Do not choose between grammar and communication
A grammar lesson becomes non-communicative when the form is practised without a meaningful decision. The solution is not to remove grammar explanations. It is to connect the form to a contrast the learner needs to express.
Instead of teaching a tense as a list of endings, teach what changes when the speaker chooses that tense. Instead of presenting pronouns as a table, show what information can be omitted, repeated or highlighted because the pronoun exists.
Build the lesson around a contrast
The exact linguistic explanation can become more sophisticated at higher levels, but the teaching principle remains useful: give students two forms that compete for the same communicative space and make them choose between them.
- ser vs. estar: identity or classification versus state, condition or situated description.
- pretérito vs. imperfecto: event boundary versus background, habit or unfolding scene.
- indicative vs. subjunctive: assertion versus stance, evaluation, uncertainty, desire or non-assertion.
- por vs. para: cause, route or exchange versus purpose, destination or intended recipient.
Move from recognition to choice to production
Recognition tasks are useful at the beginning because they reduce cognitive load. But a learner who can identify the correct answer may still be unable to produce it in conversation. After recognition, require a choice with a reason. After that, require the student to create an example where the choice matters.
A strong grammar lesson therefore contains a progression: notice the form, interpret it, choose it, manipulate it, then use it for a communicative purpose.
Correct the target, not every sentence
If the objective is the imperfect, track the imperfect closely. Do not interrupt every article, preposition and pronunciation issue unless it blocks communication. Selective correction makes the lesson more coherent and gives the student a clear signal about what matters today.
At the end, return to two or three recurrent errors and ask the student to repair them. The repair itself becomes retrieval practice.