[amaccuish]

I agree mostly with this but I think you understate the importance of grammar. To express yourself in another language, you need two tools, vocab and grammar. Vocab without grammar in most languages is just a stream of words with no connection, and grammar without vocab leads to the problem you suggest, that of unnatural sentences. But grammar is still important, sure I think there's some leeway in how much you do, but it's absolutely key to do a fair bit, otherwise your sentences will always be fairly basic and you can't understand the nuances in someone's speech.

I think the problem, at least in schools, is the dedicated grammar classes, which have no apparent meaning or use. It's best to tackle grammar using practical examples, with an understanding that grammar is not just an end in itself, but something useful to be exploited during speech.

[mikekchar]

Yep, I totally agree with you. It's hard to summarise this stuff without leaving out important things :-) Possibly interestingly, I learned Japanese grammar when I taught a course on English grammar in Japanese (it was what I was getting paid to do... not necessarily what I thought was best for the students, but that's another story). I had to continuously find Japanese equivalents for English grammar. After I finished teaching that course, my Japanese language ability really increased a lot. I wish I had gotten my students to do what I did! Sometimes when teaching you learn at the expense of your first students...