Zambian Languages Curriculum (Grade 6/Form 1)

The Zambian Languages curriculum for Grade 6/Form 1 aims to develop learners' competency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in their chosen Zambian language. The curriculum emphasizes an Outcomes-Based Education approach, linking learning to real-life experiences and fostering the development of essential life skills. The curriculum builds upon the foundation laid in Grades 1-4, where literacy skills are developed and consolidated using the National Literacy Framework.

Listening and Speaking:

• Aural Comprehension: Learners are expected to listen comprehensively to passages and answer questions based on stories or plays, demonstrating understanding of surface meaning, inferences, and vocabulary.
• Story/Play Discussion: Learners discuss the main episodes, characters, and themes of stories and plays, developing elementary literary analysis skills.
• Miming: Learners practice miming words or plays, focusing on accurate imitation.
• Conversation: Learners identify the main points of conversations and draw logical conclusions.
• Reporting: Learners report facts on issues such as HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and Democracy.
• Debates/Speeches: Learners reproduce information from speeches or debates and offer their opinions.
• Processes and Activities: Learners describe processes and activities, outlining steps and stages.
• Descriptions: Learners describe locations using appropriate vocabulary for proximity and direction.
• Customs and Traditions: Learners discuss customs and traditions, understanding their value, occasions, and appropriacy.
• Proverbs: Learners give the correct meaning and usage of proverbs.
• Composing Songs, Praises, and Poems: Learners compose and use appropriate songs, praises, and poems on various themes, including cross-cutting issues.
• Dramatizing: Learners dramatize stories, legends, and folklores, demonstrating creativity and understanding of purpose and value.
• Debating: Learners debate current issues logically, using appropriate vocabulary, voice projection, and clarity.
• Social and Scientific Information: Learners identify, classify, and use social and scientific information from various sources.
• Descriptions and Narrations: Learners describe and narrate their own and others' experiences, past events, arrangements, and intentions.
• Intensifiers: Learners use intensifiers correctly.
• Inquiring: Learners inquire about the opinions, feelings, and beliefs of others.
• Denying and Affirming: Learners make statements that deny or affirm, using appropriate vocabulary.
• Opinions: Learners express opinions using vocabulary related to necessity, criticism, probability, certainty, doubt, inducement, and deductions.
• Meaning: Learners express personal meaning using vocabulary related to prediction, satisfaction, surprise, regret, gratitude, and speculation.
• Politeness: Learners use polite expressions in requests, suggestions, instructions, directions, warnings, and advice.
• Language Use: Learners use language appropriately in different social situations.
• Interpreting Information: Learners interpret information presented in charts, maps, diagrams, plans, graphs, etc.
• Concepts: Learners express ideas in the form of concepts, providing factual values and justifications.
• Decision-Making: Learners give appropriate logical conclusions to conversations.
• Quality and Quantity: Learners talk about quality and quantity using appropriate vocabulary.
• Speech: Learners discuss the content of speeches on topics like human rights and citizenship education.
• Songs: Learners classify different types of songs and the occasions at which they are sung.
• Praises and Poems: Learners recite praises and poems on various themes.

Reading:

• Reading Comprehension: Learners read different types of texts and demonstrate understanding, answering various types of questions.
• Extensive Reading: Learners read materials from other subject areas with understanding.
• Book Referencing: Learners use reference books effectively, utilizing skimming, scanning, and referencing skills.
• Oral Reading: Learners read aloud with appropriate expression, correct punctuation, and other markers.
• Extracting Information: Learners extract information from various print resources, including maps, graphs, tables, charts, plans, and diagrams.

Writing:

• Composition: Learners write short compositions on given topics, using appropriate structures.
• Keeping a Diary: Learners maintain a diary, recording daily occurrences.
• Letter Writing: Learners write formal and informal letters.
• Dictation: Learners take dictation, focusing on punctuation and orthography.
• Paragraphing: Learners demonstrate understanding of paragraphing conventions.
• Composition Writing: Learners use a variety of writing styles, including personal, imaginative, narrative, and descriptive.
• Documents: Learners fill in official forms correctly.
• Notices and Advertisements: Learners write notices, advertisements, and tables in summary form.
• Translation: Learners translate sentences, paragraphs, and passages between English and their chosen Zambian language.
• Summary: Learners summarize stories using wider vocabulary and critical thinking skills.
• Cursive Writing: Learners write legibly with good cursive handwriting.
• Free Writing: Learners write using a variety of styles.

Language:

The language component of the curriculum covers various aspects of grammar, including:

• Active and Passive Voice
• Note-Making
• Conversions of Writing (e.g., tables to graphs)
• Spelling
• Word Forms (plural, singular, tense)
• Word Building (affixes)
• Parts of Speech
• Sentence Construction
• Homographs and Homonyms
• Positive and Negative Forms
• Tenses
• Regular and Irregular Nouns
• Nominalization
• Orthography
• Interrogatives
• Punctuation
• Vowel Doubling
• Direct and Indirect Speech

This curriculum aims to equip learners with the necessary language skills to effectively communicate, learn other subjects, and appreciate their language and culture. The syllabus documents provide further details on specific learning outcomes and assessment criteria.