Grammar Punk Blog

The New Year is here. Resolutions abound, anticipation hovers, change is in the air and it’s all in front of us, just waiting for us to…do something about it. Grammar Punk is a good way to start the new year. Doing something different with a difficult subject is a great way to start the new year. Creating truly phenomenal writers is a stupendous way to start the new year.

Here’s a review sent by an unsolicited review group.  

There’s Nothing Punky about Grammar Punk

Grammar Punk is a rebellious little program that has thrown out the lectures and note taking when it comes to grammar. Forget about having your child spend oodles of time memorizing all those picky grammar rules. Pick up a Grammar Punk package and watch them learn through fun dice games and creative writing processes. Created by an English teacher fed up with traditional grammar curriculum, this system teaches proper grammar in such a way that kids have fun learning and doing. The learning and doing regime actually helps kids retain more of what they learn.

 
Doing is more fun than memorizing, and Grammar Punk dice games require kids to “to create their own sentences, dictated by the Grammar Punk dice and story cards.” Grammar rules are practiced with each written sentence and grammar rules become part of the child’s natural writing ability. There are five Packages which cater to different age groups and each one is packed with quality curriculum materials. The programs come complete with specialized grammar punk dice, grade-specific story cards, worksheets, and more than 180 pages of “lesson a day, exercises, activities, games and challenges.” There is a Creative Writing Course for older children and a Writer’s kit complete with all kinds of “writing how to’s.” They even offer a homework package so that students can reinforce their grammar skills at home. When it comes to learning grammar, this fun “punky” program really has it together.

Our New Year’s Resolution at Grammar Punk is to do our bit to encourage those great writers just lurking beneath the surface of those students struggling with dry rules and diagramming sentences.

 Happy New Year!

Parsing Your Words

I’ll say it again, I love this language.  And there’s so much of it to love. And those choices shouldn’t be squandered. Or neglected. Or abandoned.

I’m talking about the either or’s that come into play when choosing which word to use in a particular situation. The real fun is choosing the word that not only explains what you want to explain but also conveys the emotion behind the thought. And if you also come across as a bit smarter than others may have thought you were, well, that’s just the frosting on top.  

This occurred to me when I was searching for the word obfuscate. Excellent word, obfuscate, it means to confuse, disguise, conceal. Any of those words would do, any of them would have filled the concept I was reaching for but obfuscate gave the thought that extra bit of…oomph. And oomph, when it is called for, is everything.

Gravitas is another great example of a conceptual sort of word. Yes, you could say dignity but doesn’t gravitas sound more…dignified? Snuffle rather than sniff, prevaricate over lie, gesticulating over gesturing, reconnoiter instead of investigate.

The key to concision in writing is choosing carefully but not so carefully that you stifle the creative flow, just pad your vocabulary with enough inventory that the choices will make themselves.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing this is a great point of discussion for your students. Challenge them to explore the limits of their vocabularies. And then to push those limits. Then write about it. And share!

Just when you thought it was safe…  

In the west of France they have the Twelve Days of, known as a song, “La Foi de la loi.” It involves: a good stuffing without bones

1. two breasts of veal,
2. three joints of beef,
3. four pigs’ trotters,
4. five legs of mutton,
5. six partridges with cabbage,
6. seven spitted rabbits,
7. eight plates of salad,
8. nine dishes for a chapter of canons,
9. ten full casks,

10. eleven beautiful full-breasted maidens,

11. and twelve musketeers with their swords.

Leave it to the French to turn the Twelve Days into an orgy of eating things. Oh that and the…well-endowed maidens and some musketeers to round out the picture.

And don’t leave out the Scots. In Scotland, this goes back to the early 19th century and begins with:

“The king sent his lady on the first Yule day,

1. 1.    A popingo-aye [parrot]; Wha’ learns my carol and carries it away?”
2. 2.    Then there are two partridges,
3. 3.    three plovers,
4. 4.    a goose that was grey,
5. 5.    three starlings,
6. 6.    three goldspinks,
7. 7.    a bull that was brown,
8. 8.    three ducks a-merry laying,
9. 9.    three swans a-merry swimming,

10. an Arabian baboon,

11. three hinds a-merry hunting,

12. three maids a-merry dancing,

13. three stalks o’ merry corn.

They like three, the Scots do.

Thus the Twelve Days of Christmas is officially put to bed. And since the twelve days is officially going on for the folk who thought it up…yes, I’m still talking about Christmas. And now I’m done.

12 Drummers Drumming

I shall also go on and on about drummers drumming but I have to stop and comment on twelfth for a moment. What’s with that number? Doesn’t it just look odd? Not to mention sound odd. You can’t really pronounce the F in the middle there, go ahead and try. Twel-fu-th. See? Doesn’t work. Why isn’t it a V? Twelvth? As in twelve. Just a thought.

I guess I won’t go into too much of a quandary about what kind of drums these particular drummers are drumming on, a drum is a drum, right? And so I looked… And there are: Snare drums, bass drums, tom toms, bongos, congas, cajon, tabla, and tympani’s. And I’m sure there are many, many more but that’s as far as I was prepared to look. Besides, all I can think of is what a splitting headache the true love has by now and that she has no doubt broken things off and is on a coffee date with an old boyfriend who had better sense than to attempt the Twelve Days of Christmas.

And speaking for all of us at Grammar Punk we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you all plan to begin the New Year as Grammar Punks!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

11 Pipers piping

As we wind down this little foray into the 12 Days of Christmas I’m detecting a theme. Rich people have it pretty good. While the rest of us content ourselves with finding the perfect toaster, fuzzy slippers, power tools, Easy-Bake Ovens, and iPhone eleven guys with bagpipes stuff themselves into the room along with the partridge, turtle doves, hens, geese, swans, maids, ladies and lords and still leave room for the percussionists still to arrive.

It seems to be the consensus that the pipes being piped are bagpipes, which certainly makes sense. If you don’t mind the six geese to stop laying and become very interested in the pipers as kindred spirits in honking.  

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Ten lords-a leaping

And on. Dancing I can get behind, dancing is nice, dancing is beautiful, dancing is… dancing. But leaping? What, off cliffs? Into swimming pools? Big bowls of Jell-o?

On the other hand I do like the idea of the Lords doing the leaping instead of barking at the poor maids who already have their hands full with all that milking.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Nine ladies dancing

I must say this is when the song begins to go off the rails for me—practicality-wise. Nine ladies dancing? With whom are they dancing? There are also version where it is nine ladies in-waiting, which actually makes more sense, in the snooty-snotty rich people way of the rest of the song.

It’s also not lost on me that this song is as much about flow and imagery as literal birds and folk performing for some spoiled little princess-type.

Or maybe that’s just me. I’m just getting the feeling after the fourth or fifth over-the-top gift that his true love is going to be pretty hard to please next year.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, what do you think about all these ladies dancing?

 On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Eight maids a-milking

At some point in the song we have to stop and ask ourselves—say what?

An odd assortment of birds is one thing; certainly gold jewelry is hard to mess up, but cramming 8 poor maids already doing the fairly disagreeable job of milking cows (we can only presume) into it? Well, okay.

I myself have never milked an actual cow, though I’ve gotten close enough to a dairy farm or two to know that I am just happy with my ignorance. All I can say is this guy’s loved one better have a really large living room. And preferably an easy to clean floor…

And I’ve gotta say, it’s got to be getting pretty crowded in there.

Teachers of English, have some fun with this. What other things of 8 might you imagine fitting in this room?

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Seven Swans A-Swimming

The swan, or Cygnus are closely related to geese—I knew there was a reason I’m particularly fond of swans as well.

Swans are the largest members of the duck family and one of the largest flying birds with a wingspan that can reach 10 feet! Like geese they can also be on the protectively cranky side, often making as good a watch dog as a well, watch dog. Seriously, they are one of the few birds that have teeth!

Swans in groups are a bevy or when in flight a wedge. Just in case you were wondering.

Swans are just naturally elegant and regal looking so it’s no surprise they join the list of snooty gifts to be offered to one’s true love. The fact that they also form monogamous pairs that last for many years, not to mention that the males help out when it comes to nest-building and egg incubation puts a clincher on it.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, what do swans say to you?

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Six Geese A-Laying

This one is at least pretty straight forward. I don’t even care what kind of geese they’re talking about—except of course that they
are apparently female since they are “a-laying.” This is one of my favourite verses for two reason: six is my lucky number and I love geese.

Side note: Word, in all its infinite wisdom has just informed me—via squiggly red line—that favourite is heretofore to be spelled with a u. All righty then.  

Love them, I say. Seriously, geese are one of my all-time favourite birds, right in line with hummingbirds—which if you have
been reading this blog you know are at the top of the list. I have had a long-time fascination with geese, particularly delighting in their determined migration at the start of fall every year.

I can’t count how many times I’ve nearly run off the road when a flock of happily honking geese fly overhead, cheering one another on with their exuberant vocalization and frenetically flapping wings. Seriously, have you ever stopped to notice how frantically geese seem to flap their wings? They’re largish birds with a good-sized body to perform the always unlikely-looking feat of flight and I’m sure those wings have to flap overtime to get them in such nice tight formations.

You go geese.

Teachers of English, grammar, and writing, challenge your students to pontificate on their favorite bird. Then share!