Bring Grammar to Life with Pearson Modular Grammar Powered by Nearpod

Christina Cavage
By Christina Cavage

We are constantly seeking out ways to engage our English language learners, especially during these unprecedented times. Whether your students are sitting in the classroom with you, or joining your class remotely, you are probably contemplating how you can increase learner activity and engagement. Teaching English grammar in an interactive, hands-on manner has consistently been a challenge for many of us.

How can we make it come alive?

How can we get students to move beyond the drill and kill type of approach many have grown accustomed to?

How can we appeal to today’s learners who are often more connected to their mobile devices than they are to the classroom? 

Well, if you have been following along, you are probably pretty aware of what Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod is, and what a powerful tool it can be. It not only presents grammar in an interactive, engaging manner, but appeals to today’s learners by delivering instruction to them via their mobile devices…hands on learning for today’s learners.

Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod

Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod is a library of lessons on the most critical grammar structures. It includes grammar instruction and engaging practices, allowing you to fill in the gaps in your grammar instruction. But, what makes it so engaging? Well, the platform, built by Nearpod, includes several exercise types that serve as great practices, assessments and engagement tools. Let’s take a look at some of these exercises.

Collaborate! activity
Collaborate! Activity

First, we have the Collaborate! activity. This is a collaboration board that allows students to ‘post’ their ideas for everyone to see. These types of tasks are great for assessing background knowledge, starting a discussion, checking what students know, and reviewing homework. Students can read one another’s posts, and even like one another’s posts.

Matching
Matching Activity

Another great activity type is Matching. With the matching activity, students can match pictures to text and text to text. This exercise is great for matching sentence halves, questions and answers, and vocabulary terms.

Draw It Activity

Next, we have Draw It! Draw Its allow students to interact with content. They can do so by drawing with their finger, perhaps circling, underlining, or even writing. Different colors can be chosen, and students even have the option to type rather than use their finger. Draw Its are great for getting students to notice the grammar. Asking them to identify structures, or functions in context can help them see the grammar come alive while interacting with it directly. As the teacher, you can see how each student interacted with the grammar. This can be a great resource for conferencing with students.

Video
Interactive Video

One of the most engaging tools is the Interactive Video. The interactive video allows students to receive a video lesson, and during that short micro-lesson, there are quick checkpoints to assess a student’s understanding. Open-ended or multiple choice questions can be asked throughout the video. Having students watch short videos to learn, and then having checkpoints can really do a lot to get students engaged in the lesson being presented.

There are several other great activities as well: polls, open-ended questions, quizzes and races, like the Time to Climb, and those are highlighted below. As you can see, there is a lot to the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod. It can supplement your instruction, and make grammar truly come to life by engaging students in a wide variety of ways.

Exercise Type What it is How it is used for engagement?
Collaboration Board Allows all users to post their ideas; like others’ ideas; text or images Engage on-site and distance students; hear others’ ideas; social learning
Draw It Students can underline, circle, draw, write or type Engage with content, interact with content
Polls Quick checks of thoughts, ideas or formative assessment; can be timed Allows everyone to see what others are thinking
Open-Ended Question Allows students to write multiple sentences; can be timed Share writing; ideas; review homework
Matching Match pictures to text, text to text; can be timed Ideal for vocabulary, sentence halves, question and answers
Fill in the Blanks Sentence completion, vocabulary or grammar in context; can be timed Great for application of new skills
Time to Climb Students ‘race’ one another; ideal for formative assessment or review; can be timed Gamification; competition
Quizzes Multiple choice for formative and summative assessment Assess in a fun, interactive way
Interactive Video Video with checkpoints to assess microlearning Keep students engaged in learning new content

To learn more about the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod, visit pearsoneltusa.com/nearpod. We also encourage you to watch the recorded webinars with Christina Cavage to learn more about this great program. You can view our webinars here.

Extend Your Grammar Instruction with Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod

Christina Cavage
By Christina Cavage

What a year it’s been! We are entering a new academic year during unprecedented times. If you are like me, you are looking for ways to deeper engage your English language learners whether they are sitting in the classroom with you, seeing you via Zoom, or participating in your asynchronous online environment. If we have learned anything this year, we have learned that we have to revisit how we present content, and how students interact with content during remote instruction.  That’s where the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod comes in.

What is Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod

First, let’s review what exactly it is. Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod is a library of lessons on the most critical English grammar structures. It includes grammar instruction and engaging practices. The idea behind the delivering it via the Nearpod platform is that it allows you fill in the gaps in grammar teaching in an engaging yet pedagogically sound manner. You can supplement your teaching, whether it be listening, speaking, or writing with these supplemental grammar lessons. However, the greatest thing about this platform is that it allows you, the teacher, to reorganize a lesson, modify a lesson, delete content from a lesson, and even add content and activities to the lessons. Thus, it is a truly customizable content. In essence, lessons and content can be tailored to your courses’, program’s or students’ needs.

Once you add a lesson to your library, it is yours to modify. You can reorder slides or delete slides you do not need.

Let’s say you want to modify. You can modify existing content by changing questions, adding images, or even altering quiz questions.

Watch this short video to see how you can easily modify content.

By doing so, you can be sure to cover the student learning outcomes (SLOs) in our course. I also often change the names of people to reflect the students in my class! Or, consider modifying by changing the location of places used, or the images. One of my favorite things about the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod is the ability to add your own content and your own activities. There are several options when adding content. Here is a Nearpod’s list.

List of Nearpod activities

There are some great options included in this list. A few of my favorites include Video, Flocabulary Video, Field Trip and Slideshow. If you showed a PowerPoint in class, you can create a slideshow of it, and embed it in your lesson. If you want to engage your students in a particular theme or place, add a Field Trip. These field trips take you to the moon, and around the world. The Flocabulary Video is a great way for students to have video storyboards and share with one another. And, then video. The video option is wonderful because you can add your own created video, or you can search on YouTube and find a video there. In either case, you can embed questions within the video. So, students watch a piece of the video, and then are presented with either an open-ended question or a multiple-choice question. This is a great engagement tool, as well as an excellent way to formatively assess your students.

Lastly, you can also add your own activities. There are several types of activities you can add. You can add collaborative discussion boards, polls, matching, open-ended questions and more. In the end, Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod provides curated content built on sound pedagogy that can be altered to meet your needs.

Watch this short video to see how you can easily add your own content to the course.

Let’s be honest, no one understands the needs of your program, your course and especially your students more than you!

Ready to give the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod a spin? Find out more information at nearpod.com/pearson or contact your dedicated ELT Sales Specialist for a demo at pearsoneltusa.com/reps.

Grammar on the Go and Beyond!: Pearson Modular Grammar Powered By Nearpod

By Christina Cavage

Today we are challenged in ways we have never been before. We are preparing to deliver classes both online and face-to-face. In our remote instruction, we are constantly seeking out tools that are accessible to our students as well as looking for ways to do those quick, formative checks in a digital environment. While in our face-to-face classes, we are often seeking out ways to deeper engage the iGeneration, and make lessons more appealing, yet just as effective. To complicate matters even more, costly texts often do not address all our student learning outcomes, leaving us to seek out additional materials.  These challenges can be overcome. The Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod was developed to meet and address these challenges. So, what exactly is it?

What is the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod?

Pearson Modular Grammar Powered by Nearpod is a library of grammar lessons built on Nearpod’s student engagement platform. Teachers can select the lessons they want to deliver in their classroom by adding them to their library. Once in your library, you can customize the lesson. By adding, deleting, or modifying the content you can give your students a truly tailored learning experience.

The Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod is organized by units. Within a unit there are several lessons. For example, the present time. This unit is organized around the theme of ‘Here and Now.’ There are four lessons within the unit, and every unit opens up with a section opener, and ends with a section closer. Take a look at the graphic below.

Structure of a unit

Once again, any of the content can be added to, or modified to meet the needs of your learners.

Activities and tasks are engaging. They include Collaborate!, a collaborative discussion board, matching, fill-ins, polls, open-ended tasks, draw-it activities, games, and more.  In summary, the flexibility and adaptability make the Pearson Grammar Modular Course Powered by Nearpod an excellent tool to supplement your current instruction, both in a face-to-face class and online, as well as in synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

Collaborate! board

You can learn more here.

To experience the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod yourself, contact your sales specialist and ask for a demo. Find your rep here.

Transform your grammar instruction with the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod

Pearson and Nearpod

By Gosia Jaros-White, Marketing Manager, Pearson ELT USA

Pearson is excited to announce a new partnership with Nearpod, a student engagement platform built to make teaching with technology easy. Using Nearpod’s student-centric, mobile-friendly platform, we are releasing the first level of Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod, a customizable supplementary grammar course.

The Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod offers high-quality curated grammar content developed by grammar subject matter experts. The structure of the course offers more targeted content that will allow programs to not only create the “playlist” of grammar learning objects that meet their course student learning outcomes but also a course that aims at meeting the personalized needs of students and institutions.

The Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod can be used as a supplement to any grammar, integrated skills or test prep course. The first (intermediate) level has just been released, and more levels are planned for release later this year.

Nearpod’s user-friendly, interactive design enables faculty to connect with learners and deliver highly interactive experiences, improving participation, engagement, and academic effectiveness. Nearpod allows instructors to reach and engage learners in more compelling ways in any learning environment—in classroom and at home, both synchronously and asynchronously.

The winning features of the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod

Customized grammar curriculum with compelling content

High-quality curated grammar content created by Pearson grammar subject matter experts is organized into grammar modules that can be easily accessed and combined for a unique curriculum that meets students learning outcomes. Instructors can also easily add their own content with interactive features.

Student engagement like you’ve never seen before

With the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod, students engage with content, using their own devices in a dynamic and interactive way. Instructors can monitor learning, observe activities, and personalize content based on students’ needs.

The Nearpod platform delivers a rich collaborative experience and content that captures students’ attention, keeping them engaged and focused, and minimizing off-task behavior.

  • Nearpod VR immerses learners into the lesson with virtual field trips and is a perfect tool for presenting grammar in context.
  • Instructors can share content and assessments in real-time. Quizzes, interactive activities, slideshows, and videos allow for highly interactive and engaging practice.
  • Live group discussions and polls allow for collaborative experience, even in remote settings.
  • Formative assessments and instant feedback give students opportunities to demonstrate progress.
  • Detailed post-lesson reports allow for progress tracking and lesson planning.

Reaching every student on his/her learning journey

The flexibility of the Nearpod platform takes a lot of the stress and planning out of individualized and differentiated instruction. The program can be used in a lab, small group or whole instruction, for project-based learning, and more! Plus, it’s easy to duplicate and edit lessons for when instructors need to provide modified versions for some students.

Seamless integration

Learners can access their grammar course on most devices, operating systems, learning management systems (LMSs), and web browsers. Nearpod easily integrates with Canvas, Blackboard, Google, Schoology, and Office 365.

Perfect tool for distance learning

The Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod supports online teaching and learning, addressing both the issue of student engagement and the need for high quality content that instructs, engages, and informs.

Student-centered learning experience can be delivered in both live lessons and as a self-paced independent work. With the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod, learning is always collaborative and social, even while remote. Finally, the course can be delivered via many LMSs or with web-based conferencing tools for synchronous instruction. Learn more about the Pearson Modular Grammar Course Powered by Nearpod here.

View the brochure here.