English Home Language

The Home Language level provides for language proficiency that reflects the basic interpersonal communication skills required in social situations and the cognitive academic skills essential for learning across the curriculum. Emphasis is placed on the teaching of the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at this language level. This level also provides learners with a literary, aesthetic and imaginative ability that will provide them with the ability to recreate, imagine, and empower their understandings of the world they live in. However, the emphasis and the weighting for listening and speaking from Grades 7 onwards are lower than those of the reading and writing skills.

The Home Language curriculum is packaged according to the following skills:

Listening and Speaking:

Listening and Speaking are central to learning in all subjects. Through effective listening and speaking, learners collect and synthesise information, construct knowledge, solve problems, and express ideas and opinions. Critical listening skills enable learners to recognise values and attitudes embedded in texts and to challenge biased and manipulative language. Listening and speaking are different but co-dependent skills. Both are continually present informally in the classroom as learners receive and discuss information. Formal listening and speaking of special forms, e.g. debate, need focused instruction. Formal and informal listening and speaking are integrated with reading, writing and language practice, while speaking may give written text an oral form (e.g. reading aloud).

Reading and Viewing:

Well-developed reading and viewing skills are central to successful learning across the curriculum. Learners develop proficiency in reading and viewing a wide range of literary and non-literary texts, including visual texts. Learners recognise how genre and register reflect the purpose, audience and context of texts. Through classroom and independent reading, learners become critical and creative thinkers

Writing and Presenting:

Writing is a powerful instrument of communication that allows learners to construct and communicate thoughts and ideas coherently. Frequent writing practice across a variety of contexts, tasks and subjects enables learners to communicate functionally and creatively. Writing which is appropriately scaffolded using writing frames (as and when necessary), produces competent, versatile writers who will be able to use their skills to develop and present appropriate written, visual and multi-media texts for a variety of purposes.

Language Structures and Conventions:

Learners will learn how language is used, and will develop a shared language for talking about language (a ‘metalanguage’), so that they can evaluate their own and other texts critically in terms of meaning, effectiveness and accuracy. They will also be able to use this knowledge to experiment with language to build meaning from word and sentence levels to whole texts, and to see how a text and its context are related. Through interacting with a variety of texts, learners extend their use of vocabulary and correctly apply their understanding of Language Structures and Conventions.

Grade 10

Link to resources >>

Term 1:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Narrative, Descriptive or Reflective essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Summary writing

Term 2:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Interpretation of visual texts

  • Narrative, Descriptive or Reflective essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Summary writing

Term 3:

• • Meetings and meeting procedures

  • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

  • Storytelling

  • Narrative, Descriptive or Reflective essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Summary writing

Term 4:

• • Introducing a speaker or Vote of thanks

  • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Narrative, Descriptive or Reflective essay

  • Summary writing

Grade 11

Link to resources >>

Term 1:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Interpretation of visual texts

  • Summary writing

Term 2:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Interpretation of visual texts

  • Summary writing

Term 3:

• • Meetings and meeting procedures

  • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Summary writing

  • Storytelling or Praise poem

Term 4:

• • Introducing a speaker or Vote of thanks

  • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Summary writing

Grade 12

Link to resources >>

Term 1:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Narrative, Descriptive, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Interpretation of visual texts

  • Summary writing

Term 2:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Reflective, Narrative, Descriptive, Discursive or Argumentative essay

  • Prepared or unprepared speech

  • Interpretation of visual texts

  • Summary writing

Term 3:

• • Comprehension

  • Transactional texts:

    • Friendly or informal letters

    • Formal or informal letters to the press

    • CV and cover letter

    • Obituary

    • Agenda and minutes

    • Report, review, newspaper or magazine articles

    • Speech, dialogue or interview

  • Debate or panel discussions

  • Introducing a speaker or Vote of thanks

  • Summary writing

Term 4:

• • Only focuses on examination preparation