Effective teaching of grammar in Primary Languages Lara Townsend

Why is this aspect of language learning so important for our young learners? Why might this area of the new language be daunting for teachers?

Objectives for the session to consider the importance of the teaching of grammar in order to allow our young learners to become increasingly competent and independent linguists to explore the idea of progression in the teaching and learning of grammar to provide a range of practical ideas to support engagement and motivation in the classroom

Grammar and the PoS Purpose of Study Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries. Aims speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt

Grammar and the PoS Subject content Teaching may be of any modern or ancient foreign language and should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language. It should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary. Pupils should be taught to: write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly describe people, places, things and actions orally* and in writing understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and conjugation of high frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English  KAL Hear main word classes  LLS Compare the language with English  KAL Reinforce and extend recognition of word classes and understand their function  KAL Recognise and apply simple agreements, singular and plural  LLS Sort words into categories  KAL Recognise patterns in simple sentences  KAL Understand and use negatives  KAL Recognise the typical conventions of word order in the foreign language  LLS Apply grammatical knowledge to make sentences  KAL Recognise patterns in the foreign language  KAL Notice and match agreements  KAL Devise questions for authentic use  LLS Make predictions based on existing knowledge

Some general principles…. Introduce grammar within a clear context Provide opportunities for the pupils to discover patterns and rules themselves – allow them to be ‘language detectives’ Make explicit links with areas of the English curriculum Age appropriate (but should also provide an opportunity for challenge)

Some general principles…. Be clear about the progression of understanding and application that you might expect e.g. Stage 1 Pupils can: Stage 2 Pupils can: Stage 3 Pupils can: Stage 4 Pupils can: e.g. re. gender: Recognise that there are different word classes and some of the gender determiners. e.g. re. gender: Use correct gender determiners. e.g. re. gender: Show understanding of how gender impacts on some other parts of speech e.g. adjectives, pronouns. e.g. re. gender: Apply knowledge of gender to build grammatically accurate sentences.

Gender

Activities to practise gender Colour coded cards – show gender Red/blue hoops Whiteboards – show article Find a partner Big dice Connect 4 Colour code writing/Highlighting in a text Encourage use of dictionary – re-writing a text with new nouns Other ideas?

A system of grammatical gender, whereby every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period. Did you know …..?

Adjectives

Il était une fois un pays sombre, très sombre.

Dans ce pays, il y avait un bois étrange, très étrange.

Dans ce bois, il y avait un château mystérieux, très mystérieux.

Devant ce château, il y avait une porte bizarre, très bizarre.

Derrière cette porte, il y avait une salle tranquille, très tranquille.

Dans cette salle, il y avait un escalier sombre, très sombre.

En haut de cet escalier, il y avait un couloir intéressant, très intéressant.

Il y avait un bois étrange. Il y avait un château mystérieux. Il y avait une porte bizarre. Il y avait une salle tranquille. Il y avait un couloir intéressant.

Il y avait un bois étrange. Il y avait un château mystérieux. Il y avait une porte bizarre. Il y avait une salle tranquille. Il y avait un couloir intéressant.

Activities to practise adjectives Sentence building (class/group/pair/independent) Find a partner Quiz, quiz, trade Big dice Dice games Spinners Synonyms – why restrict their use of adjectives? Gap activities Encourage use of dictionary Other ideas?

‘the conjugation of high frequency verbs’ What might this look like across the four stages? ‘the conjugation of high frequency verbs’ What might this look like across the four stages? understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied

Stage 1 Pupils can: Stage 2 Pupils can: Stage 3 Pupils can: Stage 4 Pupils can: e.g. re. conjugation of high frequency verbs. e.g. re. conjugation of high frequency verbs. e.g. re. conjugation of high frequency verbs.

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