Sierra Leone JSS3 School Syllabus - Language Arts

This information is based on the supplementary study materials provided by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) of Sierra Leone for underperforming schools, published in March 2021.

I. Language Skills

• A. Listening to Spoken English: This unit emphasizes the importance of developing active listening skills for effective communication. It addresses common challenges students face in understanding spoken English, such as limited vocabulary, unfamiliar accents, and the speed of speech. Strategies for improving listening comprehension are also discussed, including note-taking, utilizing audio and video resources, and focusing on meaning and intent.
• B. Speaking:
• 1. Direct and Indirect Speech: This unit covers the rules for converting between direct and indirect speech, including tense changes, pronoun changes, and changes in time and place expressions. It also addresses indirect commands and requests.
• 2. Question Tags: This unit explains the purpose and formation of question tags, which are used to seek agreement or confirmation. Rules for using question tags with positive and negative statements are provided.
• C. Reading and Comprehension: This unit introduces various reading comprehension strategies, including using prior knowledge, predicting, identifying main ideas, summarizing, questioning, making inferences, and visualizing. It also covers reading techniques like skimming and scanning, and discusses paragraph structure and the importance of topic sentences and supporting details.
• D. Writing:
• 1. Sentences and Paragraphing: This unit covers the basics of sentence construction, including simple, compound, and complex sentences. It also discusses paragraph structure, emphasizing the importance of topic sentences, supporting sentences, and concluding sentences. The use of transitional expressions to link sentences and paragraphs is also addressed.
• 2. Narrative and Descriptive Writing: This unit explains the characteristics of narrative and descriptive compositions. It provides guidance on structuring these types of writing, including introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions.
• 3. Article and Story Writing: This unit provides guidelines for writing articles suitable for publication, including specific formatting requirements for school magazines, local newspapers, and international publications. It also covers creative story writing, emphasizing the importance of a compelling narrative and consistent structure.
• 4. Letter Writing: This unit covers the three main types of letters: informal, semi-formal, and formal. It provides specific guidance on the format, salutation, and valediction appropriate for each type of letter.
• E. Spelling and Vocabulary: This unit focuses on improving spelling skills through the application of common English spelling rules. It also emphasizes vocabulary development through the study of synonyms and antonyms.
• F. Basic Research: This unit explains the use of dictionaries for looking up word meanings, checking spellings, and understanding word types and origins. It also discusses the use of the internet for research and information gathering.
• G. Critical Thinking: This unit defines critical thinking as the ability to think clearly and rationally, and discusses its importance in academic and real-life situations. It covers critical thinking skills such as observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem-solving, and decision-making.

II. Preparing for the BECE Language Arts Examination

• A. How to Answer Objective Questions: This unit explains the structure of objective questions, including the identification of outright wrong answers, distracters, and the correct answer. It provides strategies for approaching and answering these types of questions effectively.
• B. Public Examination Overview: This unit provides an overview of the BECE Language Arts examination, explaining the structure of the paper, the types of questions included, and the expectations for candidates. It covers both the language usage and literature components of the exam.

III. Literature

• A. Introduction to Literature: This unit defines literature and its branches: prose, drama, and poetry. It discusses the characteristics and types of each literary form, including fiction and non-fiction prose, different types of drama (tragedy, comedy, tragic-comedy, melodrama), and various types of poetry (epic, satire, lyric, sonnet, ode, elegy, idyll, ballad, didactic, limerick).
• B. Literary Devices and Figures of Speech: This unit defines and provides examples of various literary devices and figures of speech, including simile, metaphor, personification, irony, hyperbole, euphemism, alliteration, onomatopoeia, synecdoche, oxymoron, and soliloquy. It also covers terms such as fiction, non-fiction, sonnet, elegy, comedy, tragedy, biography, autobiography, theme, diction, setting, character, climax, characterization, plot, and narrative techniques.
• C. Prescribed Texts:
• 1. Road to Freedom by Yeama Lucinda Hunter: This unit provides a summary of the plot and a character list for the novel.
• 2. Who is to Blame? by Alhaji Sesay: This unit provides a summary of the plot and a character list for the novel.
• 3. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: This unit provides a summary of the plot and a character list for the play.
• 4. Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare: This unit provides the text of the poem, discusses its themes and subject matter, and identifies poetic devices used.
• 5. Leisure by W.H. Davies: This unit provides the text of the poem, discusses its themes and subject matter, and identifies poetic devices used.
• 6. Young Africa's Resolve by Dennis C. Osadebay: This unit provides the text of the poem, discusses its themes and subject matter, and identifies poetic devices used.
• 7. The Village Parson by Oliver Goldsmith: This unit provides the text of the poem, discusses its themes and subject matter, identifies poetic devices used, and provides information about the poet.

IV. Other Language Concepts

• A. Verb Tenses: This unit covers the different verb tenses in English, including simple, perfect, and continuous tenses in the present, past, and future.
• B. Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord): This unit explains the rules of subject-verb agreement, which ensure that the verb in a sentence agrees with its subject in number.
• C. Prepositions and Conjunctions: This unit defines and provides examples of prepositions and conjunctions, including simple prepositions, compound prepositions, prepositions of movement, prepositions of place, prepositions of time, coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and correlative conjunctions.
• D. Some Basic English Idioms: This unit defines idiomatic expressions and provides a list of common idioms and their meanings.