"Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to break them." (Robert Graves)

For a sample of this fascinating resource for teachers of children ages 9 and upwards, click on the book below:

AUD$39.95 - Download an order form to get your copy and to find out more about bulk orders.

An Expert's View on Grammar For Life

His words below say everything that needs to be said about the teaching of this fascinating subject:

Foreword to Grammar For Life

Creative syntax combines words in novel ways and creative morphology combines word-blocks to make new words. Creative grammar permits the highest forms of verbal art: poetry, science, jokes, wise advice - as well as lies, nonsense and rabble-rousing.

Grammar is probably the most important mental ability we have, and the one that distinguishes us most sharply from other animals. But, like any other ability, it doesn't come to us fully developed by Mother Nature. What grows naturally is just a small part of what adults need to function properly in the modern world. If you can't combine words or make new words comfortably, then life is limited.

How then can we help the next generation to the sophisticated grammar that modern society demands? This is where schools come in, and indeed the teaching of grammar has been one of the traditional functions of schools from the earliest days of literate society in the Middle East.

In foreign languages, schools can teach children everything they need to know, at least at elementary levels; but in the native language, there's simply too much of it for schools to teach, item by item. Instead, schools can help by teaching children to talk about grammar, to think about it, and to notice it.

Armed with this mental skill, the skill of thinking about grammar, children can then learn much more easily from the language around them (and especially from their reading).

Unfortunately, all the English-speaking countries rejected the teaching of grammar in the middle of the twentieth century, and are only just now starting to recognise its value again.

So what can school teachers do about grammar, a subject that they themselves were never taught? This question is being asked throughout the Anglophone world, and in every country the answer is the same: teachers need imaginative and sensitive support from those who do know about grammar.

They don't need a course in grammar; what they need is material which they themselves understand and which they can use immediately with a class. As every teacher knows, there's nothing like teaching something to deepen your own understanding of it. And of course at the same time, you're introducing the next generation to the fascinating world of grammar. What a privilege!

I congratulate Lyn Stone on building an excellent bridge between modern grammar and the primary classroom. The easy explanations, modelled analyses and classroom material should make it highly accessible to school teachers whose expertise lies elsewhere.

Particularly important, in my opinion, are the very simple diagrams that she offers for showing how the words in a sentence fit together to make a single unified meaning; syntax without diagrams is like geography without maps.

Both teachers and pupils will appreciate these simple tools for exploring sentence structure; and maybe, in the long run, the children will even have these little diagrams in their minds in their more creative moments.

Richard A. Hudson, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at University College London

I Want To Teach Grammar: Where Do I Start?

As usual, tailor-making programs for hundreds of students began to grow into something else. All the facts were distilled and became a useful program. I've called it Grammar For Life.

The program became a popular professional development grammar workshop for teachers, homeschool parents, psychologists, and speech therapists.

Specific dates will be announced 6 weeks prior to commencement, but please feel free to register your interest through this page.