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How to Teach Grammar Online

April 9, 2020

Teaching Grammar Online with ESL Library

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic came many, many changes for people all over the world. We've all had to adapt to numerous disruptions to our lives—socially, physically, emotionally, and financially, to name a few.

For teachers, the abrupt switch (in many cases) to online teaching has been especially challenging. At ESL Library, we've been helping our overwhelmed ESL/ELT community as best we can with free upgrades, webinars, FAQs, and new materials.

Teaching grammar can be a challenge at the best of times, and having to suddenly manage it digitally was certainly a frightening prospect for some of us. We hope the following blog post on how to teach grammar online will be helpful! Please feel free to leave comments and questions below. We're here for you—you're not alone.

This three-part grammar series will cover:

Grammar Notes

All of our 60 digital Grammar Practice Worksheets lessons have Grammar Notes as the first assignable online task. These notes contain helpful explanations, examples, rules, and exceptions for each grammar target. Read on for four different ways to present these notes to your students!

To present these grammar notes using our online platform, click on the Digital tab for any grammar lesson. You can now click on Assign Tasks to share the grammar notes on your students' own devices, or you can click on the first title to launch the task (if using a screensharing program). See our Help Docs and How-To Videos for step-by-step guidance or attend one of our free webinars.

Note that some grammar lessons contain more comprehensive grammar notes in the PDF (printable) version, including charts, more examples, and extra exceptions to a rule. Remember that you have the option of using a screensharing platform to display the PDF during your live class. You could also download the PDF and email it to your students.

How to Teach Grammar Online

There are different ways to introduce a grammar target to your learners. Choose one of the following methods based on your personal preference. You could also try each method and see which is best for your learners, or you could try different methods for different targets for variety.

1. Read through the grammar notes together

If you like explicit grammar instruction, this method is for you.

Before you begin the grammar practice tasks, walk your students through the grammar presentation notes while screensharing the notes or while they follow along on their own devices. There are plenty of ways to make this more interactive!

  • Have students take turns reading the examples out loud so you can also work on their pronunciation (and so they're not only listening to your voice the whole time).
  • Elicit as you go. For example, before reading about the form or function of a target, ask "Does anyone know the two ways we can contract 'He is not'?" or "Does anyone know when we use the present perfect tense?"
  • Have students come up with their own example sentences. After reading the examples from the grammar notes, have students think of more and share them.
  • Follow up with a discussion. Do your students now understand the form and function of a target? Are they clear on the exceptions to the general rules? Do they need more examples from you? Do they have any further questions about the target?

2. Assign the grammar notes for homework

If you like explicit instruction but want your learners to take charge of their own learning, give this method a try.

The day before you start a new grammar lesson, assign the grammar notes task as homework. Have students read through them and write down any questions they have to ask you the next day.

  • To make it more interactive, you could tell students to be prepared to answer your questions about the notes the next day.
  • You could also ask them comprehension-check questions about the basics of form and function of the target.
  • You may want to ask about the exceptions as well since those are trickier to learn and remember.

3. Assign grammar practice tasks before reviewing the grammar notes

If you prefer implicit grammar acquisition, give this method a try.

This method involves skipping the grammar notes at first.

  • Assign one or more of the grammar tasks and see if your students can tell you the grammar rules the next day. By doing a bit of practice, can they figure out the rules and patterns of the target you're studying?
  • Next, go through the grammar notes together or assign them for homework. If you're doing them together, you can refer to examples from the tasks they've already done.
  • After covering the notes, assign the rest of the tasks in the lesson.

4. Assign a non-grammar lesson that uses the grammar target in context

If you like the communicative approach to teaching, try this method.

In the top right-hand corner of ESL Library's website, you'll find the search icon (the magnifying glass). After clicking on it, type in the grammar target in the search field and choose a non-grammar lesson from the list (if applicable). Students will be able to see the target in context.

For example, search for "imperative." You will be able to assign a Functional English lesson on Following Instructions or Following Procedures, a Writing in English lesson on How to Write a Recipe, or a Holiday & Events lesson on Earth Day. Our Grammar Stories section also has plenty of targets in context.

  • Have students underline examples of the target that they see in context.
  • From there, you can try to elicit the basic form and function of the target.
  • Then you can try the rest of the grammar practice tasks.
  • Afterward, you can decide to use the grammar notes to review tricky exceptions to a rule, skip the notes entirely, or assign the notes only to students who are struggling with the target.
  • As a follow-up, you can have your intermediate to advanced students find other examples online (news articles, blog posts, etc.) that use the target and share them together the next day.

We hope you found this first post in our three-part series about teaching grammar online useful!

Here are the next two posts in the series:

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Comments (15)

Maria J.(Teacher)

HI,I am new to this.I just susbcribed.How do I view the tasks and send them to my students?
Please advise.Thanks Maria J.

Reply to Comment

Tara Benwell(Author)

Hi Maria!

Here are some useful blog posts and Help Docs for you. First you will set up your classes and invite your students. Then you will preview and assign digital tasks.

Digital Tools: https://help.ellii.com/category/110-digital-tools
Broadcast or Preview Digital Tasks: https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks

You could also register for a webinar: https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-online-webinars

Let us know if you have any questions.

Best of luck!

Defi N.(Teacher)

I really need this.

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

I hope this post was helpful, Defi! Good luck with your online teaching.

Clarice De Menezes S.(Teacher)

I´d like to learn how to delete an assignment. Is this possible?

Reply to Comment

Tammy Wik(Ellii Staff)

Hi Clarice,

Yes, you can absolutely delete an assignment.

1) Log into your account. Then go to Class PrepMy Classes

2) Choose the class you assigned the task in. Click on the Assignments tab.

3) Click the drop-down arrow next to the lesson to see all assigned tasks. Click on the due date of any of the tasks. That will take you to the original page where you assigned the task.

4) Click the Cancel Assignment button (to the right of the due date). You can cancel all of the tasks if you like.

5) Remember to click Save!

Alternatively, if you know which lesson you'd like to cancel, you can just use the Search Tool (top right corner) to go directly to the lesson directly. Select the class you assigned it to. Then click Assign Tasks. You'll end up on the same page where you can click the Cancel Assignments button.

If you have additional trouble, please use the Contact Us form at very bottom of our website to send us an email and we'll help figure out the issue :)

Happy teaching!

Arshia S.(Member)

Want to be a part of your organisation .
Send me thé details plz

Reply to Comment

Lei Kayanuma(Author)

Thank you, Arshia! You can view our main lesson page here: https://ellii.com/courses as well as our pricing page: https://ellii.com/pricing If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at hello@ellii.com

aryan (Guest)

i want to teach grammar for everyone

Reply to Comment

Lei Kayanuma(Author)

Hello, Aryan! Thanks for the comment and that is great to hear! Happy teaching :)

ali awad(Guest)

I want teach grammar lessons but don’t have student sitting in front of me or just online keep teaching them I can’t see them or how this work please email me with answers thank you

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Ali, in order to access the linked lessons and follow the steps in this blog post, you need to be a subscriber. Here's our Pricing page if you're interested in subscribing: https://ellii.com/pricing

This Help Doc on getting started at Ellii might also help you: https://help.ellii.com/article/161-how-to-get-started

Let me know if this doesn't answer your question!

Fernando V.(Teacher)

I love all your grammar target materials! I learn so much from them myself, especially from the diagrams which are so organized. I've never seen anything like it!

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Wow, thank you, Fernando! That's so nice to hear. Did you know we've also made quite a few grammar videos based on our Grammar Practice Worksheet lessons (and others)? Here they are in case you haven't seen them: https://ellii.com/media/videos/grammar

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