I always struggle with WHAT and HOW to correct my students whether they are speaking or writing because somehow I notice that they feel embarassed. Honestly I hate that, I mean, it's okay to make mistakes, buddy! I wish I could get that idea into their minds, like a tattoo or something, so everytime someone corrects them they would feel free to accept it and let it go. I try to do it in a kind way, so they can see that I am NOT mad at them just because they say ''Peter play'' instead of ''Peter playS'', like, as long as they are able to communicate and be understood I am totally fine.
Since I remember, learning English has been a process of memorizing vocabulary and applying grammar rules, e.i the focus was on the grammatical competence. I am not saying that that is wrong or something, because it was useful at that moment -as well as it still is, of course- but nowadays we should not focus so much on those aspects. The goal we should want to archieve is the one that involves the development of the communicative competence (Jack C. Richards, Communicative Language Teaching, 2006.) , which is basically the awareness of knowing WHAT to say and HOW depending on the context. For example, being able to realize whether to use formal or informal speech, certain use of vocabulary, or the management of communicating despite having limitations in the language (using body language, for example).
The point is that maybe me, as many other teachers probably, cannot think of English as a communicative tool without thinking of grammar rules and all the things we learnt while studying in a rigid way. We are so tied up to old methods that we forget about the ''new'' ones and this is not our fault -it is anyone's fault, actually. We do our best to make a positive experience for the learner and in the meanwhile we get stuck between what we consider should be done and what has to be done, but hopefully we will figure it out through the path in our daily life at school.
