I couldn �t agree with you more dear libertybelle. I �ve once talked about it in the forum, but can �t find the link. I saved it in a file though:
Personally, I see grammar as a tool to communicate. That �s why I introduce a grammar topic from one language skill: reading, writing, listening or speaking (I try to diversify as much as possible. If in this Task I used listening, in the next one I �ll use speaking, and then reading, and so forth....). Students get exposed to the language even though they aren �t aware of it yet. For example, if I use a reading activity to introduce the grammar topic (always contextualized with the cultural topic of the Task we �re teaching at the moment), the text I choose will have the structures they are going to learn and the reading tasks chosen will make the students use those same structures.
After this period of exposure (it can vary from 15 to 40 minutes), it �s time for students to become aware of the structures they �ve seen and they �ve been using. Sometimes I use the correction of the reading (or any other skill) tasks on the board. I ask questions about the sentences, about what is common in them, etc, to lead them to infer the rules of the use and form. After they inferred the rules with the whole class, it �s time to systematize it all in a very clear way. If I give a worksheet, they �ll systematyze it in pairs or individually. If not, I �ll do it with them on the board and they copy into their notebooks.
And then it �s time to practise/drill. And that �s when most of the worksheets I download (or my own) are handed out to the students. I always choose at least 3 different types of exercises, not very long ones, with increasing degree of difficulty. I usually ask the students to do the first exercise in pairs, so that they become more confident, and then individually.
Last but not least, now that the students have the knowledge, it �s time to put that knowledge in use, i.e., time to develop students communicative competence, because that is what grammar is for. A real situation is created, and students have to use the grammar they learned through one of the language skiils (writing, speaking........). They can create a dialogue and roleplay it to the class, they can write an interview, they can organize a debate, depending on what best suits the grammar topic studied as well as the cultural topic.
That �s the way I do it. I think it meets the needs of the students and it �s according to the aims of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
