Teach the parts of speech one at a time in the following order: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, conjunction, interjection, pronoun, and preposition. Provide and have students give numerous examples for each part of speech and draw pictures to illustrate nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.
Practice the parts of speech. As a group, build and change around sentences with students, using what they have learned about the parts of speech. According to The Apple, "Research shows these activities are more effective than freewriting in enhancing student writing." Take a sentence from a book the students are reading, or make one up, such as: "I took off my jacket and sat on a chair." Then, have students add adjectives and adverbs and observe how the sentence changes. Have the students practice these concepts on their own with worksheets in grammar books or printed from websites.
Teach the following grammar concepts one at a time after students fully understand the parts of speech: forming and combining sentences, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, contractions, homonyms, subject-verb agreement, and antecedent and pronoun agreement. Have students reinforce their lessons on an individual basis with worksheets and activity books.
Set aside reading time for students or have them read on their own. According to The Apple, "Research has shown that extensive reading helps students, especially English language learners, acquire grammatical structure." Ask them to write down sentences they like or think are interesting to them to share with the class and analyze them as a group.
Practice and reinforce grammar concepts by having students write and rewrite. Give out assignments, such as writing real letters to pen pals and celebrities, writing for the class blog or composing stories to entertain the other students. Proofread their writing; identify incorrect grammar usage, spelling, and punctuation; and have students rewrite their pieces without errors.