Grammar Goals

Grammar Workout
Level 1
For parents
Dear Parent or Guardian,

Welcome to the Grammar Workout CD-ROM. You may have questions about
this CD-ROM and about your child’s English language learning in general.
To help you participate more fully in your child’s learning experience and
success, this section contains:

1. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

2. Tips for parents

We hope your child enjoys using this CD-ROM, and you enjoy it too.

Thank you,
The Grammar Goals team

FAQs
What is the Grammar Workout CD-ROM?
This CD-ROM provides a variety of interactive activities to help your child
practice the language they have learned in class. It can be played on any
computer that has a CD-ROM player. The activities should be played using
speakers or headphones as they involve listening skills, as well as reading
and writing skills.

What does this CD-ROM contain?

Language activities
Grammar Workout contains 50 interactive activities that provide your child
with further opportunities to practice and consolidate the grammar and
vocabulary they have learned in the Grammar Goals Student’s Book.

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 There are five activities for each unit in the Student’s Book. Depending on
the activity chosen, your child clicks on words or pictures, moves an item by
using the mouse, or types in words. Your child will quickly become familiar
with the six activity types and be able to approach them independently and
with confidence.

For more information about the activities, click on the help symbol.

Dictionary
The dictionary contains the pictures from the vocabulary panel in each unit of
the Grammar Goals Student’s Book. Below each picture is the corresponding
word. Children click on the audio icon to listen to the word. This will help
them review and consolidate key vocabulary, and familiarize themselves
with the pronunciation.

When should my child use this CD-ROM?

Grammar Workout should be used at home as homework, or in the classroom
as additional practice. Your child’s teacher will tell students when to use
the CD-ROM for home study to support them in their learning. Ideally, the
activities on Grammar Workout should be done after children have covered
the material in the Grammar Goals Student’s Book. Grammar Workout is
the perfect home study resource for practicing the grammar structures and
vocabulary taught in class.

How does the CD-ROM support my child’s learning?

Children learn in different ways, so Grammar Workout contains activities
that support visual, aural, and kinesthetic learning styles. For example,
they require your child to look carefully at pictures and text, listen to audio
recordings, and manipulate text and images using the mouse and the
keyboard.

As part of learner training, Grammar Workout can help your child to take
greater responsibility for their learning and encourage learner independence.
For example, your child can make decisions about when to use the CD-ROM
and which activities to choose. The activities are self-marking so children
can challenge themselves to beat their scores and repeat activities as often
as they want. They can also determine the pace of each activity by setting
the clock’s time limit to fast or slow.

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 Finally, using this CD-ROM will boost your child’s confidence in using
computers, which is one of the key job skills they will need in today’s
competitive global market.

Tips for parents

Parents can play a vital role in supporting their child’s education, and how
you get involved with your child’s home study can significantly extend and
consolidate classroom learning. Some of the ways you can support your
child in using this CD-ROM and the Grammar Goals Student’s Book are
listed below.

Using Grammar Workout with your child

Encourage awareness
• Instead of showing your child how to use the CD-ROM, encourage
independent thinking by asking them to show you how to use it.

• After completing an activity, encourage your child to tell you what they
have learned. For example, ask them what they can say or identify in
English, or get them to point to and name vocabulary around the home.

Give support
• Take an active interest in your child’s learning by doing the activities with
them. This is a fun and easy way to keep up with children’s progress, and
they will be more motivated if there is someone to praise them when they
do well at an activity.

• Support your child in their organization by agreeing on a suitable time

and a quiet place for home study. Establish a regular routine for home
study so that your child knows what to expect and can fit other activities
around their learning.

• Look at the scoreboard with your child to check how they are
progressing. Praise children for getting a bronze, silver, or gold medal for
an activity. If they get a bronze or silver medal, encourage them to try
again to win a gold medal. If the scoreboard shows that they should “try
again,” encourage them to continue until they win a medal.

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 • When your child has finished all the activities and achieved their best
score, print out and display the scoreboard. This will remind them how
far they have come and help to keep up motivation.

Using Grammar Goals Student’s Book with your child

• Encourage your child to tell you what they have been learning in class.
Ask your child to show you the pages of the Student’s Book they have
been working on and to tell you what they have learned.

• Point to pictures in the Student’s Book. Get your child to tell you what
they show and name the items they can see in them.

• Look at the grammar presentation text that your child has done in
class. Ask your child to point to the pictures and describe what they
can see.

• Regularly revisit review sections that your child has completed. Go over
the exercises and the answers your child has written. Encourage them
to explain how they chose which medal(s) to color in the final self-
assessment task.

• Extend learning by taking language structures learned in the Student’s

Book into the home. For example, if your child learns a question form,
encourage them to ask the question to different members of the family.

• If there are younger siblings in your family, encourage your child to

“teach” them something they have learned in the Student’s Book.

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