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EAL

esol: Autumn Term 

SOW Overview: Autumn Term – Year 2

Skills

  • Establishing types, features and purposes of texts
  • Writing an article
  • Describing illnesses and symptoms
  • Writing a complaint letter
  • Giving advice and persuading people in a verbal and written form

Knowledge

Vocabulary

  • Text types, features and purpose;
  • Trips, excursions, journeys, sightseeing related vocabulary;
  • Health, illnesses, symptoms, medical specialists related vocabulary;
  • Language of persuasion, giving advice and complaining;

Grammar

  • Basic and advanced punctuation marks;
  • Discourse markers;
  • Past Simple structure and use vs Present Perfect structure;
  • Consistent use of tenses;

Rationale

This part of the ESOL SOW continues to prepare learners new to English for teenage and young adult life in the United Kingdom. The content and choice of topics for this part of the SOW are very closely linked to everyday life, ESOL past exam papers and have multiple cross curricular links.

The aim of the Texts unit is to introduce different text types, their features and purpose. By the end of the unit, learners will know the difference between persuading, instructing, warning, informing and other text purposes. This knowledge will enable them to read a wide range of texts they will come across in everyday life, for example, prescriptions, maps, recipes, library brochure, recycling leaflet, gym schedule, advertisements, graphs, etc as well as answer comprehension questions to demonstrate the understanding of texts. Moreover, these skills and knowledge make a significant part of ESOL curriculum and are required to pass examinations at different levels.

The aim of the College Visits unit is to equip pupils with linguistical resources necessary to describe short trips, excursions and journeys using language appropriate for purpose, audience and formality. They will produce documents that are fit for purpose with the correct use of grammar, especially subject-verb agreement and consistent use of tenses. In addition, learners will need to plan their writing, decide how much to write and the level of detail to include. They will also learn how to review their writing for accuracy and meaning before producing final versions. The final outcome of the unit will be planning and writing an article with an effective use of discourse markers.

The Health unit focuses on preparing learners to talk about different medical specialists and reasons why people might need to visit them, talking about illnesses and describing symptoms, giving advice to someone who suffers from an illness. Throughout the unit, learners will be exposed to texts, at different levels, referring to NHS, GPs, prescriptions, illnesses and symptoms. Furthermore, students will spend a significant amount of time on learning and then practising writing a complaint letter. The topic of the final letter will be linked to health and medical specialists, however, learners will be encouraged to transfer the acquired knowledge and skill to when they need to write a complaint letter next time, whether as a practice activity or a real life need.

Moreover, this part of the SOW will also prepare students and get them to practise listening to other people and making clear and effective contributions, taking account of listener needs, medium, purpose and situation when conveying information, ideas and opinions. The learners will be instructed to reach a shared agreement on outcomes appropriate to the purpose of the topic, which is also a crucial skill when taking a speaking and listening ESOL examination.

esol: spring term 

SOW Overview: Spring Term – Year 2

Skills

  • Completing application forms;
  • Using online forms to report issues;
  • Complaint letter writing – revision and practice;
  • Formal letter writing – revision and practice;
  • Article writing – revision and practice;

Knowledge

Vocabulary

  • Lost property
  • Jobs – application letter, job description, person specification, covering letter
  • Citizenship – communities, British values
  • Environmental threats – global warming, recycling, pollution, littering;
  • Persuasive language

Grammar

  • Super sentences – 4 steps
  • Complex sentences
  • Compound sentences
  • Different ways to start a sentence
  • Use of advanced adjectives

Rationale

The spring part (2nd year or the course) of the SOW is based on 4 key topics: Lost Property, Application Letters, Being a Good Citizen and Environmental Problems.

The Lost Property unit prepares learners to report lost property, including completing a lost property form correctly and describing lost items. Learners are also exposed to Transport for London Lost Property Services and complete various activities planned by the teacher. It is aimed at preparing them to deal with real life situations of forgetting something when travelling by public transport.

The Application Letters unit enables learners to stay in touch with a frequently repeated exam topic, jobs and employment, and it explains what an application letter is and how it is related to a job description. Reading and understanding various job descriptions, including abbreviations and key phrases, is also a part of this unit. In addition, learners compare and learn the differences between application forms, application letters, job descriptions and person specifications which is essential when applying for jobs.

The final outcome of this unit is writing an effective application letter, in line with the rules learnt in ESOL lessons.

Being a Good Citizen, topic closely linked to living in the United Kingdom and taught in GCSE Citizenship Studies, is also a part of ESOL course. Learners are encouraged to read, discuss and write about being an active community member, different types of communities and problems they can face. Apart from the obvious linguistic goals, such as developing students’ receptive and productive skills, the lessons are designed to encourage discussion and debate, critical thinking and civic engagement and resolve local issues. The aim of these lessons is that students will be linguistically prepared and more engaged with the democratic institutions and become a generation of well-informed and responsible citizens respecting British Values.

Environmental Problems is another popular exam topic closely linked to modern times we live in. By being exposed to this topic pupils get to know the types of environmental problems and the dangers people should be aware of. They also learn how to complete an environment action form and describe environmental problems in the local area effectively. The unit ends with a revision of article writing features and writing a persuasive article on the importance of recycling

The choice of topics is based on the frequency of their appearance in the past exam papers and their complexity as far as vocabulary and grammatical structures are concerned. The topics also provide countless opportunities for learners to practise their speaking, listening reading and writing skills and allow the teacher to plan and deliver lessons at different levels using effective scaffolding. The use of more challenging text types provides learners with the opportunity to recognise how language and other textual features are used to instruct, describe and persuade, as well as, identify, evaluate and compare information, ideas and opinions in text.

esol: summer term 

SOW Overview: Summer Term – Year 2

Skills

  • Distinguishing different purposes of texts
  • Identifying instructions in texts
  • Reading instructions with understanding
  • Listening to instructions with understanding

Knowledge

Vocabulary

  • Text types – key vocabulary
  • Money, financial institutions, budgeting – key vocabulary
  • Vocabulary associated with sales, discounts and bargains, Internet shopping
  • Chores, giving instructions – advanced verbs

Grammar

  • Modal verbs
  • Adverbs of time

Rationale

Text Types, Characteristics and Purpose unit gives learners the opportunity to practise reading a variety of texts and to recognise sentence structures through a variety of activities. Learners will identify the ideas/meanings in texts relating to everyday life, for example special offers in an advert, local activities on a leaflet, etc. They will learn that the use of graphics in text can help to identify meaning, for example photos in advertisements, signs in a workplace, illustrations in a cookery book. Learners will learn about the features of sentences, for example subject, verb, object, and will be able to recognise common patterns of sentences for statements, for example subject-verb-object; subject-verb-prepositional phrase. They will learn that instructions usually start with the verb, e.g. press the button, keep left; the importance of word order in simple sentences in English and its effect on meaning; the use of different pronouns, for example I, we, he, she, they, you, me; and that not all texts consist of whole sentences, for example Way In, No Smoking, Surgery Hours. They will apply this knowledge to aid understanding and to identify information, for example the name of a doctor on an appointment card, etc.

In addition, learners will learn to distinguish the different purposes of texts through a variety of activities, worksheets and examples of texts relating to everyday life. They will have opportunities to read different types of texts that are appropriate to their levels and everyday life, for example books, poems, songs, public signs and notices, simple forms, lists, adverts, maps, simple tables, emails, appointment and greetings cards. Learners will learn to identify and predict the purpose of different text types using layout, for example information, warnings, directions, prohibitions, use of capital letters, and the use of emboldened words to show emphasis. They will be able to identify the purposes of text, for example to inform, to sell, to send good wishes, to warn, to request. They will learn conventional phrases used in particular contexts, for example Best Wishes, Happy Birthday, Good Luck.

Money Matters unit introduces learners to new, subject specific vocabulary and skills needed in daily lives. It promotes the need to be financially independent through achieving economic wellbeing. It also gets them to find out about services offered at banks or building societies, read graphs and diagrams, make estimates and verify calculations, plan an event budget. More challenging activities require understanding how income tax, council tax and national insurance contributes to life in the community.

Cooking, Cleaning and Ironing unit teaches advanced verbs in the context of house chores and understanding instructions using complex language structures. In addition, learners will be able to obtain detail when listening to non-interactive explanations and narratives, such as when listening to an article on television or the radio. They learn and practise extracting meaning without necessarily understanding every word and when instructions are not sequenced chronologically.

 

 

International gcse (IGCSE)

International GCSE in English Language (Specification B)

The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:

• read a wide range of texts fluently and with good understanding

• read critically and use knowledge gained from wide reading to inform and improve their own writing

• write effectively and coherently using Standard English appropriately

• use grammar correctly, punctuate and spell accurately

• acquire and apply a wide vocabulary alongside knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology, and linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language

• listen to and understand spoken language, and use spoken Standard English effectively. Spoken language will be reported as a separate grade on the student’s certificate.

The qualification comprises one mandatory component. It is a linear qualification and the component must be taken at the end of the course of study. In addition, students may be entered for an optional spoken language endorsement.

Component 1
  • Externally assessed 
100% of the total International GCSE

Content summary

  • Develop skills to analyse how writers use linguistic and structural devices to achieve their effects.
  • Explore links and connections between writers’ ideas and perspectives.
  • Develop transactional and imaginative writing skills for a variety of purposes and audiences and to engage the reader.
  • Use spelling, punctuation and grammar accurately.

Assessment

  • Section A – short- and long- answer questions related to two previously unseen text extracts; up to a total of 40 marks.
  • Section B – one 30-mark directed writing task, based on the ideas presented in the source texts involving a given audience, form or purpose.
  • Section C – one 30-mark writing task, from a choice of three (discursive, narrative, and descriptive).
  • The total number of marks available is 100.
  • The assessment duration is 3 hours.
Spoken language endorsement (optional)
  • Internally assessed under controlled conditions
Endorsed separately

Summary

The spoken language presentation may take a variety of forms, including:

a) a speech or talk by a student, followed by questions from the audience

b) a formal debate or dialogue, such as an interview where the student is able to prepare extended responses to questions or prompts, which have been shared in advance, followed by questions from the audience.

In all cases, the presentation should be prepared and last no longer than 10 minutes. Please see page 10 for more details about the spoken language endorsement.