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Reg. No.: 2011/011959/07
English First Additional Language
Facilitator’s guide
Grade 8
CAPS aligned
A Mills
LESSON ELEMENTS
Vocabulary
The meaning of new words to fully understand the text/content.
Tips
A useful hint to help improve skills.
Language structures and conventions
Key language elements that must be studied, understood and applied to the content of the lesson.
Activity
Core content and questions to test the learner's knowledge.
For the curious
Encouragement to do in-depth research about the content. Expand the activity and exercise to such an extent that learners are encouraged to explore.
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PREFACE
The study guide and facilitator’s guide cover all the work for Grade 8 First Additional Language (FAL). The book has been compiled according to the CAPS requirements as set out by the Department of Basic Education.
CAPS provides a breakdown of the minimum work that must be covered. In some instances, the study guide and facilitator’s guide contain more information than required by CAPS.
The study guide is divided into four units and 18 lessons. Each lesson is discussed over two weeks (10 hours) and each unit extends over a term.
At the end of units 2 and 4 (term 2 and 4), the learners write exams (refer to the portfolio book).
Unit 1 consists of five lessons
Lesson 1: Celebrate culture
Lesson 2: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen ...’
Lesson 3: Images in action
Lesson 4: Money talks
Lesson 5: Take a sho’t left!
Unit 2 consists of four lessons
Lesson 6: Curious cats
Lesson 7: The land of make-believe
Lesson 8: ‘Mountain in the sea’
Lesson 9: ‘The blue planet’
Each lesson consists of:
Unit 3 consists of five lessons
Lesson 10: Unsocial media?
Lesson 11: Art matters
Lesson 12: You’re hired!
Lesson 13: Look out world, here I come!
Lesson 14: Be a good sport
Unit 4 consists of four lessons
Lesson 15: Rome wasn’t built in a day ...
Lesson 16: I’ll be there for you ...
Lesson 17: Who are you?
Lesson 18: Take time out
The lessons are divided into activities – this contains the lesson content as well as questions on it.
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1. Listening and speaking
2. Reading and viewing
3. Writing and presenting
4. Language structures and conventions
Section 1: Listening and speaking
Listening and speaking are integral to all subjects. The more a new language is heard and spoken, the easier it becomes to learn. Each lesson begins with a discussion about the topic which serves as an introduction. Other discussions in lessons can be viewed as orals instead of only formal conversations/discussions. The more learners practise to write and deliver orals, the easier it becomes to do tasks and exams. It will also improve their self-confidence if they speak to an audience more often.
It is important to pronounce words clearly and correctly when reading aloud. Help learners when they use incorrect sentence structure or vocabulary when they speak. Pay attention to
the listening process as it is very important in the higher grades and used during listening tests. The listening process is discussed below. Make sure you know when learners may take notes.
Listening process and strategies
The listening process is a three-phase activity and not every step of the process will be used every time. For example, if learners are listening to a recording, they will need to do a pre-listening activity which allows them to focus their listening and helps them to make associations with their own experiences. Listening activities help learners to recall details and evaluate the message. Post-listening may include learners responding to what they have heard through discussion.
Pre-listening
This introduces learners to the listening situation. It allows them to access their existing knowledge of the topic and prepare for listening.
• Talk about background knowledge before listening.
• Predict what the text may be about from the title.
• Deal with any unfamiliar vocabulary.
• Set a pre-listening question/s to focus learners’ attention.
• Prepare learners with, for example, pen and paper for taking notes.
During listening
Learners:
• Analyse the message, the speaker, and the speaker’s evidence
• Make mental connections
• Find meaning
• Ask questions
• Make inferences and confirm predictions
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• Reflect and evaluate
Post-listening
Learners:
• Ask questions and talk about what the speaker said.
• Review notes
• Summarise the presentation orally.
• Analyse and evaluate critically what they have heard.
• Combine new knowledge with prior knowledge.
• Draw conclusions, evaluate, give an opinion, and respond critically.
Follow the listening process for the first few weeks and see how the learners progress. If it becomes clear that they do not have to listen to a text three times, you do not have to read it three times. The process must, however, be followed for tasks/exams.
Section 2: Reading and viewing
The more learners read English texts, the easier it will be for them to understand language use and pick up on things such as spelling patterns. If learners can read and understand the text in section 2 without you reading it to them first, it’s good. It’s important that learners read English texts on their own. Always help with pronunciation and meaning when learners read on their own.
Learners must read a book on their own each term. Encourage them to read more than one book per term, as well as books in their home language.
If there is not enough time to do all the language activities in the lesson, make sure new work is covered before going back to previous work.
Section 3: Writing and presenting
The more learners write in English, the better. When you write, you are more inclined to use grammar and spelling correctly. Take note of the writing process set out below. Encourage learners to write in English as much as possible. For example, they can write a paragraph every day about what they did after school or it could be about something related to the lesson.
Learners are also introduced to various types of texts, each with its own format (e.g. stories, dialogues, news reports, posters and poems).
Writing process
Not every step of the writing process will be used each time. Make sure learners know where the focus is for each task, e.g. structure, sentence construction or paragraph writing. The writing process includes:
• Planning/Pre-writing
• Drafting
• Revising
• Editing
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• Proofreading
• Presenting
Planning
Analyse the structure and features of the text. What is the purpose of the text? Decide on the requirements for the format and brainstorm ideas using, for example, mind maps, idea trees, flow charts or lists.
Drafting
Write a first draft from the planning process. Read the draft critically and get feedback from others. Make sure all the requirements for the text have been met.
Revising, editing, proofreading and presenting
Read through the draft, correct spelling errors, refine word choice, evaluate style and register, use grammar correctly. Write the final draft including correct layout/format, heading and fonts. Present the final version.
Section 4: Language structures and conventions
By interacting with English in written and spoken format, the foundation for grammar is laid. Although all the work required by CAPS is covered in the study guide, we do, however, recommend that facilitators provide learners with additional language exercises. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an activity; it can simply be a revision of the previous day’s work, an informal quiz about synonyms or a spelling test.
It is vital that language aspects are entrenched early on – it forms the basis for all language work up to Grade 12 (the level only gets higher each year). The more learners practise these language aspects, the better they get at using them correctly.
Time allocation
According to CAPS, learners must spend 5 hours per week studying English First Additional Language, so 10 hours per lesson (runs over two weeks). This means that homework is not included in this time. If learners cannot complete the activities during school time, they must do it for homework.
Two hours must be spent on listening and speaking, four hours on reading and viewing, three hours on writing and presenting and one hour on language structures and conventions. Take note that the time allocation for each activity does not necessarily add up to the 10hour two-week cycle. This is because the time spent on an activity will be determined by the number of learners in the class. Some activities also take longer, where the facilitator must assess learners’ work, presenting a poem, orals, etc. In these cases, the activity could be done over a few days to allow each learner the opportunity to complete the activity.
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Use your discretion to make sure learners cover all the work. In some instances, the work extends over a few periods, use your discretion on how to complete these lessons.
Planning
The books have been compiled in such a way that the facilitator has to do the minimum planning. However, it is still necessary to prepare for the lesson (especially since the time allocated for the activities is determined by the number of learners). Go through the lesson and see what you have to prepare (for example, a text for reading aloud, decorating the class to suit the theme of the lesson, the necessary preparation for a language quiz/game, to ask learners to bring an item to class the following day, etc.). Also, plan which activities you will do on which days during the two-week cycle (day 1 to 10).
The activities can be done in the order they appear in the book, but it’s not necessary to do all the listening and speaking activities only at the beginning of the lesson. If time doesn’t
allow, you may decide to not do some of the listening and speaking activities such as performing a poem. If learners have mastered some language aspects, they do not have to complete all the activities in class. If, for example, they understand abbreviations, they may complete the activity on abbreviations as revision at home (you can mark it in class).
Vocabulary and spelling
Encourage learners to make their own dictionary from day one. They can use this dictionary throughout the year to write down difficult words or ones they have trouble spelling. If possible, write a spelling test at the end of each lesson, or alternatively, they can write a spelling test at the end of the day or week.
Where possible, we have included lists of words that learners may find difficult or to help them broaden their vocabulary to make essays and transactional texts easier to write.
About the texts
The texts, poems and stories used in the books have the necessary permissions or are freely available in the public domain. Where there is no accreditation the author of the book wrote the poem/story. Every effort has been made to properly accredit texts, images and quotes.
General
A few things to keep in mind:
• Each lesson has a theme. Try to make the theme as exciting as possible – the class could be decorated to suit the theme or learners could find interesting articles about it and share it with the class.
• There is a table at the beginning of each lesson in the facilitator’s guide. This table contains the relevant activities and time allocation. Although other aspects may also be covered during the activity it is not the focus and not listed in the table.
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• Many activities require more than one learner if there is only one learner the facilitator must take up the other role(s).
• As mentioned, some activities require learners to bring items to class – read ahead and give learners enough time to collect these items. For example, if they must bring along a magazine/newspaper or an item for role play, give them at least a week or two to get these together.
• In between doing activities, learners can also write short, informal tests about language aspects, such as gender, degrees of comparison, etc.
• As far as possible, the headings in the study guide are according to CAPS, even though it might say ‘perform a poem’, it refers to the poem in the study guide, unless stated otherwise.
G08 ~ English First Additional Language
• More advanced learners can do research on the topics throughout the year, design and make a poster and tell the class about it. For example, they can do research about the information in the ‘Did you know?’ block or you can ask them to research a specific author or poet.
Recommended books
There are no prescribed books for English First Additional Language. Learners must, however, have a good bilingual dictionary or school dictionary from Oxford or Pharos. A thesaurus is also beneficial.
As mentioned, learners are expected to read at least one book per term. This may be any appropriate book of their choice. The more they read, the easier and better they will learn the language. When learners read, they broaden their vocabulary and improve their spelling.
Some recommended books for Grade 8 FAL level
• Holes – Louis Sachar
• To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia series) – C.S. Lewis
• Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine
• The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien
• The Borrowers – Mary Norton
• Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling
• Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
• The Tale of Despereaux – Kate Di Camillo
• How to Eat Fried Worms – Thomas Rockwell
• Wonder – R.J. Palacio.
• The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan
• Lord of the Flies – William Golding
• The curious incident of the dog in the night – Mark Haddon
• Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl
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Formal assessment
No activity in the study guide is done for formal assessment. Please refer to the portfolio book for all formal assessments.
Exams
There are two exams in Grade 8 – the June and November exams. In both exams, learners write three papers.
• June exams
ל Paper 1: Oral (listening comprehension/debate/conversation/prepared or unprepared speech/group discussion). Completed during the term.
ל Paper 2: Reaction to written texts (reading comprehension of literary/non-
literary text, comprehension of visual text, summary, language structures and conventions)
ל Paper 3 (written before the exams): Writing (transactional text: 2 short or 1 long: poster/advertisement/webpage/review, descriptive or argumentative essay)
• November exams
ל Paper 1: Oral (listening comprehension/debate/conversation/prepared or unprepared speech/group discussion). Completed during the term.
ל Paper 2: Reaction to written texts (reading comprehension of literary/nonliterary text, comprehension of visual text, summary, language structures and conventions)
ל Paper 3 (written before the exams): Writing (transactional text: 2 short or 1 long: newspaper article/questionnaire/directions/instructions, descriptive, argumentative or narrative essay)
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1
2
YEAR PLAN
LESSON 1: Celebrate culture
LESSON 2: ‘Friends, romans, countrymen …’
LESSON 3: Images in action
LESSON 4: Money talks
LESSON 5: Take a sho’t left!
LESSON 6: Curious cats
LESSON 7: The land of make-believe
LESSON 8: ‘Mountain in the sea’
LESSON 9: ‘The blue planet’
LESSON 10: Unsocial media?
LESSON 11: Art matters
LESSON 12: You’re hired!
3
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LESSON 13: Look out world, here I come!
LESSON 14: Be a good sport
4 LESSON 15: Rome wasn’t built in a day …
LESSON 16: I’ll be there for you …
LESSON 17: Who are you?
LESSON 18: Take time out
UNIT 1: Weeks 1 – 2
LESSON 1: Celebrate culture
Skills
Listening and speaking
Take part in a group discussion
Do a listening comprehension
Reading aloud
Reading and viewing
Discuss the features of a short story
Read a short story
Discuss a short story
Answer questions on a short story
Writing and presenting
Plan a narrative or reflective essay
Draft a narrative or reflective essay
Edit a narrative or reflective essay
Write a narrative or reflective essay
Study GuideTime allocation
Activity 125 min.
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How to write an email
How to write an interview
How to design and make a brochure
Write an obituary
Language structures and conventions
Adverbs of place and degree
Pronouns
Subject-verb agreement
Synonyms, antonyms, literal and figurative meaning
Activity 235 min.
Activity 325 min.
Activity 430 min.
Activity 540 min.
Activity 630 min.
Activity 730 min.
Activity 835 min.
Activity 925 min.
Activity 1025 min.
Activity 1130 min.
Activity 1230 min.
Activity 1330 min.
Activity 1440 min.
Activity 1530 min.
Activity 1630 min.
Activity 1730 min.
Activity 1830 min.
Activity 1930 min.
Remedial activity: Correct the punctuation in the paragraph
Extension activity: Write a paragraph of 7 – 10 sentences
SECTION 1 Listening and speaking
Have a general discussion with learners about culture. What it is, why we all belong to a certain culture and how we must respect the culture of others. The illustration on the opening page depicts a traditional wedding, you may ask learners who of them have ever attended a traditional wedding ceremony and how it is different from the western version.
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Read the anecdote of Maya Angelou and the carpet and use the questions in the study guide to have a discussion. Of course, you may decide to ask other questions or allow the learners to lead the discussion in a different direction – make sure all the learners participate because class discussions are very important to develop language abilities.
There are a few reasons why you must get your learners involved in class discussions:
• It makes the topic more interesting
• It reinforces learning
• You can provide feedback on the discussion
• Learners will know where they make mistakes and can rectify it
By encouraging active participation, you make learning easier and get learners to think about the lesson – and themselves – in a new way.
You can do this by:
• Making discussions accessible: learners should feel comfortable speaking up and making their voices heard. They must never be afraid to speak English or be afraid of making mistakes, that is the only way we learn a language.
• Creating a friendly atmosphere: learners must discuss topics and share opinions in a respectful way.
• Setting a goal: the discussion must have a purpose and direction. What do you want to accomplish?
• Inviting participation: do not allow the same few learners to always dominate the discussion and do not always call on the same learners either – allow the ‘shy’ ones an opportunity to speak too.
Class discussions teach learners to think on their feet, to use the information they receive and share ideas. Learners who participate in guided classroom discussions learn essential life skills as well, including the importance of active listening. When we encourage listening with understanding we also improve their communication skills.
One way to do this is:
• Ask learners a question about the current lesson.
• Give them 5-10 seconds to consider.
• Allow them to respond. If no volunteers raise their hands, choose a learner to respond (try to choose someone who is typically quiet).
• Praise the learner for speaking up.
• Ask the class to consider the learner’s response; what do they think it means?
• Use their responses to guide the discussion.
Activity 1: Take part in a group discussion 25 minutes
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What do you think of when you hear the word ‘culture’? What does your culture mean to you? We must always be respectful of others’ cultures even if we do not understand it. Read the story of Maya Angelou, the poet, and the incident with the carpet.
During a trip to Senegal, Maya Angelou was invited to dinner by her friend, Samia. Passing a room where people stood close to the wall to avoid standing on the rug, Angelou became very angry. ‘I had known a woman in Egypt who would not allow her servants to walk on her rugs, saying that only she, her family and friends were going to wear out her expensive carpets. I was very disappointed in my friend, Samia.’
She decided to challenge this ridiculous idea and walked back and forth across the carpet. ‘The guests who were bunched up on the sidelines smiled at me weakly.’ Soon afterwards, servants came, rolled up the rug, took it away and brought in a fresh one.
• A complete guide with all the texts (contemporary and classic) for comprehension exercises, speeches, and reading included.
• Contains tips for better writing, critical reading and understanding.
• Various levels of questions and activities to develop language skills and critical thinking.
• Complete explanations on grammar and syntax
• Practical examples of writing tasks.
• Encourages independent reading and research and broadens vocabulary.
