Young children learn holistically and construct meaning from all available clues in their immediate environment. Through exposure to language in activities such as stories, songs, games and everyday classroom communication, they become familiar with grammatical patterns in formulaic sequences and unanalysed chunks of language. Through imitation, repetition, meaningful practice and recycling, children develop confidence in using language and transferring it to other contexts. The language children learn in this way also becomes an internal resource for later, more formal learning.

As children grow older and develop analytical skills, it becomes increasingly appropriate to encourage them to notice underlying grammatical patterns and forms. This develops their awareness and explicit understanding of grammar, as well as engages their curiosity in comparing English with their own language(s). It also enables children to begin to systematise their knowledge and potentially enriches and extends the ways in which they communicate.

A key question is when to move beyond implicit teaching– learning of language chunks and adopt a more explicit approach. There are no ‘right answers’ to this, and your decision depends on factors such as how long children have been learning English, their cognitive maturity and the approach used to teach their mother tongue. This will also influence your decision on whether or not it is helpful to introduce metalanguage, such as ‘verb’ or ‘noun’.

My key tips for grammar are:

• 93 Make grammar child-friendly

• 94 Be a grammar detective!

• 95 Provide purposeful practice

• 96 Correct with a light touch

93 Make grammar child-friendly

At times in your teaching, there may be a place for short grammatical explanations, possibly in the children's shared language. However, the most effective way of supporting children's emerging grammar is to give them hands-on opportunities to manipulate and experience grammar for themselves.

Some ideas for multi-sensory, child-friendly, grammar activities are:

• • Spot the contractions: prepare word cards with sentences that are meaningful to children using full forms, e.g. Leyla has got a carrot. / Yusef does not like peas. In groups, children take a card and stand in a line to make their sentence. Children who have words which contract link arms, e.g. does not = doesn’t.