{"id":3641,"date":"2012-11-22T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=3641"},"modified":"2012-11-22T05:00:47","modified_gmt":"2012-11-22T05:00:47","slug":"vol-4-issue-48-eric-roths-grammar-teaching-tip-do-our-students-need-to-swim-in-english-or-pass-grammar-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=3641","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 4 Issue 48 \u2013 Eric Roth's Grammar Teaching Tip: Do Our Students Need to Swim in English or Pass Grammar Tests?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#48 | November 26, 2012 |\u00a0ISSN 0975-3036<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Eric Roth says, “Do our students need to swim in English? Or do they need to focus on avoiding\u00a0 minor grammar mistakes? Should we encourage our students to speak as much English as possible? Or should we paralyze our students with exaggerated fears?<\/p>\n

Okay, these are rhetorical questions. Yet our ESL students \u2013 even advanced ESL students \u2013 don\u2019t have to be perfect; they have to be understood. Alas, many \u2013 far too many \u2013 English classrooms still focus far more on grammar than authentic communication skills. Our students need to speak clear, comprehensible English.\u00a0 Practical knowledge, not abstract theory, should be the focus of our English classes.\u00a0 English remains a tool and just a vital tool for our students to reach their life goals in the United States, Canada, Australia, or the United Kingdom. Here is a short list of important questions for our\u00a0English language learners<\/a>.<\/p>\n