TAICHUNG FOREIGN TEACHERS
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Junior High School

Communicative Curriculum

Track One -  Textbook Extension Track
The textbook extension approach uses the textbook as a foundation for the lessons. However, rather than ‘teach the book’ the content has been split into distinct themes and topics. We have designed communicative activities that fit into these themes/topics and allow our students to apply the language that they have learned in their regular classes in an oral/aural environment.

These lessons still include the required grammar content, but are much more student-centric. This allows the students to work at their own level whilst also developing 21st century skills such as; critical thinking, making comparisons, communicative competence and connections with other subjects. 

The only downside to the textbook extension track is that as the textbook changes from year to year, our theme based lessons no longer match the content order in the textbook. This problem led us to developing our own self-contained FET curriculum.
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​We are acutely aware of the need for students to understand the difficult grammar concepts in order to perform well in the rigorous examinations. We have therefore designed lessons that allow our students to focus on accuracy, and apply the learned grammar rules in a communicative environment.

Accuracy Pedagogy



Accuracy
or
​Fluency?
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​However, we are also aware of the skills that are required of a 21st century learner. We are therefore also designing lessons that allow the students to think more freely. In these fluency based lessons we set them problems to solve and allow them to apply their English knowledge in more ‘real life’ scenarios.  
Fluency Pedagogy
Grade 7 - Semester One - 2018/2019​
Theme 1: My Family / My Home
Theme 2: The World Around Me
Theme 3: My Neighborhood

Theme 1 : My Family / My Home

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar/Key Concept Vocabulary Lesson Overview Communicative
Activities
1
My family
What’s your name?

What’s your phone number?
Pronouns

Possessive Adjectives
Numbers
(1-10)
Self Introduction
2 Who is she?
Who is _____'s mother?
Possessive 's'
Interrogative 'who'
Family How to ask 'who'
questions about family
members to find out
what their names are.

Family Tree
3 Jobs He is a student.
She is an actress.
Indefinite articles
'a' and 'an'
Jobs The names of some
common jobs.
How to use 'a' and 'an'.

Dominoes
4 Is he a student?
Are they students?
Yes, he is. No, he isn't.
Yes, they are. No, they aren't.
Interrogative questions
and responses.
(singular and plural)
Jobs How to change a
statement into a
question

5



My home
This is a ____.
It is a _____.
They are _____(s).

Demonstrative pronouns

Home accesories


Board game


6
What is this/that?
What are these/those?
Is this/that a ___?
Are these/those____(s)?
This/that as singular
determiner.
These/those as
plural determiners.

Home accessories
When (and how) to use
singular (this/that) and
plural (these/those).

Tic-Tac-Toe
7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary

Theme 2 : The World Around Me

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
​To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar/Key Concept Vocabulary Lesson Overview Communicative
Activities
1 Countries Where are you from?
Declarative sentence

(place of origin)
('Be' verb conjugation)
Country names
2 How old are you? One year old
Two years old
Numbers 1 -100
3 Describing
people
He is a tall man.
They are tall men .
Insert adjectives to
modify nouns
Descriptive
adjectives
4 Is the man tall?
Are the men tall?
Insert adjectives to ask
interrogative questions
Descriptive
adjectives

5





Sightseeing


6


Don't feed the animals in the
zoo.
Lucy, please don't feed the
animals in the zoo.


Imperatives and requests

Prepositions


places, transport,
activities
How to change an
imperative sentence into
a request.

How to insert the correct
preposition (in/on/at)
into a sentence.



Go Fish Game
7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary

Theme 3 : My Neighborhood

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
​To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar/Key Concept Vocabulary Lesson Overview Communicative
Activities
1 The local
park
What are you doing?
Present
continuous tense
Verb + ing
Hobbies and
activities
2 Are you jogging? Use the present
continuous tense to ask
interrogative questions
Hobbies and
activities
3 Around
town
Where is the _____?
Where are the ___(s)
Prepositions of place
Places / locations
Information
gap 1


4 Is there a ___
Are there ___(s)
There is/There are
interrogative
singular and plural
Prepositions

Information
gap 2
5


Day trip to
____

There is a ___ here.
There is a ___ here.
(singular noun)
6
There are some ___here.
There are some ___here
(plural countable noun)
Geographical
landscapes
(mountain, river)
7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary
Grade 7 - Semester 2 - 2018/19
Theme 4: Teenage Life
Picture
Theme 5: Hobbies, Holidays and Health
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Theme 6: Food, Glorious Food.
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Theme 4 : Teenage Life

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
​​To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar/Key Concept Vocabulary Lesson Overview Communicative
Activities
1 Learning
new
skills
Can you swim?
Yes, I can.
No, I can't.
Modal verb 'can'
(present tense).
Extended family
members
abilities
(read, dance...)
2 What can you do? Modal verb 'can'
(present tense).
Activities and
abilities
3 Sports What do you/they like?

I/They like sports.
Simple present
(1st/2nd person singular)
(1st/2nd/3rd person plural)
Sports
4 I swim every day.
Do you swim every day?
Yes, I do.
No, I don't.
Simple present
(habitual actions)
1st/2nd/3rd person plural
Yes/No - Do/Don't
Sports

5


My school
and friends
Does he have
brown hair?
Yes, he does.
No, he doesn't.

Simple present
(3rd person singular)

Describing people
How to ask and
answer questions
in the third person

Guess who

6

What does he teach?
He teaches science.

Simple present
(3rd person singular)

School subjects

Use the prepositions
'at' time 'on' day

Timetable
Battleships

7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary (AFL Review)

Theme 5 : Hobbies, Holidays and Health

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
​To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar /
Key Concept
Vocabulary Lesson Objectives Communicative
Activities
1 Hobbies Who wants a guitar?
I do.
I want a guitar.
Simple present
Question + Answer
(with question word)
Days of the week
Hobbies
2 What day(s) do you dance?
I dance on Friday(s).
What days does he dance?
He dances on Friday(s).
Simple present
1st/2nd/3rd person
singular + plural
Times of the day
Hobbies
3 Festivals /
Dates
What's the date today?
It's June 19th
It's June nineteenth.
Ordinal numbers Months
Numbers
4 When is Father's Day?
It's on August 8th / eighth
Ordinal numbers Months
Special days

5



Being
Healthy
I ___ play basketball on
Sundays.
(always, usually, often etc..)

Adverbs of frequency

Always, usually,
often, sometimes,
seldom, never


6
How often do you
go to the gym?
I/We go to the gym
twice a day.

Asking questions
about frequency.
How often...

twice, three times
etc.
7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary (AFL Review)

Theme 6 : Food, Glorious Food

To read an overview of the communicative lesson, click the red link in the table below.
​To access the resources for this lesson and other lessons with the same grammar point, click the ​blue link.
Lesson Topic Sentence pattern Grammar /
Key Concept
Vocabulary Lesson Overview Communicative
Activities
1 Going out
to eat
Which do you like, a or b?

Which does he like, a or b?
'Which' as an
interrogative pronoun
Various foods both
countable and
uncountable

Information
gap
2 I like ___.
I want ___.
He likes ____
Simple present
1st/2nd/3rd person
singular + plural
Various foods both
countable and
uncountable
3 Cooking
at home
How many tomatoes
do you need?
How many apples
does he need?
Add 's' to countable
nouns
Various countable
foods
4 How much pork
do you need?
How much juice
does she need?
The use of 'units' with
uncountable nouns.
Various uncountable
foods and their units

5



Looking back -
My elementary
school
I was ___ before.
I wasn't ___ ten years ago.
They were ___before.
They weren't __ ten years ago

Be verb - Simple past
positive and negative

Various vocab review
Jobs/school


6
Was he ___ before?
Were you ___before?
Yes, he was.
No, they weren't.

Be verb - Simple past
Interrogative

Various vocab review
Jobs/school
7 Assess Understanding of Key Concepts / Vocabulary (AFL Review)
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