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English Grammar for Teachers

Gain an in-depth knowledge of grammatical concepts and apply what you have learnt effectively and engagingly in your teaching.

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Explore creative ways to teach English grammar

The new national curriculum requires school teachers to teach English grammar, starting in primary school.

This course will help to demystify teaching English grammar and ensure it plays a creative and rewarding role in your English classroom teaching. You’ll explore various ways to teach grammar creatively to primary, secondary, and further education students.

Learn the role of grammar in the UK education system

The course begins with an introduction to the updated terminology of the national curriculum.

As you understand more about the rationale and purpose of grammar within the national curriculum, you’ll look at the underlying linguistic approach of English grammar, helping to improve your confidence in using grammatical concepts and terminology.

Gain in-depth knowledge of grammar rules and concepts

As the course progresses, you’ll deepen your understanding and enhance your teaching of current grammatical concepts, functions, and forms.

You’ll look at the principles behind teaching English grammar and work on embedding grammar into your lessons, making it a useful and fun activity for your students, rather than a box-ticking exercise.

Discover how to use grammar teaching resources from Englicious.org effectively

Englicious is a free online library of original English grammar and language teaching resources. It contains lesson plans, exercises, videos and assessment materials that you can use as part of your teaching.

Through this course, you’ll learn how to navigate through and effectively use Englicious.org’s English grammar resources.

Skip to 0 minutes and 14 seconds Hello. When I was a youngster learning French, the way I was taught was often through so-called drills. So this involved learning by heart blocks of 10 sentences, which each instantiated a particular grammatical pattern from French. This is not the most exciting way to learn a foreign language. And it gave grammar learning and grammar teaching a bad name. Luckily, those days are over. If you’re a teacher, and you need to teach grammar in primary school, or in secondary school, or in any other school around the world, then this course is for you. We will tell you all you need to know about English grammar.

Skip to 0 minutes and 56 seconds And we will show you how you can enjoy teaching grammar and teach it in a fun and engaging way. English Grammar for Teachers is a 6-week course which will give you all the subject knowledge you need. And we link the teaching of grammar to the Englicious website that we built at UCL. This website is full of resources, lesson plans, videos, and other materials that you can use in the classroom. I hope you’ll join this course. See you soon.

What topics will you cover?

The course will cover the entire grammar of English. We start with the word classes, and then move on to phrases and clauses. The course combines a modern and innovative approach to the study of grammar with the opportunities that technology offers. It is designed for specifically for teachers who teach the National Curriculum in England, but will also be valuable to teachers elesewhere in the world. No previous knowledge of grammar is assumed.

The focus will be on how grammatical structures communicate meaning and how they offer different ways of expressing the same idea. Links will be made to age-appropriate texts.

Topics include:

  • the role of grammar in the UK education system, specifically National Curriculum for England
  • grammatical subject knowledge and terminology
  • how to teach English grammar in context
  • how to use the free resources on the Englicious website

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explain basic grammatical terminology to young learners at the appropriate Key Stages
  • Identify sentence components, such as word classes, phrases and clauses
  • Identify grammatical form and function labels
  • Describe and explain nuanced differences between grammatical patterns in terms of structure and meaning
  • Explore the Englicious website, and incorporate its activities into your teaching practice
  • Explain how different grammatical constructions create different effects for readers in age-appropriate texts

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for primary, secondary and further education teachers in the UK. It’s also suitable for trainee teachers, NQTs, Heads of Department and teaching staff of all subjects. Potential interest to EFL/ESOL English teachers globally.

Who will you learn with?

I'm a Professor of English Linguistics at UCL with a passion for English grammar.

After you take this course I hope you will be just as enthusiastic!

Who developed the course?

UCL (University College London)

UCL was founded in 1826. It was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, and the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it.

What's included?

This is a premium course. These courses are designed for professionals from specific industries looking to learn with a smaller group of like-minded individuals.

  • Unlimited access to this course
  • Includes any articles, videos, peer reviews and quizzes
  • Certificate of Achievement to prove your success when you're eligible
  • Download and print your Certificate of Achievement anytime

Still want to know more? Check out our FAQs

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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Get a taste of this course

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