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The last unit focusing on English grammar covered modal auxiliary verbs, phrasal verbs, passive voice, and relative clauses. I found it very useful because the information is introduced in a very well structured and concentrated fashion. It can always be used as a quick reference when I have to teach the grammar items introduced in this unit. It also gave me a very clear idea of the main points that need to be covered when teaching any of these grammar items. Teaching modal verbs can be a challenge, especially to beginning teachers who don't have enough experience. A modal verb is a verb that cannot work without another verb. These include can, will, must, ought to, may, would, could, should and shall. It can be tricky when attempting to get the message of these particular verbs across to the student, so it is important to plan the class carefully. It is also important to keep the students engaged. As if there wasn?t enough vocabulary for our students to learn, English has certain multi-word expressions that have a different meaning as a whole than the meaning of the separate parts. The most common types of these expressions are idioms and phrasal verbs, and they can be difficult for students to master. Because native speakers use phrasal verbs frequently they are important to becoming fluent in English. The challenge with phrasal verbs is that it is often just as challenging for the teacher as for the student. Another difficult grammar item to tackle is the passive voice. As much as native English writing teachers seem to hate the passive voice, always telling their students to write in the active voice, reality shows us something different. Native speakers use the passive voice construction without a thought, both in speaking and in writing, and that?s why it?s so important to teach the passive construction to ESL students. Last, but not least, this unit deals with teaching the relative clauses. They are not the most simple English grammatical construction, and most students don?t tackle them until they are advanced in their English studies. Relative clauses, however, shouldn?t be left to the very end of a student?s grammar curriculum. They are an extremely useful structure for ESL students to learn early in their English studies. They may not make for the most simple grammar lesson, but they are infinitely practical for students who are still learning. ESL students may find that they do not know a particular piece of vocabulary for a word they are trying to say. In this case, the relative clause can provide the definition even when students don?t know the word and thus help the listener to understand the speaker?s meaning.
