In English, students learn to read, write, speak, view and represent language. They learn about the English language and literature through working with a wide range of spoken, visual, multimedia and digital texts. Students learn how language varies according to context, and how to communicate with a range of audiences for different purposes. They learn to read for information and pleasure. Students gain a sound grasp of language structures, punctuation, spelling and grammar. They also learn to think in ways that are imaginative, creative and critical.
Some Year 1 and Year 2 examples
Students:
- engage in conversations and discussions using active listening behaviours, showing interest and contributing ideas, information and questions
- communicate simple information, eg give directions to the library, briefly retell a familiar story
- develop an increasing range of reading and comprehension skills on familiar topics, eg sound out unfamiliar words or break them down into syllables, respond to punctuation when reading aloud, express opinions about characters
- plan, write and review simple imaginative, informative and persuasive texts on a familiar topic
- spell common sight words, eg said, was, some, have
- listen attentively and share ideas, or give information in groups, class discussions or presentations to other classes and in assemblies, eg talk about familiar topics such as birthdays, sport, family, friends
- begin to read texts on less familiar topics
- make inferences, begin to summarise events and make predictions when reading stories to develop comprehension
- begin to organise ideas into paragraphs when writing and use basic grammatical features and punctuation conventions
- construct texts featuring print, visual and audio elements using software, including the use of digital technologies.