THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

English, as a languagenative speakers, making its presence felt far and wide. Being the most flexible language, it had borrowing and will borrow vocabulary from other languages and ensures that it is in a constant state of fluxindex of rise and growth. Today as a global language it opens up a window to the wider world and helps in molding citizens with a universal perspective. CURRICULUM AIMS

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE Language acts as a powerful tool in bringing together the multi cultural people especially in a society like the UAE. Knowing a language understood by the multitude is definitely an advantage. The primary aim of any language is communication. Therefore English is fundamental to learning in all curriculum subjects.

to develop communicative competence

to develop and integrateskills

to create a global perspective

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

as a language, has outgrown the precincts of its native speakers, making its presence felt far and wide. Being the most flexible language, it had borrowed,borrowing and will borrow vocabulary from other languages and ensures that it is in a constant state of flux

rise and growth. Today as a global language it opens up a window to the wider world and helps in molding

rsal perspective.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Language acts as a powerful tool in bringing together the multi cultural people especially in a society like the UAE. Knowing a language understood by the multitude is definitely an advantage. The primary aim of any language is communication. Therefore

lish is fundamental to learning in all curriculum subjects.

to develop communicative

integrate 4 language

to create a global perspective

precincts of its native speakers, making its presence felt far and wide.

borrowed, is borrowing and will borrow vocabulary from other languages and ensures that it is in a constant state of flux- a true

rise and growth. Today as a global language it opens up a window to the wider world and helps in molding

Language acts as a powerful tool in bringing together the multi cultural people especially in a society like the UAE. Knowing a language understood by the multitude is definitely an advantage. The primary aim of any language is communication. Therefore

lish is fundamental to learning in all curriculum subjects.

Pupils learn to express themselves creativelyto communicate with others effectively with confidence.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

LISTENING

• Students are expected to adopt according to the purpose of listening (e.g. for pleasure, for general interest, for

• They use linguistic and noncontext as clues to understanding and interpreting what is heard. intonation, gesture, background noises)

• They are able to understand the topic and main points.

• They can listen for information required for a specific purpose, e.g. in radio broadcast, command railway station announcements

• Students can understand and interpret messages conveyed in person or by telephone.

languageWriting

Pupils learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate with others effectively with confidence.

Students are expected to adopt different strategies according to the purpose of listening (e.g. for pleasure, for general interest, for specific information).

linguistic and non-linguistic features of the context as clues to understanding and interpreting

(E.g. cohesion devices, key words, intonation, gesture, background noises).

They are able to listen to a talk or conversation and stand the topic and main points.

listen for information required for a specific purpose, e.g. in radio broadcast, commentaries, airport

railway station announcements.

understand and interpret messages veyed in person or by telephone.

language

listening

speaking

Reading

and imaginatively and

different strategies according to the purpose of listening (e.g. for pleasure,

linguistic features of the context as clues to understanding and interpreting

ohesion devices, key words,

listen to a talk or conversation and

listen for information required for a specific entaries, airport

understand and interpret messages

• They understand and respond appropriately to directive language, e.g. instruction, advice, requests and warning and understand and interpret spontaneous spoken discourse in familiar social situations.

SPEAKING.

• Students are able to speak intelligibly using appropriate word stress, sentence stress and intonation patterns.

• They adopt different strategies to convey ideas effectively according to purpose, topic and audience including the appropriate use of polite expressions.

• They narrate incidents and events, real or imaginary in a logical sequence.

• Present oral reports or summaries, make announcements clearly and confidently.

• They engage an audience using a range of techniques to explore enrich and explain their ideas.

• Students express and argue a point of view clearly and effectively.

• They take active part in group discussions, showing ability to express agreement or disagreement, to summarize ideas, to elicit the views of others, and to present own ideas.

• They express and respond to personal feelings, opinions and attitudes, convey messages effectively in person or by telephone, frame questions so as to elicit the desired response, and respond appropriately to questions.

• They participate in spontaneous spoken discourse in familiar social situations.

READING

• Students read silently at varying speeds depending on the purpose of reading.

• They adopt different strategies for different types of text, both literary and non-literary.

• They extract and interpret information, infer and deduce meanings of unfamiliar lexical items in a given context , identify the main points of a text , consult a dictionary to obtain information on the meaning and use of lexical items anticipate and predict what will come next in a text.

• They are able to select and extract from a text information required for a specific purpose and record it in note form.

• They learn to use effectively the study skills such as skimming and scanning.

• They interpret texts by relating them to other material on the same theme and to their own experience and knowledge.

• Students are expected to engage themselves in reading extensively.

WRITING

• Express ideas in clear and grammatically correct English, using appropriate punctuation and cohesion devices.

• Write in a style appropriate for communicative purposes.

• Plan, organize and present ideas coherently by introducing, developing and concluding a topic.

• Write a clear description of a place, a person, an object or a system.

• Write a clear account of events e.g. a process, a narrative, a trend or a cause-effect relationship.

• compare and contrast ideas and arrive at conclusions. • present an argument, supporting it with appropriate examples.

• use an appropriate style and format to write letters (formal and informal), notices, messages, reports, articles and diary entries.

• monitor, check and revise written work. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE English is one of the most important languages of the world. It can even be considered as the single most important language that brings the world together. The steady march of English towards a world language is fueled by the internet, the growing dominance of uni-polar system and the financial realities of globalization. English is now taking hold in Asia, and elsewhere as it offers a better ticket to future. ACTIVITY BASED INSTRUCTION Apart from textual discussions in the class, children gain hands on experience by the functioning of different clubs. The Eco Club has taken up various environmental issues to create and spread awareness on the need to conserve the fast depleting natural resources- through the activities initiated by the club.

The assemblies conducted become meaningful with topics dealing with day to day trained to communicate effectively passionately and appropriately in the real GROWING RELEVANCE

English can be used as a language in any part of the Knowing English ensures that a person will be understood by someone anywhere in the world. In places where people from different cultures and languages live together, English bridges the gap and connects people. It saves the time and energy of learning many different languages as and when one travels to different places. All correspondence between offices in different countries, also between political leaders of various countries is in English. In spite of the growth of internet in various languages internet users. This is the language in which most of the web sites are available. With internet becoming very important in E commerceeducation, English language is bound to grow.

•

•Eco club

•

•Assemblies

•

•

Club

Activity

The assemblies conducted become meaningful with topics day to day happenings. The students get

trained to communicate effectively passionately and the real-life situations.

ish can be used as a language in any part of the Knowing English ensures that a person will be understood by someone anywhere in the world. In places where people from different cultures and languages live together, English bridges the gap and connects people. It saves the time and

ing many different languages as and when one travels to different places. All correspondence between offices in different countries, also between political leaders of various countries is in English. In spite of the growth of

in various languages English is the mainstay of the internet users. This is the language in which most of the web sites are available. With internet becoming very important in E commerce, E-governance and also in

English language is bound to grow.

Projects related to environment

Student empowerment

Class Assembly

School assembly

Expression via the medium of art

Debate ,Discussion, Seminar

The assemblies conducted become meaningful with topics students get

trained to communicate effectively passionately and

ish can be used as a language in any part of the world. Knowing English ensures that a person will be understood by someone anywhere in the world. In places where people from different cultures and languages live together, English bridges the gap and connects people. It saves the time and

ing many different languages as and when one travels to different places. All correspondence between offices in different countries, also between political leaders of various countries is in English. In spite of the growth of

English is the mainstay of the internet users. This is the language in which most of the web sites are available. With internet becoming very

and also in

Projects related to environment

Expression via the medium of art

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES The methodology is based on a multi-skill, activity based and learner centre approach. Care is taken to fulfill the functional (communicative), literary (aesthetic) and cultural (sociological) needs of the learner. In this situation the teacher is the facilitator of learning. She presents language items, contrives situations which motivates the child to use English for the purposes of communication and expression. Aural-oral teaching and testing is an integral feature of the teaching-learning process. The electronic and print media could be used extensively. COMPETENCIES

creativity

• Students should be encouraged to think on their own and

express their ideas using

• their experience, knowledge and imagination, rather than

being text or teacher dependent.

self monitoring

• Students should be encouraged to monitor their progress

and space out their learning.

• students should be encouraged to see language not just as a

functional tool, but as an important part of personal

development and inculcation of values.

CONTENT

LITERATURE The text book chosen is age appropriate with contents ranging from simple stories, drama and poetry. OBJECTIVE

• To extract and interpret ideas from texts.

• Understand how meaning is created through combination of words.

• Infer and deduce meanings, recognizing the writer’s intention.• Gain insight into the soul of different characters• Spark the imagination textual characters.

The text book chosen is age appropriate with contents ranging from simple stories, drama and poetry.

To extract and interpret information, events, main points and

Understand how meaning is created through combination of

Infer and deduce meanings, recognizing the writer’s intention.

Gain insight into the soul of different characters

Spark the imagination to replace oneself in the place of the

LITERATURE

WORKBOOK

MAIN COURSE

bOOK

The text book chosen is age appropriate with contents

main points and

Understand how meaning is created through combination of

Infer and deduce meanings, recognizing the writer’s intention.

to replace oneself in the place of the

WORKBOOK

The prescribed book gives practice to frame sentences with sound grammatical usage. In addition to consolidating the grammatical items practiced earlier, the courses at this level seek to reinforce the following explicitly:

• sequence of tenses • reported speech in extended texts • modal auxiliaries • Finites and non-finites (infinitives, gerunds, participles)

• conditional clauses • phrasal verbs • Voices

OBJECTIVE Students learn the significance of grammar for effective and better communication. They get practice in various grammatical structures. A sound knowledge of the use of grammar makes the students confident speakers and good writers. MAIN COURSE BOOK

The textbook is meant for extensive study. In different units like Education, Science, Natural Disasters etc a range of topics is discussed.

OBJECTIVE

It is a reference material, a tool for bringing in a wide range of topics for discussion, debate and creative writing.

Students get an opportunity to make extended contributions individually and in groups. They speak and listen in context beyond the classroom. ASSESSMENT TOOLS Continuous and comprehensive assessment of students ensures that a student is evaluated not only for the academic brilliance but also for the skills they possess. It refers to the assessment of student’s achievement throughout the year, through a variety of activities carried out within the school. Continuous assessment is essential to measure students’ progress in the acquisition of skills, particularly in listening and speaking. Unless listening and speaking skills are assessed, they will tend to be neglected. These skills should be brought under continuous assessment. Such activities may be formal, but in order to assess listening and speaking skills, it is important that a large proportion of the marks allotted should be derived from informal procedures. ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES Through the conduction of Formative assessments (4 in an academic year with 2 each in both the terms) assessment for learning take place. Two Summative assessments sums up what a child has learnt in each term. It is an assessment of learning. The system is a fool proof method which evaluates a child’s over all development.

Teaching/Testing Objectives GRAMMAR By the end of the course, students should be able to use the following accurately and appropriately in context 1. Verbs Tenses: present/past forms simple/continuous forms perfect forms future time reference Modals Active and Passive voice Subject-verb concord *non-finite verb forms (infintives and participles) 2. Sentence Structure Connectors

* Objective

2. Sentence Structure Connectors * Objective which will not be tested at Class IX level. They will, however, form a part of testing in Class X. ** These objectives will not be tested in a formal examination, but will be included for Continuous Assessment in Class IX. 38 Types of sentences: affirmative/interrogative sentences negation exclamations *Types of Phrases and Clauses finite and non-finite subordinate clauses:

noun clauses and phrases adjective clauses and phrases adverb clauses and phrases Indirect speech *Comparison * Nominalisation 3. Other Areas Determiners Pronouns Prepositions LITERATURE

Continuous Assessment 60% Continuous assessment is essential to measure students’ progress in the acquisition of skills, particularly in listening and speaking. Unless listening and speaking skills are assessed, they will tend to be neglected. These skills should be brought under continuous assessment. Continuous assessment refers to the assessment of student’s achievement throughout the year, through a variety of activities carried out within each school. Such activities may be formal, but in order to assess listening and speaking skills, it is important that a large proportion of the marks allotted should be derived from informal procedures. It is, therefore, recommended that marks should be allotted as follows : Conversation skills 20% Assignments 20% Formal testing 20% Total 60% Further details are given as under : (a) Conversation Skills-20% Conversation skills (Listening and Speaking)-3Assessment in this area relates to the teaching/testing objectives

for these two skills. In the skill-based approach to language learning, the importance of conversation skills cannot be underestimated. 20 marks have been allotted for conversation skills, which may be evaluated either through informal assesment (20 marks), or through a combination of informal

assessment (10 marks) and formal assessment

(interviews)

Continuous Assessment 60% Continuous assessment is essential to measure students’ progress in the acquisition of skills, particularly in listening and speaking. Unless listening and speaking skills are assessed, they will tend to be neglected. These skills should be brought under continuous assessment. Continuous assessment refers to the assessment of student’s achievement throughout the year, through a variety of activities carried out within each school. Such activities may be formal, but in order to assess listening and speaking skills, it is important that a large proportion of the marks allotted should be derived from informal procedures. It is, therefore, recommended that marks should be allotted as follows : Conversation skills 20% Assignments 20% Formal testing 20% Total 60% Further details are given as under : (a) Conversation Skills-20% Conversation skills (Listening and Speaking)-3Assessment in this area relates to the teaching/testing objectives for these two skills. In the skill-based approach to language learning, the importance of conversation skills cannot be underestimated.

20 marks have been allotted for conversation skills, which may be evaluated either through informal assesment (20 marks), or through a combination of informal

assessment (10 marks) and formal assessment

(interviews)

Conversation Skills Assessment Scale Listening Speaking 1. The learner : 1. The learner: shows general ability to shows ability to use only understand words and phrases in a isolated words and phrases but cannot familiar context but cannot follow operate at connected speech level; connected speech; 3. has ability to follow short connected 3. in familiar situation, uses only short utterances in a familiar context; connected utterances with limited accuracy; 5. has ability to understand explicitly 5. shows ability to use more complex stated information in both familiar and utterances with some fluency in longer unfamiliar contexts; discourse; still makes some errors which impede communication; 7. understands a range of longer spoken 7. organises and presents thoughts in a texts with reasonable accuracy, and is reasonably logical and fluent manner in able to draw inferences; unfamiliar situations; makes errors which do not interfere with communication; 9. shows ability to interpret complex 9. can spontaneously adopt style

discourse in terms of points of view; appropriate to purpose and audience; adapts listening strategies to suit different makes only negligible errors. purposes. (ii) Formal assessment (interview)-10% Conversation skills may be assessed through informal assessment only, but each school may, if it wishes, reserve 10 of the 20 marks for formal assessment (interviews). These should be held towards the end of the year, and it is recommended that in order to allow for assessment of all the relevent skills, they should be conducted as group interviews. Students should be organised in groups of 4 or 5, and each group in turn should engage in a discussion on a topic notified to them only ten minutes before the interview takes place. This is to prevent rote learning of a speech by each student. During the discussion, the teacher (preferably together with a colleague) observes the student’s performance and awards each one a mark out of 10 according to the assessment scale. A school may opt for individual interviews if the procedure suggested above is not feasible. (b) Assignments 20% During the year, students will engage in a variety of activities based on the course material. In many a case these will involve written work which may be carried out either in class or as homework. A number of these activities are identified as suitable for continuous assessment assignments, where the student’s performance is recorded and counts towards his final mark for the year. 20 marks have been allotted for these assignments. 44

Objectives

The general objectives at this stage are : @@to build greater confidence and proficiency in oral and written communication @@to develop the ability and knowledge required in order to engage in independent reflection and inquiry @@to use appropriate English to communicate in various social settings @@equip learners with essential language skills to question and to articulate their point of view. @@to build competence in the different registers of Englilsh @@to develop sensitivity to, and appreciation of, other varieties of English, Indian Englishes, and the culture they reflect @@to enable the learner to access knowledge and information through reference skills (consulting a dictionary / thesaurus, library, internet etc.) @@to develop curiosity and creativity through extensive reading @@to facilitate self-learning to enable them to become independent learners @@to review, organise and edit their own work and work done by peers At the end of this stage learners will be able to do the following : @@give a brief oral description of events / incidents of topical interest @@retell the contents of authentic audio texts (weather reports, public announcements, simple advertisements, short interviews, etc.) @@participate in conversations, discussions, etc. on topics of mutual interest in non-classroom situations @@narrate the story depicted pictorially or in any other non-verbal mode @@respond in writing to business letters, official communications 49

@@read and identify the main points / significant details of texts like scripts of audio-video interviews, discussions, debates etc. @@write without prior preparation on a given topic and be able to defend or explain the position taken / views expressed @@write a summary of short lectures on familiar topics by making / taking notes @@write an assessment of different points of view expressed in a discussion / debate @@read poems effectively (with proper rhythm and intonation) @@to transcode information from a graph / chart to a description / report Language Items In addition to consolidating the grammatical items practised earlier, the courses at secondary level seek to reinforce the following explicitly : @@sequence of tenses @@reported speech in extended texts @@modal auxiliaries (those not covered at upper primary) @@non-finites (infinitives, gerunds, participles) @@conditional clauses @@complex and compound sentences @@phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases @@cohesive devices @@punctuation (semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parenthesis or use of brackets and exclamation mark) Methods and Techniques The methodology is based on a multi-skill, activity based, learner centred approach. Care is taken to fulfil the functional (communicative), literary (aesthetic) and cultural (sociological) needs of the learner. In this situation the teacher is the facilitator of learning, s(he) presents language items, contrives situations which motivates the child

to use English for the purposes of communication and expression. Aural-oral teaching and testing is an integral feature of the teaching-learning process. The electronic and print media could be used extensively. The evaluation procedure should be continuous and comprehensive. A few suggested activities are : @@Role playing @@Simulating real-to-life situations @@Dramatising and miming @@Problem solving and decision making @@Interpreting

sequence of tenses @@reported speech in extended texts @@modal auxiliaries (those not covered at upper primary) @@non-finites (infinitives, gerunds, participles) @@conditional clauses @@complex and compound sentences @@phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases @@cohesive devices @@punctuation (semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parenthesis or use of brackets and exclamation mark) Methods and Techniques The methodology is based on a multi-skill, activity based, learner centred approach. Care is taken to fulfil the functional (communicative), literary (aesthetic) and cultural (sociological) needs of the learner. In this situation the teacher is the facilitator of learning, s(he) presents language items, contrives situations which motivates the child to use English for the purposes of communication and expression. Aural-oral teaching and testing is an integral feature of the teaching-learning process. The electronic and print media could be used extensively. The evaluation procedure should be continuous and comprehensive. A few suggested activities are : @@Role playing

@@Simulating real-to-life situations @@Dramatising and miming @@Problem solving and decision making @@Interpreting information given in tabular form and schedule 50 @@Using newspaper clippings @@Borrowing situations from the world around the learners, from books and from other disciplines @@Using language games, riddles, puzzles and jokes @@Interpreting pictures / sketches / cartoons @@Debating and discussing @@Narrating and discussing stories, anecdotes, etc. @@Reciting poems @@Working in pairs and groups @@Using media inputs - computer, television, video

cassettes, tapes, software packages