Breaking the Ice

Well, I hope that a number of you have visited my blog. From the silence that I have many might be wondering how to start. My friend Madero is a tricky one. He has asked me to look at two poems that are way above my pictured audience. However, in doing so he has brought to my attention a fact that had eluded me. There are people out of school who are grappling with some grammar concepts and would not mind seeking my advice; they are welcome. Having said that, I did mention in my post yesterday that we teach four English skills in the Kenyan curriculum: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In addition to these we also teach grammar and study skills. This is consistently done from primary school to secondary school. Regrettably though, study skills is taught only in secondary school. The move to teach grammar in primary school is to me one of the best things KIE has done. Previously only sentence patterns were taught. Sentence patterns are actually grammar in action. The reasoning here is that English is learned as a second language and the learners need their attention to be brought to as many English patterns as possible which they may not meet in daily conversation. The current primary syllabus retains the sentence patterns besides teaching grammar. My friend Erick and I did a thorough analysis of the primary English syllabus from class four to eight and I love what is in the offing. At that time Erick was handling a candidate class and he wanted my input. I did develop a number of lessons around sentence patterns and grammar which he moderated. In particular he wanted me to do something on gerunds. I will share this post with you today in the hope that it will break the ice. Further, I will make another post for secondary students on the ‘DO’ verb. I have learned from experience that this verb gives many students a problem way past secondary school. Enjoy your reading. Your comments are welcome.