How did I learn grammar?

There is a lot to say about my learning of grammar. I was sent to an "English Primary School" and that school really pushes us out of the limit in order to produce students qualified for the admission to the noble schools. I still remembered the Christmas holiday homework was torturing. I had a bad habit of holding my pencil hard so I remembered the time I finished the homework, my whole right hand sored after continous writing.
It was actually 300 questions of question tags. I kept writing, "isn't she?" and "Yes, she is" and so on so forth repitively. My grammar was taught in an old-fashioned way- just doing 323, 369, 288 those old-school English exercise books. In my primary and secondary school times, I was also sent to a tutor, an old lady, who only loves using the old-styled grammar books. I was like a training machine to finish the exercises without a purpose. Still, I have to thank for these OLD guys, as my language awareness in grammar was enhanced.  I was quite used to those "stock" grammar rules stained in my mind deeply.
My opinion on grammar learning is that I think langauge is a way of communication and grammar is just a means. Excessive training may not be suitbale for the present-day students. Instead, we should teach them the use of certain grammar and let them know how to use them precisely.