The Brooklyn School of Language Arts offers a comprehensive supplemental grammar curriculum designed to build strong foundational skills for students of all levels. Recognizing grammar as the cornerstone of effective communication, the curriculum is structured to systematically develop proficiency through clear instruction, practice, and application. This approach not only enhances writing and speaking abilities but also supports reading comprehension and critical thinking.

The grammar curriculum at BSLA begins with an initial assessment to identify each student’s current level of understanding, ensuring personalized pathways that address individual strengths and areas for growth. This diagnostic process allows instructors to tailor lessons that meet students’ needs, whether they are beginners familiarizing themselves with basic parts of speech or advanced learners perfecting complex sentence structures.

At the core of the curriculum is a focus on the fundamental components of grammar. Students engage deeply with parts of speech, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. Each category is taught through detailed explanations supported by examples from both standard American English and varied English dialects, fostering language inclusivity. Exercises emphasize identifying these parts of speech in sentences, understanding their roles, and applying them correctly in writing.

Verb tenses and their correct usage constitute a significant portion of the curriculum. BSLA ensures students become comfortable with past, present, and future tenses, including simple, perfect, continuous, and perfect continuous forms. Through exercises involving sentence rewriting, dialogue construction, and error correction, learners develop fluency and flexibility in expressing time relationships accurately. Moreover, attention is given to subject-verb agreement and irregular verb forms to eliminate common mistakes.

Sentence structure and syntax are addressed meticulously. Students learn how to construct simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. The curriculum introduces concepts such as clauses, phrases, modifiers, and sentence connectors, empowering students to formulate coherent and sophisticated sentences. This focus nurtures clarity and variety in both written and spoken communication and aids in avoiding run-on sentences and fragments, common challenges for English learners.

The curriculum also emphasizes punctuation and mechanics, essential for clarity and professionalism in writing. Comprehensive lessons cover the use of commas, periods, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, apostrophes, and other punctuation marks. Students practice identifying punctuation errors and learn to punctuate diverse sentence types correctly. This rigorous approach enhances readability and precision, key skills for academic and professional success.

An integral part of the grammar curriculum is the exploration of common grammatical errors and how to avoid them. These include misuse of pronouns, double negatives, misplaced modifiers, parallel structure errors, and incorrect word forms. By analyzing these errors through exercises and writing assignments, students develop self-editing skills and gain a deeper understanding of grammar rules in practical contexts.

In addition to traditional grammar instruction, BSLA incorporates interactive technology and multimedia resources. These include grammar games, online quizzes, and instructional videos that cater to various learning styles and make grammar practice engaging. Regular assessments, both formative and summative, help track progress and provide feedback, enabling continuous improvement.