At 09:50 AM 2/15/01 -0600, you wrote:
>Geoff,
>Your approach sounds valid.  But I do think that understanding the system
>of the language is a tool that could serve students well.  I teach Spanish
>as well as English.  I found it much easier to learn a second language
>becuase I understood how my native language operates.  Not teaching grammar
>deprives students  of important insights that they can use to learn other
>things.
>
>Katy Perry
>Tartan High School
>Oakdale, MN

I agree - sort of.  I think that the "system of the language" is best
learned, particularly with native speakers, by using that system to solve
problems of how to create meaning.  For example, a simple declarative
sentence - i.e., "The dog barked." - has very little meaning until the
writer starts to answer the basic questions required by any
reader/listener/audience - namely, "Whose dog is it?" - "Why is it
barking?" - "Where is it barking?" - "What is it barking at?" - "When does
it bark?" - "How does it bark?"

These questions obviously don't cover the linguistic universe - but they at
least enable novice writers to start filling up the white space with
coherent sentences better than teaching the eight parts of speech.

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