Improving Speaking Skills Among the Year Four ESL Students Using Games

By:

Nurulhuda binti Abdullah / TESL 3

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Language skills include listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This is the core of the language skills to control the mainstream. Controlled all of these skills are very important in the process of teaching and learning in order to run smoothly and effectively. Language skills in relation to verbal skills involved two basic components: listening and speaking. Both of these components are closely related and complementary. Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking skill is the ability of students to talk to establish rapport and communicate information, ideas, feelings, and ideas critically and creatively with the correct pronunciation and intonation politely. Emphasis is given to the use of pronunciation using appropriate grammar. (Explanation from the KBSR English Syllabus).It is probably the language skill that most language learners wish to perfect as soon as possible. As we already known, the relationship between the ability to speak with listening skills; are closely related. Speak or spoke is one of the language proficiency. In oral communication, there are two parties, namely the speakers as oral communication transmitter and receiver listeners as verbal communication. Since the primary level, students are taught literacy and sound of each letter, syllables, words, phrases, and sentences. All this is designed to train the students to be able to call something exactly as it should. They should be able to say the things correctly according to the sound, spelling and the meaning. Typically, errors occur frequently among the students in a second language. Native language disorders often inhibit their learning. Teaching and learning in early childhood education is more effective if it is done through game activities because playing is a part of the childrens world.

According to Moyles (2005) playing in teaching and learning experience is the best and become a priority in early childhood education. Through activities such as game, pupils learn about the environment and understand the issues that are happening around them. When the pupils enjoy learning something, they remain interested in taking part in the learning process, and their focuses are getting better. Through play, pupils are more focused with all matters relating to the activities undertaken such as game. Thus, the pupils can get a meaningful learning experience and learning process better. Unfortunately, there are some parents or teachers think that early childhood education which considers methods to play is less important and they just focuses on the purpose of academic achievement. As a result, many programs of early childhood education are using drilling and ignore the curriculum activities play in early childhood education (Miller & Almo 2009). Theories of the children development by Erikson (1950) and Piaget (1980) emphasize the ability of different children can do at different levels. This level is in accordance with the child's development and progress can be honed and improved according to the needs of children. According to Ornstein and Hunkins (2004), learning cannot be separated from everyday life, children, and even learning must be based on the needs and interests of children.

As an English teacher, I want to see my students tried to speak and communicate in English while in class.Teaching English as a foreign language is challenging. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, you must learn to constantly adapt to your students needs. A good ESL teacher must be able to recognize these common problems, and work to find solutions. Even a small adjusment in your teaching methods can help to create a more productive and casual environment for both you and your students. Many times, students will automatically look to the teacher for correct answers instead of trying themselves. Students become overly dependent on teacher. When teaching English as a foreign language, persistent use of first-language is possibly the most common problem. I want to help the students achieve the goal they hold in their lives; I want to perform what is required of a teacher-controller, assessor, organizer, prompter, participant and resource-provider (Harmer, 1983:201). Therefore, I want to explore some of those changes and their implications for classroom teaching and materials design.

1.1 Reflection on teaching experience

Speaking skills in English is one of the problems that I faced in teaching lessons. These students usually speak using their mother tongue and rarely speak English. It affects the communication in the teaching and learning process. To overcome these problems, I asked my students to communicate in English during the English lesson. I encourage them to express their opinion by using English in the form of simple sentences. In addition, I also talk to them in English. Such measures can increase the chances of the students to speak English. To increase the chances of students to speak English, I use many ways and provide a variety of situations according to the syllabus or use an existing dialog in textbooks and asked the students to make the play-related. Students were delighted when asked to come in front to make the play. However, they cannot speak with their own ideas and needs guidance from the teachers or existing dialog to make the play. In addition, the school also held an English Week once a month. During the week, students and teachers need to communicate using English language entirely. English Week provides an opportunity for students to speak English and improve student mastery of English, unfortunately there is still a huge gap for the pupils to speak English. The weekly assembly also carried out with the use of dual language. Honestly, speaking skills among the students have not yet reached the standards set by the ministry. There are several studies that show the effectiveness of the use of games in improving student skills for speaking. Therefore in this study, as a researcher I would use language games as teaching aids to be used in the intervention process for guiding the students to develop oral skills in English.

1.2 Related theory

Games

According to Jill Hadfield (1996: 4) a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun. He also said that there are two kinds of games: competitive games and cooperative games. A competitive game is a game in which the player or teams race to be the first to reach the goal. And co operative game is a game in which players or teams work together towards a common goal. Games offer students a fun and relaxing learning atmosphere. When students join in games, anxiety is reduced and speech fluency is generated, so communicative competence is achieved. Games activities are an excellent way of motivating learners to speak. Games introduces of competition into language-building activities. In other words, games create a meaningful context for language use. The competitive atmosphere also makes the learners concentrate and think intensively during the learning process. According to Caesar Kleur (1998), games have many characteristics, they are: A game governed by rules. To make a simple activity into a game rules is important. A game has objectives. One of the rules is the achievement of an objective. This objectives can be something like making points correctness of finishing an activity first. A game is a closed activity. It means games must have beginning and an end. It must be easy for the player and the teacher, to know who is about to reach the aim. From the definition above it can be said games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. They should be used because games help students see the beauty in a foreign language and not just problems of the foreign language itself. Jill Hadfield (1996:4) states that the games make use of variety of technique. Variety is important in language learning and teaching and a succession of games based on the same principle. Technique used for instance includes information gap, collecting, combining, role play, and simulation technique.

Speaking Skills

Bygate (1987) stated that "speaking is a skill which deserves attention as much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages". When students speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations. Byrne (1984, p. 9) stated that "The main goal in teaching the productive skill of speaking will be oral fluency: the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably, accurately and without undue hesitation (otherwise communication may break down because the listener loses interest or gets impatient). To attain this goal, the students had to move from the stage where they merely imitate a model or respond to cues to the point where they could use the language to express their own ideas". Taking into the Byrne's concept, I use fun and interesting games in this research in order to make the intervention, motivate and help the students to move on from the passive stage to the production and active stage.

1.3 Related literature

Through a study conducted by Dwi Nurul Fajariyah (2009) on eight grades students in SMP Negeri 2 Baki Sukoharjo located in Jawa Tengah, it shows she conducted a pre-research before going to the real research in order to identify the students learning activity during teaching and learning process and teacher technique in teaching speaking. The pre-research included interviewing the English teacher, observing teaching and learning process, and conducting pre-test to the students. The findings of the research were in line with the research questions as the focus of the research, whether the implementation of games can improve students speaking proficiency especially in accuracy and fluency also the atmosphere of the classroom during the implementation of games. The result of the research shows that games can improve the students speaking proficiency and the atmosphere of teaching learning process becomes more alive.

Chris Valeska (2012) in his research stated that the findings of his study show that it is fundamental to have students using the language in order to have more successful learning, and the implementation of games for the speaking skill, allows the students to practice the speaking skills, and also improve the listening skill. He also stated that using games to trigger 4th graders speaking skills is one of the interesting strategies to be implemented in an EFL classroom scenario. The general perspective of his study suggests that facilitators should concern more about helping students to develop their oral production and interaction, by designing syllabus which contains activities where the learners have the opportunity to practice speaking, besides improving their English. It is also important to point out that integrating the four skills (listening, speaking, writing, and reading) will help the students to have more successful learning of the English language. Then, he considered that the study motivates facilitators to plan courses in which learners will face situations where they will have a meaningful use of the English language. He also conceived games as activities that should be taken into account when designing syllabi in order to improve not only the speaking skill in the second language, but also the other skills.

Ulviana (2010), carry out a research study to improve students speaking ability through communication games to know whether students speaking ability could be improved through communication games and to know how the implementation of these technique increasing students ability in speaking English. The result of this study shown, that the implementation of communication games toward the students in English learning especially speaking skill is effective. It is proven by data that was derived from the research study. First, from the interview result showed the students were more motivated and interested in learning English. Secondly, from the test result which consisted of three tests; pre-test, posttest of the first cycle and posttest of the second cycle.

Another research is by Urrutia William (profile vol.12 no.1/ June 2010). He conducted an action research to encourage teenagers to improve the speaking skills through games in a Colombian Public School. From the research done, it consider that games, in general, encouraged teenagers to improve their speaking skills, especially when these included group work, motivation and competition. He discovered that games are more than a function in the classroom; they helped the students perform better, feel confident and free in order to improve their English speaking skills. The research implemented some kinds of games: caring sharing, guessing and speculative games and a story game. They encouraged students to communicate orally and to gain confidence in speaking. In addition, during the process of the implementation, students overcame their fear of making mistakes and perceived speaking as a natural process when they were playing. The majority of students could express and communicate orally without the pressure of time or constant evaluation. In the research questions, he also aimed at describing what happened with students' oral production when engaged in games. In fact, students took part in the activities in a free, comfortable and motivating way. As a consequence, they learnt more vocabulary, short sentences, and pronunciation.

2.0 FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION / ISSUE OF CONCERN

2.1 Problem Statement

From my observations, it was found that many students in the class have not yet reached the speaking proficiency as outlined in the curriculum. Based on the curriculum goals that have been determined, the students are expected to achieve them. However, there is a gap between the goals and the fact which happens in the classroom. In reality, the ability of the SK Seri Sekawan Desa Year Four students in speaking material mostly, does not meet the standard of curriculum. From the observation, lack of the students speaking proficiency is the problem. Their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation are low which make them unable to say something during the speaking class. There are some indicators which show that they do not speak accurately. In language teaching class, they rarely answer the question given by the teacher orally. They also speak with a lot of pauses and also get difficulties to find the appropriate words to create sentence or expression. In dealing with the vocabulary mastery, for instance when the teacher asks the meaning of certain action words, several of them cannot answer them. As an English teacher, I have to translate my instructions in Malay after explaining it in English. Other indicators are shown in the classroom atmosphere. During the teaching learning process, the students are not enthusiastic and interested in joining the speaking activities. Only some of them have great willingness to speak up voluntarily and some of them not enjoy the lesson. There are activities when all the students had to interact and speak together it gets too noisy or ending up chatting in their own language. Moreover, when the time of teaching and learning conducted after break time, they look tired and a few of them show low motivation to follow the teaching and learning process. Based on the fact above, I conducted this research to build and improve their proficiency in speaking by conducting an action research using games. According to Jill Hadfield (1996: 4) games are an activity with rules, a goal and element of fun. Chen (2000) stated that games make the learners more willing to ask questions and think creatively about how to use English to achieve the goal. They are thus a natural self-expression for both the young and the old. They have the advantage of attention in focusing, providing a self-motivating environment for the students with their active participation. The advantages of games in the classroom make students have great willingness to practice speaking skill. Games encourage the students to be active in the classroom, entertain them, teach the language naturally and promote fluency. They should be used to help students see the beauty in a foreign language and not just the problems of the foreign language itself. Many advantages of games can overcome the speaking problems. The competition of games gives students a natural opportunity to work together and communicate using English with each other. Furthermore, by integrating playing and learning, they practice the learned linguistic knowledge in a meaningful context.

2.2 Preliminary Investigation

Before starting the intervention, I have made a few observations as the preliminary investigation to several students who were in the group of moderate and weak to speak. Students are identified through teaching and learning activities in the classroom, where the students that have lack of cooperation or voluntarily to give opinions or while carrying out the group activities. I have also made a preliminary assessment of all the students in this class. According to Sawyer (2006), the guidance given to students who meet the requirements can enhance learning potential. I believe that through counseling and individual attention students with learning disabilities to enhance their capabilities. Guidance is given by the teacher and usually shaped material information relating (Choong, 2009).

2.3 Analysis of Preliminary Investigation and Criteria of Selection

Participants were chosen based on diagnostic tests and observation. From Appendix 1, I have identified a total of 14 students who got low performance level. Other students will also participate in the intervention that I will run. But I will focus my study on the 14 students that have low performance level.

3.0 OBJECTIVE / RESEARCH QUESTIONS

3.1 General Objective

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of using games to improve students speaking proficiency.

3.2 Specific Objective

The research is carried out to meet the following objectives:

To know whether and how the implementations of games improve the speaking skills of the students.

To improve the speaking ability and gain confidence to the students.

3.3 Research Question

a) How can games encourage the students to improve speaking skills?

b) What kind of games can we use to improve students speaking skills?

4.0 TARGET GROUP / PARTICIPANTS

This study was carried out to students who have difficulty in speaking English. It is done in Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Sekawan Desa which is located in the rural area in Pontian. This school is surrounded by oil palm trees. The location of this school is far from the main street. It makes the situation of teaching and learning process run well because the situation is conducive and comfortable. The subject involves one class consisting 28 students; ten girls and eighteen boys. The research is conducted through teaching and learning in the classroom. I choose this class as the subject because the pre-observation reveals that the students in this class are very enthusiast. Most of them seem eager to study. The result of information obtained from the school shows that their parents are mostly farmers and industrial workers, which classified as the middle-income earners.

5.0 ACTION

The model of classroom action research used in this study is based on the model developed by Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) in Burns (1999:32) who state that action research occurs through a dynamic and complementary process which consists of four fundamental steps in a spiral process. They are as follow:

a. Planning

Develop a plan of critically informed action to improve what is already happening. Here the researcher prepares everything that is needed in doing the research, for instance she prepares the lesson plans that will be used in teaching speaking class, the material that is used in implementing the action and also the evaluation material after conducting the action to measure whether or not that the speaking proficiency improves.

b. Action

Having planning the action, the writer implements the learning activity of English using games. In this study the writer will implements games, namely guessing game and role plays. She also gives pre-test, exercises, and post-test to the students.

c. Observation

The researcher observes the effects of the critically informed action in the context in which it occurs. Besides, the observer also fills the observation sheet about the process of teaching and learning runs. By so doing the researcher can document and reflect upon the interaction and events happen.

d. Reflection

After doing the action, the researcher continue to the step namely reflection. In this step the researcher reflects how the teaching and learning process runs. The function of reflection is to know the weaknesses and the strengths of the action. The researcher makes an evaluation from the result of the test and also from the observation done by the researcher and the observer during the teaching and learning process. The spiral model can be illustrated as follow:

Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) in Burns (1999:32)

5.1 Procedure of Action

To get deeper understanding about the procedure of this action research, the detail explanation is as follows:

1. Identifying the problem

The researcher as the student teacher in this research identifies the problem. The problems refer to the students speaking skill that is still low.

2. Carrying out the real action research

a. Planning

In this step, the researcher makes the lesson plan about a certain topic, material, media, time, schedule, and instrument for observation.

b. Implementing

In this step, the researcher implements the activities written in the lesson plan.

c. Observing

In this step, the researcher records the important occurrences during the teaching-learning process after the lesson. She is also helped by this collaborator to observe students activities while teaching learning process. Therefore, she can give some inputs or suggestion. She notes the excesses and weaknesses of the implementation of lesson plan using games.

d. Reflecting

After carrying out the teaching process using games, the researcher recites the occurrence in classroom as the reflection of the action. She evaluates the process and the result of the implementation of games in English teaching. The data of each step are analysed, and the data will be used to determine the next step in the next action or cycle to reach the goal which has been stated before.

Step

Aims

Remark

Pre-Research

Identifying and focusing the problems during teaching and learning process.

Identifying students speaking proficiency.

Confirming teachers technique and difficulties in teaching speaking.

Observation during the teaching and learning process.

Conducting pre-test

Research Implementation

Conducting each cycle based on the Action Research procedure ; planning, implementing, observing, reflecting, revising and analysing each procedure.

Implementing the games in teaching and learning.

Findings

Identify students opinion after implementing the research.

Conducting the post-test.

(Process of the research implementation)

Before the intervention, the students were given a diagnostic test to identify the level of proficiency of their speaking skills. Appendix 1 shows the results of the diagnostic tests. After evaluating the results of the tests, the analytical results found a total of 14 students received the level of low achievement results. However, for each treatment session, all the students in the class will be involved and take part in the activities planned by the teacher. After identifying the level of students achievement, in the first week the students were exposed to 'Switch Me Game'. The game is carried out in two days. On the first day, each student is provided with a sheet of coloured A4 paper. The paper is folded into three parts. Next, teacher distributes coloured marker pen for the students to write up their nickname. Students will draw three things that they liked with the blue marker pen, while the red marker pen for the things that they dislike. Next, the student is required to choose a partner. They are required to introduce their nickname and greet their partner and explained the things they like and dislike based on the drawing on the name card. On the second day, the students are asked to stand up and holding their name card. When the teacher blows the whistle, students will grab any partner and introduce their name and tell their partner what they like and dislike. When the times up teacher will blows the whistle and said "Switch Me". At that moment, students will find and change their partner quickly and continue the game by introducing themselves and explain what they like and dislike to their new partner. When students managed to find their pair and describe themselves within the time specified, they will raise their hands and the teacher will give the star reward. Most rewarded students will be the winner.

6.0 DATA GATHERING METHODS

In this research, I used four data sources:

a) Test

Pre-test given to the students before the intervention of using games took place. This test covers the speaking skills area contained in the Year Four KSSR performance standards. The content standard represents the specific standards that need to be achieved by the pupils. The learning standard details the specific skills and knowledge that need to be attained in order to fulfil a particular Content Standard. The test is done by assessing the students based on skills stated below:

SKILLS

DESCRIPTIONS

1.1.1

Speak with correct stress

1.1.4

Talk about related topics with guidance

1.2.1

Participate in daily conversations:

i- Extend an invitation

ii- Accept an invitation

iii- Decline an invitation

iv- Express symphaty

1.2.4

Participate in guided conversations with peers

1.2.2

Listen to, follow and give instructions.

1.3.1

Able to listen to and demonstrate understanding of oral texts by:

i- Asking and answering questions

ii- Sequencing

iii- Predicting with guidance.

Post-test also done to analysed the data and collecting the result after the intervention have been done also for the researcher to identify the difference at the end of the research and come for a conclusion.

b) Video Recording

In this study, observations were carried out using video recordings. The video recording will be carried out to record the activities involved in the teaching process to allow the researcher to study the behavior of the students, the role of researcher, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the researcher and beyond to allow researcher to make improvements throughout the research process. Through the video footage, researcher can analyzes and answer the question of how game can improve the speaking skills ability among the students.

c) Observation notes and checklist

Through the observation notes and checklist, researcher can observes and collect in depth information about the particular behaviour of the students before and during the intervention.

d) Students achievement record

Students progression record is the record of the progress made by students during the learning process. It is a table that been used to record the progress of students achievement and provide the opportunity for the researcher to review the progress achieved. Through these records, researcher can create a reflection of student progress, plan the steps to be taken next and can change the teaching and learning strategies. In addition, it provides an opportunity for researcher to pay attention and focus on the skills that have not been achieved by a student and pay particular attention to the matter. These records will eventually provide information to researcher whether students achieved the learning objectives and whether the research study can be improved.

7.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

8.0 FINDINGS

9.0 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Reference

Appendices

Appendix 1

The figure below shows the performance level of the Year 4 Amanah student.

No.

Name

Listening and Speaking

Learning Standard

Cluster 1

Cluster 2

Cluster 3

Cluster 4

Cluster 5

1.1.1

1.1.4

1.1.2

1.1.3

1.2.1

1.2.4

1.2.2

1.2.3

1.3.1

1

Ahmad Saiful

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

Amirul Hakim

3

3

5

4

3

3

3

2

3

3

Aniq Syahmi

3

3

4

4

2

2

3

2

2

4

Asyraf Danial

4

4

6

6

4

5

5

3

5

5

Hazwan

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

6

Iskandar Aiman

5

5

5

6

4

5

4

4

4

7

Muhd. Aqil

5

5

5

6

4

4

4

3

4

8

Muhd. Asyraf

4

4

4

4

3

4

3

3

3

9

Muhd. Faizul

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

10

Muhd. Haikal

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

11

Muhd. Harith

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

12

Muhd. Hasif

2

2

4

3

2

2

2

1

4

13

Muhd. Iqbal

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

14

Muhd. Naqiuddin

3

3

4

4

3

3

3

3

3

15

Muhd. Suhaimi

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

16

Muhd. Syakirin

2

2

3

3

3

3

2

2

3

17

Muhd. Wazien

2

2

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

18

Syarifuddin

1

1

2

2

1

2

1

1

1

19

Aymanda

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

20

Khairun Nuhaa

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

21

Nor Aina

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

22

N. Maisarah

3

3

3

3

3

5

4

3

3

23

Nur Qistina

1

2

2

1

1

2

2

2

1

24

Nurul Athirah

1

2

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

25

Nurul Nabila

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

26

Nurul Syafiqah

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

3

27

Siti Nurafifah

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

2

28

Siti Hajar

3

3

3

4

4

4

3

3

3

Performance Level

Descriptor

1

Very Limited

2

Limited

3

Satisfactory

4

Good

5

Very Good

6

Excellent

Performance Level

Descriptor

1

Show very limited command of the language. Requires plenty of guidance to perform basic language tasks:

Can listen to and understand familiar words and some basic phrases concerning familiar topics.

Can listen and follow simple instructions.

Can use words and some basic phrases to talk haltingly about familiar topics

Can answer simple oral questions on familiar topics.

Can read and understand short simple texts and answer lower order comprehension questions.

Can label names of familiar objects in clear, legible print.

Can participate in a very limited way in a performance based on literary works.

2

Show limited command of the language. Requires guidance to perform basic language tasks:

Can listen to and understand words and phrases and some basic sentences concerning familiar topics.

Can listen to and follow simple instructions and directions.

Can use phrases and short sentences to talk haltingly about familiar topics.

Can ask and answer simple oral questions about familiar topics.

Can read and understand simple texts on familiar topics and answer lower order comprehension questions

Can write labels and short notices in clear, legible print.

Can spell some familiar words and use partially correct grammar.

Can participate in a limited way in a performance based on literary works.

3

Show satisfactory command of the language. Has the ability to use language independently to a certain degree but requires guidance for some language tasks:

Can listen to and understand most words, phrases and sentences concerning familiar topics.

Can listen and follow instructions and directions adequately.

Can give simple instructions and directions.

Can identify the main point in short oral texts on familiar topics.

Can use phrases and sentences to talk about some topics using mostly correct pronunciation.

Can participate in simple daily conversations.

Can read and understand texts, can answer some higher order comprehension questions and sequence information found in texts.

Can write labels, notices and messages in clear, legible print and cursive writing.

Can spell familiar words correctly and use correct grammar to a satisfactory extent.

Can give short, simple personal responses to literary works.

Can prepare and participate in performances based on literary works.

4

Show good command of the language. Has the ability to use language independently but requires guidance for more complex language tasks:

Can listen to and understand words, phrases and sentences concerning familiar and a limited range of unfamiliar topics.

Can listen to, follow and give instructions and directions.

Can give simple instructions and directions.

Can identify the main points in oral texts on a wide range of topics

Can talk well about familiar topics and participate in short conversations.

Can read and answer some higher order comprehension questions, sequence information found in written texts and predict sensible outcomes.

Can write labels, notices and messages in clear, legible print and cursive writing using correct spelling.

Can spell and use correct grammar with some minor slips.

Can create a variety of linear and non-linear texts.

Can give personal response to literary texts and prepare and participate in performances based on literary works.

5

Show very good command of the language. Has the ability to use language independently almost independently.

Can listen to and understand words, phrases and sentences on a wide range of topics.

Can listen to, follow and give clear instructions and directions very well.

Can identify the main points in extended oral texts on a wide range of topics

Can participate in extended conversations on familiar topics fluently.

Can talk about a wide range of topics with correct pronunciation and intonation correctly.

Can read and answer a wide range of comprehension questions, sequence information and predict several possible outcomes.

Can spell and use correct grammar with occasional minor slips.

Can create a variety of interesting linear and non-linear texts in clear, legible print and cursive writing.

Can give interesting personal response to literary texts, plan, prepare and participate in performances based on literary works.

6

Show excellent command of the language. Has the ability to use language independently without any guidance

Can listen to and understand extended oral texts on a wide range of topics.

Can listen to, follow and give clear, detailed instructions and directions confidently.

Can identify the main points and supporting details in extended oral texts on a wide range of topics

Can participate in extended conversations fluently and talk about a wide range of topics using correct pronunciation and intonation confidently.

Can read and answer a wide range of higher order comprehension questions, sequence explicit and implicit information and predict outcomes in a creative manner.

Can spell and use grammar accurately and confidently..

Can create a variety of interesting and creative linear and non-linear texts.

Can give an extended and creative personal response to literary texts confidently.

Can lead in the planning, preparation and participation in performances based on literary works.

18