ELT - English Language Training in Grammar for Primary Children

ELT - English Language Training in Grammar for Primary Children. Following are a sample of activities that can be conducted in the class for children of classes 1 to 4. 

Phonic sounds Teach and practice phonic sounds (42) from Jolly Phonics songs:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djz82FBYiug (A-Z, but not Q)


2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjKq8s8154s&feature=related (Q , long vowels, blends, vowel diagraphs)

Gender / Singular – Plural / Antonyms / Animals & their calls / Animals & their young ones / Proverbs / size pictures-words / colour pictures-words / picture-words / letters – tricky words etc.

Generate a list of words which are samples of the above. Make chits of them. Distribute the chits to the kids. Ask the kids to read what they have got, seek out their partner/partners and stand together. Round off the activity, by asking them to copy the various pairs in their notebooks.

Spot the error - live game

Steps:

1. Choose sentences and number them

2. Divide each of them in to four parts - A, B, C, D. So sentence 1 will have four parts - 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and sentence two will have 2A ...2D. Do the same with the other sentences

3. Introduce an error in two parts of each sentence. For instance,  in sentence 1 the error could be in 1B and 1D. The error could be in parts of speech aspect or spelling aspect of tense aspect or clause aspect etc. Repeat the process for all sentences.

4. Now write the parts of each sentence on flash cards and label them as per their parts as 1A, 1B, ...10A, 10B, 10C and 10D. I have chosen the number 10 randomly. You could have as many sentences as you want / or can play with.

5. Randomly distribute these cards among the students

6. Play the games in rounds

7. Round 1, all students having the parts of sentence 1 come up to the front of the class and stand facing the class, in the order mentioned on their cards. 1A (extreme left), 1B, 1C and 1D (extreme right). They will hold up their flash cards for the class to read.

8. Students in the audience have to 1. guess the part that has the error, 2. explain why it's an error and 3. suggest the correction

9. Each part of the answer is assigned 1 mark. A student can get a maximum of 3 marks per sentence. 

10. Teacher keeps the scores of individual students.

11. Round 2 is played similarly with the 2nd sentence parts and the process is repeated

Following is an example of a sentence with errors in two of its parts and what the answer to it will look like

"The theory of relativity given(A)/ by Einstein is so complicated(B)/ as we cannot describe(C)/ that in a few sentences(D)."

Answer: 1. The errors are found in: C & D

2. 'as' in C and 'that' in D

3. replace 'as' with 'that' in C and replace 'that' with 'it' in D

Parts of speech

All Parts of Speech (NEW)

Assumption: Participants know the definitions of all parts of speech and can illustrate them with examples.

Form groups of 6-10 people. Assign one part of speech to each group. In the first round, ask each group to generate a list of words related to their parts of speech. 

In the second round, ask one group to read out one word from their list. Every other group should use that word, add another word from their own list and make a sentence using these two words. Once all the groups have taken their turn ask another group to begin the round.

For instance if the 'nouns' group picks up say 'dog' from their list and the verb group can pick up a verb from their list - say 'sit' - and make a sentence 'the dog sits on the couch' The adverb group can pick up say, 'loudly' from their list and make the sentence 'the dog barked loudly'. In this way every group uses 'dog' and a word from their own list to make a sentence.

The next round could be started by the 'adjective' group and the game can continue. Every group that makes a sentence gets a point. Each group can have 1 minute to make a sentence. If they cannot make a sentence, they score zero.

Go back to Training Games Page

Nouns:

1. Play twenty questions to identify the object that you have thought of.


2. List out the names of all things that you came across since morning. Categorise them on the basis of NPAT.

Pronouns: Prepare a set of statements using attendance register. Call out these statements. Ask them to follow directions. Eg: Roopa pick up your chair and come forward. Tahira join her here. Prakash bring their bags to them. Sunita, come and lead him to the door. Both of you stand there. Etc. (after every five sentences, review the pronouns used and note them on the black board as per their categories – first person, second person and third person

Verbs: Write verbs on chits. Make pairs of students in the class. Distribute two verb chits to each pair. Each pair should come before the class and mime their verbs so that the rest of the class can guess the verbs and write it in their note-books. After all the pairs have mimed their verbs, the teacher shows the verbs mimed and the class can correct their own list.

Adverbs: Make pairs in the class. Make chits of verbs and adverbs – say ‘Walk and walk quickly’. Give one chit to each pair. The pair has to come in front of the class and demonstrate both these actions. The rest of the class should guess the verb and the adverb. The teacher should write down the answers (correct ones) on the BB. Finally the students should copy this list in their note-books

Adjectives: Play the adjective game as described on the webpage: http://www.experiential-learning-games.com/icebreakers.html. Note down all the adjectives on the BB after the game is over. Ask students to draw pictures that explain the adjectives. Assist them with the difficult or abstract adjectives.

Prepositions: Play the game, ‘Arrange the objects’: Make the class into five to six groups. Give each group a chart and marker pens. Call out directions to draw which the group has to reproduce on the chart. Eg: 1. Put the blue box in the red. 2. Put the red box aside and set the green box on it. 3. Arrange the boxes like this under the table.

Conjunctions: Play the ‘Set game’. Ask students to stand up as they hear you call out the name of a particular set of behaviours. When they stand up you can either ask them to move to a part of the room which has been named as per the conjunction, or they can be asked to sit down and another set can be called out. Eg: 1. All those who watch TV but not KBC. 2. Those who had bread for breakfast and those who had eggs for breakfast. 3. Those that went to a mall or a movie last week. Etc.

Interjections: Write a group story using at least two of these interjections. The rest of the groups point them out and copy the sentence. Good, Bravo, horrors, Amen, Ouch, whew, whack, snap, shucks, gracious, shoo, hallelujah, Ay,

Articles: Write a group poem using rhyming words and underline the articles.