Bad Grammar Days

A grammar teacher confesses to betraying his philosophical principles for the ease and security of periodically adopting the quick-fix method of grammar instruction.

When I was new to teaching ESL grammar classes, I often fell into the trap of assuming that the students in my class needed to be "filled" - as Paolo Freire would say - with explicit rules prior to having the skills to think critically about how and what they wanted to communicate.

But I learned, and I improved my method of instruction. Yet there are still those days...

I blame it in part on a lack of planning, or even better a lack of time for planning. And I sometimes fault my students who often seem more interested in simply being "programmed" so that they can use English grammar "right" (whatever that means) in order to satisfy other instructors' hyper-focus on form over function, on quality of writing over quality of critical or creative thinking.

But there are those days...

I come to class with the goal of "teaching" grammar. The grammar trees I learned in junior high school come charging into my mind and I feel that today, today is the day my students will finally "master" the use of the subjunctive. I convince myself that a straightforward list of rules and examples, a recitation of forms and example sentences, and a follow-up quiz will do the trick. It's as though I cannot control myself. Is it my grammar alter-ego? (please read about some ideas from the real ME in my article on grammar and philosophy)

Am I alone in this? Is their anyone who finds herself or himself sometimes drift or lapse into an outdated method of teaching grammar? Why do we do it? What comes over us?

It would be great to read about your experiences.