Bring Back Old School Entertainment to Teach Grammar

Any child of the 70's and 80's fondly remembers the days of Schoolhouse Rock on television. Catchy tunes and cute cartoons taught concepts of grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics and civics. Some of the most memorable episodes were in the Grammar Rock series. The kids who learned their alphabet with Big Bird on Sesame Street could sing along with Grammar Rock and learn about parts of speech.

The original Grammar Rock series, first aired from 1973 to 1985, addressed seven of the eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adverbs, pronouns, adjectives, conjunctions and interjections. The series was revived in 1993 and aired until 1999, and new songs were produced about prepositions and subject / predicate relationships. Just hearing the names of most of the tunes arouses curiosity:

"A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing"

"Verb: That's What's Happening"

"Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here"

"Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla"

"Unpack Your Adjectives"

"Conjunction Junction"

"Interjections"

"Busy Prepositions"

"The Tale of Mr. Morton"

Grammar Rock is a great way to introduce a part of speech, engage the learner's interest, and then proceed to drill and practicing usage of that part of speech. The students get so enthused about the songs, they often take the initiative to find them on the internet at home so they can sing along the next time they watch Grammar Rock in class!

Teachers who are fortunate enough to have an interactive whiteboard in the classroom can download Grammar Rock directly from the internet and save it to the classroom computer. Grammar Rock can also be purchased, along with all the other Schoolhouse Rock episodes, in DVD format from Amazon.com or at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

These fun visual grammar lessons prove that students appreciate quality, regardless of how "old school" the product is! What could be more fun than learning about the parts of speech while singing together?