Dear John,
I have been through much of what you describe and finally wrote what you might be what you are looking for.  The 100-page book I wrote is titled Meaning First: A Functional Handbook of Fifty Ways to Polish Your Writing.  You should be able to get an examination copy gratis if you include the name and enrollment in your course(s) and write to <parlaypress.com>. 

I have studied under Michael Halliday and attended many conferences in Australia as well as in Japan (1981, 2004) -- and all over, as an officer in SFLA.  I have the popular books by Martha Kolln and Bev Derevianka as well as many others.  When I got disgusted with the college handbooks I was supposed to use, I analyzed them, made a presentation of my research to our national Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC, part of the National Council of Teachers of English, NCTE). 

After a course in Canada by Halliday, I decided to adapt his guidance to our American students.  I try to avoid most of the unusual or difficult Australian terminology and broad definition of clause (because American usage does not assume it to be independent).   Perhaps Meaning First could help you and your students.  (There is a short teachers manual you could also ask for.)

Let me know if I can help you in any way. 

Carolyn Hartnett
Professor Emeritus, College of the Mainland
2027 Bay Street
Texas City, Texas 77590   U.S.A.


In a message dated 8/9/2006 9:18:01 PM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
Functional grammar/Systemic Functional Linguistics
Date:8/9/2006 9:18:01 PM Central Standard Time
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I am an Australian,a former agricultural scientist but now teaching
English in a seaside area south-west of Tokyo. I love this second life but
have become frustrated at the slow progress of my students. This despite
trying to find the best materials and techniques (and having done the
Cambridge CELTA). Incidentally my main grammar reference is a well-thumbed
copy of the superb American "Understanding English Grammar" by Kolln &amp;
Funk.
Why is Japan ranked almost bottom of all countries on the TOEIC scale?
A year ago,to stave off Alzheimer's I commenced a M.Ed(TESOL) with an
Australian university. I have completed about half of this now but with
the discovery of  Systemic Functional Linguistics this is consuming all my
energy. An Australian professor (Derewianka) has written several books on
functional grammar based on SFL for use in Australian schools. These books
offer to me a glimpse of hope that similar techniques could be introduced
into functional grammar/SFL teaching in Japan. I have recently
corresponded with Sally,a teacher in Canada and she told me of some work
done on the simple teaching of basic concepts there. I have introduced
some of these ideas in my classes such as Theme and Rheme, identifying
participants,processes etc.,and genre writing. However,it is very
difficult as I have almost to craft my own manual. Surely somebody has
done this before but if so I can not locate them. Anybody out there?
This is my first contact with ATEG and I am doing this mainly because I
know Martha Kolln is associated with the organisation. Her texts on
Linguistic Grammar seem to be on the same wavelength as the works of
Halliday.
I hope I am sending this to the right email address and I am pushing the
correct buttons.  Here goes..
     John Curran

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