In this article, we describe a small scale research project in which an English and a French student teacher on our Postgraduate Certificate of Education course work collaboratively to develop their personal knowledge and understanding of grammar and its role in teaching both subjects to 11 year old learners in an English comprehensive school. The project begins with university-based discussions about the role of grammar in language learning as expressed in a number of government documents and professional journals and continues in school with lesson observation by students of experienced teachers and of each other. Ways in which the cross-language focus beneficially influenced their classroom practice are suggested. The article concludes with the discussion of a number of issues about planning for language development and teaching about language across the curriculum which arise from the project and makes some modest proposals for a way forward within government policy which remains separatist
