Grammar is a very important thing to get right, and teachers should take extra care to impart proper grammar to all their students.  Sadly, grammar is often seen as a difficult and boring subject and one popular method of teaching is to just repeat the correct grammar for a certain situation over and over until it is memorised and able to be repeated, like a parrot.  This is dull for both teachers and students, and often only results in the students being able to repeat what they have learned, rather than resulting in a complete understanding that can be applied to all situations.

English grammar is very complex, and all its intricacies cannot truly be learned by rote, they must be really understood – and understanding is most easily achieved when students are engaged, interested and having fun during a lesson. To make sure you’re covering all the necessary topics with your students, you could check out the Grammar Boost lesson plans here.

Word puzzles are a useful and interactive method whereby students can learn all sorts of important parts of English grammar.  They can be used to encourage students to identify and understand various parts of a sentence; grammatical concepts like synonyms, tenses and conjugations; or incorrectly used grammar.  Word puzzles such as crosswords are easily modified to suit all age and skill levels and introduce an element of fun competition into the learning process, so they can be invaluable in forging a full and lasting understanding of English grammar.

Another game-based method of teaching grammar that you could use in teaching your students is Bingo.  The game of Bingo is based on people marking off spaces on their card until they fill in a row or column fully.  In normal Bingo these are numbers, drawn at random from a pool.  In grammar lesson Bingo, they could be pronouns, verbs, nouns, sentence structure, antonyms, and so on – students could use the daily newspaper and attempt to find correct examples of these grammatical concepts faster than each other, thereby “winning” the game – and learning in the process! Short and fun grammar exercises like this can be included on a regular basis during your lessons to keep correct grammar usage fresh your students’ minds and improve their recall of the topics at hand.

Age specified:
Many online educating websites offer games, lesson plans, worksheets etc designed, considering a particular age requirement. For example whatever a preschooler finds attractive may not be attractive for a kindergartner. So the curriculum to be taught is designed accordingly in order to make it interesting for children.

Motivation:
The best way of motivating a child is to make learning fun. And children like colorful and beautiful images, especially the young ones. Another good way of motivating them to learn is the use of online games. No doubt every age group of children loves playing games. Educational sites offer a variety of educational games. So this can drive children to learn by playing.

Choice:
Children are offered a lot of options in terms of selecting a particular section of their interest. They can choose whichever game they like to play with options to choose various levels. Online games come with an option to choose the levels of difficulties for example- very easy, easy, difficult. Similarly they can choose the worksheet levels which are given at the end of each lesson plan.

Skills development:
Children develop various skills when they opt for online education. So whenever a child opts for online education it further helps in developing the eye-hand coordination. For example- If children use a computer then they have to click the mouse looking at the screen. This also enables the development of the fine muscles. And when they play games or solve the worksheets they develop mental abilities. Some interactive lesson plans also enhance a child’s logical reasoning.

A major point to be kept in mind is that the children should not sit in front of the computer for long durations. It may affect their eyesight. In other words few things should be taken care of while going ahead with online education.

Convenience

Distance learning technologies can provide convenient locations for both students and instructors. Many of the technologies, such as the Internet and telephone, are easily accessed at home. Others, such as videoconferencing, can be distributed from a single point (such as a university) to multiple remote sites (such as schools). Satellite transmissions can be viewed at specified sites, or the transmissions can be recorded for later viewing at home or school.

Flexibility

Many forms of distance learning provide students the option to participate whenever they wish, on an individualized basis. For example, some students may want to review a podcast in the middle of the night or read their e-mail during early morning hours. In addition, one student may wish to spend 30 minutes reviewing a website, while another spends an hour.

Effectiveness

Not only is distance learning convenient, it is also effective. Several research studies have found that distance learning is equally or more effective than traditional instruction when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, when there is student-to-student interaction and when there is timely teacher-to-student feedback (Moore & Thompson, 1990; Verduin & Clark, 1991).

Affordability

Many forms of distance learning involve little or no cost. For example, almost all of the homes in the United States have televisions and many are connected to a cable-TV service. For these homes, it is relatively easy for the students to watch a public broadcast television show or educational documentary. In addition, almost all homes have access to a telephone and/or the Internet, enabling the use of voicemail and audioconferencing.

Multi-sensory

One of the benefits of distance learning is that there is a wide variety of materials that can meet everyone’s learning preference — at least part of the time. For example, some students learn from visual stimuli, such as video, and others learn best by listening or interacting with a computer program. If distance learning courses are well designed, they will likely offer learners a wide range of choices, thereby providing the optimal combinations of interaction and media.

Interactivity

Contrary to popular opinion, distance learning courses can offer increased interactions with students. In particular, introverted students who are too shy to ask questions in class will often “open up” when provided the opportunity to interact via e-mail or other individualized means (Franklin, Yoakam, & Warren, 1996). Through the increased interactions, teachers can better meet individual student’s needs.

Equity

Educational inequity is a major issue in this and other countries. Rural schools often have less contact with educational trends, fewer qualified teachers, and more need for technology. Distance learning offers great potential for alleviating these issues and has been employed very effectively in Canada and Australia — two countries with geographically diverse student populations.