Our Language Arts programme is central to the learning and development of all our students. Our essential goals are to create effective communicators and critical thinkers who are able to analyse, understand and build relationships with the world around them.
Oral Communication
Oral Communication is the foundation of literacy and encompasses all aspects of speaking and listening skills.
We ensure that within our curriculum, there are many opportunities for students to interact with others, listen to and use language, expand vocabulary, and become effective communicators.
Collaborative group work and oral presentations are core aspects of lessons as students gather information, rehearse thinking, and express understandings or points of view.
Our students learn how to listen attentively, understand and evaluate what they hear, think about the literal and inferred meaning and then respond appropriately.
Reading
The Reading curriculum is designed to inspire and motivate our students to become engaged readers with a lifelong love of literature. The world of literature is opened up to our students with many opportunities to engage with texts on their own or with others.
We teach our students reading behaviours to develop personal stamina, choice and independence. We want our students to be joyful, voracious and independent readers with a deep appreciation and understanding of literature.
Our beginning readers develop their reading skills through daily phonics instruction and a rigorous reading programme that supports their accuracy and comprehension skills until they are independent readers.
Using the Readers Workshop approach, we emphasise increasingly complex comprehension strategies and opportunities for interpreting various text types' themes, perspectives, and purposes.
Writing
Writing is a powerful means by which we remember, develop, organise, and communicate ideas, feelings and information. We hope to inspire writers who compose with passion and ease through our writing curriculum. We want our students to be motivated and confident writers who see writing as an everyday, purposeful, enjoyable experience.
Our Writers Workshop approach encourages students to express themselves creatively, imaginatively and effectively across various genres and become enthusiastic and critical readers.
We ensure our students experience purposeful and authentic writing opportunities daily across the curriculum.