Tuesday 21 June 2016

Teaching Urdu Speakers English: Grammar


 English is one of the hardest languages to learn because of the many rules and many exceptions to the rules! When teaching English it is important to understand the basic grammar rules in the student's first language in order to help them learn better. 




Urdu grammar differs from English grammar in various ways... 
  • Urdu has grammatical gender: all Urdu nouns are masculine or feminine. Some Urdu adjectives change according to the gender of the noun they modify, while others do not. 
  • There are no definite articles in the Urdu language. 
  •   Like English, Urdu has transitive verbs (which require a direct object) and intransitive verbs (which do not take objects), but the difference plays a much more significant role in Urdu. 
  •  Urdu uses postpositions (which come after nouns), rather than prepositions (which come before nouns). 
  • In Urdu the word order is Subject- Object-Verb, whereas in English it is Subject- Verb- Object. 



  • Because of the difference in the use of postpositions and prepositions in the Urdu and English language can cause students to make small errors such as using the wrong preposition. (e.g. “I was angry on him.” for “I was angry with him.”)
  • Therefore, it is important to have patience with ELLs often these are small errors that should not always be corrected if it will hinder the acquisition of the language in general (ie. flow). 
  • For example, some small errors like this will be learned through experience and exposure but it is important to encourage students regardless of these small grammatical errors. 
  • Students will learn better when they are confident and feel safe! 

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