Grammar is my greatest weakness. Ideas for improvememt?

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renard2

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Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Hi,

I hate to admit it, but I really struggle with explaining English grammar beyond the basics. I'm looking for suggestions (books, strategies, or websites) that helped you learn how to teach intermediate/advanced grammar more effectively. I have a degree in TESL, but I have been teaching survival English for nearly six years now. Besides, most of what we learned in university revolved around sentence diagramming.

Thanks for any helpful resources. I'm a good teacher in my context, but I really want to expand my opportunities (I am in Canada).
 
***** Neither a teacher nor an expert *****


Hello, Renard:

Assuming that I am allowed to post in this forum if I have something constructive to suggest, I would like to strongly recommend that you check out the series of books called Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy.

He explains ideas clearly on one page and then on the facing page, he gives some exercises.

I understand that some editions have the answers, too.
 
Thank you so much! I picked up a recent edition of Swan's book for $1.99 at a used bookstore. I will bring it to class and try that.

I find it difficult to admit that grammar explanations are hard to come up with on the fly! It's true though, for me at least.
 
renard2: See if your edition has a section called Don't Say It!. It's about 4 pages of common mistakes with corrections and reference to the section of the book pertaining to that aspect of grammar. My more advanced students really like those exercises.
 
see if you can get hold of "Grammar for Writing" published by the English National Curriculum about 10 years ago- it's like a big glossary, aimed at helping primary school teachers (ie: teaching 7-11 yr olds, in Britain; teachers who do in fact teach all subjects to their pupils & are therefore not specialist teachers of English, as their senior school colleagues would be) No doubt out of print, but if you can find one it could be a useful part of your kit.
 
Thank you so much! I picked up a recent edition of Swan's book for $1.99 at a used bookstore. I will bring it to class and try that.

I find it difficult to admit that grammar explanations are hard to come up with on the fly! It's true though, for me at least.

It will pay for itself time and time again.
 
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