Language development is central to students'intellectual, social, and emotional growth, and must be seen as a key element of the curriculum. When students learn to use language in the elementary grades, they do more than master the basic skills. They learn to value the power of language and to use it responsibly. They learn to express feelings and opinions and, as they mature, to support their opinions with sound arguments and research.
They become aware of the many purposes for which language is used and the diverse forms it can take to appropriately serve particular purposes and audiences. They learn to use the formal language appropriate for debates and essays, the narrative language of stories, the figurative language of poetry, the technical language of instructions and manuals. They develop an awareness of how language is used in different formal and informal situations. In sum, they come to appreciate language both as an important medium for communicating ideas and information and as a source of enjoyment.
Learning to communicate with clarity and precision, orally, in writing, and through a variety of media, will help students to thrive in the world beyond school. Language is a fundamental element of identity and culture. As students read and reflect on a rich variety of literary, informational, and media texts, they develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others and of the world around them. If they see themselves and others in the texts they read and the oral and media works they engage in, they are able to feel that the works are genuinely for and about them and they come to appreciate the nature and value of a diverse, multicultural society. They also develop the ability to understand and critically interpret a range of texts and to recognize that a text conveys one particular perspective among many.
Language skills are developed across the curriculum and, cumulatively, through the grades. Students use and develop important language skills as they read and think about topics, themes, and issues in various subject areas. Language facility helps students to learn in all subject areas, and using language for a broad range of purposes increases both their ability to communicate with precision and their understanding of how language works. Students develop flexibility and proficiency in their understanding and use of language over time.
As they move through the grades, they are required to use language with ever greater accuracy and fluency in an ever-expanding range of situations. They are also expected to assume responsibility for their own learning and to apply their language skills in more challenging and complex ways.
Students'responsibilities with respect to their own learning develop gradually and increase over time, as students progress through elementary and secondary school. With appropriate instruction and with experience, students come to see how making an effort can enhance learning and improve achievement. As they mature and develop their ability to persist, to manage their own impulses, to take responsible risks, and to listen with understanding, students become better able to engage with their own learning. Learning to take responsibility for their progress and achievement is an important part of every student's education.
Mastering the concepts and skills connected with the language curriculum requires work, study, and the development of cooperative skills. In addition, students who actively pursue opportunities outside the classroom will extend and enrich their understanding of the communication process. Their understanding and skills will grow as they explore their world and engage in activities, for their own purposes, which involve reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and representing. Students develop their literacy skills when they seek out recreational reading materials and multimedia works that relate to their personal interests and to other subject areas, and when they engage in conversation with parents, peers, and teachers about what they are reading, writing, viewing, representing, and thinking in their daily lives.
Studies show that students perform better in school when their parents are involved in their education. Parents who are familiar with the curriculum expectations know what is being taught in each grade and what their child is expected to learn. This information allows parents to understand how their child is progressing in school and to work with teachers to improve their child's learning.
Effective ways in which parents can support students'learning include: attending parent teacher interviews, participating in school council activities (including becoming a school council member), and encouraging students to complete their assignments at home.In addition to supporting regular school activities, parents may wish to encourage their sons and daughters to take an active interest in using language for meaningful purposes as a regular part of their activities outside school. They might encourage their children to read every day and talk and play together at home.
The JTS Curriculum, Grades 1– 9: identifies the expectations for each grade and describes the knowledge and skills that students are expected to acquire, demonstrate, and apply in their class work and investigations, on tests, and in various other activities on which their achievement is assessed and evaluated.
In the language curriculum, the overall expectations outline standard sets of knowledge and skills required for effective listening and speaking, reading and writing, and viewing and representing. They encompass the types of understanding, skills, approaches, and processes that are applied by effective communicators of all ages and levels of development, and are therefore described from grade to grade. The language curriculum focuses on developing the depth and level of sophistication of students'knowledge and skills associated with each of these key overall expectations by increasing the complexity of the texts they work with and the tasks they perform over time
The expectations for Grades 1 to 3 focus on the foundational knowledge and skills that students need in order to establish a strong basis for language development. These include students'oral language, prior knowledge and experience, understanding of concepts about print, phonemic awareness, understanding of letter-sound relationships, vocabulary knowledge, semantic and syntactic awareness, higher-order thinking skills, and capacity for metacognition.
Most of what primary students know about language comes from listening and speaking with others, being read to by adults, and interacting with media texts such as advertisements, television programs, video games, songs, photographs, and films. The expectations for language build upon the prior knowledge and experience that students bring to JTS classrooms from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Because this base of knowledge, experience, and skills varies from student to student, it is important for instruction to be differentiated to meet the needs of individuals and small groups of students.
Students listen and speak for different purposes, both formal and informal. They develop an understanding of appropriate listening and speaking behaviors and identify strategies they can use to understand what they hear and clearly communicate what they want to say.
With support and direction from the teacher, primary students use oral language to talk about their learning as readers and writers and as viewers and producers of oral, print, and media texts. The expectations in oral communication provide a bridge to the interconnected knowledge, skills, and strategies that primary students will use to read, write, view, and represent.
The expectations for Grades 4 to 6 focus on students'ability to use their knowledge and skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing to understand, critically analyze, and communicate a broad range of information and ideas from and about their multicultural, multimedia environment.
Junior students'language knowledge comes from their life experiences and prior knowledge and from the foundational language knowledge and skills acquired in the primary school years. The expectations in the junior years build upon this foundation. Because the base of knowledge, experience, and skills varies from student to student, it is important for instruction to be differentiated to meet the needs of individuals and small groups of students.
Language instruction in the junior years is designed to engage students in meaningful interactions with a wide variety of texts. They look beyond the literal meaning of texts and observe what is present and what is missing, in order to analyze and evaluate an author's intent. Junior students learn to identify and explore multiple perspectives, question the messages in texts, and look at issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice.
They analyze the structure and elements of a variety of text forms, and create a variety of oral, print, and media texts in order to communicate their own ideas and opinions for a variety of purposes and audiences. Junior students develop their abilities to monitor their own learning and select appropriate strategies that will help them to make sense of and create increasingly complex and/or challenging texts for personally relevant purposes. They consciously use the knowledge, skills, and strategies from one strand to support their learning in the other three strands. They reflect on and talk about the strategies that have helped them construct meaning and communicate successfully in all strands and identify steps they can take to improve. Real, purposeful talk is not only an essential component of the language curriculum; it needs to be threaded throughout every day and across the curriculum to promote the transfer of language knowledge, skills, and strategies to learning across the curriculum.
The expectations for Grades 7 and 9 focus on the consolidation of students'language knowledge, skills, and strategies and their ability to use them independently and effectively to understand, reflect on, apply, and communicate information and ideas, and for continued learning in school and in a multicultural, multimedia world.
The expectations for Grades 7 and 9 focus on the consolidation of students'language knowledge, skills, and strategies and their ability to use them independently and effectively to understand, reflect on, apply, and communicate information and ideas, and for continued learning in school and in a multicultural, multimedia world.
They have also developed the ability to reflect on, monitor, and take steps to improve their language knowledge and skills in all strands. The expectations for Grades 7 to 9 build upon this foundation. Intermediate students consolidate and apply their language knowledge, skills, and strategies across the curriculum in order to learn in all subject areas as the content becomes increasingly challenging.
Because the base of language knowledge, skills, and strategies continues to vary from student to student, it is important for instruction to be differentiated to meet the needs of individuals and small groups of students, including students in need of additional time or support to acquire foundational language knowledge and skills.
The language curriculum for Grades 7 to 9 is designed to engage students in tasks that are meaningful in order to motivate them to analyze, evaluate, and create texts out of interest as well as to meet curriculum expectations. The expectations encourage students to explore issues related to personal identity and community concerns as they interact with increasingly complex and/or challenging texts; to critically analyze and evaluate perspectives in texts and the influence of media on their lives; and to write about and discuss topics of relevance that matter in their daily lives. The expectations also promote the use of language knowledge, skills, and strategies to facilitate learning in other subjects, such as science, mathematics, history, and geography, and as a tool to help students understand and participate in society beyond the school.
Teachers in the intermediate division explicitly teach and model the use of language knowledge, skills, and strategies across all subject areas. Real, purposeful talk is not only an essential component of the language curriculum; it needs to be threaded throughout every day and across the curriculum. Explicit teaching and modelling help students to identify the skills and strategies they need in order to become proficient language users in a variety of contexts and to move towards achievement of the expectations. While students in the intermediate division continue to engage in rehearsal through shared and guided practice, the goal of instruction is to move them to a greater level of independence as language users. Students require multiple, diverse opportunities to practice independently and demonstrate their achievement of the learning expectations.
For G10, G11 and G12 Englsih course, we closely follow the English syllabus for senior high schools in Taiwan. Senior high school textbooks approved by Ministry of Education in Taiwan are thus included in our high shool curriculum due to the majoriy of students who plan to pursue higher education in Taiwan. Presently we are using senior high school textbooks published by Far East Book Co. Ltd. and the course with these materials accounts for 5 -7 periods per week.
With the aim to be successfully admitted to prestigious universities in Taiwan, students are expected to master a variety of national academic English exams in Taiwan (學測;指考;僑考). Hence, we aslo prepare students with test-taking strategies and regularly monitor students'progress.
In addition to English syllabus in Taiwan, IELTS is another chosen training programe for our students in high school. Students will study the IELTS lessons for a period of three years. After two years or at the end of Grade 11, students have the chance to participate in the IELTS formal exam.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is a globally recognized English language exam, designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is the language of communication. IELTS is offered in two formats, Academic and General Training. Academic is suitable for students wishing to enter an undergraduate or postgraduate study programme.
We feel, by offering this kind of study opportunity to our students, it will prepare them well for university or further education study. The course is also supplemented with additional material to enhance the knowledge and technique of the individual student.During the semester, there are three exams which give a good indication as to the level, as well as the progress of each individual.