Grammar and Punctuation Top Tips
Ok, here's a quick summary of how to teach language features so everyone can actually use them in their writing:
1. Identify and talk about specific language features in books. Draw the children’s attention to things as you read real books- with younger children that might be pointing out the speech marks in Owl Babies by Martin Waddell or thinking about the use of the present tense in Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton. With KS2, it could be something like reading together the first few pages of chapter three of Wind in the Willows, where Mole enters the Wild Wood. The class can analyse how grammar and punctuation are used to tell the reader how scared poor old Mole becomes and how Kenneth Grahame creates the tension in the scene.
2. Model how not to do it. Children aren’t silly, they can spot when something’s not right. Show them a piece of writing with a full stop at the end of every line instead of every sentence or a personal response written in colloquial, informal English and they’ll be able to tell you what’s wrong with it. Children love this!
3. Work as a team. Share children’s writing with the class and invite comments on it, such as how could it be improved? Pick out a couple of things that aren’t quite as effective as they could be and rewrite it as a class. Of course, you need to be sensitive with this, but with a bit of practice, classes get pretty good at it. Perhaps our section on sharing work with the class might be helpful?
4. Marking. Not the most exciting activity, but one of the most important. Simply put, if we don’t tell them it’s wrong, they just won’t know. At Shakespeare and More, we say correct everything. Yes, it might be a bit dispiriting for them to get their work back covered in corrections, but in our teaching model children always get the chance to do something about it- they can either edit or redraft. And as time goes on, you hope each piece of writing has less and less to 'fix'. Our section on written feedback is worth a read.
5. Teach it in the right place. We think this is right in the middle of the teaching sequence. We're not sure about the value of spending a lesson teaching children a specific language feature in a vacuum before they write. We're not convinced that making corrections when they’ve finished a piece of writing works that well either; they’ll look at it, but never get the chance to do anything about it. Instead, get them to write a first draft, have a look and see what are the features they can’t quite use yet and then teach them how to do it. Next, let them edit or redraft, making the changes to their own work. Then let them see how much better it is now. Our section on assessment and feedback goes into a bit more detail.
6. Teach them how to do it. Here at Shakespeare and More, we’re all for discussion and group work (see talk in English) but there’s nothing wrong with directly and explicitly teaching children how to do something. If you want them to use inverted commas, model direct speech on the board and then get them to have a go.
Language Features in the Curriculum
Language Features for Planning
1. Identify and talk about specific language features in books. Draw the children’s attention to things as you read real books- with younger children that might be pointing out the speech marks in Owl Babies by Martin Waddell or thinking about the use of the present tense in Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton. With KS2, it could be something like reading together the first few pages of chapter three of Wind in the Willows, where Mole enters the Wild Wood. The class can analyse how grammar and punctuation are used to tell the reader how scared poor old Mole becomes and how Kenneth Grahame creates the tension in the scene.
2. Model how not to do it. Children aren’t silly, they can spot when something’s not right. Show them a piece of writing with a full stop at the end of every line instead of every sentence or a personal response written in colloquial, informal English and they’ll be able to tell you what’s wrong with it. Children love this!
3. Work as a team. Share children’s writing with the class and invite comments on it, such as how could it be improved? Pick out a couple of things that aren’t quite as effective as they could be and rewrite it as a class. Of course, you need to be sensitive with this, but with a bit of practice, classes get pretty good at it. Perhaps our section on sharing work with the class might be helpful?
4. Marking. Not the most exciting activity, but one of the most important. Simply put, if we don’t tell them it’s wrong, they just won’t know. At Shakespeare and More, we say correct everything. Yes, it might be a bit dispiriting for them to get their work back covered in corrections, but in our teaching model children always get the chance to do something about it- they can either edit or redraft. And as time goes on, you hope each piece of writing has less and less to 'fix'. Our section on written feedback is worth a read.
5. Teach it in the right place. We think this is right in the middle of the teaching sequence. We're not sure about the value of spending a lesson teaching children a specific language feature in a vacuum before they write. We're not convinced that making corrections when they’ve finished a piece of writing works that well either; they’ll look at it, but never get the chance to do anything about it. Instead, get them to write a first draft, have a look and see what are the features they can’t quite use yet and then teach them how to do it. Next, let them edit or redraft, making the changes to their own work. Then let them see how much better it is now. Our section on assessment and feedback goes into a bit more detail.
6. Teach them how to do it. Here at Shakespeare and More, we’re all for discussion and group work (see talk in English) but there’s nothing wrong with directly and explicitly teaching children how to do something. If you want them to use inverted commas, model direct speech on the board and then get them to have a go.
Language Features in the Curriculum
Language Features for Planning
