As I think about the semester, I am noticing that even though we are only doing half the book in the same amount of time, I’m feeling like we just aren’t covering as much content as we should. Truthfully, this tells me a couple things. First: the students are finding the content a challenge. Okay, that’s fine. But is he content a good match for them? Is it meeting them at the level they are at? How could I be scaffolding this better?
Today my grammar lesson fell flat. Bombed. Okay, part if the problem for the student who didn’t understand was not paying attention, but part of that is on me, too, to keep it interesting. I hate how grammar is taught in EFL texts. It’s taught to students as though they are teachers; a linguistics approach of form, function and irregularities rather than patterns with meaning. It’s too much to remember when it comes time to use it, let alone really understand it.
In addition, the listening activities are really quite good; not stilted an forced into obvious grammar formats as in books I’ve used before. I think I’m goin to try to spend more time working with these rather than hammering in grammar. The ideas I’ve picked up from Dogme might help here, but I’m going to need to review. I’m expecting dictagloss and other similar activities might help.
Do you teach EFL/ESL? How do you make the most of your listening activities? How do you teach grammar? What suggestions do you have?
