PGCE Taster Session Grammar Workshop

Grammar subject knowledge is difficult Grammar subject knowledge is difficult. It involves analysis and abstract thought. It takes time to develop but needs working at. You must be proactive.

National Curriculum The new National Curriculum has heightened the place of grammar within the reading & writing process. Children/teachers must learn & use a range of complex grammatical terminology to discuss the impact on the reader. Remember the terminology gives us a shared language to talk about language. It gives the children control over their writing. They become independent & adventurous writers.

Why teach grammar? It can help children to improve their writing by allowing them to take control of the language they use. It gives children the technical vocabulary they need to talk about writing/reading. It helps readers understand how writers achieve effects. Taught in the right way it can be fun.

Gaps The need to develop secure subject knowledge has led to some decontextualized learning. This problem is also identified within schools as stated by Stafford et al (2015) Issues with subject knowledge vs. subject specific pedagogy Teachers are not sharing best practice are not seeing an embedded approach to the teaching of grammar in school. The abstract nature of grammar subject knowledge means that our teachers & pupils can find many concepts difficult to understand ‘Primary teacher training is not required to contain any instruction in how to teach explicit grammar knowledge, and it seems unlikely that there is space in a crowded curriculum anyway. Wales (2009, 538)noted that provision of materials was inadequate without training, and this seems true today too’ (Bell 2015)

Problems….. ‘Learning to label and dissect language into its component parts and learning to underline grammatical errors in artificially generated sentences will not equip young learners to become confident and mature language users.’ Myhill (2012, p.22) ‘By introducing children to grammatical features and language in context, you will help them internalise these principles. Try not to go for the ready-made solution by using a worksheet or book. It will make very little difference to children’s use of language and will be meaning less for those who are not yet able to think in an abstract way.’ Waugh, Warner and Waugh (2016, p.19) ‘The grammar test format influences teaching content & approaches.’ ‘Time spent teaching decontextualized and contextualised grammar has increased.’ Safford et al (2015, p.2)

Effective Teaching of Grammar Be clear what is to be taught during each unit and how this impacts on language use. Introduce and model terminology at beginning of unit. Teach discretely through practical activities. Investigate grammatical concepts in reading through shared and guided work. Apply grammatical concepts and model using shared and guided writing Children independently apply grammatical knowledge in their writing and evaluated the impact this has on effective language use and the reader. Adapted from (Waugh, Warner et al. 2016, p.18)

Word classes

How many word classes can you remember? verb noun adjective adverb determiner preposition pronoun conjunction

verb A verb is one of the main parts of a sentence or question in English. In fact, you can't have a sentence or a question without a verb! That's how important these “action” parts of speech are. to walk to drive to sing Remember the verbs to be & to have am is was are were had has have

noun A noun is a part of speech that denotes a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. The English word noun has its roots in the Latin word “nomen,” which means “name.” Every language has words that are nouns. cat car Henry Remember nouns can be abstract and describe a state of emotion. love grief sorrow joy

adjective Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words. They can identify another person or thing in the sentence. Adjectives are usually positioned before the noun or the pronoun that they modify. beautiful decorative inebriated Remember, their job is to describe/modify the noun or pronoun.

Adverb Adverbs can always be used to modify verbs. The rabbit ran quickly. The woman drove fast. Try to identify the adverbs in these examples. She was walking rapidly. The kids were playing together in the sandbox. Please come inside immediately. His jokes are always very funny. You don’t really care, do you?

determiner Determiners are used to identify nouns in further detail and they always appear before the noun to make that noun more specific. Examples: The dog barked at the boy. These apples are rotten. Their bus was late. Some people find grammar tricky. Have you seen my keys? They are different from pronouns because they specifically come before the noun and clarify information about the noun.

preposition There are three types of prepositions, including time prepositions, place prepositions, and direction prepositions. Time prepositions are those such as before, after, during, and until; place prepositions are those indicating position, such as around, between, and against; and direction prepositions are those indicative of direction, such as across, up, and down. Each type of preposition is important. I prefer to read in the library. He climbed up the ladder to get into the attic. Please sign your name on the dotted line after you read the contract. Go down the stairs and through the door. He swam across the pool. Take your brother with you.

conjunction Two types of conjunctions are: A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Two types of conjunctions are: subordinating conjunctions –  these conjunctions join dependent (subordinating) clauses to independent (main)clauses. coordinating conjunctions - these conjunctions coordinate or join two or more sentences, main clauses, words, or other parts of speech which are of the same importance

pronoun A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that may be substituted for a noun or noun phrase. Poor old Martin was lonely = He was lonely The choir sang magnificently = They sang magnificently The computer is broken = It is broken Remember pronouns can also be possessive The toy is John’s = The toy is his – possessive

Silly Sentences

What do I need to do? Regularly review your subject knowledge and return to the more challenging terminology. Become confident with using the terminology and model to children. Share knowledge with each other and do not be afraid to ask for support.