Parents Improve Your Grammar in Minutes

Dr. Phillips leading participants in grammar dance

Dr. Wanda Phillips grew up “in the hills of Pennsylvania,” with parents who “spoke the worst grammar you could ever know.” But with dozens of years of teaching and 28 books published on the topic, she is now an expert in teaching grammar to students, parents and teachers.

She presented a brief overview of her methods to participants in a Friday breakout session.

Dr. Phillips offers “grammar camp” free to parents in school districts across Arizona, she said.

“If I can come do a camp for you, they start correcting their children. Therefore, you have a better chance of those children learning to speak properly,” she told attendees.

She walked attendees through a lesson on irregular and regular verbs: “An irregular verb does not add ‘ed’ to the past and the past participle form. Use ‘has, have, or had’ with the past participle.”

“Parents who use irregular verbs incorrectly teach that to their children,” she said. “That kindergartner has had 5 years to learn it incorrectly and then they expect you to fix it.”

Dr. Phillips then dove into another lesson: adverbs. She included a handout to share with teachers.

“If it is an action verb, and you’re telling how, you must use ‘well.’ You may be a good cook, but you ‘cook well,’” she said. “I write well. I think well.”

Lessons need to be cyclical, taught and retaught. They can and should use song, movement and rhyme.

“In order to really succeed, we need to put a movement to it,” she said. “By then, they have mastered it.”

To teach direct objects, Phillips suggested throwing a ball across the room.

“I threw a ball. What’s the object? The ball,” she said.

Grammar lessons need to cover nouns, pronouns, compounds, subjects, verbs and more.

“We want children to speak using correct English at the automatic level. That’s the first thing that comes to the mind,” she said.

Her grammar camps include an assessment for parents, one she gave to audience members.

“Why is this so important? If children do not use the correct past participle form, it will affect their writing and teaching and people will judge you on your communication,” she said. “People assume you cannot learn. We can change every child’s vernacular to improve their options in life.”

Michelle Reese
Higley Unified School District