#3732. The Grammar Dance

Reading/Writing, level: all
Posted Wed Apr 12 12:45:24 PDT 2006 by Niamh Collins (niamh.collins@teachers.tv).
The Grammar Dance
Teachers TV, United Kingdom
Materials Required: Imagination
Activity Time: 15 minutes
Concepts Taught: Using drama to improve literacy

The Grammar Dance

At Lauriston Primary School in East London, Aidan O'Kelley injects life into the literacy hour for his Year 5 pupils through a colourful "grammar dance" - a performance which celebrates their work on word classes. Using the basic elements of travel, turn and jump, the children show how adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs can enhance their imaginative story writing.

This exciting lesson proves that grammar can be both fun and rigorous. Shared writing, pair work and kinaesthetics result in a spectacular display of the children's grasp of grammar and the creative writing which this is encouraging. Be prepared for posing tigers echoing slowly in the classroom and dangerous rhinos charging rapidly in the hall!

Watching creative teaching is always exciting, because it sparks more creative ideas. By putting grammatical knowledge into a motivating context, Aidan O'Kelley has made it memorable for his class -- children learn best when they're having fun.

That's the challenge in all language teaching -- how can you turn a dreary-sounding teaching objective into something the children will remember forever?