Venue: Damai Resort, Desaru, Kota Tinggi
I wasn't supposed to be here but dear hubby wasn't too well, so I had to be his driver for the day! Organised by Kejora, we were introduced to a new but rather peculiar way of looking at grammar by En Jamaludin who works in Yayasan Pelajaran Johor. I have to be careful not to mention too much of his methods as he has given the rights to publish his ideas to a publisher. Basically, he has used Mathematics (that's right) as a basis for his methods-never thought of this! Just the sight of figures scare me away!! Anyway, I think there are some methods that are useful and practical especially 1-5 but am very skeptical about the others. There are many instances where the theory does not fit in. You can't be inventing formulas for every single case! However, it threw some light into whether the rules of grammar we have now are intact or otherwise. A brave attempt at dealing with grammar I thought!
4 comments:
salam Ms Rahmah. I just found yr blog n it's really helpful n informative. It's nice to c n hear that johore state still has lots of prgrm for English not like my state in Pahang. If u have more information on this Magic Grammar Workshop can u share wit me.4 yr info i'mm teaching in rural area school n the command of english among the students r really2 weak..I've tried my best to help them but still having problems because there r weak in vocab as the main prblem. Can u gv me some tips n ideas that i can use to help my students especially in help them to write a good essay.Is it possible if I invite u to come n give a simple workshop to the english teachers in my school or gv talk to the PMR @ SPM students in my school.My school is SMK Perwira jaya, Felda Selancar Muadzam shah pahang n my place is just next to segamat johore. My name ahmad n my email matmail2008@yahoo.com
wassalam ahmad, welcome to my blog. i hope u find useful. thanks for the invitation. it would be an honour to talk to your teachers and students but unfortunately i don't have a date at the moment. do keep in touch via email so we can discuss elt matters. thanks for visitign my blog.
Hi Pn Rahmah,
I found the ideas you have shared on grammar rather useful. What are your opinion/s on the stand of learning about grammar rules and principles even before teaching grammar to students? Nowadays we have many non option teachers among us. Glad that we have them but how can we help them realize the importance of knowing grammar rules/principles in teaching grammar (or is it not that important at all). Or could just start teaching with the luggage of experiences they already have? How do we guide them?
Dear anonymous,
What an interesting question! I subscribe to teaching grammar the 'old' way if you like. I teach the form and meaning followed by plenty of exercises. You can also say that I use the PPP (presentation, practice, production approach). There is no one right method. I also teach grammar in context. As English teachers, having a good grasp of grammar rules is not only useful but a must. It doesn't matter if you are and option or non-option teacher. Once you're tasked to teach English, you need to be able to explain why some sentences are acceptable and others are not. It boils down to grammar. Experience is a good teacher but it will be better if supported with a sound knowledge of the building blocks of language. There are many books available and thousands of resources on the net. The teacher needs to learn, if I may use the word, if he is not confident. Incidentally, this is a related link to my earlier post on the teaching of grammar: http://engoasis.blogspot.com/2011/01/teacher-talk-13-should-we-teach-grammar.html
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