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Helping my child with grammar
I would like to know how can I teach grammar to my children? They are between 8 and 10 years. Thanks.
Angelica, Colombia

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Dear Parents,  What do you mean by 'teaching'? If it is classical language teaching (e.g. teaching grammar, using course books, etc.) it is not good for the young ones. BUT if a new language is introduced to them in an interesting way- so they feel that using another language is fun and also if you try to help your children to acquire another language like you do with your mother tongue you will see miracles! When you start 'teaching' your mother tongue to your child you hopefully do not say,' Come, my dear one, let's practise the past tense today.' You simply use it and your child copies you. You also use a lot of songs, nursery rhymes, etc. You praise him/her and gently correct if it is needed and sooner or later - but normally by the age of one or two your child uses the language quite properly by saying some sentences.This also works in case of a foreign language. Sing songs, say nursery rhymes and tell stories in English for your child and you will se how clever they are in copying you in using another language. :-))))  According to Early advantage homepage 'All of the scientific evidence points to children having nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain by learning a second language.'    As I am a teacher of English and a mother of two I have some experience in this.  I started to 'teach' my own children when they were under 5. They enjoyed it very much. Now they are school and just to mention one thing, their listening and speaking skills concerning English are much better than their fellow counterparts. The method I used and still use is called 'Kids Club English'. It is from Britain (French and Spanish are taught there)  while in different places in Hungary and other countries we use English and German, as well. (see www.lcfclubs.com) Two years ago I started a new age group - children under 3 with the help of Jazz Mataz. (also the material of lcfclubs) It is fantastic! The language I use during the 'lesson' is English. I do not simply play and sing in English with the children but involve parents actively in the games,too! Actually, most of the time  they play with their own children, I only show what and how to do. The parents' knowlegde of English varies  from a low (practically nothing) to a very high level. Their knowledge of English has no significance at all! Those children who are a bit closer to the age of three do speak some Hungarian so after some weeks they sing the songs and rhymes and they do the counting with me in English. Of course children under 2 may say some words in their mother tongue but they understand the other language and react properly! Not only their language skills, but other things such as playing ('working') with others, musical skills, sence of rhythm, memory,etc. develop this way without making much effort. (Think about yourself learning another language!)  For them the other language is fun, a new way of communication! So I warmly advise anybody to try a second language and if you want to use the net, too, try LCF englishzone! You can find songs, stories, games in a fun and interesting yet useful way! Good luck for any of you.
Ottilia Szemeti, Hungary

1. Practise makes it perfect. First give them easier worksheets (Using am, are ,is). Then slowly you can proceed to next stage (present tense ,then past tense etc). The main thing is that they must be confident with the previous stage, before moving to the next stage.
2. Reading books is also a good way to improve grammer. Choose the books that are interesting for them. If they can't read you can read for them.
These steps help a lot in  improving grammer.
Hema, Singapore

I think the best way is to use some learning websites and a good library. Some web sites help children with pictures. It helps them to understand clearly. A good library has grammer books which are suitable for their ages and level. You can use graded story books in a library.
Chandhi Jayasundara,Sr Lanka

According to my experience, usually we do some movements for a paragraph that has already been written with a topic. For example: In the morning, I wake up (do some movements like you are stretching), then wash my face and brush my teeth (other movements), etc.-for Simple Present tense or you may have several pictures and then make a sentence after that ask your children to have their card and make a sentence of their own. For example: a picture of a bear and then you say, "A bear is an animal." then you give them a card of a tiger and ask them to make a sentence similar to yours by saying, "A tiger is an animal." or train them to write based on the picture you already provide based on the picture and sentence that you made as an example-you make a picture of a girl named Tana wears a jacket-the sentence: Tana wears a jacket. Next, you provide a picture of a girl named Dana wears a T-shirt and ask them to write something below the picture in the same form as yours. I think it's good not to force them to remember so many tenses but to stimulate them and encourage them to have so many exposures to the language that you want them to learn.Hope those ideas will be useful for you-as long as you are creative-you will make it!!
Victoria Dian Ginting, Indonesia