

“An ice cream, please. Here you are. Thank you” / (Tomatoes) are (fruit). / “I’m (Mr Carrot). I’m a vegetable. This is my garden. Look! I’ve got (carrots), (potatoes) and (tomatoes)”/ “Do you like (chocolate)?” / “What’s the matter? My tummy hurts! No more sweets!”

During the activities the pupils learnt vocabulary related to fruit and vegetables: carrots, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, pears, oranges. (Eat (tomatoes). They’re good for you. / I like (carrots). They’re good for me.”)

The materials I used were:

the A sweet tooth poster before beginning the lesson activities

Flashcards for presentation and practice of the vocabulary

Photocopies of the fruit/vegetable templates, the ice cream cone

Types of activities and techniques used were: drills, songs, listening to a story, games, etc.

Communication can be divided into two categories Input (receptive) and Output (productive)

The four communicative skills can be classified as:

– input: reading and listening

– output: speaking and writing

Further on, I will try to present the activities that I used while teaching the second-grade pupils according to the above-mentioned classification: reading, listening, speaking and writing.

1. Develop speaking skill

Role play – fruit/vegetable

This was a role play I did with the children after learning fruit and vegetables, they chose their favourite template, drew it, cut it and pretended to be a fruit/ vegetable.

Role play – gardener

During this activity I told the pupils to imagine they each have got their own garden. Ask them to draw the fruit and vegetables growing in their gardens. Then I had them present their drawing to the class. e.g. Pupil: This is my garden. Look! I’ve got carrots, potatoes and tomatoes.

Role play – At the shop

I put students into pairs and they had to pretend they are at the shop, buying/selling ice-cream. One of them was the shop assistant, the other was the customer.

Games

I used the Board game, more exactly the the Rainbow game. Before playing the game, I said the instructions twice as I tried to mime them. I told the pupils they were going to play a board game. I pointed to each picture on the board game and elicited the names of the food items. I explained the rules. The pupils played in pairs and each player needs a counter, but any small object was good. They placed their counters on Start and threw the dice, saying the number that came up. The pupil with the highest number began the game by saying My turn! and moved forward the number of spaces indicated on the dice. If a pupil landed on the Oh, no! space, he/she moved back to Start. If a pupil landed on the Great! space, he/she played again. I had the pupils copy the colour chart in their notebooks. When a pupil landed on a food item he/she named it and then ticked the corresponding colour on the colour chart in their notebook. The first pupil/team to tick all four colours on the colour chart was the winner. I stressed the idea that the aim of the game was not to reach Finish but to tick all four colours on the colour chart: peas – green, orange – orange, apple – red, pear – green.

Plasticine

This was an activity to consolidate the language learnt. Pupils used plasticine to make their favourite food item. Then they talked about it, e.g. I like carrots. They’re good for me!

2. Develop listening skills

Poster activity

This was an activity to develop pupils’ listening skills. During this activity pupils’ books were closed. I used an adapted “A sweet tooth” (Appendix 25) poster to present the story. I explained to the pupils, in L1 if necessary, that the characters met the Sweet Monster and ended up getting ill from eating too many sweets. I pointed to the Sweet Monster and say: Hooray! The Sweet Monster! The pupils repeated after you. I asked the pupils to say what they thought the Sweet Monster had in his bag. I elicited their answers. I pointed to the Sweet Monster again and ask: Do you like chocolate? The pupils repeated after me. I pointed to Woody picture and elicited the answer: Yes, I do! I love chocolate! I repeated with the remaining pictures.

Listen to the story

I had this activity at the beginning of the lesson, where it was a story presentation, where Ss had to listen to the dialogue and point to the pictures. The story was much longer, but I present here only an example of the first two picture sequences.

3. Develop reading skills

Look, read and say yes or no

It was an exercise which I began by saying the instructions twice as I mimed them. Then I elicited the numbers of the circles. I pointed to the pictures and elicited what the pupils could see. Then the pupils read the words and said if they matched the picture. I asked individual pupils to answer. Then I asked the rest of the class for verification, e.g. Teacher: One! Pupil 1: Yes! etc.

4. Develop writing skills

Poster

I divided the class into four groups. Then I assigned a colour (red, green, yellow, orange) to each group. I asked the pupils to think of and draw pictures of other food items, preferably fruit and vegetables, with their corresponding colour. Once the groups had finished drawing their pictures in their notebooks they glued them on a big poster board creating a rainbow of fruit and vegetables.

Portfolio

This activity aimed at developing fine motor skills and consolidate the language of the unit. It was an exercise where Ss had to draw and write. I pointed to a fruit/ vegetable picture and ask the pupils to follow in their books as I read. I told them they are going to draw and write about their favourite fruit and vegetable. I elicited some of the pupils’ favourites. Once they finished, they present their drawings to the class. I displayed their work on a wall in the class. Then I helped them file their drawings in their Junior Language Portfolios.

Matching exercise

I used this exercise to make Ss aware of the distinction fruit/vegetable and also to practise some writing in their notebooks. I varied the exercise by asking Ss to write instead of the number and instead of the letter corresponding to A/B to write the word: fruit/vegetable (e.g.: pear-fruit; carrot-vegetable etc)

Activities used with Group 2 (experimental sample)

While teaching to this group I added some new activities through which pupils learnt: to talk about food that is good for us, to explore other subject areas, such as health and safety, to familiarise pupils with British and Italian culture, to talk about ice cream in the UK and Italy.

Students were exposed to extra language acquisition, through teaching them language through which they learnt to understand words like: UK, Italy, pancakes, pour, add, mix, sugar, salt, water, milk, flower parts etc.

Extra materials I used were: map of the world, food ingredients, a frying pan, teaspoons, plastic plates and containers, Skittles sweets, water, liquid soap, etc., worksheets, flashcards, short videos related to the activities, etc.

The activities were around transdisciplinary themes, such as: who we are, where we are in place and time, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves, sharing the planet.

In the following pages of the present research, I will talk about the activities I used in order to achieve my goal, classifying them according to the main skills used in the transdisciplinary approach, such as: thinking skills, social skills, communication skills, self-management skills, research skills.

1. Communication skills

Look. Then act – British an Italian culture

This activity connects to the real world. It’s an activity to familiarise pupils with aspects of British and Italian culture and explore their own. I started by pointing to a picture of an ice cream and I told pupils that ice cream is a favourite of both young and old worldwide. I asked pupils what their favourite ice cream flavour is, if they ate ice cream only during the summer, where they usually bought it, etc. I then pointed to the British flag picture and elicited the country. I told pupils that ice cream vans “are popular in the UK during the summer months. Children run to buy ice cream when they hear the music from the van as it makes its rounds” Next, I pointed to the flag of Italy flashcard/picture and presented the country. I used a map of the world, put it up on the board and showed where Italy was. I read the exchange and explained the activity. Then I handed out some photocopies of fruit and vegetable templates the to the pupils. I asked the pupils to colour in their ice cream, according to their favourite ice cream flavour, e.g. yellow (for banana), brown (for chocolate), etc. If they wished, they could ‘make up’ their own ice cream flavour, e.g. green (for peas) and red (for tomato). When finished, I pinned up the templates on the board, on a large piece of construction paper. Then I asked a pair of pupils to come to the front. The pupils, in pairs, acted out the exchange: e.g. Pupil 1: A chocolate ice cream, please. Pupil 2: Here you are. Pupil 1: Thank you.

1. Gastronomic activity

I used this activity at the end of the unit “A sweet tooth”. I began the presentation stage by telling them that they are going to learn other food items and actions. I did not tell them they are going to cook anything that time. I wanted them to be surprised. I began by asking them if they liked pancakes, showing a picture of them, and telling them I liked pancakes, especially with chocolate, ice-cream, jam (using pictures to show them). Then, I presented them some flashcards (with words underneath the image, then without words) with ingredients and actions related to cooking, of which you can see a part in Figure 1. In the same time, I also used mimics and gestures for emphasizing actions. Ss did choral drills, simulation drills, etc., too.

Figure 1

Matching exercise

After introducing the vocabulary, I passed to the practice stage. Here I provided them flashcards with words and separately picture flashcards. Ss pinned them on a large piece of paper. To emphasize more, I gave pupils a matching exercise, where they had to match pictures to words on a worksheet. (Appendix 26, 28).

Video watching activity

During this activity I told children they are going to watch a cartoon sequence where they can see a recipe, more exactly a pancake recipe. Also, I told them that I wanted to see if they could remember the recipe after the video, because I had a surprise for them. (Figure 2, Appendix 27)

Figure 2

Put the images in the right order

This activity was planned for the children to find the recipe for the pancakes. It was organised after watching the video cartoon. The children worked in groups for this activity. At the end of it I prompted group members to come to the blackboard and stick the recipe flashcards (Figure 3) in the order in which they happened in the video. They also had to speak out each action (e.g.: Break an egg and put it in a bowl/ Add milk/ Add flour/ Mix all the ingredients/ Cook the pancakes in a frying pan).

Figure 3

Song activity

At the end of the lesson, while all students were relaxing and eating pancakes I played the cooking song “Ten little pancakes” on the projector which they could watch and listen and sing, as part of the deserved relaxing time, after such an activity. (Figure 4)

Figure 4 – Ten Little Pancakes song

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcz3YFaHb9I)

2. Self-management skills

Organization

This was the stage where they actually applied their learning into a real-world activity. It was a group activity where they had to actually prepare the batter for the pancakes. I told them that each member of the group has an ingredient and they have to add it into the bowl in the exact order of the recipe. (Appendix 30, 31)

Planning and carrying out activities effectively

It was up to Ss to choose their ingredient and in turns they mixed the ingredients into the bowl. Also, it was Ss’ responsibility to carry out the activity. I only offered my help for guidance, but I tried not to intervene in the activity. During the activity children had to actually cook their pancakes (Appendix 33). I acted as a facilitator of the activity, I helped with providing the additional information they needed. I explained them the stages they had to undergo in order to finish the activity.

Fine motor skills

Ss exhibited skills in which precision in delicate muscle systems is required. They had to pay attention not to drop the mix on the floor or not to pour too much/ too little quantity of batter, as well as paying attention at flipping the pancake. (Appendix 32)

Spatial awareness

They had to display a sensitivity towards the position of objects (frying pan, bowl, plate for the ready pancakes, spoon for putting chocolate/jam on the pancake) in relation to oneself or each other: not to hurt oneself or the others while manipulating the hot pan or to stain their clothes.

Time management

They had to use time effectively and appropriately. Each of them baked his own cake and let the others cook their pancake, without wasting time on other activity.

Safety

During the process children had to engage in personal behaviour that avoided placing oneself or others in danger or at risk.

Healthy lifestyle

Before the activity they had to wash their hands and prepare the table area where the activity would take place (Appendix 29). They used disinfecting wet napkins to clean the table and then they placed a clean table cloth. It was Ss’ duty to make informed choices to achieve a balance in nutrition (not to eat too many pancakes, too hot, with too much chocolate cream, too much jam) and practise appropriate hygiene and self-care. I was there only to supervise the activity and to guide them through an appropriate conduct.

Codes of behaviour

Ss had to learn and apply appropriate rules regarding group work and interaction.

Informed choices

Children were put into the position of selecting an appropriate course of action or behaviour based on what they learnt about cooking pancakes.

3. Research skills

Formulating questions

They learnt to ask question about the activity, things they needed or wanted to know. I helped them expressing their question in English

Observing

During the activity children used all the senses to notice relevant details to the activity (observing how others perform the action of flipping the pancakes, how to pour sufficient batter, to pay attention not to overcook the pancakes, they felt the smell of cooked pancakes, they could touch their work, see the others’ work and conduct, taste their pancake, hear the others’ comments, suggestions, ideas)

Other research skills that were developed during the activity were:

Planning – Children developed a course of action, they searched ways to find out information they didn’t know (how to flip, how to pour, how to cook, etc)

Collecting data – Ss gathered information from a variety of sources such as: direct observation, worksheets, films, songs, teacher and their colleagues.

Recording data

The had the possibility to describe and record observations by matching, note taking, tallying, writing statements.

Organizing data

Ss sorted and categorized information; they arranged it into understandable forms such as narrative descriptions (wrote their recipe into their notebooks as homework)

Interpreting data

They could draw their own conclusions from their organized data: I matched correctly words and pictures, I put the stages of the activity in order, etc.

Presenting research findings

At the end of the activity they managed to effectively communicate what has been learned; using the language learnt.

4. Thinking skills

Acquisition of knowledge

Children gained specific facts, ideas, vocabulary about cooking, being able to remember in a similar form

Comprehension

Pupils could grasp meaning from material learned; communicate and interpret their own learning

Application

The children made use of previously acquired knowledge in a practical and new way

Analysis

Children could learn to separate the knowledge into component parts, to see the relationships between activities

Synthesis

At the same time Ss combined parts of the activity to create the whole activity; creating, designing, developing and innovating.

Evaluation

Children could make judgments or decisions based on the activity.

Metacognition

Children could analyse their own and others’ thought processes, thinking about how one thinks and how one learns.

5. Social skills

Throughout this activity children learnt to assume or share responsibility with other members of the group. Other social skills developed during this activity were:

– respecting others

– cooperating in a group work, being courteous to other, sharing materials, taking turns

– resolving conflict through listening carefully to others, making compromises; reacting reasonably to the situation, accepting responsibility appropriately, being fair.

– Group decision-making

– Adopting a variety of group roles, understanding what behaviour is appropriate in a given situation and acting accordingly, being a leader in some situations, a follower in others.

2. Skittles experiment

This activity was an activity which continued after the Rainbow food song and activities related to food diversity and the idea “Rainbow food is good for you”. It was an activity which continued the same idea, with the meaning that, sometimes, it was better to use sweets for experiments, than eat them.

As the gastronomic activity, this too was an activity that developed skills from the area of transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches (such as thinking skills, research skills, self-management skills, communication skills, social skills from transdisciplinary philosophy; and integrating science and English, learning English through science from the interdisciplinary ideology)

This activity also revised colours using present simple sentences, affirmative, as well as negative, short answers and questions.

Before beginning the activity, I told them a few things about the rainbow food that we had already done, then I talked about the real rainbow, using pictures, gestures, etc., and the fact that after a rain, a rainbow appears on the sky. When these things said, I passed to the presentation and practice stage. First of all, I revised or introduced new verbs/words which I needed during this activity (put, pour, add, open, plate, water, etc.), again using flashcards/worksheets in pair work/groupwork activities, through matching exercises/fill in exercises, etc.

After this stage I began by grouping them, as they will work on a rainbow experiment. I gave them the instructions and they all had to do the same action in the same time. Each group had water, skittles sweets and a plate on their desk.

They all followed my instructions step by step and, at the end, they could see a rainbow from skittles. They were very impressed by the diversity of colours, and I told them that as colours in our rainbow were different, so our alimentation had to be colourful, diversified, ad made from many fruit and vegetables.

This experiment was interdisciplinary because it involved the integration of two disciplines: Science and English as a foreign language; and transdisciplinary because it went further from learning English through science, that meant it passed the interdisciplinary barriers, and pupils learned something about the theme “Who we are”, i.e. about maintaining our physical health, through eating many fruit and vegetables, developing skills like: communication, thinking, self-management, social skills, etc.

3. Tornado in a jar

It was an activity meant to conclude the unit “A sweet tooth”, and open the door for the unit “Weather”. The students were already used to this type of activity and they hardly waited for it. I reminded them about the skittles experiment, I told them a few things about tornados, showed them pictures with the phenomenon, inserted new words and verbs needed during this activity, just I exemplified in the above-mentioned two activities.

This experiment was also interdisciplinary because it involved the integration of two disciplines: Science and English as a foreign language; and transdisciplinary because it went further from learning English through science, that meant it passed the interdisciplinary barriers, and pupils learned something about the theme “How the world works”, i.e. about nature and natural phenomena, developing skills like: communication, thinking, as well as self-management and social skills.

c) The post-experimental stage

During this stage I could see and compare the changes that arose between the two groups or samples of subjects (group 1 – control sample and group 2- experimental sample). The observation of communicative skill evolution among pupils, as well as the degree of interactivity among them was appreciated by applying an observation checklist (appendix 23) to both groups.

During this stage, both groups were submitted to revising through the same test.

The most important thing for the research at this stage was to achieve the stated objectives, as well as to analyse the feedback offered by the two groups.

Results

The results in the final test (appendix 24) in the post-experimental stage are as follow:

Group 1 (control sample)

Group 2 (experimental sample)

Graphically, these data are represented in the following way:

As shown above, the usage of transdisciplinary methods, along with communicative tools have improved students’ marks, the number of students scoring ‘very good’ increasing from the initial test to the final test, while for the other group, the one using only communicative approaches, the scores improved, but without any spectacular changes. The students acquired additional knowledge but not all of them obtained the higher marks

In order to strengthen the facts mentioned above, I created a chart to describe the parallel performance of the two groups both in the initial test and in the final one, as well as their individual evolution from initial to final test.

Resulting from the experiment, from the marks and their interpretation we can admit that using transdisciplinary tools, used as alternatives to enhance the process of teaching, as well as the atmosphere in the classroom, are efficient and provide better results than when using only communicative tools.

I have seen that games, songs, images attract children and help them understand better the vocabulary of the English language, but adding some realia, some practical activities, where children are the coordinators, or the inventors of their own learning, giving meaning to the teaching process, as well as many other trans-, multi, inter- disciplinary activities, are as the icing on the cake.

Given to this diversity of approaches, students have developed their linguistic abilities and their capacity to work in team or in groups, making connections with nature, real life. Their creativity has also increased because they were asked to make connections, to express themselves freely and to get involved in the learning activities, that were practical activities, involving motion, senses, dexterity, imagination and cooperation. All objectives have been fulfilled, demonstrating that transdisciplinarity can be efficient for teaching English as a foreign language.

Conclusions of the research

From the very beginning I have to state the fact that the results above confirm that the hypothesis from which I started my research is valid. Even though it was a short time for such an experiment it proves concrete facts. It is obvious that the transdisciplinary tools brought a variety of activities in the lessons, students were involved and participated actively. They were motivated, enthusiastic and eager to communicate in English.

Another aspect which has to be considered is that transdisciplinary approaches to teaching may become major general language teaching methodology in the years to come, in the mass teaching institutions, having in view the already existent extracurricular activities that are used in schools, and since transdisciplinary tools deal with certain factors such as arousing motivation and interest through using a variety of subjects, resulting in the development of Ss’ general knowledge.

Being a learner-centred approach, the role of the teachers is that of facilitators, who make language learning easier through all practical and communicative purposes by giving students control over their own learning. The approach is gradually gaining popularity in the classrooms everywhere because researchers have realized that this approach is not only effective but is also preferred by both the teachers and the students alike.

What English teachers need, however, is managerial guarantee that their less dominant role in the classroom is not a sign of negligence or loss of control, but rather a sign of informed belief that students learn best by using language for purposeful communication.

Despite some of the challenges that this approach implies for the teachers, it has a lot of advantages that far outweigh the difficulties encountered in its implementation. The proper way of planning a lesson and the right mix of activities can make this approach not only a successful teaching methodology in a language classroom but also the most effective learning strategy.

However, we also cannot simply ignore traditional teaching methods and other modern approaches, which make it possible to recognize a text as a coherent whole and condition the training of a foreign language. Grammar makes it possible for each one to understand how the mother tongue functions, in order to give him/her the capacity to communicate its thought. Once the training regarding the grammar rules has been imparted, modern methodology and transdisciplinary approaches can be introduced to reiterate them through specific activities, therefore facilitating their usage for the purpose of communication in the foreign language and allowing students to authentically make connections so that they can construct their own meaning and transfer learning to real world applications. Through transdisciplinary approach, the children were learning to know new things, learning to do something by their own, learning to live together with things experimented, and learning to be in the world. In this context, the transdisciplinary approach can make an important contribution to the advent of this new type of education.

CONCLUSIONS

As teachers we should be prepared to use a variety of techniques to help our students learn and acquire grammar. Sometimes this involves teaching grammar rules; sometimes it means allowing students to discover the rules for themselves or inducing them the grammar structure, as I usually do with my young learners.

The age of our students is a major factor in our decisions about how and what to teach. People of different ages have different needs, competences and cognitive skills. We might suppose that children from primary school acquire a foreign language through play, songs, games, for example, while adults make a greater use of abstract thoughts.

We should look back with pleasure on those groups and lessons which were successful. Young learners, when they are engaged, have a great capacity to learn, a great potential for creativity, and a passionate commitment to things which interests them. There is almost nothing more exciting than a class of involved young people of this age pursuing a learning goal with enthusiasm. Our job, therefore, is to provoke student engagement with material which is relevant and involving. Meanwhile, we need to strengthen our students’ self-esteem, and be conscious, always, of their need for identity.

Grammar can be taught in a number of funny ways in order to give it positive association. It’s simply a question of making learners aware of what they are learning, why they are learning it and to create connection with the real life.

No matter what level the grammar is being taught its fundamentals will remain unchanged. The focus may shift depending on what the grammar item needs to be emphasized and according to learners’ needs.

The purpose of my study was to find a way in which grammar could be taught more efficiently and more interestingly to learners of from primary school.

The first sections of my work offer a thorough description of grammar methods and approaches, as well as definitions of certain terms, such as approach or method, and similarly some grammatical instruction of the Present tense simple. The aim of this part was to analyse deeply and illustrate with examples the details which make the problem of Present Tense Simple a delicate one in English, when talking about young learners. I started by presenting general remarks on English tenses, continued with the formation of present simple, spelling rules of the third person singular, pronunciation of verbs in the third person singular, the use of present simple and time expressions, as well as adverbs of frequency, non-continuous verbs and common mistakes in using present simple at a primary level. Then I wrote about teaching present tense simple to primary school students through communicative activities, i.e. imaginative play, creative or manipulative play, as well as games, songs or role plays. I continued with describing present tense simple through inter or transdisciplinary activities, giving examples of this kind of activities taught to my young learners.

The last part of the present paper was conducted with the help of my second-grade students, who were more than happy and willing to try and learn through new approaches, such as interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary activities, as well as communicative tools, too. Their development was measured through an initial and final test. Their results collected in these two tests were gathered and interpreted in a survey, which can be found in the last part.

Apart from this conclusion and the bibliography used for the present paper, the annexes offer examples of activities, exercises, tests and pictures of my students working, students from primary classes. They can be useful as models for the teachers which are at the beginning of their career or for students preparing to become teachers of English, as well as they were useful for me when I discovered and applied them in my classes.

At the beginning, I found the subject of my research quite challenging, but then, when getting deeper and deeper into the issue, I found it was a real pleasure to be able to increase my own knowledge as teacher of English with research of contemporary language and also offering a great deal from my experience as teacher.

In my research I studied the work of some important grammarians and methodologists such as: Alice Bădescu, Jeremy Harmer, Leon Levițchi, etc.

I think the purpose of this paper is fulfilled because it offers an outline of practical ideas and points at teaching present simple to students from primary school. I can say that this research represents a strong basis for me and for my teaching, as a continuous research on improving my teaching approach, methods, techniques and activities.

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www.prodigygame.com/blog/interdisciplinary-teaching-activities-examples (15.03.2018)

https://achilleaskostoulas.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ppp.pdf, (02.08.2018)

http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/English-As-A-Foreign-Language-Efl.htm, (02.08.2016)

ANEXXES

Appendix 1

Funny typos, grammatical errors and spelling Mistakes

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Printable Coloured Dots for Tooth Pick

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Appendix 8

Appendix 9

Appendix 10

Appendix 11

Appendix 12

Appendix 13

Appendix 14

Appendix 15

Appendix 16

Appendix17

Appendix 18

Collaborative Transdisciplinary Lesson Plan

Grade Level: _____ Date of lesson: ____ Length of lesson (days/minutes: ______________

Transdisciplinary Unit Title: _____________________

Lesson Title: ___________________________________

Content Standards: What are the state standards addressed by this lesson? Be sure to include all subject-area standards.

Learner Background: Describe the students’ prior knowledge or skill related to the learning objective(s) and the content of this lesson, using data from pre-assessment as appropriate. How did the students’ previous performance in this content area or skill impact your planning for this lesson?

Student Learning Objective(s): Identify specific and measurable learning objectives for this lesson.

Students will be able to…

Assessment: How will you ask students to demonstrate mastery of the student learning objective(s)? Attach a copy of any assessment materials you will use, along with assessment criteria.

Resources: List the materials (print and non-print) you will use in each learning activity including any technological resources.

Learning Activities:

Identify the instructional grouping (whole class, small groups, pairs, individuals) you will use in each lesson segment and approximate time frames for each. Articulate how you will scaffold the learning experience for students (model/demonstration, guided practice and independent application).

Lesson Development:

Introduction: Briefly describe how you will initiate the lesson. (Set expectations for learning; articulate to learners what they will be doing and learning in this lesson, how they will demonstrate learning, and why this is important)

Development:

Check for Understanding: Briefly describe how you will help students understand the purpose of the lesson. (Interact with learners to elicit evidence of student understanding of purpose(s) for learning and mastery of objectives)

Individuals Needing Differentiated Instruction: Describe 1 to 3 students with learning differences. These students may be special or general education students and need not be the same students for each lesson. Students may represent a range of ability and/or achievement levels, including students with IEPs, gifted and talented students, struggling learners, and English language learners. Note: Differentiated instruction may not be necessary in every lesson (differentiate the content, learning processes and/or product based on the learners’ interest, readiness level and/or learning style).

Appendix 19

Appendix 20

Appendix 21

Appendix 22

Appendix 23

Marking Scheme for The Initial Test

A. Answers

1.Look.Write and draw

1 butterfly 2 elephant

3 monkey 4 frog

5 spider 6 corresponding name of animal with drawing (any)

2. Complete. Colour

1 eight/run 1 red colour spider

2 two/fly 2 pink colour butterfly

3 two/jump 3 yellow colour rabbit

B. Marking scheme

Appendix 24

Marking Scheme for The Final Checkpoint

1. Complete with the food items

sandwich chips pizza

cake chocolate pancakes

apples pears oranges

carrots tomatoes potatoes

peas sweet

2. Group the food items

3. Match the actions with the pictures.

1B 2A 3C

4. What is your favourite food? Draw and write

– any food drawing accepted

– sentence with the drawn food/ at least food word

e.g.: My favourite food is pizza/ pizza etc.

Marking scheme:

Appendix 25

Appendix 26

Appendix 27

Appendix 28

Appendix 29

Appendix 30

Appendix 31

Appendix 32 Appendix 33

Appendix 34

Appendix 35

Appendix 36

Appendix 37 – Skittles experiment

Appendix 38 – Role play – control group

Appendix 39 – experimental group activity

Appendix 40 – A tornado in a jar