Teaching Grammar

Hi again!  Today I want to share how I approach grammar in my classes.  I currently have 4 classes of German 1, 1 class of German 3, and 1 class of AP German 4.  In my level 1 classes, I teach grammar more as vocabulary and break it down more.  In my opinion, students do not need to conjugate all of the verbs or use all possessive pronouns on the same day.  This doesn't stick with the students and not all students are ready for everything at once.  Many students use something because they hear it or see it but aren't quite sure about the why.  Students are still getting grammar instruction in my class, but it's not the main focus.  Instead of saying our goals are conjugating verbs, we say what we are doing with that grammar instead.  Our goal is to tell what a friend or family member likes to do in his/her freetime.   

For example, when we talk about our hobbies in class, I will have students talk about themselves for one day.  I show them the verb conjugations they will need as phrases.  Ich spiele, Ich gehe, Ich treffe, Ich mag, Ich kann and they fill in the information that is unique to them.  The following day, students will interview a partner and write about his/ her freetime.  Students then see that the verbs end in 't' in German: er/sie/nin/xier(nin and xier are non binary pronouns and yes, I teach them to my students) or they can use the person's name and say Jaden spielt, Jaden geht, Jaden trifft, Jaden mag/kann.  On another day students will partner up and say things that they do in common with a partner, which allows us to work on plural conjugations. 

My level 1 students know how to use wenn clauses (If this happens, then this happens) and use a little of subjunctive (I would/ Ich würde).  These concepts are tradionally taught in level 2, 3, or 4 when following a textbook and teaching grammar explicitly.  If it goes with the topic we are talking about that day, I have the students try it out.  It's not perfect and there will be mistakes, but can I understand what they mean?  Yes! and that is what is most important.  

I do still occasionally share verb conjugations, charts, or brief grammar rules with students, but this is after we have practiced something.  I think some students are ready for these rules and like seeing them. Think about those students who notice patterns and ask about grammar rules.  We all have those students who will ask things like, "why is there an en there, why is that ending different, when do you use ein instead of eine, does 'ge' make something past tense, did they forget the comma there before und?"  Those are the students who are ready to hear the rules and explanations (and maybe do even need them sometimes) while most of the other students really won't understand the explantations.  

In my upper level classes, I do find myself explaining grammar more.  This is something I am working on getting away from or asking myself if I need to get away from it.  As these are more advanced students and they have had a few years of exposure to the language, I feel they catch on really fast to explanations and even want the explanations.  They still see lots of examples of modeling the concepts we are working on first, then we spend a little time on the explanations, and then we use the language in smaller chunks.  Teachers don't have to teach everything on the same day! 

Authentic materials, reading more, and me as the teacher spending more time in the target language have all played huge rolls in allowing me to spend less time teaching grammar and more time teaching about the target culture or having students share about themselves.  I find myself saying to my students all the time, "How can you do that, I never taught you that or how do you know that word? It was never on a vocab list".  Students will then tell me things like I say it all the time or they noticed it from this video or reading from class.  

A few resources that have really helped me further develop my practices on teaching grammar are:

The Creative Language Classsroom's workshop called "Spinach with Brownies: Sneaking Grammar in a Commincative Lesson"

Bill Van Patton's Book While We're on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice

Joel Sidwell's Teaching Comprehensibily Podcast on Spotify

Weteachlang.com Podcast 42: Choosing Critical Culture Content Over Grammar

Do you have any great resources or tips on ways we can put culture and communication in the foreground and sneak in that grammar instruction?  I would love to hear about them! Thanks for reading!