There is no doubt that a knowledge of grammar rules is essential for the mastery of a language, says Penny Ur in her book, "Grammar Practice Activities." A teacher relating lists of rules, forms and exceptions, however, is generally not sufficient for students to learn effectively. Instead, students need a range of activities that will give them extended practice and confidence in using new structures.

Present Grammar In Context
Context gives grammar a relationship with the real world and better enables students to understand, remember and use grammatical structures. You can give grammar lessons context by utilizing books, newspapers, personal experience, pictures and movies. Indeed, the real world is rich with materials that can give context to any grammatical point you are teaching. For example, you can use public signs to help teach the imperative by encouraging students to produce language such as "Keep dogs on leads" or "Buy tickets here."

Personalize Grammar Points
Make the language relevant to your students when teaching grammar. Asking a student to give you an example of a past simple sentence is unlikely to produce any interesting or meaningful language, perhaps no language at all. Asking a student what she did on the weekend or what the happiest day of her life was, however, will likely encourage her to produce relevant structures.

Give Task-Based Practice In New Structures
David Nunan notes in his book, "Task-Based Language Teaching," that it is important to encourage self-directed rather than teacher-directed learning. Students need practice in producing grammatical structures themselves, rather than just parroting a teacher or perpetually looking to her for answers. A picture of a busy street scene and five minutes to write down twenty things that are happening in the picture, for example, is a very effective way of giving students practice in using the present continuous.

Use Games Liberally
As Mario Rinvolucri explains in "Grammar Games," games are not just a Friday afternoon "reward." Rather, they are pivotal to the students' learning progress. Because games are motivating and fun, they don't "feel" like learning, but they encourage students to produce language because they want to participate in the game. For example, to teach the present perfect tense, ask one student to leave the room. The other students move themselves and the furniture around in the room. Invite the student back into the room to explain what has happened. She should attempt to produce sentences such as, "Tony has changed seats," "Erica has moved the desk," "Sam has turned the radio on," and so on. The teacher can have the class call out the changes she didn't notice.

Give Appropriate Feedback At The Right Time
It can be very frustrating for a student if he is constantly being interrupted by a teacher correcting his grammar. On the other hand, students need to know if they are producing the language correctly or not. Try and strike a balance between too much and too little criticism. One way to do this is to wait until the end of an activity and then draw attention to any repeated mistakes you heard. You can use the class to self-correct sentences you write on the board.