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Imagine a scenario where a correspondent is interviewing a certain Mr. N. However, forgetting to hand him a microphone, the correspondent broadcasts to the audience what he believes Mr. N thinks, feels, and means. All the while, Mr. N desperately tries to reach for the microphone. The message is clear: GIVE THE ENGLISHMAN THE MICROPHONE! Don't deprive him of the opportunity to express himself about what he meant by specific verb tenses, conditional sentences of a certain type, etc.
Our discussions in Russian about English grammar seem as absurd as the narration of this chatty and tactless reporter. When we say terms like “third person of the verb” in Russian, it might sound to an English ear almost as strange as “fourth neck” or “fifth leg” (given that in English, 'person' isn’t synonymous with 'face'). By 'Englishman' here, we're referring to the Majesty of the English Language; who specifically will present this to children is of lesser importance. Within this program, preference is still given to a native Russian speaker. Their knowledge of Russian should surpass their knowledge of English to sense the interplay between the languages and use it skillfully.
- And how can one, without reverting to Russian, explain the nuances of English grammar?
It's precisely these nuances that can only be conveyed in English! With Russian, we won’t penetrate the depths of grammar beyond the basics. Remember, we begin using grammatical terms in the third stage! By that time, a child's vocabulary is substantial enough to grasp the general context. Any unfamiliar words, as always, are explained either in consonance with Russian, through familiar words, or by resorting to specifics.
For instance,
'real conditional' – resonates with the word "real."
'imagined' – easily recognizable by analogy with the word 'magic' (after reading fairy tales).
'definite time' – we break it down to specifics (5 min ago, yesterday, last week).
Most importantly, the essence of a grammatical phenomenon isn't conveyed by rule formulations (they merely generalize, summarize, and organize in the mind what children absorbed during the first and second stages of grammar acquisition in those same tales). Thanks to repeated exposure to grammatical structures, children have absorbed almost all the intricacies of grammar: from various conditional sentences, tense agreements, and so forth. What’s paramount is that all these linguistic structures were dramatized, delivered as vivid dialogue lines. Interestingly, in fairy tales, most of these lines are delivered emphatically: someone scolds, teases, threatens, protests, pleads, or rejoices. This ensures these structures are deeply ingrained in memory.
Let’s delve into an example demonstrating how, by stringing together various word "beads," we illuminate the essence of a grammatical structure: the different types of conditional sentences.
Example:
1) If you don’t begin to work for your porridge, I will turn you out of the house.
2) I would be the happiest man in the world if I owned that cow…
3) If I had done all the bad things to you that you have done to me, what would you do to me?
After the children have acted out these lines, embodying the persona of Jack's exasperated mother, wearied by her son's idleness (1), or the vengeful giant (2), we immediately turn the tables on one another.
We gradually replace a word in these phrases, maintaining the tone (either that of the mother or the giant), so the children easily recognize them:
1) If you don’t begin to listen to me, I will turn you out of the class!
2) I would be the happiest girl in the world, if I owned that book.
3) If he had hit you on the head,… what would you do to him?
We've described the children's first active encounter with conditional sentences when they uttered these structures themselves for the first time. However, it wasn't actually their inaugural introduction. Long before this, children had repeatedly heard the teacher use all these "conditional" forms, akin to how a mother showers her baby with a flurry of all kinds of verb tenses. The teacher often used these constructions in their speech, for instance, "if you…, then I…". As for the third conditional, it seamlessly integrates into contexts created by the children themselves.
For example, when children ask in Russian: “Why didn’t we start a new fairy tale last time?”, the teacher replies: “Because we had no dolls for this tale. If you had brought the dolls,...we’d have started the tale last time.” (The teacher shows, naming all the dolls.) It's evident that such contexts, especially diverse and recurrent ones, elucidate the essence of this grammatical phenomenon much more deeply and subtly than piling up grammatical terms in Russian.
