Important Notice: At ISN we value the input of our learning partners, these expectations will be constantly updated to include learning partner ideas into the curriculum.
Expectations:
Throughout the first term, learning partners will work towards completing Units 4, 5, and 6 of the IGCSE English as a Second Language curriculum. These units are, in order, Skiing Holiday, Health, and Fitness. A large amount of this coursework will come from Unit 2: Work and education, in the IGCSE English as a Second Language book and workbook.
All IGCSE Learning Partners will also be studying John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. They will be able to interpret and analyze the language, plot, theme, characters, and other literary elements. Many assignments, activities and projects will be incorporated into these topics.
(a) Learning partners will develop English Reading Skills. They will:
(i) Concentrate on more detailed comprehension of longer texts for further understanding.
(ii) Read for gist and detail and improve note-taking, summarizing, skimming, and using your own words to highlight key parts of passages.
(iii) Evaluate information by listing arguments from controversial articles, ordering and presenting facts from informative texts, and identify facts from opinion.
(iv) Recognize the differences between colloquial language, jargon, and idioms.
(v) Understand and communicate information by locating information for form-filling purposes.
(b) Learning partners will develop English Writing Skills. They will:
(i) Utilize summarizing and scanning techniques in writing.
(ii) Convey information and show an awareness of register in informal and formal situations by writing a persuasive essay, a discursive essay, and a formal letter as writing assessments.
(iii) Work through several in-class activities that will help to build on varying sentence structure.
(iv) Write descriptively with detail, expression, and fluency, using further vocabulary, imagery, similes, and metaphors.
(v) Improve on spelling, writing, and punctuation with dictation and other exercises.
(vi) Develop more complex writing by using a thesaurus and dictionary to expand on vocabulary and grammar.
(vii) Improve sentence and paragraph structure by organizing sentences according to order of importance, chronological order, and spatial order.
(c) Learning partners will develop English Speaking Skills. They will:
(i) Develop conversational skills, communicate more effectively and appropriately, and articulate and express ideas and opinions.
(ii) Develop presentation skills in formal and informal situations, by improving fluency, tone, volume of voice, posture, and rhythm.
(iii) Learn to use all tenses, both in oral and written communication, with increasing confidence.
(iv) Present a dialog as a role-play to increase confidence in speaking to a group of people.
(d) Learning partners will develop English Listening Skills. They will:
(i) Listen to order and present information, and recognize implicit attitudes.
(ii) Show awareness of variations and process sounds by recognizing tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, intonation, stress, and word boundaries.
(iii) Distinguish between facts, opinions, and ideas while listening to passages.
