How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
What is grammar?
There are numerous ways of defining grammar, but
essentially grammar is a set of rules governing how
words connect with each other in a language. Very
young children do not have the cognitive maturity to
deal with learning and applying grammatical rules, and
even some older children may find abstract grammatical
concepts confusing. There is a definite place for grammar
in the primary language classroom, but it doesn’t involve
teaching children isolated grammar rules outside a clear
context. We need to teach grammar within a context
that children can easily recognize and which encourages
them to learn through communication.
Making meaning
When children learn their first language they are
constantly exposed to language in different contexts.
They make meaning from the context, and slowly, but
surely, build up their own personal grammar as a result
of this exposure. The errors that young children make
when learning their first language are the outward signs
of this process of building their personal grammar.
Acquisition versus learning
Our job as teachers is to create contexts where meaning
is clear so children know what they are saying, and
then focus on the language used in them, so children
are aware of how to say it themselves. The younger
the children, the more the emphasis is on exposure
to language and repetitive practice. This is because
younger children acquire the language unconsciously
through use rather than through the teaching of
language rules. This affects both classroom practice
and the rate at which they learn a language. As children
grow older they generally become able to deal with
more abstract concepts, and formal learning starts
to have an increasingly important role, reinforcing
informal acquisition. At this point we can start using the
metalanguage of grammar (language used to talk about
grammar, such as noun, verb, the past, and question). This
means we can focus on language structures, and either
show or help children discover the rules that govern the
way language is put together.
Language chunks
An important concept when working with language
structure is the language chunk. Language chunks
are small groups of words that are frequently found
together, e.g. Do you like … , Have you ever been to … .
Chunks are generative: they can be combined with a
large number of lexical items to make full sentences,
e.g. Do you like dogs/pizza/comics? Have you ever been
Professional Development  How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
to the cinema/the beach/a concert? This is especially
important in the primary language classroom, where
the emphasis is on acquiring vocabulary. Chunks make
that vocabulary instantly useful. The essential thing
about chunks is that the focus is entirely on meaning;
children do not need to understand why or how the
words in the chunk are put together in order to use
them and understand them. Given the right level of
exposure, children of any age can learn any chunk. This
is particularly clear when we use stories with pre-school
children. They have no trouble with chunks, such as ‘I’ll
huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,’ whereas
‘will used to express volition’ generally appears late on in
a primary syllabus.
Five tips for helping children with
grammar
1 Prepare before the lesson
Consider these questions when you are preparing
the lesson: Is the structure similar to other structures
they know? If so, how can I make the link clear? Is
the structure similar to one in the children’s own
language? Is the concept similar to one in their own
language? Will they find the pronunciation difficult?
This will enable you to see where the children will
need more support and to prepare accordingly.
2 Provide a meaningful context
The clearest context for the children is the classroom;
it is familiar and they associate routines and
situations with it. You can use this to contextualize a
number of language structures, e.g. ‘There’s a board;
there are twenty children,’ or ‘English class is at ten
o’clock; maths is at eleven o’clock.’ Another useful
way of establishing meaning is through realia – you
can bring in toys, food items, a wrapped present, etc.
Then you can use these to illustrate new language:
I’ve got a teddy bear; I like apples, I don’t like bananas;
it’s my birthday today. Published materials provide
contexts in the form of stories, songs, written or
audio texts, and the illustrations which go with
them. Look at these before class and think of ways of
focusing the children’s attention on the illustrations
to establish the context of the story, song, or text.
3 Check understanding
If the context is clear, this should be enough for
younger children to understand the language when
they first meet a new structure. Their grasp of the
meaning will grow as they are repeatedly exposed to
the structure in different situations. You can support
and accelerate this process in older children by
asking concept checking questions that focus on
the key elements of the language. Remember that
checking questions should only use language the
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How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
children are already familiar with. For example, if you
are teaching ‘going to for plans’ with the key sentence
‘He’s going to have a party tomorrow,’ you can ask the
following concept-checking questions:
Q Has he got a plan? A Yes.
Q What’s his plan about, homework A A party.
or a party?
Q Is he having a party now? A No.
Q When is the party? A Tomorrow.
You can also check understanding by drawing simple
pictures. In the example above you could draw part
of a calendar. Show the children today, then add a
party hat and birthday cake to the following day,
tomorrow. Point to the calendar and say: This is today.
This is tomorrow. He’s going to have a party tomorrow.
4 Provide plenty of practice and review
The more familiar the children are with a new
language point, the more likely they are to
remember or acquire it. To begin with, they need
to be exposed to it in songs, stories, reading texts,
and so on. They also need the chance to use it in
both oral and written forms. These activities should
initially be well supported in order to give the
children confidence. They can sing songs, retell parts
of stories, play games, and do simple information-
gap activities. As they become more familiar with
the structure, you can give them freer tasks, such as
small role plays, simple surveys, or interviews. Written
activities give them the opportunity to really focus
on the words in the new structure, and often the
act of writing helps consolidate the new language.
But because language learning is not linear, it is
important to revisit structures again and again, in as
many different contexts as possible.
5 Personalize language practice
Whenever possible, use language that is relevant
to the children in your classroom, as this makes it
instantly more meaningful. Give examples using a
current pop star, football player, film, or whatever
else interests your pupils. Talk about their class, the
school, or the town they live in. Make sure they have
opportunities to use the new language to talk about
themselves and their lives.
Eight grammar activities
You can use the activities in this section to present new
grammar structures, or to practise structures which
the children are already familiar with. In all activities a
specific grammar structure is shown as an example, but
the activities can be adapted to work with a wide range
of structures and topics.
Professional Development  How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
1 True or false with actions
Aims To expose the children to comparative
adjectives and have them show their understanding
through a non-verbal response
Age All children
Preparation Prepare a set of sentences using the
new structure with vocabulary that the children
already know, for example:
My mother’s older than my father.
I’m younger than my brother.
My grandmother’s taller than my mother.
1 Explain the game to the children. Tell them that if
the sentence you say is true for them, they should
do an action, e.g. hold up a green crayon. If it is
false for them, they should do a different action,
e.g. hold up a red crayon.
2 Present the new structure. Make sure the meaning
is clear using any techniques outlined above. For
example, draw some stick figures on the board
to represent your family and write their ages
underneath. Then say a few true sentences about
them.
3 Say your prepared sentences, supporting meaning
if necessary by pointing to the pictures. Encourage
the children to hold up either a red or a green
crayon as appropriate.
Variation There are many other actions the children
can do, depending on the space you have in the
classroom. For example:
true – jump to the right of their desk/false – jump to
the left of their desk
true – jump up/false – jump down
true – turn around/false – wave both arms
true – one clap/false – two claps
Note The kinaesthetic element of this activity is
useful if you want to introduce a change of pace in
the lesson.
2 Sing a song
Aim The children learn actions for a song and then
sing it in different ways
Age All children
Preparation Select a song that contains the
language point you want to work on, e.g. The Music
Man (a traditional song that you can easily find on
YouTube™). This song is good for helping children
learn how to use can for ability.
1 Check that the children know the key words in
the song, and teach them if necessary; in this
song they need to know the musical instruments
mentioned.
2 Draw any relevant characters in the song on the
board (in this example it would be the music
man), and introduce them to the children.
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How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
3 Sing the first verse right through and do any
relevant actions. Then sing it again line by line
and encourage the children to do the actions
with you.
4 Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the chorus. With each
repetition of verse and chorus, encourage the
children to do the actions and sing the words
with you.
5 If the song has different roles in it, have different
children sing the different roles. In The Music Man
some children can sing the question (What can
you play?) and others can sing the music man’s
answers (I can play the piano, etc.).
6 When you feel that the children are confident with
all aspects of singing and acting the song, have
them sing the song all the way through. You can
ask them to sing each set of chorus and verse in
different ways, e.g. slowly, fast, quietly, loudly.
Variation Where possible, think of ways of
personalizing the activity. In the example of The
Music Man you could ask the children What can you
play? and encourage them to answer I can play (the
piano). You can then ask them to ask the children
that are sitting near them.
Note As children get older they usually become
more self-conscious about singing songs. However,
they still enjoy the rhythm of chants and raps. You
can use this technique when you teach chants to
older children.
3 Dialogue build
Aims To build and practise a dialogue in a common
social situation
Preparation Prepare a short dialogue containing the
target structure. Prepare some flashcards or pictures,
or practise some gestures that set the context and
support the meaning of the dialogue.
Example:
Drawings Dialogue
Draw a customer at a
restaurant table. There is a
waiter at the table with an
open notepad.
Draw a speech bubble Waiter: What would
coming from the waiter, you like?
with a question mark in it.
Draw a speech bubble Customer: I’d like fish
coming from the customer, and chips.
with a fish and some chips
in it.
Draw a speech bubble by Waiter: Would you like
the waiter with a bottle, a a drink?
glass, and a question mark.
Professional Development  How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
Draw a speech bubble by Customer: Yes, I’ll
the customer, with a glass have some water,
of water. please.
1 Set the context of the dialogue by showing,
drawing, or demonstrating the opening scene. Ask
the children some checking questions, e.g. Where
are they? Who are they? Is he eating now? What is he
doing?’
2 Draw the waiter’s first speech bubble. Ask
the children to guess what he is saying. If the
children’s guesses are in their first language,
encourage them to try in English. As this is new
language, they won’t be able to say the full
sentence, but they may get some key words.
Accept their ideas; at this stage in the activity it’s
important to be encouraging and not to start
shaping correct phrases and sentences yet.
3 Say the sentence clearly as a model and ask the
children to repeat it after you.
4 Write the first line of the dialogue on the board.
5 Repeat with the remaining lines of the dialogue,
always giving the children the opportunity to
guess what is being said.
6 Divide the children into two groups, the waiter
and the customer. First, have them practise the full
dialogue chorally, each group speaking their lines
at the same time. Then put them into pairs and
give them time to practise some more.
7 Now focus on the key structures. What would
you like? I’d like some fish and chips. Would you like
a drink? Point out that we use would you like to
ask a polite question in shops and restaurants,
and to make polite requests. Ask them what the
contraction of would is, and if necessary show
them that it is ’d. You may want to ask them what
they would say in their own language and point
out the differences.
4 Working out the rules
Aim To encourage the children to notice examples of
a grammar structure in a text
Age range Older children
Preparation Find a reading text that has examples
of the grammar point you want to focus on – in this
example it is the simple past. Select some sentences
to focus on, for example:
There were schools in Ancient Rome. Boys usually
went to school and girls sometimes went to
school. They didn’t have electronic tablets, they
had wax tablets. They wrote on the tablets and
then they cleaned them. They used the same
tablet again and again. They didn’t use paper.
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How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
1 Set the context as usual, and do the related
reading tasks so that the children understand the
general idea of the text.
2 Write your selected sentences on the board, or
show them on the IWB, and ask the children to
find and circle all the verbs.
3 Ask the children to classify the verbs into two
main groups. Accept their suggestions and focus
on the groups didn’t + infinitive and verb in
the past form. Ask them to guess why they are
different. Encourage them to think about what
they know about verbs in the present simple and
to relate do/don’t to didn’t.
4 Help the children reach the conclusion that we
use didn’t to form negative sentences in the past.
5 Focus on the form of the main verb. Ask the
children how they are different in each of the
groups.
6 Help the children formulate the rule: we use
didn’t + the infinitive form of the verb in negative
sentences, and we use the past form of the verb in
affirmative sentences.
7 Ask the children to find more examples of
affirmative and negative sentences in their books.
8 Personalize the new grammar point by asking
the children to write affirmative and negative
sentences about their time in pre-school. For
example, We didn’t read books. We listened to stories.
5 Find someone who
Aim To practise asking questions using a specific
tense
Age range All children
Preparation Prepare a questionnaire. Decide what
questions you want the children to practise. In this
example the children are practising asking questions
about past experiences using the present perfect.
You need eight to ten question prompts, each
followed by a space. Example:
Have you ever been to … ?
Have you ever made a … ?
Have you ever planted a … ?
Don’t write the full questions, as you want the
children to make the question themselves from
prompts. This can vary from a picture prompt only,
to some key words. You can vary the support by
giving them the verb in the infinitive (make) or the
past participle (made), or the verb phrase in the
infinitive (make a cake) or with the past participle
(made a cake). If you have a wide range of abilities
in your class, you can prepare questionnaires with
different levels of support according to the needs of
the pupils.
1 Recall the target structure by referring to previous
lessons.
Professional Development  How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
2 Explain that they are going to complete a
questionnaire for the class using this structure.
Show the children the questionnaire you have
prepared. You can put it up on the IWB or give
out photocopies. Check they can make all the
questions using the prompts you have given.
3 Give the instructions. Each child has to ask around
the class until they find a person who says Yes
to a question. They write the name of that child
next to the question. Then they do the same for
the next question. Remember it is often easier to
demonstrate than to explain.
4 Start the activity and give the children enough
time for most of them to complete it. While they
are doing the activity, make notes on any points of
interest and any common mistakes.
5 Check by asking Who’s made (a cake)? Who’s been
to (an Aqua park)?
6 Give feedback on the process with points for
improvement next time they do the activity. Then
work on any mistakes you heard.
Variation You can use this activity with a wide range
of language structures, suiting it to the level of the
children in your class, e.g. Can you … ? Have you
got … ? Do you … ? Did you … ?
6 Order the sentences
Aims To focus on word order in sentences
Age range All children
Preparation Prepare six to eight sentences
containing the structure you want to focus on.
This activity is particularly good for question forms.
Example:
Did they go to the park at the weekend?
Did they watch a film on Saturday?
Did they have a pizza in the evening?
Decide if you want to work with chunks or individual
words. In the case of chunks, you would split up the
above sentences as follows:
Did they go to the park at the weekend ?
Did they watch a film on Saturday ?
Did they have a pizza in the evening ?
You can either put these chunks onto the IWB,
starting each sentence on a new line, or you can
prepare flashcards, writing one chunk per flashcard.
Punctuation should stand alone.
1 Remind the children of the target grammar
structure, referring to previous lessons.
2 If you are using the IWB, show the children the
set of words and ask one or two to come to the
IWB and move them around to make a correct
sentence. Do the same with the rest of the
sentences. If you are using flashcards, give the
cards for the first sentence to a group of children.
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How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
Ask them to order the words and stand in a line at
the front of the class with the words in the correct
order. Then they can stick the flashcards onto the
wall. Repeat this with a new group of children, and
new cards.
3 In both cases, focus on the word order when the
activity is finished. Ask the children to notice how
the questions start, where the main verb is, and
where the time phrase is. Point out that all the
sentences follow the same pattern.
Variation You can do this activity with any structure
where the word order is challenging. It works well
with adverbs of frequency (He always has fruit for
breakfast), or conditionals (If the weather is good, we’ll
go to the beach).
7 A very long sentence
Aims The children make and remember a very long
sentence based on one grammar structure
Age range All children
Preparation Prepare the beginning of the very long
sentence. Examples:
Pablo can swim.
Tom’s got two sisters.
There’s a pencil on the table.
1 Check that the children remember the key
structure and the vocabulary area that you want
them to use. This example uses the structure can
+ verb, and the vocabulary of skills and abilities.
2 Draw the head and shoulders of a child on the
board or IWB. Give him a name and use him to
introduce the activity, e.g. His name is (Pablo). He
can do a lot of things.
3 Tell the children they are going to make a very
long sentence about Pablo. Say the beginning, e.g.
Pablo can swim.
4 Say the sentence again, adding the next part.
Pablo can swim and he can … . Encourage the
children to suggest a new verb, e.g. speak English.
Have the whole class repeat the sentence: Pablo
can swim and he can speak English. You may want
them to mime the actions as they speak.
5 Say: Pablo can swim and he can speak English
and … . Encourage the children to suggest a
new verb, and then have them repeat the whole
sentence as above.
6 Continue until you have a sentence that is too
long to remember; this will depend on the age of
the children. As the sentence gets longer you can
prompt them by miming the actions.
Variation Instead of the whole class suggesting a
new verb and then repeating the sentence, you can
ask individual children to say the sentence and add a
new section. Remember that this may be difficult for
shyer children.
Professional Development  How to teach grammar in the primary classroom
8 Guess who
Aim To personalize grammar with a game
Age range All children
Preparation Prepare four or five short sentences
which characters in the coursebook (or story) would
say about themselves. The sentences should all focus
on the same grammar structure; in this example it is
have got/haven’t got. You will use these to model the
activity. Examples:
I’ve got two brothers.
I haven’t got any sisters.
I’ve got three cats.
I’ve got a red bike.
Find or make flashcards of the characters in the
coursebook or story. Prepare some small slips of
paper for the children to write on.
1 Check that the children remember the key
structure and the vocabulary they will need. In
this case it is the vocabulary of family, pets, and
possessions.
2 Write the sentences on the board or display them
on the IWB. Put up flashcards of the characters.
Ask the children to match the sentences to the
characters. They can do this by coming up to the
board and moving sentences next to the correct
character.
3 Explain to the children that they are now going
to play the same game, but with sentences
about themselves. Give out the slips of paper.
Depending on the class size, give three or four to
each child. Tell the children to write true sentences
about themselves on each slip of paper.
4 When the children have finished, collect the slips
of paper and put them in a box.
5 Take out the slips one at a time, read them aloud,
and ask the children to guess whose they are. If
you want to make this a competition, allow the
first child to guess correctly to keep the slip. The
child with the most slips is the winner.
Variation You can use this technique to teach any
grammar point that can be personalized. Examples:
I can play the piano.
I like bananas.
I get up at eight o’clock.
Last weekend I went to the cinema.
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