5 interesting ideas on how to teach Grammar to ESL students.

I found this website which is pretty interesting: http://busyteacher.org/2873-5-new-fun-ways-to-teach-grammar-to-esl-students.html

Grammar shouldn’t be taught “by the book”. At least not in teaching English as a second language. That’s not what students are there for. They don’t want to know all of these rules; they’re not interested in them. They want to learn English. They want to speak, read, and write in English. So, how do we as ESL teachers teach them essential grammar and give them what we need, rather than boring them to death with “the rules”. So, here are 4 fun ideas to teach grammar:

1. Action!

Nothing shakes them up better than getting them out of their seats. When you see your students daydreaming, not paying attention, or simply bored, tell them to get up and form a circle. Now, this simple exercise works great to teach numerous grammar points, but here’s an example:

Say you want your students to practice the simple past of regular or irregular verbs. Grab a small ball or bean bag and say a verb out loud; toss the ball to a student who will have to say its past form. He or she tosses the ball back to you and you choose another student. Whenever a student makes a mistake, he or she has to leave the circle. The last student left standing gets a reward sticker or other prize. You can say a sentence in affirmative, and they have to supply a question, or vice versa; this activity can be adapted to any grammar point.

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2. Celebrity Profiles

An awesome way to teach and practice any verb tense is through biographies. Try this activity to contrast the simple past and present perfect tenses. Find out which celebrities or sports stars your students admire. Then find a short biography or write one yourself summarizing a celebrity’s main achievements. Read the bio with your students and make sure they understand the differences. Point out examples that clearly illustrate this: “He starred in his first hit film in 1985. But he has worked in 20 hit films throughout his career.”

3. Celebrity Photos

Another way in which you can use your students’ interest in certain celebrities. Cut out celebrity pics from entertainment magazines (in fact, I recommend stocking up on a big pile of photos to use in a variety of activities). Use these pictures to teach comparatives and superlatives: “Katie Holmes is taller than Tom Cruise.”; “Shakira is more talented than Ricky Martin.”; and it works great with comparative adverbs: “Shakira dances better than Ricky, too.”

4. A or an?

This activity works great with beginners, including small children. Cut up a list of several words that either take “a” or “an” and mix them up. For very young learners, you may use pictures instead of words. Then divide students into pairs of groups, and have them put the words in two piles, depending on the article. Once they have their piles ready, ask them if they can figure out the rule by themselves.

By far the best ways to teach any type of grammar is through the use of either realia or real life settings and contexts. Why would a student be motivated to learn the conditional tenses if he has no idea why he’s learning them, in other words, he doesn’t understand when and where he’ll have use for them? When teachers use real life settings and objects students will know the grammar structures they learn will be useful for them.

Taken from :http://busyteacher.org/2873-5-new-fun-ways-to-teach-grammar-to-esl-students.html

Adapted by Manpreet Kaur