This is obvious, but it must be said. I have sat in classroom where the teacher told the students that adjectives modified nouns, pronouns, and other adjectives. Ahhhhh! (Adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns.)

Don't pass your confusion on to your students. Use teaching them as an opportunity for YOU to teach yourself more. Learn what your teachers didn't teach you, and pass on clarity of thought to your students, not confusion.

2. Relate Grammar to Your Students' Lives

There is nothing more boring than listening to your teacher drone on about something that you think has nothing to do with you.

I don't mean to say that you have to make artificial stories about how knowing grammar will positively impact your students' lives.

Even something as simple as making example sentences that include the students' daily routines, interests, or even just their names can make a big difference. Make an effort to know your students, and then put that knowledge into their lesson plans.

My students would always be tickled when I did this. It kept them paying attention, and it increased our rapport.

3. Switch It Up!

Let's face it. Sometimes, teaching grammar can get boring -- for you and for your students. If you are nearing the middle of the year, and the same old lesson plans are making you feel nauseated, chances are that the students are feeling the same way. This is not the best way to teach or learn.

If you're feeling like you're drowning from your teaching pattern, switch things around. Take a couple of weeks and do a project, take a couple days and play a grammar game with them, or watch the Grammar Rock videos. Just do something that will change the pattern for a bit.

Don't think that you must spend every second having them answer the same grammar exercises. We don't want our kids to conclude that learning is boring -- it's not!

4.Do You Like Grammar?

If you do not like your subject, chances are, that feeling will rub off onto your students. If you don't like grammar, you cannot change who you are, but you can try to mask your dislike a bit.

5. Games

Playing a few games now and then is a great way to switch up your routine, and a good way to learn grammar.

Mad Libs was always a favorite for my students. Mad Libs helps students to master the parts of speech and create ridiculously silly stories at the same time; they love it!

The adverb game is another favorite game. Play this by having one student leave the room and choose an adverb. Then, the class gives this student orders, and he must complete the orders in the manner of the adverb. The class must guess what the student's adverb is. This can get quite silly, but perhaps that is why students love it!

Consider introducing some sentence diagramming into your lessons. Diagramming is like a word game where you must place the words in the right spaces. My students thrived when we worked on sentence diagramming, and they were really excited to learn more. It was great.

Elizabeth O'Brien invites you to learn more about teaching grammar and sentence diagramming at her website, http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com

Diagramming sentences is one of the most underrated ways to learn English grammar. Both my students and I found that diagraming sentences was fun, and it made grammar acquisition much easier.

Check it out! http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com