Chris Bentley is a Lead Practitioner at a secondary school and college in the UK, so knows a thing or two about teaching language to teenagers. In this post, he provides teachers with a ‘spoon’ for teaching clause elements.
Metalanguage, subject terminology, linguistic terms, whatever you want to call it, how and where to begin teaching language about language to students can prove to be like eating peas with a fork.
If your learners are from a range of schools, their knowledge can vary, therefore, a level ground needs to be obtained, so those with no knowledge can access the work, and those with great knowledge are still learning. A challenge! I have found that even those pupils with detailed knowledge of English, what they know can be quite isolated and they cannot link it together. Students’ understanding can be a hoarded mess and it is the responsibility of, we, obsessive compulsive teachers, to attempt to organise it.
I often find pupils know the names of sentence types, maybe clause types and some word classes but identifying them correctly can be a touch hit and miss. So where to start? Hopefully, below is a spoon to help you out with those peas!
Clause elements are a gift
Clause elements are a gift. They bring together word level knowledge and sentence level knowledge. In addition as there are only five clause elements they are accessible for all to learn. Yes the nuances between the function of some of the elements in context can be challenging; however, once they know the five, they can explore any clause using metalinguistic terms – from just learning five things!
Once this is taught, a knowledge of sentence types is easier to teach, you can drip in word level terminology linked to the clause element: it is the potential linchpin to hold together pupils linguistic knowledge.
I begin teaching clause elements by showing how it fits in to our units of grammar. Following this, I introduce pupils to the following five clause elements:
- Subject
- Verb
- Object
- Adverbial
- Complement
Depending on your group, you may wish to introduce them slower: first subject and verb, then the other three one by one. However, I find that most groups ask questions which lead you to teaching it at a faster pace.
Clause element class activities
I have used the following activities to consolidate pupils’ knowledge:
- Sentence labelling: This can seem dull but do it on mini whiteboards, and you’d be amazed at the positive response.
- Paper scrunch:Pupils write a sentence, scrunch their paper and throw it across the room. The next pupil labels it, scrunches it and throws it across the room. The final pupil checks it and feeds back to class. All pupils do this simultaneously so it can be a raucous activity. There are strict rules you will need to apply to do this.
- Quiz: Who doesn’t love a quiz? There are even websites such as Kahoot that have the potential of making it even more interactive.
- Clause Element grid: Pupils complete the grid (Link to grid) to practise the main clause structures
- Challenge the teacher/pupil: In pairs or groups, pupils have to think of a sentence that may trick the teacher, who then models labelling it to the class. As pupils improve, a class member can take the place of the teacher.
Keep an eye out for more ‘How to…’ posts from Chris as he gives you help on how to teach spelling when time is limited. In the meantime, you can find more ideas on Chris’s website teacherbentley.com or follow him on Twitter.