How to Teach English Grammar
Insight’s methods feature fresh perspectives. Using the same old approaches is often the way to go, but they don’t work every time, and not with every student. Whenever you need to try a new approach in order to reach every student, you don’t need to develop alternate methods on your own; take advantage of the methods in these videos!
The videos are just the beginning.
They are condensed for the sake of demonstrating methods to teachers, but students need more information and interaction. Insider Access helps with that.
Students learn best through teachers.
While they can benefit from viewing the videos directly, students learn most effectively through teachers who know the material well and can connect with their learners.
Videos don't replace your curriculum.
Continue using whatever syllabus and books you already have in place; Insight's videos and other resources simply help you explain grammar topics more easily.
The videos are for you.
What you get out of them
is for your students.
What you get out of them is for your students.
Adapting the Videos for Teaching
Watch
Watch a video yourself to learn our method for a given grammar topic.
Access (optional)
Open the corresponding slideshow so that you can bring the visuals of the video into your classroom.
Integrate
Consider how you'd apply your own teaching style in conjunction with the Insights method.
Plan
Think about moments along the way when you can do comprehension checks with your students.
Download (optional)
Download one or two printouts for that topic for you to share with your students.
Prepare
Arrange some practice material you can squeeze between the content, along with some activity that follows.
Present
Present the lesson to your class, going at a slower pace appropriate for your students' level and making room for questions along the way.
Grammar Series
Fundamentals
Passive Forms
Question Forms
Tenses
Helping Verbs
Verbals
Indirect Speech
Unreal Mood
Modifier Clauses
Noun Phrases
Complex Sentences
Complex Sentences is largely a combination of the Modifier Clauses series and relevant topics from Indirect Speech and Unreal Mood.
The content's the same;
the perspectives are new.
You may have noticed ...
Focus on Structure & Usage
Most of our methods are all about either sentence structure or usage. We touch on forms of individual words less often, and we hardly ever address infection or pronunciation. All five of these are important, but form and pronunciation tend to be more straightforward, so we let teachers decide for themselves how to present those. We dedicate our resources to the trickier stuff.
American English
We mostly use American English, although most ESOL books primarily use British English. We do this because our founder and lead content creator is American, so it’s what comes natural to him. Just think of this as an excuse to teach your students some of the differences between British English and American English.
Working in Phrases
Most of the time when we say ‘noun’, we actually mean ‘noun phrase’, which typically includes determiners (like articles, possessives, and quantifiers) and sometimes adjectives. We often do the same with verb strings; auxiliary verbs, ‘not’, and sometimes adverbs are included when we say ‘verb’.
Within the framework of a sentence, combining all those individual words into one block is generally helpful, as they act together to serve a single purpose.
Colored Text
Our videos feature selective colored text. Colors stand out and help students know what to pay attention to. We’re rather consistent with our color choices so that students learn to expect certain things from certain colors. We recommend using this same technique yourself. Read our article to learn more.
Beyond the Videos
Series & Topic Overviews
all you need to know about a series and how its topics relate to one another, as well as what to expect for each individual video
Proficiency Levels
the appropriate language level your students should be at for each topic
Prerequisites
the related topics, terms, and other ideas your students should be familiar with before diving into a given topic
Related Tips
teaching techniques, tools, and other tips that may be particularly helpful for each topic
Practice Activities
Short end-of-lesson activities so that students can engage in free practice for each topic
Recommended Projects
one or two projects in which students get to incorporate the topic into English production in a fun an creative way
Bonus Notes
each topic's collection of exceptions, extensions, alternatives, examples, and other details that couldn't be fit into the video
Printouts
visual representations or easy reminders of the topics that can be handed out to students or placed as posters on the classroom walls
Slideshows
the visuals from Insights's videos at your fingertips, so you can control the pace and explain it your own way
Glossary
the definitions of various terms that Insights uses to explain topics and methods
Ancillary Topics
additional topics for each series, some of which may shed more light on how the core topics of that series work or fit together
Appendicies
the details of tertiary grammar points that feed into the core topics (e.g. Helping Verbs, Past Participle, Subordinating Conjunctions, etc.)
Series & Topic Overviews
all you need to know about a series and how its topics relate to one another, as well as what to expect for each individual video
Proficiency Levels
the appropriate language level your students should be at for each topic
Prerequisites
the related topics, terms, and other ideas your students should be familiar with before diving into a given topic
Bonus Notes
each topic's collection of exceptions, extensions, alternatives, examples, and other details that couldn't be fit into the video
Printouts
visual representations or easy reminders of the topics that can be handed out to students or placed as posters on the classroom walls
Slideshows
the visuals from Insights's videos at your fingertips, so you can control the pace and explain it your own way
Related Tips
teaching techniques, tools, and other tips that may be particularly helpful for each topic
Practice Activities
Short end-of-lesson activities so that students can engage in free practice for each topic
Recommended Projects
one or two projects in which students get to incorporate the topic into English production in a fun an creative way
Glossary
the definitions of various terms that Insights uses to explain topics and methods
Ancillary Topics
additional topics for each series, some of which may shed more light on how the core topics of that series work or fit together
Appendicies
the details of tertiary grammar points that feed into the core topics (e.g. Helping Verbs, Past Participle, Subordinating Conjunctions, etc.)
All of the Beyond the Videos content and features are exclusive to Insiders.