Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools) - Grade Two

Learning Area: Languages - First Additional Language

Learning Outcome 1:  Listening

The learner will be able to listen for information and enjoyment, and respond appropriately and critically in a wide range of situations.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Shows understanding of simple stories:
  • predicts what the story will be about from the title;
  • acts out the story and says the words spoken by the characters;
  • draws a picture about the story and says or copies a few words about it;
  • sequences pictures and matches captions with pictures;
  • answers simple, literal yes/no and open questions with short answers;
  • says how the story made the learner feel;
  • answers questions that connect the story to own life in own home language;
  • shows understanding of recounts by recalling the events in sequence (e.g. ‘Yesterday, Ouma went to town. She bought a lot of things. First, she bought some vegetables.’).
• Shows understanding of a simple description by identifying what is described (e.g. ‘It is round. Sometimes it is red. Sometimes it is green. It tastes sweet. What is it?’).
• Shows understanding of a short sequence of instructions (e.g. ‘Draw a circle. Colour it red.’).
• Develops phonic awareness:
  • distinguishes between different sounds that are important for reading and writing (e.g. ‘e’ and ‘a’) and words (e.g. ‘bed’ and ‘bad’);
  • recognises some rhyming words in common rhymes and songs (e.g. ‘We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, You can come too, too, too.’);
  • recognises ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ endings in words.
• Shows respect for classmates by giving them a chance to speak, listening to them and encouraging their attempts to speak their additional language.

Learning Outcome 2:  Speaking

The learner will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in spoken language in a wide range of situations.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Responds appropriately to simple questions.
• Memorises and performs songs, action rhymes and simple poems.
• Shows respect and politeness and understands that terms of respect vary in different languages (e.g. Mama, Bhuti, Mrs Smith).
• Makes simple requests and statements (e.g. ‘Can I have a page, please?’ or ‘I’m feeling sick.’).
• Talks about a drawing or picture.
• Attends to pronunciation as part of reading, for example:
  • distinguishes between long and short vowels, as in ‘pull’ and ‘pool’;
  • distinguishes between vowels that are often confused, such as ‘e’ and ‘a’ in ‘bed’ and ‘bad’.
• Recounts a short sequence of simple experiences or events.
• Asks for clarification (e.g. ‘I don’t understand. Please say it again.’).
• Gives very simple instructions.

Learning Outcome 3:  Reading and Viewing

The learner will be able to read and view for information and enjoyment, and respond critically to the aesthetic, cultural and emotional values in texts.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Uses pictures to understand written text:
  • makes sense of a picture story (e.g. by sequencing pictures);
  • relates pictures to own experience;
  • says how pictures make self feel, codeswitching if necessary;
  • matches a sentence (a caption) to a picture;
  • draws a picture to illustrate a sentence.
• Begins to make meaning of written text by reading with the teacher.
  • reads the title and predicts what a book is about;
  • follows the teacher’s eye and finger movements;
  • points to the correct word when it is being read;
  • answers short oral questions about the story;
  • with help from the teacher, retells the story.
• Recognises and makes meaning of letters and words:
  • recognises on sight an increasing number of high-frequency words (e.g. your, like).
• Develops phonic awareness:
  • recognises differences in pronunciation between home and additional language (e.g. ‘thatha’ and ‘then’);
  • understands the letter-sound relationships of most single consonants and short forms of vowels in words like ‘hat’ and ‘mat’;
  • segments simple words with single initial consonants and short vowels (CVC pattern) into onset (the first sound) and rime (the last part of the syllable) (e.g. f-at, c-at, m-at, h-at, s-at);
  • groups common words into word families (e.g. fat, cat, mat, hat, sat);
  • recognises the silent ‘e’ in common words such as ‘cake’;
  • recognises two-letter blends at the beginning of words, including those which only occur in borrowed words in own home language (e.g. gr-een, dr-um);
  • recognises common consonant diagraphs (single sounds spelt with two letters) at the beginning and ends of words (e.g. sh, th, ch);
  • recognises on sight an increasing number of high-frequency words (e.g. your, like);
  • uses phonic knowledge and skills as part of reading and writing strategies (to sound out words when reading and spell words when writing).
• Reads fiction and non-fiction books at an appropriate level for information and enjoyment.
• Demonstrates a reading vocabulary of between 250 and 500 common words. Learners who will study some Learning Areas through their additional language should aim for 500 words.

Learning Outcome 4:  Writing

The learner will be able to write different kinds of factual and imaginative texts for a wide range of purposes.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Chooses and copies a caption which accurately describes a picture.
• Writes a caption for a picture.
• Completes sentences by filling in missing words.
• Writes sentences using a ‘frame’ (e.g. ‘I like...’).
• Puts jumbled sentences in the right order and copies them.
• Uses punctuation - capital letters and full stops.
• Uses phonic knowledge to begin to spell words correctly.
• Spells familiar words correctly from memory.
• Identifies and corrects spelling errors in familiar words.
• Writes familiar words from dictation.
• Writes words in alphabetical order (e.g. in a personal dictionary).
• Writes lists (e.g. shopping lists).
• Writes headings for lists (e.g. animals: dog, cow, sheep).

Learning Outcome 5:  Thinking and Reasoning

The learner will be able to use language to think and reason, as well as to access, process and use information for learning.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Understands concepts and vocabulary relating to:
  • identity (e.g. ‘I speak isiXhosa, English, and Afrikaans.’);
  • number (e.g. 11, 12);
  • shape (e.g. triangle, star);
  • size (e.g. long, tall, short);
  • direction (e.g. up, down);
  • sequence (e.g. fourth, fifth);
  • ability (e.g. ‘I can/could...’).
• Uses language for thinking:
  • identifies similarities and differences (e.g. compares a fish and a dolphin);
  • identifies parts from the whole (e.g. parts of a car);
  • classifies things by putting similar things together, and by identifying the odd one out;
  • sequences things (e.g. from tallest to shortest).
• Works with charts:
  • fills in charts (e.g. a timetable of daily activities);
  • carries out a class survey (e.g. of f avourite foods) and records the information in a chart or simple bar graph;
  • makes a timeline showing important dates in the past (e.g. events in own ‘life history’).
• Understands and uses some everyday language which is necessary for Mathematics:
  • listens to, reads and solves simple word problems for Mathematics, with attention to words such as ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘share’, ‘half’, ‘left’, ‘altogether’ (e.g. ‘Yusuf has ten sweets. He gives two sweets to Nwabisa. How many sweets does he have left?’).
• Keeps a personal dictionary.

Learning Outcome 6:  Language Structure and Use

The learner will know and be able to use the sounds, words and grammar of the language to create and interpret texts.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Understands and uses some question forms: (e.g. ‘What happened yesterday/last week/this morning?’ ‘When did you go?’‘Have you ever ...?’).
• Understands and uses the simple past tense (e.g. ‘Yesterday she watched/did not watch TV.’), including irregular forms (e.g. went, ate, read) and the present perfect tense (‘She has lost her watch.’ ‘I have not seen him.’).
• Understands and uses some modals (e.g. ‘I can read.’).
• Understands and uses some adjectives (e.g. young, old, happy, sad).
• Modifies adjectives and adverbs (e.g. very big/slow, quite small/fast).
• Understands and uses some adverbs in the correct word order (e.g. ‘Thembi always brushes her teeth.’).
• Understands between 1000 and 1500 common spoken words in context by the end of Grade 2. Learners who will study some of the Learning Areas through their additional language should aim for 1500 words.