ENGLISH CLASSES

[Anonymous]

DEAR TEACHERS,

I'M REALLY WORRIED ABOUT MY FUTURE, I STUDIED ENGLISH PHILOLOGY AND FINISHED SEVEN YEARS AGO. NOW I'M WORKING FOR A COMPANY, IN ITS TRAINING CENTRE. I NORMALLY DEAL WITH TRANSLATIONS AND TRAVELLING, BUT NOW THE CHIEF HAS THOUGHT OF A NEW ACTIVITY ON AN IMMERSION COURSE IN ENGLISH AND MY SUBJECT TO TEACH IS ADVANCED GRAMMAR. I HAVE LOTS OF MATERIAL BUT I DON'T HAVE IDEA HOW TO START WITH IT. IT'S A 15 DAY-COURSE AND I HAVE TO COVER TWO HOURS PER DAY. HOW CAN I MANAGE TO HAVE AN ENJOYABLE TIME? WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST STRUCTURE TO FOLLOW?: ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR, VERBS AND THE VERBS PHRASE, NOUNS- NOUN PHRASE, ETC OR A MORE PRACTICAL LESSON BASED ON REAL TEXTS...?

PLEASE HELP ME


THANKS IN ADVANCE

LUPITA

 

[Red5]

I am not a teacher, but we have many people here who will be able to help you with this.

May I ask a favour? Please can you turn your CAPS-LOCK key off when posting here. It makes your post much harder to read. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

Do you have a good idea of the actual knowledge of the students?

 

[Tdol]

Your description is a bit vague. A lot depends on the intended outcome of the course. Are the Ss going to take and exam?

If not, then you are a lot freer in what you do. I'd recommend thinking about the sort of student you'll have and what they'll benefit from learning. While a knowledge of grammar is essential, will they be satisfied with a heavily grammar based course.

Ideally,why don't you mix the two- if you've got two hours, break it up and do some text work and grammar. ;-)

 

[LUPITA]

Hello tdol,
thank you very much for answering.
I know the description I've given is really vague... sorry about it. The course is divided into five parts. my part to teach is grammar and some practical English, such as debates, news, listening... but my worry is about how to deal with grammar, do I have to focus on theory or on the contrary try to look for interesting texts or examples to extract the "rules". Apart from that, the problem I see with E grammar is that there isn't a fixed guide, like in Spanish, since English is spoken in so many countries. I'm afraid I wont be able to answer or give a good explanation if more than an answer is possible. That's the point I think.

what is your advise: theory or practical comments on texts and sentences...?

thank in advance


lupita

Your description is a bit vague. A lot depends on the intended outcome of the course. Are the Ss going to take and exam?

If not, then you are a lot freer in what you do. I'd recommend thinking about the sort of student you'll have and what they'll benefit from learning. While a knowledge of grammar is essential, will they be satisfied with a heavily grammar based course.

Ideally,why don't you mix the two- if you've got two hours, break it up and do some text work and grammar. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

I'd gofor practical grammar issues. Extract the grammar from usage rather than the theory. Also,advanced grammar is very 'bitty' and broken up. However, old stanbys like modals, inversion, etc, are always worth a visit. ;-)

 

[LUPITA]

english classes

I'd gofor practical grammar issues. Extract the grammar from usage rather than the theory. Also,advanced grammar is very 'bitty' and broken up. However, old stanbys like modals, inversion, etc, are always worth a visit. ;-)

thank you very much tdol,
I'll do that, first i'll give them a general view of the English grammar in order to introduce them to grammar terminology, and the rest of the classes, within an order, will be more practical than theoretical.

tell you next week

kind regards

lupita

 

[Tdol]

Making sure that terminology is known is a good idea- it also enables you to build upan accurate picture of their knowledge. Many advanced coursebooks kick off with this. ;-)

 

[LUPITA]

thanks

Making sure that terminology is known is a good idea- it also enables you to build upan accurate picture of their knowledge. Many advanced coursebooks kick off with this. ;-)

thanks tdol your support is really important for me
lupita

 

[Tdol]

You're very welcome. ;-)

What materials are you planning on using?