Alright, so I'm teaching my Grade 9 class grammar.
I really, REALLY hate those Language Power "f", etc. books that we're supposed to use so I tend to do my own thing. Generally it works much better than boring books. I'm also trying to implement a "grammar all semester long" style, as opposed to a single grammar unit "let's get this over with and never think about it again" approach.
The problem is that I'm no grammar wiz myself (thank goodness for Regan). While marking the first set of Noun/Verb/Adjective/Adverb work, I'm wondering what exactly is important about the study of grammar. I mean, obviously I'm trying to help them learn about being better writers, but does that come from studying grammar? What really is the end goal? If the point is to learn to write in full and complete sentences, what is the point of studying grammar? Why don't I just have them write more and read more? Does grammar have something to offer? As a student who just "wrote well" (according to my teachers) without really trying, I'm asking myself all of these questions.
I'm hoping all of you out there have some insight about this topic. Did you learn grammar in school? Did you find it helpful? Would you have liked to learn it in school but didn't get the chance? Do you think grammar is important at all (especially in our facebookmyspacemsnworld?).
I probably would have posed this question in a brain trust email but apparently only very serious and important, top-secret type stuff is allowed to be discussed there. Also, perhaps nothing at all is allowed to be discussed there unless you have a wang.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Completely - yes, grammar! Absolutely.
This topic was once wonderfully explained to me (along with the rest of a 2nd yr English class) by one of my favourite former Professors. She said that there are two ways to be a good writer: 1. Pick up a book of grammar rules and memorize each one, or 2. Read, a lot.
I was also one of those students who just 'wrote well' (at least until Grad school, apparently) according to teachers but I credit this to the latter method rather than the former, absolutely. Until I had to teach it to students I didn't know what a freaking predicate was. I had to look it up when I got home from tutoring that day. Yep, I've learned about grammar rules only through being forced to teach them to young, unfortunate, minds.
Even though I can't credit grammar rules for getting me through five years of post-secondary school, I will say that it has helped me a lot since - and not just in tutoring. I get to proof a lot of the marketing, publications, and various communications that go out at my current job and, being the only English grad in the room, I'm frequently trusted with the final final proofs and a lot of pressure to proof/ve myself in the process. I gots to show my mad skillz, y'dig?
Knowledge of basic (and sometimes more advanced) grammar rules helps me to not only recognize but also clearly explain to my coworkers why their newsletter/poster/letter, etc needs to fixed. Grammar is the difference, to me, between 'hmmm, that doesn't look/sound right ...' and 'the problem is that the subject and predicate aren't in agreement here ... your tense shouldn't have changed here ... you are missing a verb in this sentence ... where is the qualifier in this statement ..." etc. when editing and constructing pieces of text for release.
Grammar stuff is, um, good.
I say give them the tools so that they can understand, but make those snotty-nosed brat faces pick up a good book more often too!
Sherry, if you don't teach them 'lol's are not okay unless attached to adorable pictures of cats, who will?
In my case, I didn't see the value in learning how grammar worked in English until I tried to learn other languages.
Grammar became the bridge between the two languages, and allowed me to better understand the language I was trying to learn.
Another opinion from a friend of mine on her blog here.
Post a Comment