Explanation techniques

We will look at two procedures for explaining the form of the new language. In both cases the intention is to demonstrate to the student what the grammar of the construction is.

a) Explaining statements

In this case, the teacher wishes to explain the first model based on the following flight timetable:

Flight number	Destination	Via	Departure	Arrival
714	New York	Dallas	08.15	11.45
603	Chicago	St. Louis	14.30	16.45
	Paris	Miami	23.30	16.40
873	Montreal	Detroit	19.05	21.50
312	London	Bermuda	13.10	07.55

The model is: Flight 309 goes to Paris. Here is the procedure to follow:

Normal model

Stage 1. The teacher says the sentence in a normal way

with a clear voice using correct stress and

Isolation

intonation. This can be done two or three times.

Stage 2. The teacher isolates a particular feature of the

Distortion

model.

Stage 3. The teacher distorts this feature showing how

Return to isolated element

it is constructed.

Stage 4. The teacher returns to the isolated element.

Normal model

Stage 5. The teacher gives the normal model again.

Sometimes, however, the teacher may not have to distort the isolated feature where it is only a one-syllable word.

Where there is more than one item that needs isolating, the teacher goes through the procedure described above with the first item to be isolated and then repeats the sequence with the second item. The following example shows the procedure in action. The teacher wishes to isolate both the verb form and the pronunciation of the flight number:

T: Listen…Flight 309 goes to Paris… flight 309 goes to Paris…listen…

goes…goes… go… [z]… go… [z]… goes… flight 309 goes to Paris… listen…three-oh-nine… flight 309 goes to Paris… flight 309 goes to Paris.

The teacher may backup this oral explanation by writing the following on the blackboard: Flight 309 go es to Paris.

The use of a box to highlight the main grammar point helps to focus the student’s attention on that point.

b) Explaining question forms

When we have to do the same kind of explanation for a question form, we may follow the same procedure as described above. However, particularly where a question form is taught after the affirmative version of the same grammar point has already been the subject of practice, some extra techniques may help the students to understand the form of the question.

Unlike many languages, English uses inversion to signal a question. Thus, if we take an affirmative sentence such as ‘ He is running’, we find that the equivalent question form has the subject and the auxiliary in a different order, e.g. ‘ Is he running?’ Even where we put a question word (which, what, how, when, etc.) at the beginning of the question, this inversion is still used. Students of English frequently find this confusing.

When introducing a question, teachers will follow the same procedure as for (a) above. They will, however, isolate and distort in a slightly different way, and it will be advisable to use the blackboard and/or gesture to make the inversion clear.

Suppose we wished to explain the question model ‘Is he running?’ We might do it in the following way:

T: Listen… Is he running? Is he running? …listen…he is running?…no (the

teacher shakes his head and crosses his arms in an ‘inversion’ gesture) … Is he running? …Is he running?

We can write the following on the blackboard at the same time:

He is running.

Is he running?

If we wished to present the question ‘ Does Flight 309 go to London?’ we would follow the same procedure as for the previous example. On the blackboard, however, we might write the following:

Flight 309 go es to London.

Do es Flight 309 go to London?

The importance of visual demonstration for grammar cannot be exaggerated. Many students react far better to written stimuli, and in the examples we have shown the teacher’s use of the blackboard to highlight important features helps students to understand the new point being taught.

Once the teacher has gone through the explanation phase he will then move to accurate reproduction.

c) Using hands and gestures

Teachers can use their hands and various gestures to make grammatical form clearer. One of the things we often need to do is to show how a full grammatical form is contracted in speech. Two examples show this happening: ‘ they are leaving’ becomes ‘they’re leaving’; ‘I would have come later’ becomes ‘I’d’ve come later’.

I’d’ve

come

have

One way of explaining this to beginning students is to use the fingers of one hand to represent the different parts of the sentence, e.g.

	would		come

later

I

later

I I

As we say the words, we point to the fingers of the hand that represent those words. Then we can show how ‘ I would have’ becomes ‘I’d’ve’. The use of the fingers gives a graphic description to the class.

We can also use fingers to hold imaginary words, rather like a magician. For example, we can pretend to hold the word ‘ do’ in one hand and the word ‘not’ in the other. By bringing the hands together, we show how ‘ don’t’ is formed. Some teachers use gesturing over their shoulders to indicate the past and pointing ahead of them to indicate future tenses.

Finally, arms can be used to indicate intonation patterns (rising and falling) and stress patterns, beating time rather like a conductor in an orchestra. This is especially useful for choral repetition.