San Marino Scuola Media Inferiore Curriculum - English Language

The English language curriculum at the Scuola Media Inferiore in San Marino aims to develop students' ability to communicate effectively in English, aligning with levels A2 to B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The curriculum focuses on building a strong foundation in English, emphasizing practical communication skills.

Curriculum Goals:

• Listening Comprehension: Students will be able to understand simple instructions related to school life, identify keywords, recognize familiar structures, functions, and vocabulary, connect different pieces of information, distinguish main ideas from supporting details, and recognize basic intonation patterns and formal/informal registers.
• Reading Comprehension: Students will be able to recognize different text types, identify the communicative intent of a text, find the main topic and keywords, recognize and connect different pieces of information, select required or necessary information, and deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words or phrases using context, prior knowledge, and dictionaries.
• Speaking: Students will be able to interact coherently using correct pronunciation and intonation, appropriate vocabulary, functions, and structures in familiar communicative situations. They will also be able to use basic formal and informal registers, produce short guided texts (presentations, descriptions, etc.) related to familiar situations, report on simple topics prepared in class, and hold basic conversations on topics of interest related to daily life.
• Writing: Students will be able to select and use appropriate functions and structures for a given purpose, complete texts using familiar vocabulary and structures, reorder jumbled sentences or dialogues, respond accurately to specific information requests, complete and formulate guided dialogues and texts with correct spelling, and produce short texts (presentations, descriptions, etc.) related to familiar situations.

Curriculum Content:

The curriculum covers a range of topics and grammatical structures, building upon what students have learned in previous years. Key areas include:

• Functions: Greetings (formal and informal), spelling, introductions, asking/granting permission, giving/requesting personal information, telling time and date, expressing preferences, talking about likes and dislikes, expressing possession, describing daily routines (school and personal), discussing habits and frequency, describing images, objects, places, people, and animals, making suggestions and invitations, accepting/refusing suggestions, asking for and giving directions, talking about quantities, discussing food preferences, ordering food and drinks, shopping, talking about abilities, giving/accepting/refusing suggestions, discussing hobbies and free time, talking about ongoing actions, discussing past actions and events, talking about future actions and events, making predictions, expressing intentions, talking about obligations, necessity, and prohibition, making comparisons, expressing and justifying opinions, and asking for/giving information about transportation.
• Vocabulary: Numbers (cardinal and ordinal), colors, animals, school subjects, classroom language, time and dates, body parts, countries, nationalities, languages, daily routines, family members, house and furniture, personal belongings, materials, free-time activities, sports, physical characteristics, shops, food and drinks, clothing, jobs and professions, means of transport, future time expressions, public places, entertainment venues, household chores, feelings, and emotions.
• Structures: Articles (definite and indefinite), subject and object pronouns, plural nouns, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, imperative (affirmative and negative), possessive adjectives, Saxon genitive, question words, present simple of "be," "there is/are," and "have (got)," present simple of regular verbs, adverbs of frequency, prepositions of time and place, "how often" and frequency expressions, countable and uncountable nouns, indefinite and partitive adjectives ("some," "any," "a little," "a few," "a lot of," "much," "many"), conditional ("would you like...?"), present continuous, past simple, past time expressions, modal verbs ("can," "could," "will," "would," "must," "may," "might," "have to"), comparative and superlative adjectives, compounds of "some," "any," "no," and "every," and present perfect.

Methodology:

The curriculum employs a communicative and functional approach, focusing on practical language use in meaningful contexts. Lessons incorporate various activities, including listening and viewing introductory materials, comprehension checks, oral repetition, vocabulary analysis, memorization exercises, pair work, role-playing, comprehension and production exercises (oral and written), grammar analysis, and real-world tasks. Digital resources, such as online dictionaries, computers, tablets, smartphones, and interactive whiteboards, are also integrated into the learning process.