Turkey 8th Grade Curriculum - Turkish Language

This curriculum focuses on developing Turkish language skills and cultural understanding for Turkish children living abroad. It aims to improve listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills while fostering an appreciation for Turkish culture. The curriculum is designed for multi-grade classrooms and emphasizes learner-centered approaches, recognizing the diverse needs and language proficiencies of students.

Curriculum Structure

The curriculum is structured around eight themes, each explored through various sub-themes. These themes are designed spirally, with increasing complexity across grade levels. While the themes are listed alphabetically in the document, a suggested teaching order prioritizes relevance and engagement.

Themes:

1. Me and My Family 2. Surrounding Society, Differences and Living Together 3. Games and Entertainment 4. Holidays and Celebrations 5. Let's Travel and See 6. A Door to the Past 7. Arts and Literature 8. Human and Nature

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are defined for each grade level across four key language skills: listening/monitoring, speaking, reading, and writing. These outcomes are progressively challenging, building upon prior knowledge and skills. The curriculum emphasizes basic interpersonal communication skills in earlier grades and gradually introduces more complex cognitive academic language proficiencies.

8th Grade Learning Outcomes:

• Listening/Monitoring: Students can predict meanings of words, identify main ideas and mood, summarize texts, make inferences, detect non-verbal messages, detect implicit meanings, use listening strategies, and evaluate listened content.
• Speaking: Students can use grade-appropriate vocabulary, pronounce words correctly, give prepared and impromptu speeches, organize speeches around a theme, use transitions and conjunctions, make comparisons, and use non-verbal communication skills.
• Reading: Students can use reading strategies, read texts according to type, use context to find meaning, distinguish semantic features of vocabulary, recognize properties of sentences, summarize texts, identify topics and main ideas, identify supporting ideas, question sources, evaluate media texts, and make comparisons and inferences.
• Writing: Students can use elements of vocabulary properly, write texts about a topic, organize writing around a theme, use supporting ideas and transitions, choose appropriate titles, adhere to spelling and punctuation rules, summarize texts, organize writing in terms of language and expression, and fill in forms.

Learning and Teaching Process

The curriculum emphasizes student-centered learning and encourages active participation through cooperative learning, group work, and individualized instruction. Teachers are expected to create engaging learning environments that cater to diverse student needs and levels. Home assignments are considered important for reinforcing learning and should be activity-based and enjoyable for students and their families.

Measurement and Assessment

Assessment in this course focuses on individual progress and development rather than academic achievement. Teacher observation plays a crucial role, with the use of checklists, self-assessment, peer review, and other tools to monitor student growth. Given the voluntary nature of the course and the multi-grade setting, assessment is individualized and emphasizes progress rather than grades.