Helping your child build a strong foundation is essential in helping him not just in scoring well for the English papers, but for all the other subjects (except for Mother Tongue) that are delivered in English.
Here are 5 ways you can use to help your child understand the usages of grammar better, and actually enjoy it!
1. USE ACTIONS
Many children learn best with a multi-sensory approach, so teach a different action for each part of speech. For example, ask your child to touch their cheeks with their fingers for a common noun (such as ‘cat’ or ‘toothbrush’), and hop like a rabbit for a verb (such as ‘dance’ or ‘speak’). Play games where you call out a word and get your child to do the correct action; it will get really funny, but it makes him think about the different parts of speech.
2. GET YOUR SENTENCES IN ORDER
For younger children, write the words of a simple sentence – such as, ‘A fish is lost in the ocean.’ – on individual slips of paper, and ask them to put the words in the correct order, with a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end.
3. THREE-COURSE SENTENCES
A simple technique to help children with sentence construction is to think of sentences in terms of eating out. For example:
Main course: a simple sentence with a subject and a verb
[I hugged my friend.]
Starter + main course: include a starter phrase, such as ‘yesterday’ or ‘one day’
[This morning, I hugged my friend.]
Main course + dessert: include a link word (a conjunction or connector like ‘then’ or ‘because’)
[This morning, I hugged my friend because he was feeling down.]
Your child can then build up sentences with starter, main course and dessert, and any other combinations.
4. SILLY SENTENCE MAKERS
Appeal to your child’s silly side by encouraging him to make up crazy sentences that still make grammatical sense. Write a selection of subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and connectors on individual flashcards and get your child to compose funny sentences, such as, ‘The pink elephant ate a durian and danced around the tree.’
5. TAKE CONTROL OVER SENTENCES
A good exercise for older children is to challenge them to construct sentences of at least 20 words that contain only one verb. This activity helps them to understand how to control a sentence, rather than overcomplicating it.
Have fun!
For over 15 years, Augustine’s English Classes has helped hundreds of students fall in love with the subject and excelling in school exams. If you are interested to know how our classes work, or what our secret winning formula is, do feel free to drop us a message or give us a call.
