It is curious how grammar is sometimes divided up. For example, while most teachers nowadays are quite happy to section off Would you like … as some kind of lexico-grammatical structure that can be taught to beginners, the low-level syllabus…
Grammar nonsense 4: relative clauses
This is less a post about the craziness of description and more one about the way grammar is presented and the expectation that grammar should always be practised – and practised in particular ways. Grammar McNuggets and overprotectiveness Scott Thornbury has…
When are questions and teacher talk too much?
We recently had a query from a reader regarding the kind of language-generating concept questions we advocate. Basically, he had received some criticism after a lesson observation that the class was too teacher-centred, too input heavy and students didn't have enough time…
5 Different collocations or units of meaning = different networks of words
We saw in the second post in this series that coming up with clear-cut definitions of single words is difficult because individual words impact on each other and change their 'meanings' slightly. For example, Hanks argues that the typical usage of raging…
Questions about words
In my talk at IATEFL (and International House London, where a video was made of it), I explained some of the limitations of asking traditional concept questions, especially when looking at vocabulary. What follows is a list of alternative types…
Van Gogh’s ear and wordlists
We’ve had a suggested adaptation of some material from a teacher, Amber Nowak, in the Netherlands. It’s a little bit different to what we initially envisaged here in that Amber has already exploited the material in the book, Go for…
4 Language is patterned
We have already see that one problem with the grammar + words view of language is that words are difficult to define, but the same could equally said of grammar on its own. In the case of Pinker’s book, Words…
3 Language is norm orientated
This use of the word norms here is inspired by Patrick Hanks’ recent book, Norms and Exploitations. It’s just the latest in a large number of articles, books and theories which have tried to account for the fact that despite…
2 Words are difficult to define
We recently had an email about the text on one part of our website, where this question was asked - "Should it be language is the building blocks or language is the building block?" It’s a good question to lead…
Exploiting self-study phrasal verb exercises in the classroom
I'm very pleased today to be able to respond to the first request we've had in from a visitor. Patrick Gallagher has written to ask for ideas on how to tackle what's essentially self-study material that students would probably do…