Zambia Grade 3 English Syllabus

This syllabus outlines the key components of the Grade 3 English curriculum, focusing on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. It builds upon the foundational literacy skills acquired in prior grades, using a communicative approach to language learning.

General Outcomes

  • Acquire listening and speaking skills.
  • Acquire reading and writing skills.

Key Competences

  • Express feelings, thoughts, experiences, and convictions clearly and effectively in speech and writing.
  • Apply life skills to address challenges using English.
  • Apply reading skills to comprehend written texts for academic work.

Curriculum Components

The Grade 3 English curriculum is structured around the following core components:

Listening and Speaking

This component emphasizes developing receptive and expressive oral language skills. Topics covered include:

  • Conversations: Engaging in dialogues about chores, family responsibilities, and community objects (shops, clinics, etc.).
  • Time: Telling time, recalling days of the week and months of the year.
  • Storytelling: Retelling traditional and modern stories, sequencing events.
  • Puzzles: Recognizing and solving word puzzles.
  • Proverbs/Sayings: Recognizing and interpreting simple proverbs.
  • Drama: Dramatizing familiar stories, developing voice projection and confidence.
  • Poetry and Tongue Twisters: Reciting poems, rhymes, and tongue twisters.
  • Occupations: Identifying occupations in the locality and the tools/equipment used.
  • Objects in School: Talking about objects found in the school environment.
  • Colors: Discriminating colors in different objects.
  • Antonyms and Synonyms: Identifying and using antonyms and synonyms.
  • Appropriate Language: Using socially acceptable language for expressing gratitude, disapproval, and acknowledgment.
  • Animals: Identifying names of wild animals.
  • Games: Using language in playing games.
  • Community Practices: Discussing good and bad practices in communities.
  • Riddles: Recognizing and interpreting riddles.
  • Processes: Describing simple processes.

Reading

This component focuses on developing reading comprehension and fluency. Key areas include:

  • Reading Words: Reading familiar and new words, including names of wild animals.
  • Alphabet: Identifying capital and small letters.
  • Pronunciation: Pronouncing words correctly.
  • Syllable Identification: Identifying syllables in familiar words.
  • Word Formation: Forming words using syllables.
  • Sentence Formation: Forming simple sentences.
  • Intensive Reading: Practicing silent reading skills.
  • Reading Aloud: Reading passages with appropriate pace, pronunciation, and understanding.
  • Stories: Identifying themes or central ideas of stories.
  • Interpreting Information: Locating information in print resources (charts, graphs, tables, maps).

Writing

This component aims to develop writing skills for various purposes. Topics include:

  • Alphabet: Writing capital and small letters, sequencing letters in alphabetical order.
  • Handwriting: Writing legibly and neatly using cursive and print.
  • Sequencing: Rearranging sentences in a logical sequence to form paragraphs.
  • Conjunctions: Using "and" and "but" to join simple phrases.
  • Singular and Plural Nouns: Writing plural and singular forms of words.
  • Dictation: Taking dictation of sentences and passages.
  • Sentence and Paragraph Construction: Constructing short paragraphs on topical issues.
  • Punctuation: Punctuating sentences and short paragraphs using capital letters, full stops, commas, and question marks.
  • Summarizing: Summarizing simple stories.

Structure

  • Tenses: Using simple present and present continuous tenses.
  • Punctuation: Correct use of punctuation marks (capital letters, full stop, comma, question mark).

Resources

Textbooks and learning materials are used to support the teaching and learning process. Examples include:

  • Longman English Learner's Book Grade 3
  • English Matters For Zambia Basic Education Grade 3
  • New Zambia Basic Education Course English Grade 3 Pupils Book