Sweden Mellanstadiet English Syllabus (Years 4-6)

This syllabus outlines the curriculum for English as a subject in the Swedish Mellanstadiet (middle school), which covers years 4-6. The aim is to develop students' knowledge of the English language and build confidence in their ability to use it in various situations. The curriculum emphasizes communication skills, including understanding spoken and written English, expressing thoughts, interacting with others, and adapting language use to different contexts. It also aims to foster an interest in languages and cultures, highlighting the benefits of language skills and knowledge.

Core Content

The curriculum for English in years 4-6 covers the following core content:

Content of Communication:

• Subject areas relevant to students' education, societal and working life.
• Everyday situations, interests, people, places, events, and activities.
• Views, emotions, and experiences.
• Daily life, ways of living, and social relations in different contexts where English is used.

Listening and Reading (Reception):

• Clearly spoken English and texts from various media.
• Oral and written instructions and descriptions.
• Different types of conversations, dialogues, and interviews.
• Films and dramatized narratives for children and youth.
• Songs, tales, and poems.
• Strategies for understanding significant words and context in spoken language and texts, such as adapting listening and reading to the form and content of communication.
• Different ways of searching for and choosing texts and spoken English from the internet and other media.
• Language phenomena encountered, such as pronunciation, intonation, grammatical structures, spelling, and fixed language expressions.
• How words and fixed language expressions (e.g., politeness phrases and forms of address) are used in texts and spoken language in different situations.
• How different expressions are used to initiate and complete different types of communication and conversations.

Speaking, Writing, and Discussing (Production and Interaction):

• Presentations, instructions, messages, narratives, and descriptions in continuous speech and writing.
• Language strategies to understand and make oneself understood when language skills are lacking, such as through reformulations.
• Language strategies to participate in and contribute to discussions, such as questions, phrases, and expressions to confirm understanding.
• Language phenomena to clarify and enrich communication, such as pronunciation and intonation, spelling and punctuation, politeness phrases, other fixed language expressions, and grammatical structures.

Knowledge Requirements

These requirements outline the expected level of proficiency for students at the end of Year 6. There are graded requirements for E, D, C, B, and A, with E being the lowest and A the highest. Each grade level builds upon the previous one, adding more complexity and nuance to the skills and knowledge. The full details of these requirements can be found in the linked curriculum document.