Pedants, rejoice – National Grammar Day is here! But let’s think carefully about what exactly it is we’re celebrating

Yippee (or groan)! It’s National Grammar Day again.

Do games and grammar really mix?

We’re casting our vote for “yes,” and we’re done listening to naysayers.

It may just be the best mix since peanut butter and chocolate.

Grammar is usually thought of as dry and dull.

When it comes to teaching grammar and vocabulary, it's important to have models for students to follow. Unfortunately, finding models can be difficult. Sentences taken from standard worksheet often come out of context and novels or non-fiction books are often too long to make pulling sentences from them effective. Where do you turn when you want a simple source text full of models for students to follow? Picture books. Pictures books help students learn about grammar and vocabulary in the context of a larger story giving the concepts they need to learn more meaning.

As a future teacher of English as a foreign language, you need to give your students informed instruction in English pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar; but language teaching, at the more advanced levels in particular, is also concerned with idiomatic language use, such as collocations and formulaic language, or strategies that match a given communicative situation, e.g. pragmatic knowledge about how to establish and maintain social relationships exchanging messages in a specific socio-cultural environment (like e.g. inviting or apologizing).

Ο σύγχρονος κόσμος χαρακτηρίζεται ως ο κόσμος της επικοινωνίας. Τα πάντα γύρω μας συνηγορούν στη διατήρηση και στη βελτίωση κάθε μορφής επικοινωνίας. Βασικό γνώρισμα της είναι η γλώσσα -ο έναρθρος λόγος-, προνόμιο των ανθρώπινων κοινωνιών. Μολονότι οι νέες τεχνολογίες, η διεύρυνση των συνόρων και η οικουμενοποίηση του κόσμου διευκολύνουν τη μεταξύ κοινωνιών επικοινωνία, υπάρχουν ακόμα πολλά διαγλωσσικά και πολιτισμικά ζητήματα και διαφορές που αποτελούν πρόσκομμα στη διαδικασία αυτή. Σε αυτά καλείται να δώσει λύση η επιστήμη της μετάφρασης.