The first time I actually ever did curriculum designing was when a few Chinese parents who had studied in western countries asked me to teach their kids. These parents later told me they wanted these kids to study abroad in future and that they would pay anything to straighten out their English.The parents asked me to put together a communicative course for the kids, while giving them practice with regular school grammar (this is essential for exams in China). The parents told me they felt the school was teaching the kids English in
“disorder”. .Well, when I did my research I found out some interesting variables. The kids were aware of most grammar forms but never used them correctly, nor could they differentiate when and why they were used. Also, a few others knew a few complex grammar forms but missed out on very simple ones.I concluded they were suffering from a sort of grammar constipation owing to over stuffing them with too much at one time . I simply designed my communicative course along the idea Mark mentioned; which was actually that grammar must tie in with the communicative needs of students at different levels, introducing highly relevant grammar points and beefing that up as students advance in level. The results have proven successful since then.
Sorry guys if Iseem to just be loading this thread with my garbage. I might just be repeating what I mentioned earlier or elaborating on the obvious. Thanks for the input and
site compliments Mark and thanks for bringing this up Patrick.Oops… Time for class...