23 minute read

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Lesson 1: Tell me a story

Skills Listening and speaking

Listen to a story Answer questions on the story

Reading and viewing

Read a story Answers questions on the story Read aloud Use a dictionary Read independently Read for fun

Writing and presenting

The writing process Plan a paragraph about family or friends Write the first draft Edit, proofread and present a paragraph

Language structures and conventions Sentence level work

Identify simple sentences

Spelling and punctuation

Punctuation: full stops and capital letters

Remedial activity

Sort the nouns

Extension activity

Look up the meaning of words

UNIT 1: Weeks 1 – 2

Study guide Time allocation

Activity 1 1 hour Activity 2 1 hour

Activity 3 1 hour Activity 4 1 hour Activity 5 30 minutes Activity 6 1 hour Activity 7 30 minutes Activity 8 1 hour

Activity 9 1 hour Activity 10 1 hour Activity 11 1 hour Activity 12 1 hour

Activity 13 30 minutes

Activity 14 30 minutes

SECTION 1

SECTION 1: LISTENING AND SPEAKING

Activity 1: Listen to a story

1 hour

Start the lesson with a conversation around the theme, the illustration and the puzzle on the opening page� This helps to engage learners and allows them to share their opinions� Always retain the fun element in each lesson because learners tend to remember facts better if the experience is enjoyable�

Puzzle

What does this say? HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH

Answer: High five

Read about the features of stories in the study guide with learners�

Features of a story

All stories have some aspects in common� Characters: people or animals in the story� Setting: where and when the story takes place� Plot: main idea of a story or rather what happens�

Read the title of the story and ask learners to look at the illustrations in the study guide and to predict what the story will be about, first from the title and then from the illustrations. Their predictions must make sense in terms of the title and illustrations�

Read the story aloud to learners�

Fun with friends

“I’ll invite Tumelo and Rashid,” said Toki ticking them off on his fingers one by one. “That’s two and with me, we’ll be three� ”

“Why don’t you invite one more friend, then there’ll be four of you?” suggests Toki’s mom�

Toki thinks hard� “I’ll invite Jason� No one ever seems to invite him to play� ”

“That’s a good idea,” says Mom, nodding� “And seeing as they will be here the whole day perhaps we can plan an outing� ”

“Can we go to HighBranch Walking, pl-ee-aa-se!” begs Toki�

“I guess we could,” says Mom� “They have very good instructors to keep an eye on all of you� But I will have to ask their parents for permission first though.”

“Thanks, Mom,” says Toki, giving her a quick hug�

“By the way, what would you and your friends like for lunch?” she asks, turning over the fish she is grilling for supper�

“Chicken nuggets and chips would be great, thanks Mom� May we have some ice cream as well?”

“Oh, all right then,” she smiles. “I’ll buy a few flavours.”

Toki is so excited he can hardly wait for the weekend� During break, he and his friends discuss how they will spend the day�

Eventually Saturday arrives, and Toki is up bright and early to be ready for his friends�

They spend the morning splashing in the stream running through Toki’s garden; making bows and arrows and climbing the willow tree�

At lunchtime, they wolf down their chicken nuggets, chips and ice cream� After lunch, they pile into Toki’s mom’s car for the trip to HighBranch Walking�

“Remember now,” says Mom, “listen to everything the instructors tell you� ”

“We will,” the boys promise eagerly� They love walking along the tightropes through the trees and they know it is very important to keep their harnesses and safety clips on�

At HighBranch Walking the boys are strapped into harnesses� They listen carefully to the instructors and practise using their harnesses and safety clips on the low wires� Only after a few practise walks are they allowed on the higher wires in the treetops�

“Watch me!” shouts Jason suddenly� He loosens his clips from the guiding wire above and walks along the wire without support� The other boys stop in their tracks and stare at him� Toki’s mom watches in horror from below. There is nothing she can do but tell Jason firmly to clip his safety back on and call for an instructor�

Within a minute an instructor appears and climbs quickly to where Jason is edging along the wire� Because Jason’s harness is no longer attached, the instructor has to approach him slowly and cautiously to avoid wobbling the wire Jason is balancing on� He talks to him calmly and tells him that everything will be all right� As soon as he gets close, he secures Jason’s safety clips to the overhead wire�

Without another word, he leads Jason down to the ground, takes his harness off and tells him to sit and watch the others for the rest of the afternoon�

1� Talk about the characters, setting and main idea of the story�

Characters: Toki, Tumelo, Rashid, Jason, Toki’s mom and the instructor� Setting: Toki’s home and HighBranch Walking� It is set on a Saturday morning and afternoon� Main idea: Toki invites some friends over for the day and they all go on an outing� He invites Jason to be kind but Jason lets him down and breaks the rules at HighBranch Walking�

2� Ask learners what they think of Jason’s actions and what they think the other boys think of Jason’s actions� 3� Ask learners to retell the story in their own words and in the correct order� 4� Ask learners what they remember about nouns. Prompt them to find out how much they know and read and discuss the information on nouns in the study guide in detail�

Nouns

A noun is a naming word� It names people, places and things�

Common nouns are the names of ordinary objects such as net, nugget, and friend�

Proper nouns name specific people or places. They always begin with a capital letter� Most nouns can be counted, for example, one friend, two friends� These are called countable nouns� Countable nouns have a singular and a plural, for example, nugget – nuggets, net – nets�

Nouns which cannot be counted, for example, water, are called uncountable nouns� These stay the same in the singular and the plural�

1� Read this sentence from the story to learners� Without another word, he leads Jason down to the ground, takes his harness off and tells him to sit and watch the others for the rest of the afternoon. a� Ask learners to identify four common nouns from the sentence�

Common nouns: word, ground, harness, afternoon�

b� Which of these common nouns is countable?

Words, harness, afternoon as they have plural forms�

c� Identify the proper noun�

Jason

2� Read this sentence to learners� They wolf down their chicken nuggets, chips and ice cream. a� Ask learners to identify the uncountable noun in the sentence�

Uncountable noun – ice cream� Ice cream may also be a countable noun when it is an ice cream cone or ice cream on a stick� Then one would be able to count them�

Uncountable nouns can be counted when they are in containers, for example, a glass of water, an ice cream cone, a bottle of oil�

Activity 2: Answer questions on the story

1 hour

Read the hints on how to listen in the study guide�

How to listen properly

Listening is an important skill� Listen carefully the first time someone reads a text or story. Try to form a picture in your mind of what the story is about� Take notes when the story is read for the second time�

How to take notes

Read through any questions you have to answer before listening� This way you will know what to listen for� Only write down important points, do not write full sentences�

1� Read the questions to the learners before reading the story in Activity 1 the second time� 2� Ask learners to write 1 – 10 in their exercise books� Now read the questions one by one for the learners to answer� They only have to write the letter of the correct answer�

Activity 2: MEMORANDUM

Total marks: 10: One mark for each correct answer�

1� How many friends did Toki invite? (1)

a) Two b) One c) 4 d) Three 2� Which answer is correct? Toki was _______ going to HighBranch Walking� (1) a) looking forward to b) wasn’t too sure about c) was worried about d) both a) and b) 3� Toki decided to invite Jason because _____� (1) a) they were best friends b) Jason had never visited him before c) his mom thought it would be a good idea d) not many people invited Jason over to play 4� What did Toki want for lunch? (1) a) Hamburgers, chips and ice cream b) Chicken nuggets and chips c) Chicken nuggets, chips and ice cream d) Chicken nuggets and ice cream 5� Toki’s mom was cooking _______ for dinner� (1) a) boiled fish b) grilled fish c) fried fish d) baked fish 6� Why did Toki’s mom think it was all right to take the boys to Highbranch Walking? (1) a) The boys were old enough to manage on their own� b) They had good instructors� c) She would have permission from their parents� d) Both b) and c) 7� The boys went Highbranch Walking _____� (1) a) on a Saturday b) on Toki’s birthday c) over half-term d) during the school holidays 8� What did the boys wear to keep them safe while Highbranch Walking? (1) a) Special shoes with rubber soles b) Harnesses with safety clips c) Parachutes d) Special clothing

Facilitator’s Guide

G04 ~ English Home Language

Unit 1 9� The boys first practised on: (1) a) low practise wires b) high practise wires c) trees d) overhead wires with safety clips 10� Which word best describes Toki’s mom’s reaction when Jason unclipped his safety clips? (1) a) Delight b) Fascination c) Worry d) Excitement

(10)

3� Ask learners to tell a story about their family and/or friends� 4� Read the hints on how to tell a good story in the study guide�

How to tell a good story

Content

The content of the story must be interesting and the events must be told in the correct sequence� Grab the audience’s attention from the start� Prepare properly and practise the story aloud before presenting it�

Language

Use words such as first, then, next, later, this will help the audience to follow the story� Use words the audience can easily understand� However, this does not mean that slang is acceptable�

Speaking

Speak clearly and pronounce all the words properly� Do not speak too fast� Vary the pitch of your voice: let it rise and fall the way it would in daily conversation�

Body language

Look interested in what you are saying� Make eye contact with the audience, this will make them feel as if you are speaking directly to them� Stand up straight, do not lean against anything or slouch� Do not touch your face and avoid too many hand gestures�

5� Ask learners to tell their story�

SECTION 2

SECTION 2: READING AND VIEWING

Activity 3: Read a story

1 hour

Discuss the three parts of reading with learners� Ask them to explain what they think happens in each part� Encourage them to share their own ideas and ask questions such as: “What do we look at before we read a story?” The information below will help to explain the three parts�

Reading

Good reading can be divided into three parts� Reading strategies (tactics) make reading easier and more effective�

1� Pre-reading: this prepares us for the story� The title of the book/story: clues as to what the story may be about and prepares us for what is to come� Illustrations in the story: visual clues as to what the story may be about� Look up any new or unfamiliar words – this will help you to understand what you are reading� Skim through the story to see what it may be about and how long it is� To skim means to read through a story very quickly to get an overview (the general idea).

2� During reading Work out the meaning of new words by looking at them in context� This means reading the words around the new word to work out its meaning� Always have your dictionary nearby to look up any new or unfamiliar word� Form a picture in your mind of what you are reading, this is called visualising� Read the story more than once until you are very familiar with it� Make inferences (draw conclusions) from the writing�

3� Post-reading: after you have finished reading the story. Ask questions about the story� Identify the characters, plot and setting� Discuss the story – how does it make you feel? Do you like it or not? Answer questions about the story� Make a summary�

Ask learners to look at the title of the story and the illustrations and predict what it will be about� Encourage them to skim through the story to get an overview� Ask them to read the story aloud�

The Night Visitor

It’s midnight� Outside, the moon shines its silvery light in a velvet sky� In her room, Samantha is fast asleep� SKRITCH� Samantha sits up and rubs her eyes� What was that? She looks around her room� SKRITCH� There it is again� Someone or something is scratching at her bedroom window� She puts on her bedside lamp� Slowly, she pulls the curtains aside and tries to look out. All she sees is her reflection in the window. I must be imagining things, she thinks. She is just about to draw the curtains when: SKRITCH�

If I turn off my lamp, I may able to see outside, she thinks. She leans over her bed and flicks off the lamp� Kneeling on her bed she peers out into the dark�

Suddenly, she notices something outside� “It can’t be,” she whispers� There, on the windowsill, is the tiniest dragon she has ever seen� It has leathery wings and looks at her with big round eyes� “Are you real?” she asks the tiny creature� “No, of course, you’re not real, this is just another Jimbo trick� He put you there to fool me, as usual,” she mutters� “But I’ve never seen anything like this before …” The tiny dragon looks at Samantha and a puff of smoke coils from its snout�

Slowly, she opens the window. This scares the dragon and it takes off, wings flapping, into the night�

Samantha hears a sound at her bedroom door� Is it a chuckle? Is it the door creaking shut? She can hardly be sure …

Use these questions to discuss the story�

Activity 3: MEMORANDUM

1� Who are the characters?

Samantha, Jimbo and the dragon�

2� What is the setting of the story?

It is midnight in Samantha’s bedroom�

3� Arrange these sentences in the correct order to tell the story�

f� Samantha hears a scratching noise at her window� d� She puts on her bedside lamp� i� She kneels on her bed and opens the curtains to look outside�

b� She can see nothing and decides to turn off the lamp to see outside� h� She sees a tiny dragon with leathery wings� e. Her first thought is that her brother, Jimbo, is playing a trick on her. a� She opens the window� g� The dragon gets such a fright that it disappears into the night� c� Samantha turns around when she hears a faint chuckle and her door creaking�

4� How do you think the story continues?

Learner’s own answer�

5� Do you know any stories about dragons? Or dinosaurs? Share them�

Note: Arranging sentences in sequence may prove challenging� For question 3, record the answers on the board, this way learners will know which sentences they have used� Guide and assist them as necessary�

Activity 4: Answer questions on the story

1 hour

Learners reread the story in Activity 3 aloud and answer the questions� They must write 1 – 10 in the margin of their exercise book and only answer true or false�

Read out the answers� Encourage learners to explain why the questions they answered as false are incorrect� For example, question 1 is false because we know the plot is what the story is mainly about and not where it takes place�

Activity 4: MEMORANDUM

1� The plot of the story is the place and time the story takes place�

False� The plot is what the story is mainly about and not where it takes place� The setting is where it takes place�

2� Do not forget to take notes the first time a story is read.

False. We listen the first time a story is read and only take notes when the story is read the second time�

3� The dragon has leathery wings� True 4� Samantha shares a bedroom with her brother�

False� There is only one bed in the illustration and the fact that her brother appears to be outside Samantha’s bedroom door shows that they do not share a room�

5� The story takes place at night� True 6� Samantha hears a scratching noise at her door�

False� Samantha hears a scratching noise at her window�

7� Jimbo doesn’t usually play tricks on Samantha�

False� We read that Samantha thinks Jimbo is trying to fool her as usual� This means he does it often�

8� Samantha has never seen a tiny dragon like this before� True 9� Jimbo was fast asleep when he first heard the scratching at the window.

Facilitator’s Guide

G04 ~ English Home Language

Unit 1

False� It was Samantha and not Jimbo who heard the scratching at the window�

10� Samantha turned off her overhead light to see into the dark�

False� Samantha turned off her bedside lamp to see into the dark�

11� Learners must explain what the main idea of the story is in two to three sentences�

An example of the summary

The story is about Samantha who hears scratching at her window one night and looks out to investigate� She sees a tiny dragon on her windowsill that disappears when she opens the window� Samantha thinks it must be her brother playing a trick on her as she hears noises at her bedroom door�

12� Learners must provide at least two different endings to the story�

13� The dragon is not shown in the illustration� Learners must draw a picture to show what they think the dragon looks like�

Activity 5: Read aloud

30 minutes

Read the hints with the learners�

How to read aloud

• Understand what you are reading� • Form a picture in your mind of what the story is about� • Let your voice show the feeling/emotion in the story� You can do this by: 1� Letting your voice go high or deep to suit the story� 2� Reading some parts quickly, others at a medium pace and others more slowly� This will depend on what is happening in the story� 3� Read some parts loudly and others more softly� • Pronounce the words correctly and end the word clearly� • Use the punctuation correctly; stop at full stops, pause at commas, use volume and emotion for exclamation marks and a questioning tone for questions� • Use good body language by standing or sitting in a relaxed manner; make eye contact with the audience�

Learners now read the story in Activity 3 aloud� Show them how to practise these steps in the study guide�

1� First, read the story quietly to yourself� 2� Read the text around any words you are unsure of to try and work out their meaning� This is called reading the word in context�

3� Look up any words you still do not understand in the dictionary� 4� Take note of the punctuation in the story� 5� Read the story silently once more� 6� Read the story aloud to yourself� 7� Read the story aloud a second time and use the hints on reading aloud� 8� Read to the facilitator� 9� Listen to the feedback from the facilitator�

All feedback must be constructive� Allow learners to give each other feedback provided that it is positive and constructive�

Activity 6: Use a dictionary

1 hour

Read the hints on how to use a dictionary� By now learners must know the alphabet off by heart�

Hints on how to use a dictionary

1� Know the alphabet� 2� A dictionary lists all words alphabetically. Look at the first letter of the word. 3� Turn to the place in the dictionary where you think this word appears judging by its place in the alphabet� For example, words that begin with m are found around the middle of the dictionary, while words that begin with w are found near the end� 4� Look at the second letter of the word� For example, when you look at a word such as genre, you first look at the words under g, you then look at the second letter as this will tell you where in the g section this word is� Below is an example of a page from the Oxford Dictionary of Current English�

5� Practise using a dictionary� The more you use it, the easier it will become�

Facilitator’s Guide

G04 ~ English Home Language

Unit 1 1� Practise saying the alphabet as fast as you can� Who can say it faster, the learners or you? Why not have a competition?

2� Give the learners a word and ask them to look it up as quickly as possible in the dictionary. Learners put up their hands as soon as they find the definition. However, they are not allowed to call out while others are still looking� When everyone has found the definition, ask the learner who put up their hand first to read the definition.

gentle generous manufacture mock mystery mischievous skim scan source request response reply awkward analyse

3� Learners must start a personal dictionary� In this dictionary, they write new vocabulary and use sentences or drawings to explain meaning� They will refer to this dictionary throughout the year�

4� Once learners have looked up the words, have fun playing ‘spot the mistake’� Read the list of words but every now and then mispronounce one� Learners must stop you as soon as they spot the mistake and tell you the correct pronunciation� You may want to give an incentive for each word they spot correctly, for example, a gold star or reward at the end of the week

Activity 7: Read independently

30 minutes

Learners choose their own books for this activity or you may provide them with a selection of reading material� If possible, choose a book with stories similar to the theme of this unit� It is important that learners always have a variety of interesting books to choose from� If time allows, arrange a day trip to the library and perhaps a tour of the library, to help learners understand how the library works�

For each unit, learners will do the following with the stories/texts they read independently:

1� Retell the story� 2� Summarise the story either by writing a few sentences or orally� 3� Explain the main idea of the story in two or three sentences� 4� Give an emotional response to the story – how the story makes them feel� 5� Relate the story to their own life and provide examples of similar things that have happened to them or someone they know� 6� Choose five new words from the story, look them up in a dictionary and write them in their personal dictionaries with sentences or illustrations to explain meaning� 7� Compare and contrast texts when they read more than one story or text�

Ask learners to retell the story in 3 – 5 sentences� Make sure they tell the story in the correct sequence using words such as first, then, afterwards, later.

Activity 8: Read for fun

1 hour

Read the information in the box with learners�

Reading for fun

1� Reading is fun when you read something you are interested in� Some people like fiction while others prefer non-fiction�

2� Fiction is about imaginary events and people. There are so many kinds of fiction, for example, fairy tales, mystery, science fiction or fantasy. This is what we call the genre of the book, or you can say it is the category to which the book belongs� Can you name any other genres that you know?

3� Non-fiction usually contains facts or is written about things that really happened, for example, a self-help book, a manual, a biography or even a newspaper report� Can you give some examples of non-fiction?

4� In this activity you will read the book in a number of ways: a� Read aloud to the facilitator or group� b� Shared/paired reading: share the reading with the facilitator or other learners� For example, you could each read one page�

Or you can read to the learners�

SECTION 3

SECT WRITING AND PRESENTING

Activity 9: The writing process

1 hour

Learners must familiarise themselves with the writing process as it is used in every writing activity in each unit� Read the six steps carefully and make sure the learners understand what to do�

There are six steps in the writing process�

Step 1 Planning: brainstorm ideas for your story� Make notes� Decide on characters/ the story� Make a mind map� Step 2 Drafting: write the first draft.

Step 3 Revising: rewrite so that it makes more sense and reads easily� Step 4 Editing: how can you improve the writing? Look carefully at spelling, punctuation and grammar� Use a dictionary� Step 5 Proofreading: read every word carefully� Make sure there are no errors� Step 6 Presenting: write your piece neatly�

Ask learners to write the six steps on the last page of their personal dictionaries for easy reference� They only have to write the steps and one or two words:

Step 1: Brainstorming and planning Step 2: Draft Step 3: Revising Step 4: Editing Step 5: Proofreading Step 6: Presenting

Ask learners to make up a mnemonic to remember the six steps, for example, PDREPP (put down really easy plans perfectly)�

Look at the practical example in the study guide about Jax and the talent contest� Allow learners to read the paragraph each time and talk about how it has been improved�

First draft

Jax saw a poster for a local talent contest� She loved singing and dancing� She sent messages to her friends and asked if they wanted to join her in a group performance� They were all excited and spent two weeks getting their act together� Li and Jax wrote the lyrics, Thembi designed the costumes, Suzi was in charge of the dance routine and taught them the moves while Rashi was in charge of the music� Li and Jax wrote some modern lyrics and Thembi made them awesome costumes� They rehearsed a lot and when the day of the contest arrived they were nervous but ready to perform� Even if I say so myself, we gave a great performance� The cloud clapped and cheered and we were great favourites� We’re now going to start a band called Jax5�

Step 2: First draft

Revision of the first draft

I saw a poster for a talent contest� My name is Jax and I love singing and dancing� When I saw a poster I knew I had to enter� I called Suzi, Thembi, Li and Rashi to ask if they wanted to have a group performance� They all wanted to join in� Li and Jax wrote some modern lyrics� Thembi designed the costumes for us� They were black jeans with white T-shirts� We also had black and white head bands� Suzi taught us our dance routine and Rashi wrote and played the music on his electric guitar� We were all excited and spent two weeks rehearsing� They rehearsed a lot and when the day of the contest came they were nervous but ready to perform� Even if I say so myself, we gave a great performance� The crowd clapped and cheered and we were great favourites� We’re now going to start a band called Jax5�

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