PGCE Taster Session
Grammar Workshop
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
Children
independently
apply grammatical
knowledge in their
writing and
evaluated the
impact this has on
effective language
use and the reader.
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.
Apply grammatical
concepts and
model using shared
and guided writing
Adapted from
(Waugh,
Warner et al.
2016, p.18)
Investigate
grammatical
concepts in reading
through shared and
guided work.
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
had
has
have
are
were
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.
1.
The rabbit ran quickly.
2.
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
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.