Rule for the teacher: If the grammar item you are going to present belongs to those pupils need for conversation, select the oral approach method for teaching. If pupils need the grammar item for reading, start with reading and writing sentences in which the grammar item occurs.
In short new grammar it, may be introduced in two ways: a) inductive; b) deductive. Inductive way means to observe grammar facts (phenomenon) in the texts, to select them in the speech situations and generalise them. Deductive means giving some rules or presenting in the form of speech patterns, then pass over to examples, exercises and so on. If necessary both ways are possible to use at one lesson. Choosing this or that way of presentation of a grammar item mostly depends on:
the character of the grammar item to be presented;
the absence or presence of the grammar material in the mother tongue of the pupils;
the degree of the pupils’ linguistic experience.
For example, The Past Continuous may be easily presented and introduced on the base of Present Continuous (inductive way).
Translation method will do well if grammar item has its coincidence in the mother tongue.
Types of Exercises for Assimilation of Grammar.
The following types of exercises may be suggested:
Precognitive exercises - which are the easiest type of exercises for pupils to perform. They observe the grammar, in structures (sentence patterns) when hearing or reading.
E.g. - Listen to the sentences and raise your hands whenever you hear the verbs in the Past Indefinite.
E.g. - Read the sentences in which (1) the action was not completed (she was reading a book), (2) the action was completed (she had read the book).
E.g. - Read the sentences and choose the correct form of the verb: I (go, went) to the library last Monday. Recognition exercises are indispensable as pupils retain the grammar material through auditory and visual perception. Auditory and visual memory is at work.
