Grammar Survival

Geoff Barton is Headteacher of King Edward VI School. He is a member of the DCSF English Board, leads the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust’s national programme for English, and writes a regular column in the Times Educational Supplement.

Part 1: Writing Writing for generating ideas, planning & drafting 1. How to generate ideas 2. How to plan and draft 3. How to explore text conventions: Instruction 4. How to explore text conventions: Recount 5. How to explore text conventions: Explanation 6. How to explore text conventions: Instructions 7. How to explore text conventions: Persuasion 8. How to explore text conventions: Discursive Writing for shaping and constructing language for expression 9. How to develop viewpoint, voice and ideas 10. How to teach about sentences 11. How to teach about clauses 12. How to teach about sentence types 13. How to teach about simple sentences 14. How to teach about compound sentences 15. How to teach about complex sentences 16. How to teach about coordination and subordination 17. How to teach about expanding nouns and noun phrases 18. How to teach the passive and active voice 19. How to teach about tense 20. How to teach about modals verbs 21. How to teach about conditionals 22. How to improve vocabulary for precision and impact Writing conventions & structures 23. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: full stops 24. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: commas 25. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: speech punctuation 26. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: colons 27. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: semi-colons 28. How to teach punctuation for clarity and effect: apostrophes 29. How to teach about Standard English 30. How to teach cohesion 31. How to teach paragraphing 32. How to teach differences between speech and writing 33. How to teach about formality in speech and writing 34. How to teach spelling Part 2: Reading 35. How to develop reading skills and strategies 36. Using active reading approaches to texts 37. How to help students understand subject-specific vocabulary 38. How to teach research skills 39. How to teach note-making skills 40. How to improve the readability of texts 41. How to use layout to make texts more accessible Part 3: Exploring Language 42. How to teach about language change 43. How to teach pupils to comment on language use