Learning about English grammar with word processing

Yvonne Cairns is teaching an English grammar lesson to her P5 class. In the first part of the lesson, pupils are asked to identify verbs, adjectives, nouns and proper nouns using a passage from a 'big book' version of The Wind in the Willows. In the second part of the lesson, the language exercise is extended using ICT. The pupils type in an extract from the book and then change the colour of words in the text to show which part of speech each represents.

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Teacher profile

Mrs Cairns has been teaching for six years in three different schools. She is currently teaching a P5 class at Deerpark Primary School. She has attended an ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) course, a comprehensive ICT skills training programme and Transforming Learning (a web-based course). She says that most of her ICT skills have been acquired through self-training in her own time.

Mrs Cairns uses ICT when teaching maths and language classes. She also uses the internet as a research tool for topic work.

Deerpark Primary School is located in the small village of New Sauchie, Clackmannanshire. It is a modern two-storey building, which opened in the late 1960s. The school is part of the Gartmorn and Delph campus, which includes two other nearby schools.

There are 150 pupils in the school and approximately 60 per cent of them have free school lunches. The average length of teacher service is 14 years. There are 30 computers in the school, all connected in a local network. There is a dedicated ICT room and each class is provided with a computer. There is an ICT coordinator, but this is not a full-time post. In-school ICT training and some local education authority courses such as New Opportunities Fund (NOF) training are available for staff.