The...Uh...thing...with the stuff? Yeah...it's supposed to go there...
One word: Articles.
I’m alright with explaining why a word is an adjective or when you should use commas to surround a phrase or semi-colons to break up independent clauses, but I simply cannot explain why you need an article in front of one word but not another. Is it because it’s a noun? Or is it because it’s used in a sentence a certain way? And how does the issue of plural versus single come into play? After you figure all this out, how do you explain it using non-technical language, or how do you get the concept from your brain into coherent sentences?
I think not being able to explain articles may go back to my earlier grammar days. I have a distinct memory of my ninth grade English teacher saying, “Well, I don’t want to explain articles, and I’m pretty sure you all know how to use them, so we’re just going to do this assingment and move on.” She was right, I did know how to use them without a second thought, but I never thought that she might not have wanted to explain them because she didn’t know how either. Not that I want to completely blame my lack of articulation on her or put her on any special hit-lists, but I think having a clear explanation when I was younger of how to use them may have been extremely helpful later on…as in now. Oh well, at least I got an A on the assignment! Three cheers for busy work.
Perhaps they should give classes specifically on how to explain English and all of it’s grammar rules in a clear way, though I’m pretty sure “English Teaching for Dummies” is already in existence…I’ll put that on my list of things to look into before I die.
Though articles are hard to explain already, what makes it even harder for me is that, as with all English grammar rules, there seem to be exceptions to the rules in random places. These lovely exceptions all serve to show me how truly I live up to my hair color (for those of you who can’t remember who I am…I’m blonde. Very very blonde). I feel that there is nothing more humbling than when I put an article in front of a word, espeically when working with an ESL student, only to have them look up at me and ask why it’s supposed to be there.
That question is always followed by me giving a long, “Uuuuuuuuuh…” followed closely by, “I’m actually not sure why…I just know it goes there.” Even if the tutee simply nods and moves on, I still feel like a failure. I don’t think, though, that this is something that I’m the only one that has problems with. Even in the essay we read about tutoring ESL students, Ritter mentioned that she doesn’t explain articles either because they’re really difficult to explain to non-native English speakers. I guess that may present a paradox: you need to explain the words to ESL students, but not to English students, but the only ones who can attempt to understand my discombobulated explanations would be the English students…Whew, that almost makes me dizzy!
I’m alright with explaining why a word is an adjective or when you should use commas to surround a phrase or semi-colons to break up independent clauses, but I simply cannot explain why you need an article in front of one word but not another. Is it because it’s a noun? Or is it because it’s used in a sentence a certain way? And how does the issue of plural versus single come into play? After you figure all this out, how do you explain it using non-technical language, or how do you get the concept from your brain into coherent sentences?
I think not being able to explain articles may go back to my earlier grammar days. I have a distinct memory of my ninth grade English teacher saying, “Well, I don’t want to explain articles, and I’m pretty sure you all know how to use them, so we’re just going to do this assingment and move on.” She was right, I did know how to use them without a second thought, but I never thought that she might not have wanted to explain them because she didn’t know how either. Not that I want to completely blame my lack of articulation on her or put her on any special hit-lists, but I think having a clear explanation when I was younger of how to use them may have been extremely helpful later on…as in now. Oh well, at least I got an A on the assignment! Three cheers for busy work.
Perhaps they should give classes specifically on how to explain English and all of it’s grammar rules in a clear way, though I’m pretty sure “English Teaching for Dummies” is already in existence…I’ll put that on my list of things to look into before I die.
Though articles are hard to explain already, what makes it even harder for me is that, as with all English grammar rules, there seem to be exceptions to the rules in random places. These lovely exceptions all serve to show me how truly I live up to my hair color (for those of you who can’t remember who I am…I’m blonde. Very very blonde). I feel that there is nothing more humbling than when I put an article in front of a word, espeically when working with an ESL student, only to have them look up at me and ask why it’s supposed to be there.
That question is always followed by me giving a long, “Uuuuuuuuuh…” followed closely by, “I’m actually not sure why…I just know it goes there.” Even if the tutee simply nods and moves on, I still feel like a failure. I don’t think, though, that this is something that I’m the only one that has problems with. Even in the essay we read about tutoring ESL students, Ritter mentioned that she doesn’t explain articles either because they’re really difficult to explain to non-native English speakers. I guess that may present a paradox: you need to explain the words to ESL students, but not to English students, but the only ones who can attempt to understand my discombobulated explanations would be the English students…Whew, that almost makes me dizzy!
posted by Jessika at 12:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home