An Epiphany! Or, Why I Don't Teach Grammar Explicitly

Ever have a sudden intuitive leap of understanding in front of a classroom of students? I did last week and it was ah-MA-zing!

We were story asking to build some connections to basic vocabulary they will need to be successful in my classroom this year and I noticed something. I had been noticing this “thing” for a few days and couldn’t quite put my finger on just exactly what “it” was. It was rolling around in the back of my head, hopping and skipping at times, but not solidifying into a complete thought when…. BOOM!

Let me back up a moment and give the back story. This is my first time in three years to have an entirely new crop of students. I know most of us have that happen every year. However, due to a complete fluke in the scheduling process, I had had the same students for three years in a row (this year makes four years for 35 of them!). I fretted a bit before school started because I had no idea where to begin. I had zero basis for knowing where they were in their language acquisition process. Then finally it dawned on me – I wasn’t going to know where they were until I took the time to get to know them. So, that’s what we’ve been doing. Mostly in Spanish, occasionally in English – building bonds and learning about each other.

I kept noticing something about how they were processing language in my classroom. There was something going on that I couldn’t identify and it kept nagging at me. Then, all of a sudden it hit – I figured out why they would look at me with a blank stare.

I was making an assumption that they had retained some very basic vocabulary from their first year language learning. I know better than to do this, but found myself presuming their level of language usage.
I noticed we would be going along just fine and then all of a sudden, blank stares abounded. I would back up and establish meaning in English, but couldn’t figure out WHY that blank stare happened.

This day the sentence they were having trouble with was, “All the people make pancakes at home” from Mike Peto’s Panqueques story.

I wrote the word “hacen” (they make) in Spanish on the board and asked for the English definition.

Almost every student in the room answered “to make,” which is the definition of the infinitive hacer, NOT hacen. I shook my head no, and wrote “hacer” on the board with the English to make. Then asked again for the definition of “hacen.” Again, almost all students answered with to make. One student spoke up from the back of the room, THEY make. By the way, she is an extremely fast processor of language.

Then, it happened. The lightbulb literally lit up above my head and I got it! I understood what that “thing” rolling around in the back of my head was!

I finally got that I don’t teach grammar explicitly not just because it doesn’t lead to acquisition, but also because it can be downright DANGEROUS. Yes, I said it. DANGEROUS.

Just to make sure you get it, I’m going to repeat that.

IT’S DANGEROUS TO ONLY TEACH GRAMMAR EXPLICITLY!

But why?

I asked my students if they had translated my statement in their heads to, “All the people to make pancakes at home” and if they had stopped at “to make” because it just didn’t make sense. They almost all agreed that they had indeed done that very thing.

The next thing I did was conjugate the verb “hacer” on the board:

There are seven (count them, SEVEN!) individual words up there and only ONE DEFINITION.

This is dangerous. Yo hago does NOT mean “to make” people! It means “I make.” Those are two very different meanings. Yes, my fastest processor in the room was able to see the chart in her head and understand on the fly that “hacen” meant “they make.” However….

THE MAJORITY OF THE STUDENTS IN THE ROOM WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE THAT LEAP!

Does that mean that I only have one smart student? Definitely not!!! All the students in that room were A/B students. Our school is extremely rigorous, so that means those B students would be A+ students at almost any other school.

The ONLY thing it means is that we are doing a disservice to our students by teaching them that seven different Spanish words have one, single definition: to make. No wonder they were staring at me, bewildered!

Now, have I said that I never teach grammar? NO, I haven’t said that. There is a time and a place for grammar instruction. However, it can only occur in context, not in explicit little bursts and prescribed (by a textbook company) in a specific order. And I ONLY teach it with the understanding that students may or may not actually “get it” depending on where they are individually in their second language acquisition process.