Grammar is everywhere. Grammar surrounds us in every aspect of daily life comprising the main “vehicle” of expression. It is “hidden behind” our coffee order in the morning, in a shopping cart or while chatting with friends and family. This means that words in context used to fulfil a human need in formal or informal way, on personal or social level are grammar. And we, as ingenious teachers, can recognize “pronouns”, “conditionals” and “subordinate clauses” when hearing someone talking or even scrolling on social media!
This is real world, and, in my opinion, this is our mission: train our students to comprehend others and communicate their own thoughts, feelings and needs in a meaningful way. It sounds idyllic whereas scholars struggle with anxiety, insecurities, and mother-tongue interferences. Therefore, this so-called mission becomes more complicated and demanding. I think that there are two main challenges to encounter. On the one hand, their tendency to translate every word from their mother tongue to the target language. And on the other hand, the absence of full immersion in the foreign language.
There is a term in French called “bain linguistique” which means “linguistic bath”. I am used to saying humoristically to my students “Wear your goggles and dive in!” whether it is about a text, a podcast, or a simple sentence. I am convinced that they should be immersed in a linguistically friendly environment where they can feel engaged to interact with a certain educational material and get used to incorporating native speakers’ language structure.
To my mind, linguistically friendly content means, first and foremost, appropriate content for each lesson. The curriculum, the year plan or the coursebook may dictate a certain order in teaching but our learners’ brain is not always eager to cooperate for many reasons. By having a small talk and energizing our active listening skill as well as our “mood sensors” we can collect useful information to decide which grammar structure they are willing to be familiarised with. For example, one day, their brain may be receptive to the “parts of speech” but another day this may be unsufferable! So, linguistically friendly equals brain friendly for the given day, moment, lesson.
Secondly, it is essential that we respect our students’ character and preferences. After having explored their beliefs, values, habits, pastime activities, and everything that seems interesting and appealing to them we can work better and more focused on what they are inclined to hear and see. Having a list of things, persons, groups, forms of art they like more than others it gives us the advantage of choosing the befitting texts, recordings, and games for them. Personally, I have been using personality quizzes and funny fill-ins on National Geographic Kids’ site. These are two powerful tools that have helped me to get to know my students and at the same time equip them with the “grammar know-how”. Hence, in this case, a linguistically friendly lesson implies a personality friendly lesson including whatever brings them one step closer to the art of grammar.
Whether it comes to an online personality quiz, a story maker or something else, all kinds of experiences can be transformed to grammar transmitters. What I mean is that, practically, everything that happens around us can trigger grammaraction[i]! For instance, “The children’s mental health week 2025”, which is a current call to action in the UK to ensure, above all, that young people feel listened to, is a real-life example that can serve as our lessons’ grammar basis. The digital school pack[ii] provided on their site childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk, containing names of feelings, verbs, simple and complex sentences, is flexible enough to be adapted to our students’ educational and emotional needs too.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that grammar is a vital and dynamic system being constantly metamorphosed into experiences, routine activities, and social interactions. It is substantial that we make the most of it while creating a linguistically welcoming atmosphere. In other words, an atmosphere compatible with the uniqueness of each lesson in terms of classroom’s vibes and “grammar-blood”.
