UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

EDU 3200
Teaching Grammar in ESL

DR. ARSHAD ABD. SAMAD

SEMESTER 2 2007/2008
GRAMMAR MICRO TEACHING
TOPIC: PAST TENSE

PREPARED BY:

CRISTY TENG MEE HSIA 128603

EVELYN TANG TIING TIING 128674
 Grammar Micro Teaching

Date : 27th March 2008

Time : 30 minutes

Form : 5C

Enrolment : 30 students

Level of proficiency : Some language proficiency

Subject : English Language

Topic : Past tense

General objective : To enable students to understand the meaning

of past tense.

Specific objectives : By the end of the lesson, students should be

able to:

Stage 1:

- Have better understanding on past tense.

Stage 2:

- Make sentences with the verbs in the past tense

form to tell a story.

Stage 3:

- Send an email to their cousin to share a happy

moment on their 18th birthday.

Stage 1:

1. Teacher uses power point presentation to explain the past tense in details and

provides some examples.

Stage 2:

1. Teacher asks students to form groups of five.

2. Teacher distributes a mahjong paper to each group.

3. Teacher tells the students to make sentences with the verbs in the past tense form

to tell a story.

4. Teacher gives 5 minutes for the students to attempt the task.

5. Teacher facilitates the students.

6. Teacher asks students to mount the mahjong paper on the board and present their

story.

Stage 3:

1. Teacher distributes worksheet to students.

2. Teacher reads the instructions to students.

Instruction:
 You have just celebrated your 18th birthday. Send an email to your cousin to share

your happy moments.

3. Teacher asks students to attempt the task.

Stage 3:

You have just celebrated your 18th birthday. Send an email to your cousin to share your

happy moments.
 Reasons of choosing this activity

In the teaching of grammar, teachers should not try to teach grammar

consciously. Teachers should try to teach grammar in an implicit way. We choose this

activity because we are inspired by Batstone who suggested teaching grammar as

product, process and skill. We consider our activity as a product because it emphasizes

on the component parts of the language system. As for teaching grammar as process,

our activity emphasizes on the use of the language by the learner. As our activity strikes

on both process and product, it shows that our activity involves teaching grammar as

skill.

Besides, our activity also adapts the “i+1 hypothesis”. Before the students

do the activity, teacher explains the meaning of past tense and gives some examples

for students’ references. It is important to give input to students first before asking them

to do activity. A language acquirer who is at "level i" must receive comprehensible input

that is at level i+1. In other words, students acquire only when they understand

language that contains structure that is 'a little beyond' where they are now." So instead

of having a teacher aim to teach the students grammatical structure that is at their i+1

level, students should instead just focus on communication that is understandable. If

they do this, and if they get enough of that kind of input, then they will in effect be

receiving and thus acquiring out i+1. In this activity, students get enough input, then

they use their creativity to come out with a story based on the words given.