Lakhasly

This presentation by Mohammed, a decade-long educator, advocates for communicative grammar teaching. He contrasts traditional grammar instruction (rote memorization, exercises detached from context, exemplified by a frustrated student "Alex") with a communicative approach (meaningful context, real-world application, represented by a confident student "Emily"). Mohammed defines grammar as not just rules but the recipe for meaningful communication, emphasizing understanding and context over mere memorization. Communicative grammar teaching, he argues, is analogous to learning to cook by cooking – learning by doing. He outlines effective strategies: teaching grammar within a meaningful context (e.g., using authentic texts, real-life examples, and frameworks like presentation-practice); using active engagement techniques like games (snakes and ladders) and activities (role-plays, interviews); incorporating peer correction and positive reinforcement; and designing practice activities within the learner's "zone of proximal development," avoiding tasks that are too easy or too difficult. The presentation addresses teachers' dilemmas, offering solutions to common challenges like learner disengagement and difficulty integrating communicative approaches into grammar lessons. The impact of communicative grammar teaching includes improved communication skills, enhanced memorability, increased learner confidence, and a more enjoyable learning experience. Finally, a Q&A session tackles common questions regarding learner motivation, integrating grammar practice with speaking, and creating effective concept-checking questions.

00:00
And whatever you are, good morning. And good evening. Whatever you are joining me from. This is Mohammed, and I've been in this field of education for over a decade. And today I'm gonna talk about? Why teach grammarly. So I'll just look at the chat box to see whether the people can hear me clearly. Is everything clear? Okay, so everyone. I want you to close your eyes for a second and imagine with me that you are on a trip to a foreign country. You're trying to order some food at a restaurant, but you can't remember the correctance.

00:41

Or perhaps you're trying to ask for directions. To to go to a place, but you're struggling with the right prepositions. So these are some of the common challenges. Language learners face actually, and they can be really frustrating and discouraging. But what if there was a way to learn in a way that's not only effective. But also enjoyable. That's where communicative teaching comes in. So in this talk I'll discuss the benefits of this approach, I mean teachingly share effective strategies for implementing it in your classrooms.





01:25

And address some of the common challenges you might encounter when teaching learners. So let's dive in and explore how you can make drama learning. A more engaging and rewarding experience for. Learners, so. In my presentation. I'll have a brief comparison between. Exam. Based teaching learning versus grammar, teaching. The teachers dilemma. But before this. You know, in order to identify the problems, to find some solutions to it. We need to understand what grammar is. And what do we mean by communicative grammar teaching?





02:10

And also, we will. The, you know, dive deeper into the problems teachers face when teaching. And learn about what really works for grammar teaching. We're gonna offer solutions, effective strategies for teaching grammar, including tbl at a correction and authentic. And also let's not forget about the role of grammar practice activities. In grammar, teaching. And last, but not least. We're gonna check, you know, or identify the impact of teaching. And lastly, we will have some time for questions, and answer them.





02:52

Great. So let's take a look at this. So we have traditional grammar teaching versus. Communicative Grammar, Teaching. And I'm gonna show this comparison. With these 2 pictures. So we have 2 students. They are different. The 1st one is called Alex, and the other one is called Emily. So I want you in the chat box to describe. You know these pictures. What do you think of them? How do dev do you think they feel? So may St. Angels. Alex is confused, Amina. Yeah, actually, the the chat box is running crazy. Yeah.





03:40

Alex is frustrated. But what about Emily? Helen. Yeah. Alex looks a little bit worried. Emily is feeling cool. She's happy. She's calm, very good. She's reading some good news. Maybe. Okay, great. So here comes my 1st question. Who, do you think has bits of communication skills. You didn't have any reason, you know, or any evidence. For the answer here. But what do you think. Yeah, perhaps you will say, Emily, so let me elaborate this a bit more. Well, Alex and Emily are. Language, students. So Alex actually is a diligent student who always.





04:25

Studies hard for his English exams. He spends hours memorizing grammar, rules. You know, in completing endless exercises. However, when it comes to speaking English, or communicating in the language, he struggles to express himself fluently. And why? Because his teachers. Use lengthy explanations. The lecture. They use booting trails. Meaningless translation, exercises. And actually, there's no real use of gram points in real life contexts. So learners are only prepared for the, you know, for the tests.





05:08

Not for communication. On the other hand. Well, we have Emily. Who practices grammar in a meaningful context. She participates in role, plays. Rights stories, discusses current events in English, and even talks about everything in the society. Right in English, so she practices and uses grammar in real. World situations. Her teachers, teaches her grammar in context. The illicit rather than just telling the. To use meaningful practice activities. And they provide the learners with communicative.





05:49

Practice opportunities. So today we're gonna tell you all about Emily's story. We're gonna talk about communicative teaching. But before doing this, let's think of the meaning of grammar. What is grammar? Yes, the hamsters learned with no pressure. Yeah. This is what Emily is doing. So what is grammar? Everyone. So, yeah, cm, says, language rules the way we build sentences. Okay. So here we're into, we're into the form. Structure of the language. G is a set of rules. Antonia. Yeah, the chat box is running. Deborah says, rules of the language.





06:39

Iris is saying. Doubt Escaped Basic Principles. Okay. Well, as Scott, Thornbury. Sit. Grammar is not only the study. Of what forms. Sounds, words, sentences. Or even texts are possible in a language, but also. The study of the meanings. These forms, convey. So you know, Grummer isn't only about the structure. It's isn't only about the forms. Is it about? Putting words together to form sentences. It's also about, you know, communicating. Using. You know, the grammar that we learn in the classroom. So Grummer isn't only about memorization or memorizing a bunch of rules. It's like learning the recipe.





07:32

Of a delicious meal. Should you need to know the ingredients and how to mix them together. But you also need to understand how those ingredients. Work together to create a tasty meal. So grammar is the recipe. For language. It tells us how to combine words, to make sentences that make. Since right, and convey our meaning to deliver the message. That's communication. It's more about. Or it just. It's not only about the form, it's about the understanding, the context, and the message we want to convey.





08:14

And this leads us. To my next question. What is communicative grammar, teaching. What comes to mind when you hear teaching grammarly. Currently answered in the chat box. So yes, ma's grammar is the rules of linking vocabulary. It's about the relationships. Okay, yeah. Otibi. Given examples. Currently, yeah, I don't know whether I pronounced it correctly or not. Yeah, it's visuals. Yeah. Another good answer in the chat box, understanding. Okay. Send that authentic. Yes, you yeah. Using grab situations.





09:04

Yeah. Excellent answers, actually. So I want you to imagine grammar. You know, grammar teaching. That it's like playing tennis. Okay, so, yes. Tennis and grammar, teaching. Are completely different from each other, but you know they have lots of interesting. So in tennis, you develop your skills. That's how you win. Right. In grammar. We aim at doing the same thing right? We, we aim to developing our skills in order to communicate using the grammar. Yes, we need to be adaptable. You know, because players and learners must adjust to different situations.





09:46

They have goal settings, you know. So just as tennis players benefit from practicing. And of course you know that you cannot practice alone when playing tennis right? You need a partner to practice with, and the same thing applies to grammar. You need to communicate using. The input using grammar right? So language learners can also improve the grammar or. There are language skills by practicing with classmates or language partners. Okay, that's wonderful. So. Yeah, so. Communicative grammar teaching is about offering opportunities for communicative tasks.





10:28

And activities. So you know, actually, it's like again, let's get back to is the example of recipe cooking recipe. It's like learning to cook. By actually cooking. So you know, learning by doing, yeah, that's the same thing for grammar. So you don't just learn the recipes, because many people read about recipes for cooking different dishes. But. These won't ever make it. They need to practice. They need to make mistakes. You know, learning. By doing so, you practice the recipes in the kitchen and learn from your mistakes. So in the same way.





11:07

Communicative grammar teaching helps you learn. By using it in real life situations. You practice speaking and listening, and you get feedback on how you're doing. That's the teacher's job. So this helps you understand better and use it more naturally. So if you want to learn in a way that's really fun. Effective and helps you communicate better. Communicative grammar teaching is the key, and this is what we're going to talk. Talk about in this presentation. So again. Opportunities for communicative tasks and activities are like teaching grammar. In context.





11:46

You know, we present the grammar. Item. And always think of. You know the fact that the context should be meaningful. The students should understand this context. Otherwise, you know the item. Will make new sense with them. Right? Yeah. And then we move to the practice stage control practice to get the students some confidence. Before giving them the opportunity to. Communicate right. And sometimes we need semi controlled practice. To scaffold. You know the process. And then free of practice, and here the learners should.





12:21

Speak freely or write freely, using the target language or the grammar item. Right? So this can happen through using broad lies. Group discussions. Debates. You know, it's probably doing this. Okay, okay, great. So we use. A context. It might be a reading room listening text. Highlight, the target language. Presented, you know. Do some control the practice stage. They'll do some control practice exercises and then free a practice that's good. But some teachers. Face looks of problems in this. So we're talking about the teachers. Dilemma.





13:00

And we have 2 examples. To take a look here. So our 1st feature, he. Here, you know, says he knows that he's supposed to use the communicative approach. To have the learners. Communicate using grammar, but is not sure how to use this in any grammar listens. You know. So. Yes, he. He is about using games. He is about using fun activities. Like role plays and interviews. And all of these things are yes, good for teaching. But teaching, speaking not grammar, right. But for grammar it's a little bit more difficult.





13:37

You need to think about that right? So he thinks that students learn better when he gives them grammar rules. And then they do a lot of grammar exercises, and after that. They should be ready to communicate. And when he gives the learners the opportunity to communicate. You know. Learners really face lots of issues. Right? These struggle. Okay? Great. That's the 1st problem. And don't worry. We're gonna, you know, offer some solutions. The other teacher here. And she's a female. She would really like to learn how to teach grammarively, because it's a nice idea having the let us communicate using the language.





14:20

And, you know, overcome. The fact that learners get. Scared when they hear the word, or grandma listens, so her students say. They find her grammar explanations useful, but she can see that. The you know, the often get bored and takes them forever to learn some rules. So they practice a lot, but they keep making mistakes. She doesn't want to know. Oh, she wants to know. Why this happens, and how she can help them. Learn better. Of course you all face problems like this before right? And I myself.





14:57

Paste. You know such problems before in my classes. So here we're gonna add, you know, or offer some solutions for such problems and learn about what works. In grammar, teaching. Yeah, it might. Sound a little bit difficult, but you know it's really interesting. When you so when you see the results. In your learners, the outcomes. Okay, so what works in grammar? Teacher number one, teach grammar in context. And you know I want you to think with me. About. You know of the answer of this question, which version and involves learners.





15:39

A teacher goes to the classroom. And you know he starts talking about the simple present. So he says the prison is used to talk about facts, routines, etc. Or. He writes an example in the Board. Dubois gets up early morning and he highlights, you know. The form of the simple present tense. So he's using here a real life example, something that happens to his learners every day. And then he clarifies the meaning by using. A timeline. So what do you think? Which one is much better, which one, you know conveys the meaning.





16:26

More easily. And you know. And it's you know, it's reducing the teacher talking time. Yeah, yeah, of course, it's number 2, right? Yeah, exactly. That's right. So we have to use context for learning. We have to use real life examples, because, you know, language isn't only about. The classroom, the classroom environment. It's about. Communicating outside the classroom doors. Right using the language in real life contexts. And this will never happen if the students. Don't experience this inside their classes.





17:04

Okay, great. So. Number one, grammar, context. And you can use authentic text. Some people prefer to use authentic texts. Where the language is used naturally. But be careful. Think about your learners level, because some texts are much more difficult. For the students. They are too difficult for the students to grab to understand. Right, and here you will cause much more troubles for the learners. So think about your learner's level. And use real life examples, the learning, experience. Okay, so you can use lots of frameworks when teaching grammar. In context, you can use presentation practice. You can use text presentation. You can use test teaches, you can use context, build, etc. There are lots of frameworks to use.





17:56

And all of them start with. A context, the Gram representation. Starts with a context, a meaningful. Context, for learning. Okay, so the context can be a rating or a listening text. The students should do some comprehension questions because they need to understand. The context right? And then. They highlight the target language and gets an example. We call it the target sentence. And then we present the language, using Mpf. Or Mfb. Meaning full pronunciation or meaning, pronunciation, form. You know, it doesn't matter the order. But what really matters is that you start with the meaning, because if the learners don't have meaning.





18:42

They have nothing. Okay and then move to the practice control practice semi control practice and then. Allow the learners to use the language freely in free of practice. Okay, so you can integrate into skills listens. Because if you remember, I said. Use reading or listening texts. So here we're dealing with other skills. Right? So as you can see. Here is. A worksheet from a listen plan by the British Council. And the grandma. Listen. It's about teaching the past continuous. And you know it starts with a reading text and some comprehension. Why? Because the lean is the the learners need to understand this context before learning about the grammar item.





19:35

And then the listen will end with the speaking or a activity. So now we're integrating language elements together. Language skills and systems together. Right? Yeah. So it's a reading listing. For comprehension. We highlight the target language, Mfp. Mpf. And then we practice using speaking at the end of the lesson. You can also use context. And it's a beautiful framework to engage. Very young learners in particular. Imagine taking a look at this, you know you show the learners. These pictures.





20:13

And you ask them about. You know, working together, you ask them to work together and form a context, or using these pictures and words. So you're asked that you will ask them, for example. Okay, so can you see this woman? They will say, yes. Okay. What is she doing. Maybe she's preparing to travel. Okay. Great. Maybe she's traveling. Okay. Great. So where is she? Where is she traveling? She's traveling to London. Do you know her name? No! Well, actually, her name is. Florence. So Florence is traveling to London.





20:48

Yeah. How is she going there? She's going there by train. And when is she going there? She is traveling at 10. Am by train to wear to Paris, so ask the learners to work together, to use visuals and word prompts to create a context, and then. You did with meaningful and pronunciation. And move to the control practice and practice stages. So it's a very engaging and fun way. For learning, grammar. And it also reduces your teacher talking time. You know, gun are the days where you know, when you had to go to the classroom and talk about the uses of grammar items and keep talking, you know.





21:30

For ages, and you think that that's the right way for the learners to understand. Stop doing this. Your learners are passive listeners. They are not learning anything. In order to, in order to learn something you have to use it. Okay, so. Don't expelled. Framework is a very convenient one, especially for young and very young. Okay, great. So use active engagement. The learners with games and activities. Use an activity like, find someone who and have the learners mingle, give them such work or this table of this information. So find someone who likes.





22:15

Reading, for example, riding a bike, playing sports, drawing stories. And write. You know everyone stands up and moves around the classroom and find someone who. Has the same things, who does the same things, who likes the same hobbies? So imagine, given the learners the opportunity to feel that this classroom is our own world. It's our own environment. That's why communicative grammar teaching is great. You know, given the learners and engaging activities fund activities. And even you can use games.





22:54

So you can ask the learners to work together. To find out about the rules. So active engagements is like. Having the learners actively. Involved in the learning process and using Grummer in a meaningful. Ways, such as you know, just like using the language in real life contexts. So instead of just memorizing rules and doing drills. Students, you know, participate. Actively in engaging activities and games. And they will definitely, you know, love your classes. You can use a game like snakes and ladders, and I used it myself.





23:33

When teaching some adults If conditionals, so I provided them with. You know this worksheet. It's a game from the British English Council website. So you only have to add, you know the 1st clause. Of the conditionals in every. You know, box, and have the learners together. They can learn in groups. Use some dice, you know. Throw them, get the number, use their pebbles or pieces, and then. Practice, you know. They complete the sentence with the second clause. Okay. So students take turns through the dice, move their pebbles and compete, and and then the complete sentences.





24:20

And of course, the 1st one to get to the end. He's the winner. So this game is called snakes. A letter. Okay. So you also. Correct the students. After analyzing these errors. Right. So while the learners are playing, you monitor. Maybe for mistakes. And you write down some notes for the late. Feedback at the end of the class. So this is the this stage is called the packs or post activity stage. So you have to figure out whether you're focusing on fluency. Or accuracy. If you're aiming at accuracy, correct on the spot, and you have different techniques for doing this.





25:08

And if you're aiming at fluency. Just, you know. Don't interrupt the flow of their ideas, and let them talk. Lithium, suppressed themselves. Like, you know, talking about wishes. Talking about regrets. Talking about, you know, changing things that they did. In the past. Okay, so don't interrupt the flow of their ideas. And also, instead of correcting everything. In order to achieve a more student. Centered, class. You know you can ask the list to correct each other's mistakes. So this is called P. Correction.





25:48

And always, you know, embrace the positive reinforcement. Encourage the learners to make mistakes. Also tell them that making mistakes is an essential part of the learning process. Mistakes are always welcome. If you're ready to learn the language. Okay, great. So teach grammar in context, them. Actively use games use activities, peer collaboration. You can also use activities like role plays and interviews. You can have the learners work in pairs. And practice the grammar. Item in the form of, you know, an interview with a role play or something. So the students work in pairs.





26:31

They ask and answer questions, using the present simple, for example. So, and as an example for that Student A will ask, Have you ever traveled so the answer is from Student B. Yes, I have. I've been to Italy. And France. So the answer only about yes or no. The okay. It should be a complete sentence that reflects. The student understanding of the meaning and form, and also the correct pronunciation of the target language of the grammar input. So focus and meaning. Allow the learners to teach grammar.





27:12

For writing. So you can use reading text at the beginning. And These will be like models for writing. Models for production. Ask the learners to read. Okay, for comprehension questions. You know. Teach them grammar through context, and then ask them to write, using the grammar items at the end of the session. This is when the learners will be able to use the language in a meaningful context. Ask them to write emails, maybe using the simple presentense to talk about their daily routines or typical days.





27:51

Yeah, okay, great. So always avoid isolation when teaching grammar. You know, integrate skills with grammar together in your lessons. And we already talked about about that when using frameworks. Yeah, you you start with reading text. And you end them with speaking or writing. Skills. Okay. So once you. Make the meaning clear. And clarify the language, using. Maybe visual aids, timelines, examples. The rules and everything. You have to involve the learners in the learning process and ask them concepting questions.





28:32

For example, as you can see in this sentence, he went back home at 6 Pm. Yesterday. So this is to teach the past. So you cannot ask them concept questions by just having them. Look at the sentence. You have to clarify the language first.st So showed them a timeline. And then ask them question. Like, did the actions start in the past? Did he go back home. In the past. So the answer should be. Yes, you did so now the meeting is clear for the learners that the past simple talks about an action that happened.





29:08

And finished in the past. So focus and meaning. Use student centered learning elicit rather than just telling the learners. Show them examples and ask them about the meaning, using conceptions. Check the meaning Ask the learners to work in pairs. When doing, you know control practice. Or you know the you can ask them to work individually, and then. Have some kind of peer check, or you know the working groups to check their answers together. So you you want to achieve student in your classes, when teaching grammar.





29:48

And yes. You can use task based. Language teaching which prioritizes meaningful tasks. Using real world scenarios. You know, you know, like creating tasks. That mimic real life situation, such as booking a flight. Planning a party, or maybe writing an email. This happens in real life. Use, authentic materials. Use inductive learning or grammar discovery. Some people call the tech space presentation the grammar discovery or. the guided discovery approach. The learners discover the rules by themselves by looking at examples.





30:30

Okay, use guided inquiry, provide hints or questions to guide the learners to words, understanding the grammar. Use communicative practice activities and collaborative tasks, use peer feedback. Ask the learners to work together. This is so much beneficial for them. So now we have lots of ideas when teaching grammarly. Now we presented the language. What about the practice stage? What about the role of practice? Many times have you heard teachers say. Practice makes perfect. A lot of times. Right? Yeah, I believe myself.





31:10

Perfect practice makes perfect, not any practice. You remember Alex's scenario. Yeah, doing lots of exercises. Meaningless. No, it doesn't work right? So only perfect practice makes perfect. So this saying can certainly be applied to many kinds of learning. However, not all practice. Lead to perfection. There is plenty of evidence that shows that only the right practice done at the right time improves performance and leads to success. Just like the case or the scenario of. Emily at the beginning.





31:54

So how should your practice activities be. Practice task well, practice activities should be. Right in the zone of proximal development, just like live it in 1,978. So. Lev Viadsky said. Your practice, activities. Shouldn't be. Too simple, otherwise. You know they will be boring. Nowhere too challenging, because this will motivate your learners. Right? So it's just right in the middle. Not too difficult, not too easy, just right in the middle. And this is where learning takes place. And I'm gonna show you some examples for that. And also, Freeman said, your practice activity should be meaningful.





32:47

Engaging and focused. So take a look at these examples. What do you think of these grammar practice activities? The 1st one, read the text and identify the. In the past, simple, tense. Write a paragraph about your life experiences, using the prison tents. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs. What do you think of that? So for the 1st one, for example, read the text and identify the verbs. In the past. Simple? Yes. Well, that's an easy one, very simple, actually, and you cannot repeat it a lot.





33:28

Because once it becomes really simple for the learners. The Grummer practice will be so much boring. Right. So take a look at, write a paragraph about your life experiences, using the present tense. Well, this is a little bit. Challenging right. This adds more. So that right? Yeah. So there must be a little bit of a challenge. In your Grummer practice activities. And what about filling the blanks with the correct form of the verbs? Well. It requires the learners to understand the sentence. And also.





34:07

Yeah, trying to figure out the correct form of the verb. To put it. Right. So again, your practice activities. Should be gradually from easy. To then add, you know, add more challenges. So not too easy, not too difficult. Just like what we got. Just right in the zone of proximal development. We're real. Learning takes place. Okay, so, great. So what? Is it in us for grammar? You know community from a teaching the impact. On the learners and on the teachers of teaching. What do you think of the impact.





34:54

After doing all of this. You know, so learners can use the language just like what Emily does. You know she communicates very well in different contexts, in different situations. Right? Yeah. So they can grammar. They can remember grammar rules easily. So their grammar, learning experiences will be more memorable. More beneficial. More helpful for the sake of communication, because the main aim of. Learning. The language is for. Communication. That's why we. Use language. That's why we learn language. That's why we learn English all around the world.





35:42

So the learners will be more comfortable. Their overall language, proficiency there will be, you know, enjoying the learning. Yeah, process. That's right great. So that's your turn right now, and I want to. To share. 3 takeaways. From this session 3 things that you learned. From the session, and. I will look at the chat box. Right now. Communicate, effectively. Okay using growing context, okay. Cornelia teaching grammar in context effective. Nelson, Fernandez. Okay. Great. Mr. Rates. Context Amal Abdim, like the idea of playing.





36:39

Games with inaccuracy. Present the context. First, st okay, good. Queen yeah. Prioritize. Prioritizing examples. Grammar isn't active process very good. Don't make exercises easy, or it will be boring. I will further using pictures and prompts. To discover the rule. John, to avoid students. Becoming mechanical, and using Grummer in a meaningful. Communication very good to make exercises easy. Have room for mistakes. Right? The idea of communicative approach. Fatima. Sad songs. And a grammar isn't difficult to be told, and it can be quite that's interesting. Actually.





37:30

Do we approach should be realistic. Mahmoud, using a visuals. Nicla teaching grammar in context. That's wonderful guys, wonderful contributions. Martinez games, communication in context. Practice and real. Yeah, that's right, very good. So thank you guys for this wonderful. Interactive session. You know, you interacted a lot, you know, in the chat box. So yes, it's going crazy. Actually, sometimes they cannot see the names. So here are the resources and references I used. For my presentation. Thank you everyone for listening, and always teach grammarly, because it matters so.





38:14

So any questions. I, yeah. Thank you so much, Mohammed. That was really really interesting to see people engaging with so many of those ideas, and I love the way. At the end you gave them a chance to remember and reflect on the session. That's also a great technique for teachers, isn't it? To ask those students at the end. What's your take away? What did you learn today? So thank you. That's great. You can stop sharing your slides. Of. And then people can see us better. And we've got lots of questions. So let's see how many we can do in the time we've got.





38:51

So, as he says, what do you think of individual learners who say they don't need to study grammar. What they need is only to learn speaking English. What would you say? Okay, that's that's a common question, you know, because I come from a native English speaking. You know, country. Hmm. And people only get about, you know, developing their fluency speaking. And they think that okay, grammar doesn't. Add anything to my language. I just need to speak. And the problem here is with the learner motivation. So you have to understand.





39:28

Why, the learner is there in the classroom, you know we have to talk to the learner. You can have some kind of like a 1-to-one tutorial to talk to the learner individually. And tell him. Give him some advice on the reason why we are here in the classroom, and language consists of. And grammar, you know, helps us, you know, use these skills in order to. You know, produce meaningful sentences, in order to, you know, in order to help us. Yeah. You know, become more understandable for other people, you know. So work on the learner motivation. That's my piece of advice here.





40:06

That's great. And but can you learn grammar at the same time as practicing speaking. Exactly. That's right. So you know, in speaking sessions. There is a section or a stage where you should teach the learners useful language. My. Because you need the learner to use this useful language. So learners can, you know, learn and speak, and how to speak, how to sound more fluent, and also learn about you from a structures that will definitely help them communicate easily with other people. Yeah, definitely, I like that. So there's different ways to do it. You could start with the grammar and then move towards communicative practice.





40:45

Yeah, exactly. Or you could get people communicating and then focus a bit on grammar as the feedback. Yeah. Yeah, either way, you know. Yeah, it can work in both ways. Yeah. Okay. Great question from Andrea. She says. Hello, Mohammed, as you've been teaching over a decade. Have you always used this communicative approach to grammar? Well, yes, I've always used it, but you know After getting lots of training, because. To be honest, you know my 1st years I used to teach grammar traditionally. Go into the classroom and talking about the rules and then giving the learners and yell, okay, let's go to do some practice, and that's it. Lots of practice, lots of practice.





41:31

Yeah. And you know, unfortunately, it didn't work, so I had to find out myself. You know what might work for my learners. But you know I have an interesting. Experience, because some learners. Sometimes need, you know. More talking, more of our teacher talking in order to understand Grummer rules, you know. Some. Sometimes it doesn't work with some learners. So we, we, we have to remember. Our priority in the classroom which is responding to the learners, needs. Yeah, yeah. You know. Yes, you have to teach grammar for communication, but sometimes you need to explain more, to add more explanations, more illustrations.





42:12

To use more clarification techniques sometimes are not helping the learners. So we have to use. Some other examples. Sometimes we need to. Find something in parallel in your own language. Nothing. You know, to make things easier for the learners. Hmm. Yeah, right? So that's the challenge. Exactly. That's right. But the problem is that if you, if you're an Arabic language speaker in perfect sense, you don't have such tenses in Arabic. So this would add, you know, yeah, a little bit more challenges. Yeah, yeah, that's right.





42:42

So. Yes, you have to use it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you've got a whole toolkit. Right? You could, you can use translation, or you can. You could say, this is like our language, our shared language. This isn't like our shared language. But the timeline is useful, for when it's you've got to explain something that doesn't exist, maybe in the. In the 1st language. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's a problem. So when doing this, you know, you have to use. You have to get really prepared for this. You have to use timelines. Maybe you have to use





43:11

Like more examples. Yeah. And comparisons, you know comparisons between. For example, we always use past simple versus perfect, simple, to introduce the idea of the bridge that links between the past and the prisons. Yeah. You know. So the passive only about finished actions. Yeah. So in some others users, of course. Yeah, we talk about the same thing in Yeah. In the prison perfect. So yeah, it's a little bit confusing for the learners, and it needs, you know, hard work from the teacher to explain it.





43:52

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. But that's a really good practical tip is to compare 2 tenses next to each other, 2 example sentences and and check the the difference. What's the difference in meaning? Right between the 2? Yeah. So you mentioned concept check in questions, which is another another good one. Can you tell us more about them? Do you? Do you prepare them in advance of a lesson? Or how do you choose? Good concept, checking questions. Right. They can't be improvised. Unfortunately, they can't be improvised. Yeah, so this is a misconception. You know. Teachers think sometimes they can go to the classroom, and, you know, improvise some questions and ask the learners on the spot.





44:24

They will never work, you know. So concept questions aim at check in with the meaning. Is understandable for the learners. The meaning of the target language. Is, you know, achieved or not. So in order to create a concept in question. You have to use a reference for. A book like a book for grammar, for teachers, for example. Get the meaning, paraphrase it, simplify the words, you know, and then change it into a question, and it should. It should be a short answer question, like yes. Or no, maybe, or a simple phrase that reflects the students understanding of the meaning.





45:14

Nice. So there are lots of tips, you know. Not. All questions should be answered with, no, because, you know, we need to again to get a proof of the learners understanding of the target language, and we shouldn't use the target language in the questions. Yeah. Because it will add more challenges for the learners. And yes, questions starting with, is it often work well? And there are lots of tips, you know. We can. Do, you know, a totally. Session or a total session on creating concept chicken questions, you know, for learning.





45:36

I like that? Yeah. So again. But we need to focus on that. We don't use them for teaching the meaning we use them for check in meaning. Yeah, it. Yeah. And I like your idea. We're looking for the proof. What's the proof that the students understand? What's the question? You can ask them to prove that I'm just saying yes. Nodding is not enough. Yeah. Yes. It's a practical way. It's a practical way. Have you ever asked your learners? Do you understand that? They say yes, so they don't understand anything.





46:02

Exactly. Okay. There's a question here from korean. And it says, Hello! Which would be some good Less controlled and freer practices. For grammar. So if we want to practice using grammar in communicative. Context. And he mentions roleplay discussion debates. Can you think of any other good activities that you use for practicing specific types of grammar. Well, there are a lot of ways, you know. You can have the learner's practice grammar. So, for example, Let's talk about it from the very beginning. And when the practice stage you start with the the control practice.





46:48

Tasks or activity to have the learners gain confidence. When using the form. For example, you can use some kind of like multiple choice questions. To a false to break the mistakes. So only one answer is accepted. That's good. Right, then we move a little bit towards, you know. Given the learners more freedom in the less controlled or semi, controlled or less guided. like. When you ask the limits, for example, to complete the sentence. I space to Spain. Yesterday, so. Complete the sentence with a past verb.





47:28

Hmm. Okay, or the pat with verb in the past. Simple. So the learners might use, for example. Visited. Some learners would leave with, you know, use traveled Spent a day in, you know, so the answers will differ. But it's a little bit controlled in. You know, in a part which is the past simple things, and then we move to given the learners all the freedom to talk about the language, or, to use the language in freer practice, like speaking or. Yeah. Writing. So you we can have the learners right? Paragraphs or essays, or anything about themselves, about their real life using the target language, and this will definitely help them to use the language.





48:16

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Correctly, unconsciously, you know. Yeah. So it's it's here. It's deep inside. So some learners use the language without even knowing the rules. And that's. Yep. Yeah, it doesn't matter if you're under. If you memorize, you know what the rule is, what the structure is it? What matter is that you use it? In a meaningful context. You can use games just like board games, you know, like snakes and ladders like. Having debates. Yeah. Debates, for example, talking freely about the life experiences. Maybe if you're teaching them the simple





48:53

Here. prison. And so on. So, yeah, there are lots and lots of practice activities and caves. Yeah, definitely. And it's not always in the same class, right, like the class on future forms for example, it's sometimes when they come to you at the beginning of the lesson and say, I I won't come next lesson, and you think but we studied that last time do you? Do you connect them when it's just kind of it's genuine authentication. Do you correct grammar and talk. About that? Or do you just focus on.





49:23

Fluency. Well, of course, when teaching, we need to focus on on both accuracy and fluency, because if we only focus on fluency, the learners will. Yes. Speak very well, but with lots of mistakes. Right? So we need to correct that. So everything has, you know, adopt everything. Has a job to do like. When you're aiming at a curse, please stop them. And, you know, provide them with feedback or corrected. Or refer back to examples, or if you don't want to. Hmm. Be or to lead it. As a teacher and give them the freedom and elicit. So just give them an example to have them compared between the correct version, and you know the wrong version, and they will correct themselves.





50:13

So usually at the end of. Classes, we have content. Feedback and language, feedback and content respond to the content they were talking about in language feedback we deal with. We deal with every single mistake in the language. You know. And this helps a lot with. Yeah. Yeah. It's the balance. Yeah, yeah. Great. With accuracy. So we did with both. And the content we did with fluency. And then we did with accuracy. Yeah, that's right. And there is interest. Yeah, we I can see an interesting question here.





50:47

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I think we're gonna have to. I'm so sorry I'm so sorry to cut you off, because I can see so many interesting questions and so many comments. But we're going to have to finish now, so that we can have a lunch break and come back. But it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much. Mohammed. The pleasure is all mine. Check out everybody's. Podcast if you want to hear more. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Thank you. And thank you so much to where I'm on Facebook and Melissa, who is here moderating in the chat. So thank you, everybody. I'm so sorry to cut you off in full flow. We could. We could stay here all afternoon chatting about this. People are so interested in this topic.





51:16

Yeah. But that's great. Thank you. We'll be back at 3 o'clock time. Our next session is can English teachers use theme activities? So that would be a a good one. A nice practical session, for after lunch. Okay. Take care, everybody, and see you for the latest sessions. Thanks.