Concept maps are a system that is disappearing. While it was previously adopted in several schools, it is not used often today. Many teachers find that grammar concepts are better absorbed through writing exercises. However, maps can help students analyze sentence construction. Learners who prefer visual and kinetic stimuli will especially benefit from this method. If you don't know where to start, start by teaching the basics and then devise more fun and creative ways to practice mind maps.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Teaching the Basics of Concept Maps
Step 1. Start with the basics
Explain how words work; it is not necessary to focus on the names of the words at the very beginning of the lesson. Help your students understand the relationships between them.
- For example, you could make short sentences to explain who performs the action (the subject / name), what the action is (the Word), and how they are connected.
- Try to mimic phrases like "Kelly jumps." and "Carla writes." After students learn these, move on to more complicated phrases, such as "Kelly quickly jumps on the blue desk." and "Carla writes in italics on the blackboard."
Step 2. Start mentioning the parts of the speech
Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. Connect the relationships you have already talked about with the formal names of the parts of the speech.
Step 3. Help students identify the subject and predicate
This is the first step of the concept maps; everything preceding this step represents a work of preparation.
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Find the subject. Return to your first examples, focusing on the function of the subject, that is, who or what performs the action in the sentence. For example, in “Kelly Quickly Jumps on the Blue Bench”, “Kelly” is the subject.
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Talk about the predicate. Teach your students that the second part of the sentence contains the action, as well as the predicate, which is used to make sense of the sentence. In this case the predicate is "jump quickly to the blue desk".
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Step 4. Explain how some words affect others
Refer to your previous explanations of relationships in sentences. Indicate the words in the sentence that modify the others.
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Explain that prepositions, articles, and conjunctions are used to make sense of the sentence.
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For example, "quickly" changes "skip" as it tells us how Kelly jumped.
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Step 5. Encourage students to help each other
Write the sentence on the board so that all students can follow you. To deepen the concepts have them work in groups, so that they create the maps of their sentences.
You could also assign each group the task of learning a certain part of the speech and transmitting the information to the rest of the class. In this way they learn very well and also help other students in learning
Method 2 of 2: Using Alternative Teaching Methods
Step 1. Make the concept mapping method more interactive
Not everyone learns by watching the teacher draw a map on the blackboard. Try to make a map where each student represents a word.
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Write each word in the sentence on a slip of paper or card. Mark off the square of the floor reserved for the subject and the one reserved for the predicate with adhesive tape. Have the students tell the person holding the word card which square they should place themselves in.
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You can also ask students who represent words from the same group to join hands to show relationships in a physical way.
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Step 2. Try some games like Mad Lib
Write a story, leaving out crucial words. Then let the students fill in the missing parts without allowing them to see the whole story. The blanks in your story should contain the names of parts of speech, such as a noun or verb, so that students know what kind of word to enter.
Encourage some students to read their own stories, which will seem silly because they haven't read the original text. While this isn't useful for concept maps, it does help kids learn parts of speech
Step 3. Use the cards
Alternatively, write the same number of verbs, nouns, and complement on the cards (like a prepositional phrase). Give one to each of the boys and let them walk around the room to find two more people, so that each group has a subject, a verb and a complement. Then have the cards put together to form complete sentences.
For another game, divide the students into groups. Give each group an envelope of cards with the words. Group the cards according to the part of the speech they belong to, setting a time limit. The team that makes fewer mistakes within the allotted time wins
Step 4. Make your teaching method fun and interesting
When explaining concept maps try to do it in a cheerful and fun way to make them more interesting. Also, do not hesitate to change the techniques to attract the attention of a greater number of students. Everyone has their own learning style, so an always different approach will favor learning by a greater number of students.
