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Teacher
resource
Book
Ages
8-12+
Tanya Gibb
Student
Book
d
Student
Book
e
Student
Book
f
Student
Book
g
Grammar
gets real
First published in 2008 by
MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
15-19 Claremont Street, South Yarra 3141
Visit our website at www.macmillan.com.au
Associated companies and representatives throughout the world.
Copyright © Tanya Gibb/Macmillan Education Australia 2008
Grammar Rules! Teacher Resource Book Ages 8-12+
ISBN 978 1 4202 6499 9
Publisher: Sharon Dalgleish
Editor: Laura Davies
Design by: Trish Hayes and Stephen Michael King
Illustrations by: Stephen Michael King
Printed in Australia by Ligare Book Printers
Printed on paper from sustainable forests using soya and vegetable based inks
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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Grammar Rules! Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What is Grammar? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
How to Develop a Whole-School Grammar Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Sample Whole-School Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Teaching and Learning Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Annotated Text Type Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Assessing Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Analysis of Student Work Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Fourth Year at School: Student Book D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Scope and Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Unit-by-Unit Activities to Enhance Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Fifth Year at School: Student Book E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Scope and Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Unit-by-Unit Activities to Enhance Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Sixth Year at School: Student Book F. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Scope and Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Unit-by-Unit Activities to Enhance Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The Seventh Year at School: Student Book G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Scope and Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Unit-by-Unit Activities to Enhance Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Grammar Program Checklists BLM 1–BLM 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Answers for Student Books D to G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Annotated Text Type Models
The following pages include text models taken from the Grammar Rules! Student Books. The models are
annotated to show aspects of grammar relevant in the various text types.
Narrative
Social purpose
Structure
• To entertain, enlighten and/or to teach a lesson
or moral
• Orientation: the scene is set for events;
characters and settings are introduced
Forms
• Complication: a problem is introduced for
characters to deal with; series of events are
conveyed
• Picture books, novellas, novels, storytelling,
puppet shows, play scripts, ballads, storyboards
• Resolution: characters resolve problems (either
solve them or deal with them in some other
way) and grow from the experience
Visual elements
• Photos, drawings, illustrations in print media
• Gestures, facial expression and body language in
film, and other oral presentations
adverb to
tell when
specific nouns
• Comment or coda
prepositional phrase
to tell how
Through the Doorway into Time
Ronnie looked out her window at the blinding light that
was coming from the neighbourhood park. She grabbed
her jumper out of the closet and snuck out the back door
without a sound. She wheeled her bike onto the street,
then climbed on and headed down the road to the park.
Ronnie was astonished to see that all the light was coming
from a small shoe-sized box. She knelt down next to it
and lifted the lid. Inside was a remote control. Ronnie
picked it up. A red light in the centre started flashing.
Without thinking, Ronnie pushed the red button. Bang!
An ear-splitting noise shattered the night. She jumped back
quickly and before her eyes the remote turned into
a gigantic doorway. Ronnie peered inside.
action verbs
3rd person personal
pronouns
prepositional phrase
to tell where
short, simple sentence
to support the speed
of the events
onomatopoeia to add
atmosphere
noun group with
describing adjectives
Extract from Grammar Rules! Student Book F, page 18
20
Description
Social purpose
Structure
• To describe people, places or things
• Orientation: introduction to the topic
Forms
• Logical sequence of descriptions about aspects
of the topic
• Narrative poetry, conversations, scientific
reports, information reports
• Conclusion: summing-up statement
• Judgement or evaluation (optional)
Visual elements
• can include diagrams or photos with labels
reference chain of
nouns and pronouns
evaluative language
Uluru
I recently visited Uluru with my family. It is the most incredible
place that I have ever seen. Uluru stands 340 metres tall and it is
9.4 kilometres around its base. The rock probably extends five or six
kilometres under the ground—so only a small percentage of it is above
the ground, like an iceberg.
It is really amazing when Uluru changes colour during the different
stages of the day, such as sunset and sunrise. The play of light on the
rock is a fascinating sight. The rock appears to change colour from red
to bright orange to a dark, deep burnt orange, to shades of purple and
mauve. The vast, open, flat land around Uluru is also very beautiful. It
is filled with small native shrubs and flowers that miraculously survive
in the dry red earth. Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park is world heritage
listed. I can understand why.
compound
sentence
figurative
language–simile
emotive words
relating verbs
adverb
relative pronoun
to join clauses
noun group with
adjectival phrase
Extract from Grammar Rules! Student Book G, page 38
prepositional
phrase to tell
where
21
Discussion
Social purpose
Structure
• To explore different points of view on a topic
• Orientation: introduction to the issue
Forms
• Opinion for one side of the issue supported
by reasons
• Newspapers and magazines, journals, talkback
radio, panel discussions, polarised debates,
conversations
• Differing opinion supported by reasons
• Summing up
• Recommendation or judgement (optional)
thinking and
feeling verbs
relative pronoun
to link clauses
Top Wonder
There are two incredible natural wonders in the world that are so vast
they can be seen from outer space. They are the Great Barrier Reef
off the coast of Queensland, Australia, and the Grand Canyon in the
United States of America. Which of these is the most spectacular?
Many people believe the Great Barrier Reef is the best natural
wonder. At 2300 kilometres in length, it is the world’s largest coral
reef system. Colonies of tiny coral polyps have built the reef over
thousands of years. It is truly a miracle of nature.
Other people think that the Grand Canyon deserves the title of
best natural wonder in the world. The Canyon was carved out by
the Colorado River over two billion years. The canyon is around
445 kilometres long and 1800 metres deep at its deepest point—
that’s almost two kilometres.
Both these wonders were created by nature and continue to evolve,
but in my opinion the Great Barrier Reef is a truly beautiful and
precious part of this planet and it gets my vote for best natural
wonder of the world.
Extract from Grammar Rules! Student Book G, page 60
connectives
22
high modality
noun group
with phrases
evaluative
language
relating verb
superlative
adjectives
Analysis
of
Student Work Samples
Narrative Work Sample
Context
Students had explored fairytales and folktales. They had discussed the structure of a narrative text. They were
reminded about the functions of the orientation, complication and resolution in narratives and were asked to write
a tale that involved an imaginary creature. The student’s writing below contains the orientation and complication.
A Mermaid Tale
Once upon a time there lived three children they were best friends and
lived 2 minutes away from the beach. They would walk to the beach
every day after school to go for a swim and a play on the sand. Until one
day something strange happened something very weird. The children
meet at the school gate as they did every day after school to walk to the
appropriate
reference chains
in the 3rd person
narrative
time words
not explained
beach together. Once they got there the water looked more welcoming
than it ever did before. The children raced done to the water. Time had
past when Freddy saw something in the water it wasn’t anything that he
had ever seen before it had scales that shimmered in the sunlight it was
a mermaid. Freddy tried to tell his friends but they just laughed and said
that he was imagining things until the mermaid popped its head out of
descriptive noun
group
connectives
direct speech
the water “hello” she said “I am shelly but you can call me shell” the
three children looked in amazement “this cant be happening” said Alfie
proper nouns
as he rubbed his eyes . . .
Work sample from 11-year-old student (typed by teacher with student’s spelling)
Assessment Comments
Structure
of the mermaid, but the story does not include any
strange or weird events involving the mermaid.
The student begins this 3rd person narrative with
Once upon a time . . . and then introduces the
main characters and sets the scene for events. The
complication arises when the story characters
meet a mermaid. The student continues the story
(not included in the sample text above) to describe
the children playing with the mermaid and then
going home, after promising to meet the mermaid
again the next afternoon.
Grammar
The complication is not developed in the story: there
is no problem for characters to resolve and no issues
to overcome, so the story lacks interest and drive.
There is some effective use of descriptive noun groups.
Why the water looked more welcoming than it ever
did before is not explained.
The student needs to learn how to punctuate
direct speech in a narrative. The student needs
support recognising sentences and paragraphs.
Why the mermaid appears in the first place and
what the mermaid is doing there is not explained.
The strange and weird happening is the appearance
The student uses connectives appropriately to link
events in time and through cause and effect.
There is consistent use of 3rd person personal
pronouns and correct use of noun/pronoun
reference chains.
The student makes appropriate use of past tense
verbs, including a variety of thinking and feeling
verbs, saying verbs, action verbs and relating verbs.
Prepositional phrases are used to establish where
and when events occur.
The student uses an apostrophe for the
contraction wasn’t but not for cant.
31
Description Work Sample
Context
Students were asked to write a description of an animal that they are personally familiar with, such as a pet.
My Dog
My dog is a Shih Tzu–Maltese cross. Her name is Turtle because my dad
effective use of
reference chain
likes to watch the Three Stooges and he think it’s funny when Curly
says turtle because he says it like ‘toitle’. Turtle is black and white. She
is very fluffy and her fur keeps growing so we need to get her clipped
quiet often. Sometimes her fur grows over her eyes. She has floppy ears.
She has little pointy teeth like a vampire and when she growls and her
lips curl back her bottom teeth stick out further than her top teeth and
it looks really funny. She knows we are laughing at her and it makes her
cranky. Turtle barks when anyone comes to the house. She thinks she
is a good guard dog but she’s really a big chicken. She is a really funny
little dog and I love her.
relating verb
quite
complex sentence
joined with too
many ands
overuse of really
metaphor
thinking and
feeling verb
noun group with
adjectives
Work sample from 12-year-old student (typed by teacher with student’s spelling)
Assessment Comments
Structure
The student has included an orientation or
opening statement, a series of descriptions about
aspects of the topic (name of the dog, its colour,
fur, teeth, and how it barks) and a conclusion that
involves a judgement or evaluation.
The student shows interest in presentation of
written work and includes visual elements.
Grammar
The student has used a reference chain (of nouns
and pronouns for the dog) effectively.
32
The student has written an awkward complex
sentence consisting of clauses linked with and,
when, and, and. The sentence should be split and
reworked to clarify meaning and connect ideas
more appropriately.
The student overuses the modal adverb really and
needs to develop use of other adverbs to show
modality, such as extremely, positively, definitely, totally.
Other comments
The student needs to learn the difference between
quiet and quite.
Discussion Work Sample
Context
The class engaged in a polarised debate. After the debate students were asked to write a summary of the
discussion in their journals. They were reminded of the structure of discussion texts and they were told to
write their recommendation or judgement about the topic in the conclusion.
Our school canteen should not sell any junk food.
Our school canteen are deciding whether or not to sell junk food. Junk food
means pies, sausage rolls, flavoured milks, and chips.
Some people in my class think that junk food should be banned from school
because they are making children fat and unhealthy.
Some people in my class think that eating these foods once a week is not going
to make you fat so they should not be banned from the canteen. They say you
can have some bad foods every now and then and if you exercise it’s Ok to have
inappropriate
verb
overuse of
because
overuse of
think
students in
the class
the canteen
treats. The teacher says that the canteen likes to sell junk foods because they
make more money to give to the school for things they need like computers.
the school
I think they should sell junk food at school because they don’t have to buy it.
students
They can have sandwiches.
students
Work sample from 8-year-old student (typed by teacher with spelling corrected)
Assessment Comments
Structure
need to learn some alternative connectives to use
instead of because).
The student has included an orientation or
opening statement to establish the topic. The
student has included an opinion in favour of one
side of the issue introduced by Some people . . .
The student uses canteen are because he or she
is referring to people on a committee. A canteen
cannot decide anything so the student should state
The Canteen Committee is . . .
An alternative opinion is introduced by the phrase
Some people. . . This opinion should have been
introduced differently from the first opinion, for
example Other people. An additional argument is
introduced by The teacher says . . .
The thinking and feeling verb think is used three
times. The student needs to develop a more
extensive repertoire of thinking and feeling verbs.
There is a concluding statement that presents a
judgement and recommendation.
Grammar
The student’s use of pronoun reference is very
confusing. They is used to refer to the school,
students and the canteen. The student also uses
you to refer to students. Overuse of pronoun
reference makes it difficult for a reader to connect
the reference chains and make sense of a text.
The student uses connectives appropriately to
join points of view with reasons (although they do
33
The Fourth Year
Scope
Unit
1
2
3
4
and
at
Sequence
Unit name/
Text type
Clause to whole text level
Sentences Cohesion: theme,
and
pronouns, lexical
clauses
chains, connectives
A Tasty Invention
sentences
Response/Letter
simple
sentences
The Case of the
Missing Robots
1st and 2nd person
personal pronouns:
I, me, we, us, you
11
phrases
noun groups with
adjectives
Poem/Description
Nintendo
personal pronouns
15
proper nouns
17
Molly’s Discovery
conjunctions
singular and plural
nouns
Narrative
Search for the Lost
Valley
subject/verb
agreement
exclamations;
onomatopoeia
adverbs to
tell how
(circumstances
of manner)
Narrative
Revision
Discussion/Conversation
direct
(quoted)
speech;
speech
marks
evaluative
words;
apostrophes for
contractions
The Thing Inside
saying verbs (verbal
processes)
modality;
emotive words
Narrative/Argument
Where to Find the
Hidden Treasure
commands
Wiz Bang 3000
Kitchen Hand
personal pronouns
action verbs (material prepositional
processes)
phrases and
adverbs
emotive words;
modality
Exposition/Persuasion/
Advertisement
Discovery: A New
Species
noun groups;
determiners;
comparing adjectives
Description
18
relating verbs
(relational processes)
time words
and phrases
(circumstances
of time)
Procedure/Directions
16
prepositional
phrases
(circumstances
of place)
questions and
statements
Recount
Trampolines
14
technical words
Information report
12
13
saying verbs
(verbal processes);
thinking and feeling
verbs (mental
processes)
Revision
Penicillin
10
Adverbs and
prepositional
phrases
(Circumstances)
noun groups with
adjectives
fact and
opinion
Response/Film review
My Special Place
9
Verbs and verb
groups
(Processes)
thinking and feeling
verbs (mental
processes)
personal pronouns:
she, he, him, her,
they, them, it
6
8
Nouns and
noun groups
(Participants)
proper and common thinking and feeling
nouns
verbs (mental
processes)
Recount
Dear Nana and Pop
Word and word group level
proper and common action verbs (material
nouns
processes); past tense
Recount
Inventing Potato Chips
7
Mood and
modality,
language and
vocabulary
Museum Visit
Narrative
5
School: Student Book D
Revision
41
Unit
19
Unit name/
Text type
Clause to whole text level
Sentences Cohesion: theme,
pronouns, lexical
and
clauses
chains, connectives
Voyagers
21
Professor Snodgrass
Fails Again
26
27
28
29
apostrophes for
possession
Dinosaur Found at
Local School
Recount/Newspaper
article
stereotypes
indirect
(reported)
speech
emotive words;
sensationalism
time words
Narrative
33
34
The Best New Invention
42
adverbs and
prepositions
(circumstances
of time)
connectives
modality
noun groups
lexical chains
metaphor
describing adjectives
commands
number adjectives
action verbs (material adverbs to tell
processes)
how
(circumstances
of manner)
technical
language;
evaluative
language
nouns
action verbs (material
processes)
evaluative
language
noun groups;
classifying adjectives
Discussion
Breakfast Inventions
Poem/Description
Wart, Fester and
Carbuncle Remover
Procedure/Recipe
How Does the Alarm
Bed Work?
connectives
Explanation
How to Use the Drolley
(or Dog Trolley)
Revision
Sales Pitch for Garden
Juice
Exposition/Persuasion
1st and 2nd person
personal pronouns; I,
me, us, we, you
Trying to Negotiate
direct
Discussion/Conversation (quoted)
speech
synonyms
statements;
questions;
commands;
exclamations
Dear Diary
direct
(quoted)
speech;
speech
marks
lexical chains;
synonyms
evaluative
language
commas in
noun lists
3rd person personal
pronouns
homophones
Response/Diary
The Invention of
Money
noun groups;
collective nouns;
describing and
number adjectives
Information report
35
past, present and
future tense
Revision
30
32
Adverbs and
prepositional
phrases
(Circumstances)
specific participants
Procedure/Instructions
31
Verbs and verb
groups
(Processes)
general and specific
participants
direct
(quoted)
speech
24
25
simile; idiom
connectives
The Jacket
23
Nouns and
noun groups
(Participants)
Exposition/Argument/
Speech
Narrative/Comic strip
22
Mood and
modality,
language and
vocabulary
Poem/Description
Everyone Should Recycle
20
Word and word group level
Revision
general participants;
commas in noun lists
Student
Book D
Grammar Focus: Nouns, action verbs
Text type: Recount
Establish a context for Museum Visit by asking
students about their experiences of museums.
If students have never been to a museum, explain
the concept to them.
Read Museum Visit with students. Show them the
location of Canberra on a map of Australia. Decide
where the writer of Museum Visit might live if they
had to drive two hours to get to the museum.
Discuss the way time is sequenced in recount
texts. List the words in Museum Visit that tell
the time sequence: 7 am, 10 am, after lunch, five
o’clock. Jointly construct a timeline for the events
in the recount.
Talk to students about proper and common
nouns. Brainstorm things in the classroom that
are proper and common nouns. Make lists for
display. Make a list of nouns for things a visitor
might see in a museum.
Discuss the rule about action verbs. Make sure
that students understand that the form of the
Unit 1
verb changes to show that actions happened in
the past.
Discuss actions that students did yesterday.
Begin a sentence with Yesterday we . . . and have
each student add a past tense action verb. For
example, Yesterday we read, ran, jumped, walked,
sat, looked, listened, played . . . Create a word
bank of past tense action verbs that students can
refer to for spelling and writing.
Jointly construct a class recount. Make sure
students recognise the words that organise the
recount in a time sequence. Time order can also
be called chronological order. Gifted students
could investigate other words with the prefix
chrono, which means ‘time’, and present their
findings to the class.
Have students independently construct recounts.
Assess their use of nouns, action verbs, and time
order.
Grammar Focus: Nouns, thinking and feeling verbs
Text type: Recount
Read A Tasty Invention with students. Point out
that the first few sentences of the recount
are used to give background information. Tell
students that an earl is a British nobleman and
that Sandwich was the name of the place where
Montagu was an earl.
Discuss the way events described in the recount are
written in time order: first this happened and then
that happened and then the next thing happened.
Remind students that sentences start with a
capital letter and end in a full stop, question mark
or exclamation mark. Ask individual students to
present an oral reading of the text, reading one
sentence at a time per student, to clearly mark
the end of each sentence.
Student
Book D
Unit 2
read the proper nouns in the class lists and charts.
They can imagine they are earls and they can use
these accents to have fun with ‘proper’ nouns.
Reinforce students’ understanding of thinking and
feeling verbs by having them say what they think
of the Earl of Sandwich and his invention and
how they feel about sandwiches. Have them use
their ‘proper’ accents.
Create a class list of thinking and feeling verbs
to display in the room. Interested students or
students who need extension in English could use
a thesaurus to expand the list. Words on the list
could be grouped with synonyms or antonyms.
Have students write personal recounts and then
present these to the class as spoken texts.
Remind students that proper nouns start with a
capital letter. List the days of the week and the
months of the year on charts for classroom use.
Point out the capital letters for these proper
nouns. Use a ‘proper’ (or very formal) accent and
have students try out different ‘proper’ accents to
43