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English
The purpose
of teaching English is to help children become literate - that is, to
read, write and speak fluently and with confidence.
Speaking and Listening
As children progress from infants to top juniors, they will go from talking
to each other while they are playing (which, of course, also involves
listening), through speaking to the whole class (in activities such
as News Time), to holding discussions and debates.
By the time they leave Junior School, they should be able to put forward
a point of view, listen to other people's arguments and know how to
disagree logically and politely. They should understand the difference
between an opinion and a fact, and they should know that there are different
ways of speaking, and that some of these are more appropriate than others
in certain situations.
Reading
Children will progress from "pre- reading activities" - learning that
writing has meaning, that it goes across the page from left to right,
talking about pictures and learning to associate text with them and
so on - to be able to sound out words (and recognise some on sight)
for themselves. Later, they'll learn to read silently, and to understand
more complex texts; they'll learn to read aloud (and in an interesting
way!); and they'll learn to use and enjoy a variety of reading materials
including fiction, non-fiction, magazines and newspapers. Discussing
what they are reading is an important part of all of this. Reading is
one of the most important areas parents can help with. It's also one
of the easiest and most fun. Click here
to get some ideas how you can
help both in school and out of it.
Writing
There are several aspects to the teaching of writing. One - perhaps
the most important, and yet in some ways the easiest to overlook - is
that writing is a means to communicate. Although it's important for
children to understand grammar and punctuation, and to be able to spell
and write legibly, these are pretty hollow if they don't know how to
organise their thoughts or put a point of view across - or if they aren't
encouraged to have something to say (whether in fiction or factual writing).
Other aspects of writing are easier to quantify, however. For instance,
children start by learning to print, but should be beginning to do "joined
up" writing by the age of seven.
As for spelling, though they will probably start by recognising just
the first sounds of words, they should progress so that by age seven
they are spelling most single syllable words correctly, and are using
common patterns of letters and sounds to help them; by nine, they should
be able to spell common words of several syllables correctly. Children
will become familiar with punctuation when they are reading.
By seven, they should be using full stops and capital letters; by nine,
they should be able to cope with speech marks, exclamation marks and
commas.
The Literacy Hour
Literacy is considered such an important part of the curriculum that the
government has introduced The Literacy Hour to support it. This is a highly
structured part of the day, which aims to ensure that all classes are
given a balanced mix of reading and writing activities. A more detailed
explanation is given on a DfEE web page. Critics of the Literacy Hour
say that it is too bureacratic and fiddly to administer (leading to teachers
spending more time on paperwork and moving children from one activity
to another than on actual teaching), and that it doesn't allow sufficiently
for work on extended pieces of reading and writing. You may well find
that your child's school has adapted the Literacy Hour, or added to it,
to deal with these problems. A more detailed explanation of what literacy
involves can be found at the DfEE web site www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/literacy/NLSframework/NLSframework_R-6/literacyhour
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