Grammar-to-go

By Sandra Mikalsen
 

For this assignment, I will write a report on how it went when we applied the method “Grammar-to-go”, by Hæge Hestnes (2011), to our teaching scheme for an English class. I will give a description of the teaching scheme and the text we chose, including on what level the pupils are in English and a bit about the frame factors for this class. Afterwards I will give my own evaluation and reflection of the scheme and the method “Grammar-to-go”. 

In this practice period my group and I were placed with 6^th graders. The class consisted of 19 pupils, where their English skills varied a lot and two of the pupils was diagnosed with dyslexia. Fortunately for us most of the pupils seemed motivated for English and liked it. We decided to use the “Grammar-to-go” method during a visit from our University teacher, and therefore we found it best to conduct all of our chosen steps in this method in just one session of English.

The “Grammar-to-go” method consists of eight steps in total, but we chose only three of them. We had 90 minutes available and decided to divide the session into three parts – one part for each of us students and each of the steps we had chosen. For this method we also had to find us a poem, song or lyric to use the method with. So we ended up with a poem called Brother by Mary Ann Hoberman, from the book Poetry Speaks to Children (Paschen, 2005).

The first step we had chosen from “Grammar-to-go” was called “Speaking, writing, spelling”, and was about making the pupils familiar with the poem. This part of the teaching scheme was assigned to me, so the first thing I did was to present the poem on the smartboard by reading it out loud to the pupils so that they would get the right sound and rhythm of it. Afterwards, we read the poem out loud together a few times and talked about the form and content of the poem.  Next, I divided the class into four groups and assigned each group one stanza from the poem to be copied down so that they would get some practice in writing and spelling. Then each of the groups would get together to make a performance out of their assigned stanza. They could decide whether to recite the poem using different intonation, pitch, pace and empathy.

The second step was called “Adverbials of time” and focused on grammar, but without the pupils actually knowing they were working with grammar. For this part each pupil got a copy of a worksheet that we had edited in advance. This contained the original poem, a picture, and another edited version of the poem where all the subjects, pronouns and possessive determinatives were removed.

Thus the pupils task was to replace these with other pronouns and possessive determinatives. Before they got started on the task, the student in charge of this part repeated with the pupils what pronouns were, and gave them an example on how to do the task. 

The third and last step was called “Writing own poems, finding rhyming words”. In this part we wanted the pupils to write a five-line poem about anything they would like to write about. The student in charge started off with asking the pupils what they knew about five-line poems, and then showed them an example of a five-liner, including a recipe on how to make one. She also repeated with them what nouns and adjectives were. The class was already familiar with this kind of poem, but some of them needed a reminder and some inspiration anyway. 

In my overall opinion, the teaching scheme went well and we got positive feedback from the pupils. We also consider the pupils with dyslexia during the planning and adapted the scheme according to their needs. By doing so we also made it more manageable for the pupils who struggle with English. Most of the pupils were active and participated during the entire session, which made it easier for us to interact with them and get through most of our items in our scheme. The only unforeseen problem that we encountered was the amount of time required for each of the parts in the scheme. The first part of the session took much longer than anticipated because there was a need for explaining and writing down the translation of certain words. To improve the scheme, I think I would give each part more time and also maybe make it more diverse considering the pupils who needs more challenge. 

 

When it comes to my opinion about the “Grammar-to-go” as a method, I think it lacks the most important thing about the whole method – instructions on how to teach grammar! We had a lot of difficulties on finding a grammar-related task for the scheme, especially when the method contained only one step specific for grammar. Apart from these flaws I found the method easy to understand and apply. It also contained some good suggestions on how to implicate both oral, writing, spelling and creativity skills in working with poetry.

References:

- Hestnes, H. (2011) Grammar-to-go. I Guldal, T.M. og Otnes, H. (red.) Grammatikkundervisning. Språkheftet 4. Idéhefte for lærere. Tapir akademisk forlag
- Paschen, E. (red.). (2005) Poetry Speaks to Children. Naperville, Illinoise: Sourcebooks, Inc.

The Grammar-to-go method in practice

This is how I used the grammar-to-go method by Hæge Hestnes in my practice period.
(under the picture)

My presentation of the grammar-to-go method (prezi)

"Grammar-to-go".

This is my description of a teaching scheme that me and my practice group made based on an article called "Grammar-to-go". I have chosen to present it in a Prezi-presentation.

https://prezi.com/bmzshy6vek48/the-grammar-to-go-method-poems/ 

Theaching scheme based on the "Grammar-to-go"-method

by Torun Sørbøen


My teaching scheme is presented in a Prezi-presentation. Follow the link: http://prezi.com/m3pjk0mrpzeh/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy, and have a look!

Sources:

Dahl, R. “The Dentist and the Crocodile”. In Paschen, E. (Ed.). (2005) Poetry Speaks to Children. Naperville, Illinoise: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Hestnes, H. (2011) “Grammar-to-go”. In Guldal, T. M. & Otnes, H. (Ed.) Grammatikkundervisning. Språkhefte 4. Idéhefte for lærere. Tapir akademisk forlag.

Grammar teaching

I have made a PowerPoint presentation to show you how my practice group implemented the "grammar-to-go" method in a teaching scheme, and how I experienced the method in use.

Follow the link for the presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/bYOGXUjJtfqf0z

Eirin

Grammar-to-go

By Heidi Alida

This year me and my group had our practice period in a class with 6. Graders. We chose to do the grammar-to-go method the day we had our teacher from the University visiting. Since we did this, it was also very important for all of us in the group to both take part in the planning of the teaching scheme but also in the learning activity in the classroom. We had 90 minutes available, and we built the teaching session up as three parts, where every part had a focus area from the grammar-to-go method. As we were three students in the group, we decided to conduct the plan where one of us were in charge for each part.

The first part, is the first task in the method, the speaking, writing, spelling. We started with the introduction to the poem. The poem we decided to use were Brother by Mary Ann Hoberman (Pashen, 2005). The pupils received a thorough and interesting introduction to the poem where they did choral reading before they discussed the poems content and form. The pupils got divided into four groups, where every group copied one stanza, and then got together to practice on how to perform it, with focus on intonation, tempo, pitch and empathy.

In the second part of the class we were going to focus on point six in the grammar-to-go method. The pupils were going to work with grammar, but we didn’t introduce it for them as grammar. We made a document with the poem, where we hade the poem on the left side, that the pupils used in the first part of the class. We had a picture in the middle, to illustrate the poem, and on the right side we hade the poem again, but here we had taken away the subject pronoun and the possessive determiner. This way the pupils could focus on filling in another pronoun and possessive determiner than the ones in the original poem. The student responsible for this part had a thorough review of the task with the pupils, repeating all the pronouns together with the pupils before they started to fill in.

The last part was the one I was responsible for. Here we chose point five, writing own poems, finding rhyming words from grammar-to-go. The pupils had recently been working with both five-line poems and adjectives in the Norwegian classes. The pupils were very grateful for English, and seemed to like the classes very well, but the academic level was very varying. By choosing a five-line poem for everyone to write, most of the pupils would be able to make one and experience success. I began with letting the pupils tell what they remembered about five-line poems, and they remembered all the different lines, and what they sustained. I still chose to show some examples from Stairs homepage (Cappelen Damm). I also let the recipe on a five-line poem be in sight for those of the students who needed a reminder during the task.

I think the grammar-to-go method was interesting to use, but while we were planning the class, I thought it could be hard getting several points into one class. We did make it this time, but during the class we noticed that the first part demanded more time than we had planed. And since we had our teacher visiting we all wanted to do our part. That may have made the last parts a bit stressful. Since the pupils knew the recipe for a five-line poem we were able to finish the task. Had it been another situation I would have saved the last part for later, and instead used time on evaluating the class. We didn’t have time for that, but we brought it with us, and in the English class the week later, we started the class with evaluating the last one with the pupils. The pupils seemed to like it very well and the response was very positive. We also got time for some of the pupils to finish their five-liner and read it for their learning partner or the class. It seemed like the pupils liked the method and the way we worked, and for later I would like to try the grammar-to-go method again, but over a longer time period.



References:

Paschen, E. (red.). (2005) Poetry Speaks to Children. Naperville, Illinoise: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cappelen DAMM, Stairs http://stairsonline5.cappelendamm.no/sjangerside.html?tid=951154 Sourced: 20.10.2015, kl:13:52.

My experience with "Grammar-to-go"

I have made a Prezi to show you what my group did in our practice period, and my experiences using the "Grammar-to-go" method.

http://prezi.com/l1ybyekzxu3h/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Enjoy!

Using Dr. Seuss’s ABC in the classroom

By Torun Sørbøen

Dr. Seuss’s ABC

Dr. Seuss’s ABC (1991) is an alphabet picture book with a rhyme for each letter from A to Z, or rather, from “Aunt Annie’s alligator” to “Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz”. Most of the rhymes follow the same pattern, with a few exceptions, such as this: “Big X, little x,?”, followed by a some words or a some words beginning with that letter or an alliteration, and ending with “X…x…X”. There is a related illustration accompanying each stanza. Dr. Seuss’s works are often full of nonsense words and fantasy creatures. This book uses quite a few, such as a “tuttle-tuttle-tree” or a “duck-dog”.

Dr. Seuss’s ABC in the classroom

When working with Dr. Seuss’s ABC in the classroom, one can find many possible aims on which to focus. Some of the most relevant aims are these from the list of aims after Year 2 from the English subject curriculum (Udir.no, 2013):

“Participate in simple rehearsed dialogues and spontaneous conversations related to local surroundings and own experiences”(p. 6):

There is a Wh-question in each poem ("what begins with X?”), a type of question is usually more difficult to answer than a Yes/No-question or an Or-question. Here however, the question is repeated, only switching out the letter in question, giving the pupils more repetition with this type of question, as well as providing an answer. This might make for a good way of introducing a Wh-question to the pupils. Furthermore, the structure of the sentence is the same as in Norwegian, which can help Norwegian learners. To increase the challenge, the teacher can also ask the pupils to come up with other words that begin with the letter.

“Find words and phrases that are common to English and one’s native language” (p. 5) or as it sais in the aims after Year 4: “Find similarities between words and expressions in English and his/her own native language” (p.6):

As well as having similar sentence structures, there are also many transparent words for language learners with Norwegian as their native language, which is positive for understanding and noticing similarities between the languages.

“Listen for and use English phonemes though practical-aesthetic forms of expression” (p. 6):

The book structured with a repeated pattern throughout the book, and with humorous rhymes, silly words with matching illustrations. This makes the book very accessible for young language learners. One can use only one or two of the poems, or work with the whole alphabet systematically. Some words that might not be particularly frequent or useful for young pupils to learn, such as barber and neckties. However, the focus in these poems is to play with sounds. Chorus reading with a focus on pronunciation could be a good exercise to use when working with these poems in the classroom.

References

Munden, J. & Myhre, A. (2015). Twinkle Twinkle. 3^rd edition. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

Udir.no. (2013). Udir.no - English subject curriculum - Hovedområder. Retrieved 16 August 2015, from http://www.udir.no/kl06/ENG1-03/Hele/Hovedomraader/?lplang=eng

Seuss, D. (1991). Dr. Seuss's ABC. An Amazing alphabet book! A Bright and Early Board Book. New York: Random House.

Every Time I Climb A Tree

By Heidi Alida Dørmænen 

I have chosen the poem Every time I climb a tree by David McCord (Paschen, 2005). I am going to give a short introduction to the theme and characters in the poem, before I discuss how the poem can be used in relation to the competence aims in LK06.

The poem is written with a single speaker in 1^th person. The poem is about a boy or a girl who tells the story about when he or she climbs a tree. The theme of the poem is very typical for children, and it is easy to understand what it is about. I think the students could benefit from working with a poem like this, because they could relate to the person and the story in the poem very easily.

In the National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion in Primary and Secondary Education and Training, LK06, one can find several competence aims in English concerning literature and poems. I have chosen to focus on three of the competence aims that the students are suppose to accomplish after their 4^th year.

·      Find similarities between word and expressions in English and his/her own native language.

·      Understand the main content of nursery rhymes, word games, songs, fairy tales and stories.

·      Participate in presenting nursery rhymes, word games, songs, short plays and stories in English. (Utdanninsdirektoratet)

The poem consists of several transparent words, which gives the students an opportunity to find similarities between English and their own native language. Some of these words are tree, leg, knee, bee, egg, things, good. The use of these transparent words can also make it easier for the students to get a felling of what the poem is about before they start to analyze or translate the poem. When the students begin to analyze the poem, it is possible to differentiate the tasks to the group of students after their levels, if that is needed. Some of the students could look after words ending in the same way, and that makes rhymes in the poem, while some students could look after particular characteristics for different types of poems.

Reading a poem can be done in many different ways. As mentioned over the poem consists of rhymes, and these rhymes can help making the reading of the poem more interesting. For instance it could be a good idea to begin with choral reading of the poem. With choral reading the teacher can make sure the entire group of student get a chance to hear how the word is pronounced correctly. The length of the poem is not so long, and since it consists of three stanzas, the students have a chance to memorize the whole poem, or at least one of the stanzas. Then they have the opportunity to play with where to pace, pause, pitch, the power of their voice, emphasis, and also the inflection if they make a performance out of their poem (Gamble, 2013, p. 238).

Sources:

Gamble, N. (2013) Exploring children’s literature. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Paschen, E. (red.). (2005) Poetry Speaks to Children. Naperville, Illinoise: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Utdanningsdirektoratet, National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion in Primary and Secondary Education and Training: http://www.udir.no/kl06/eng1-03/Hele/Kompetansemaal/kompetansemal-etter-4.-arstrinn/?lplang=eng (sourced 17.09.15, kl.14:03)

- How should we teach grammar?

Descriptivism is term that is used to describe and analyse how a language is spoken, especially in peoples everyday. Descriptivism is examining how language and grammar is ever changing and dependent on the environment and culture. According to the movie “Grammar revolution” most linguists acknowledge themselves as descriptivists. On the other hand the viewer is introduced to the term prescriptivism, which is a contrasting approach to grammar teaching and usage. While descriptivism is more concerned with how the language is used daily, prescriptivism pays more attention to how the language should be used. For that reason a teacher following this approach would focus on giving the students explicit guidelines for how they should begin their sentences. The focus would be on memorization and to standardize the students English, instead of getting a conceptual understanding of the grammar structure. A teacher following a descriptive approach would on the contrary urging the students to find multiple alternatives, and tell them to observe how the structure changes. 

The movie states that prescriptive ways of teaching grammar have faded, which has to do with the progressevist movement. Progressivism focuses on the practical use of grammar, which is more similar to the descriptivsm. This will give the students a more conceptual understanding of grammar and providing them with a language about their language. The students will in theory be more motivated when they understand the practical usage of grammar. The teacher´s role is to be a mentor and give the student’s guidance, rather than being an authority that directly transmits information to the students. A prescriptive approach is in contrary, intended to train the students skills in standard English, which by many linguists recognised as the key to succeed in society. From my point of view I will have to agree with the linguists stating that explicit grammar teaching is the right path; 

“It empowers the students to feel that they can be clear and articulate and communicate effectively. It provides the students with a vocabulary that allows them to describe their own language”.

When I was thought grammar through drills and exercises I didn’t see the practical use of grammar. Hey, I am able to communicate in Norwegian why should I learn about nouns and adverb? I found it really boring and subsequently I skipped many of the Norwegian classes. I can imagine that a lot of young students to have the very same attitude towards explicit grammar teaching today. It might be more exciting if the children conceptual understanding through practical experiences from the real world. Additionally I must emphasise that I believe prescriptivism makes a valid point underling the importance of standard English. In todays modern society most citizens are members of different social groups, and should therefore adjust their language thereafter.