ENGLISH 

YEAR 1, 2 AND 3

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

By the end of Year 3  WKH  FRPSRQHQW  RQ  OLVWHQLQJ  DQG VSHDNLQJ  DLPV  DW  GHYHORSLQJ  SXSLOV¶  DELOLW\  WR  OLVWHQ  DQG respond to stimulus with guidance, participate in daily conversations, listen and demonstrate understanding of text, talk about stories heard; and listen and follow simple instructions.  The learning standards for listening and speaking range from the discrete sound, word and phrase recognition to an understanding of chunks of heard texts.   Listening and speaking are seen as core skills of early literacy.  As such, pupils should be taught how to listen carefully as well as feel encouraged to speak from the basic level of sound, word, phrase and move on to structural sentences in various situational contexts.  At every stage, the stress, rhythm and intonation patterns need to be used correctly.  In addition, pupils are also encouraged to recognise, understand and use verbal and non-verbal communication.  Oral communication practice by means of repeating, responding, understanding and applying what pupils have heard sensitises their senses to be ready for communication.

Relationships are established through the ability to communicate by listening first then speaking thoughts, ideas and feelings.  It is hoped by the end of primary school, pupils should become confident speakers who can communicate clearly, appropriately and  coherently in any given context.           Pupils need to listen carefully and respond to what others say and think about the needs of their listeners.  Social conventions in listening and speaking such as turn taking, politeness and courtesy need to be  observed.         These are crucial especially in group discussions where viewpoints and opinions  are exchanged.             The use of various text types is recommended; ranging from teacher- simulated texts to media broadcasts and authentic dialogues.

READING

The Year 1, 2 and 3 learning standards for reading addresses basic literacy using the strategies of phonics and moves on to enable pupils to become independent UHDGHUV ,Q WKH EHJLQQLQJ   SXSLOV¶  SKRQHPLF  DZDUHQHVV  ZLOO  EH developed by means of phonics.       Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words.   This ability to recognize letter sounds is an essential and useful early reading skill.  Pupils should be made aware of  the   relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spelling that represent those sounds in written language). The ability to recognize letter sounds is

further developed by blending individual sounds to build words.   After pupils have begun to read words, this ability is further honed by reading rhyming phrases.  In order to spell, pupils are taught segmenting, in which pupils segment or break the word into individual sounds.

As pupils begin to read words, phrases and then move on to simple sentences, their reading skills should be supported by appropriate reading materials which will further develop their reading ability.  This further enables them to increase the pace of their reading, and equally, enable them to comprehend a text more effectively and efficiently. However, in a second language context, it is  appropriate for teachers to begin phonics instruction by first letting pupils listen to rich language input in English.  The guiding principle in using phonics to teach reading is for pupils to enjoy the activities selected.          Hence the use of songs, rhymes, poems,  stories and pictures to make phonics instruction more enjoyable is encouraged.

Teachers are encouraged to gauge the literacy level of their pupils in Year One, if pupils are able to read well, teachers will not  have to deal with the phonemes individually.   Teachers can then develop challenging language activities and games which will  hone  their vocabulary development.   If pupils have difficulty articulating particular phonemes then teachers will have to deal with problematic phonemes individually although pupils may be reading well.

WRITING

The learning standards for writing begin with pre-writing skills, which addresses penmanship, the formation of words as well as  numbers in clear print.   Specific learning standards are attributed to penmanship so that even from a young age, pupils are taught  good writing habits.                                                                                             Special attention should be given in order to strengthen the muscles  of  the hand, develop visual skills, enhance gross and fine motor skills as well as develop hand-eye coordination to help pupils acquire penmanship.  Correct formation of letters of the alphabet is important in order to help pupils write neatly and later on write words, phrases and sentences legibly.  By the end of Year 3, pupils will master the mechanics of writing and then learn to write  at  word, phrase and sentence levels.                                                                   Specific writing activities devised during lessons will enable pupils to  begin writing for a purpose as stipulated in the learning standards.

 LANGUAGE ARTS

The standards for language arts in Year 1, 2 and 3 will explore the power of story, rhyme and song to DFWLYDWH SXSLOV¶ imagination and interest, thus encouraging them to use English language widely.  This component will ensure that they benefit from hearing and using language from fictional as well as non-fictional sources. Through fun-filled and meaningful  activities  in  this  component,  pupils  will  gain  rich  and  invaluable  experiences  in  using  the  English language.  When taught well, pupils will take pride in their success.                                                                                                                         They will also benefit strongly from consistent praise for effort and achievement by the teachers with the aim of making their learning as rewarding as possible. Pupils will also be encouraged to plan, prepare and produce simple creative works.  In addition, the Language Arts module also provides pupils an opportunity to integrate, experiment and apply what they have learnt in the other modules in fun-filled, activity-based and meaningful experiences.

 GRAMMAR

The  learning  of  grammar  is  deferred  to  Year  3.  In  Year  1  and  2,  the  emphasis  is  for  pupils  to  develop  an understanding of grammar in their first language and this understanding may then be exploited in Year 3 onwards when English grammar is learnt.