An Introduction to the Primary
English Textbooks(class-1-5)
Mohammad Shahidullah
Assistant Upazila Education Officer
Moheshkhali, Coxsbazar
The textbooks, those are taught and used for the students
at primary school, are quite fine and well-planned. The students have been
being benefited from these books deeply and skillfully. Here, we would like to
discuss about the English for Today of Class-1 to Class-5. The Sub-cluster
training Manual for December/2014 is assigned to conduct two demonstration
classes on the English Textbooks. One of the demonstration class would be
presented on the English Textbooks of Class one and Class Two giving emphasis on Listening and
Speaking skills as well as class activities and teaching techniques. The other
demonstration class would be conducted on English for Today for classes-3 to 5,
focusing on listing the activities for reading and writing skills. So, I would
like to give an special importance on the English Textbooks. However, it is
known to all that the Textbooks are written, prepared and edited for considering
children from all walks of lives living in Bangladesh. They may be highly aware
of literacy and education or may be low-level or may be the middle-class family
children. Simultaneously, the Authors and Editors kept in their mind, while
writing the books that this is the age of knowledge and communicative language.
I would like to quote some comments of the Chairman of NCTB, Professor Md. Abul
Kashem Mianh that he wrote as Preface of the Textbooks. He writes about the
English Textbooks;
`The Primary curriculum has been revised in the light of
the National education Policy/2010; which emphasizes Learning English as an International Language
for communicating locally and globally.----to help the students’ attain
competencies in all four language skills in English through meaningful and
enjoyable activities. Emphasis has been given on Listening and speaking skills
as the foundation on which to develop reading and writing skills. ‘
So, we all related to the primary education, perhaps could
have realized, what the honorable Chairman has said in his comments. We all
would try to proceed on, according to his thought, in our teaching-learning
activities in future and in this sub-cluster training.
Directions given for teaching English for Today( Primary
English Textbooks): There is a direction
given for the teachers in each English Textbook to be followed, before teaching
the books . The main points of the direction are;
- From the
childhood, the students would learn four skills of English Language like
Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking through practice in the class.
- If anyone, who
wants to learn and acquire the knowledge of English Language, he has to practice
a lot of English words and texts. A teacher can enable the students to
give the chance of those activities.
- The teacher has
to teach the students Some of the expressions like greetings, farewells,
commands, instructions etc. everyday. He/She would create such an
environment in the class, so that the students can practice listening and
speaking in his/her class.
- The teacher must
be careful of correct pronunciation, intonation, stress and the students
would follow him/her.
- He is to ensure
the inter-active activities more and more with the students giving works
like; pair work, group work, chain drill, role play etc. in the class and
outside.
- The teacher
should have to use English in the class as far as he can and make the
students to so, but when he would feel that the students couldn’t follow
him, he can make them easy, speaking in the mother-tongue Bengali. At a
time, he would get responses from the students gradually.
Introduction to the English Textbooks:
The five English Textbooks approved for the classes One to
Five are defined and assigned for the primary school students would be
introduced here in brief now one after another.
English for Today
Class-One
Writers:
M S Hoque/Yasmin Banu/Md Abdur
Razzaque/Naina Shahzadi
There are 30 topics in this textbook. Like;
- Greetings,
Pre-writing and alphabet song, 2. Introductions,letter- A, 3. Saying
goodbye; letter-B, 4. Numbers,letter-c, 5. Commands;letter-C, 6. Numbers;letter-E,
7. Rhyme, Review (A-E), 8.What`s this? Letter-F, 9.Numbers; letter-G, 1o.Rhyme;
Letter-h,11.Commands; Letter-I, 12.Rhyme; Review-J, 13. Rhyme;
Review(A-J), 14. Review (1-5); Letter-K, 15. Numbers; Letter-L,16.
Commands; Letter-M, 17.Rhyme; Letter-N, 18.Numbers; Letter-o, 19. Where do
they live?; Review (A-O),20. Numbers; Letter-p, 21. Rhyme; Letters Q and
R, 22. In the village, Letter-5, 23. In the room; Letter-T, 24. Numbers,
Review (A-T), 25. Rhyme, Letter-U, 26.Numbers,Letter-V,
27.Rhyme,Letter-W,28.Number,Letters X-Y, 29.Letter-Z,Review (A-Z), 30.
Alphabet Song And Vocabulary.
Back page Wise-word: Unity is strength.
English for Today
Class-Two
Wrtiters:
M S Hoque/Yasmin Banu/Md Abdur
Razzaque/Naina Shahzadi
Twenty Nine Topics are included in this textbook. They are;
Greetings, Reviw-Aa to Ee,2. Numbers,ReviewFf toJj,
3.Commands,Review-Kk to Tt, 4.Numbers,Review-Pp to Tt,5.How old…/,Review-Uu to
Zz, 6.Numbers, Alphabet- a to z, 7.How old are you?, Alphabet, 8. Numbers, How
many..?, 9. I`m in … Numbers review, 10. Numbers, I`m……., 11. Head and
shoulders, Parts of the body,12. Numbers, Parts of th body, 13. Days of the
week, 14. Numbers, Story: Rima and the seed, 15. Story; Rima and the seed,
16.Numbers, Colours, 17.colours and numbers, 18.Numbers, a/an, 19. Shapes qand
Numbers, 20. Numbers, Mr Shape, 21 bLucky the Citcle, Shapes and Colours, 22.
Sizes, 23. Animals, Where is it?, 24.Anmals where they live, 25. Life every
day, 26. Kartiz`s Life, in the/at…., 27. Anita`s Life, Where do anmals live?,
28. HOW MANY/, 29. Story: The Golden Goose and Vocabulary.
God is kind.
English for Today
Class-Three
Writers:
M S Hoque/Yasmin Banu/Md Abdur
Razzaque/Naina Shahzadi
There are 40 topics are included in the textbook English
for Today for Class-3. They are namely;
- Greetings and
Introductions, Introducing a student,
- Introducing a
teacher, Introducing someone,
- Dialogue: Keya,
Riya and Mashuk,
- Numbers: Cursive
small letters,
- Commands and
Instructions, inside the classroom, Commands and instructions,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters,
- Commands and
Instructions,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters,
- Commands and
instructions: outside the classroom, Commands, instructions and requests:
at home and at school,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters,
- Commands,
instructions and request,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters,
- Letters and
sounds,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters,
- Names of the
days and months,
- Numbers, Cursive
small letters.
- Names f the
months, Number of days of the mnth,
- Numbers, Cursive
capital letters,
- Occupations,
- Numbers, Cursive
capital letters,
- Occupations,
- Numbers, Cursive
capital letters,
- What tey do?
- Numbers, Cursive
capital letters,
- What sounds do
they make?
- Numbers, What
are they doing?
- What are they
doing? Numbers
- Story: The Cow
and the frog,
- Where is it?
- Punctuation and
capital letters, Numbers,
- Punctuation and
capital letter,
- Punctuation and
capital letters, Numbers,
- Story: BtHE BOYS
AND THE FROGS,
- My family, Numbers,
- My friend,
Letters and sounds,
- Food we need,
Numbers,
- What food should
we eat?
- Cleanliness, At
the shop,
- Story: The Crow
- Story: The Crow
and Vocabulary.
Back page Wise-word: Health is
wealth.
English for Today
Class-Four
Writers:
Shaheen M. Kabir/ A.M.M.Hamidur
Rahman/Md. Zulfiqar Haider and Goutom Roy
There are 26 topics are included in the textbook English
for Today for Class-4. They are namely;
- Say Who You Are,
- Hello! Hello!
Hello!,
- A Family Tree,
- Say It Right!-1,
- A Bookshop,
- Traffic Rules,
- Classroom
Language,
- Say It Right!-2,
- Days 0f the
Week,
- Telling the
Time,
- Sagar and His
Family
- Clap your hands,
- Foods and Meals,
- Tune up!
- Write it well-1,
- Write it well-2,
- The Hen and the
Chicks,
- A Letter to a
friend,
- The Pocket,
- Months of the
Year,
- Reading the
Calendar,
- A Day out,
- Hilyday,
- Tails,
- A Day in Garment
Worker`s Life
- The Lion and the
Mouse and Vocabulary.
Back page Wise-word: Honesty is the
best policy.
English for Today
Class-Five
Writers:
Shaheen M. Kabir/ A.M.M. Hamidur
Rahman/Md. Zulfiqar Haider and Goutom Roy
There are 29 topics are included in the textbook English
for Today for Class-5. They are namely;
1. Hello! May I Introduce Myself?
2. Say It Right,
3. Speak with Rhythm,
4. An Evening with Saikat`s Family,
5. Leisure Time,
6.Days in a Calendar,
7. Eat Healthy, Live Healthy,
8. Write to Me Soon,
9. A Firefighter,
10. Say It with Tune,
11. I wanted t5o do,
12. Punctuation Review,
13. `Have you seen an Igloo?” asks the teacher.
14. My Home Town,
15. Where Is the Library?
16. How far Is St. Martin?
17. Telling the Time,
18. The Hare and the Tortoise,
19. Happy Birthday!
20. May I help you?
21. Life is Beautiful,
22. What Sports Do You Like?
23. Birds n Springs,
24. City Street and Country Roads,
25. The3 Liberation War Museum,
26. It Was a geat Day!
27. We shall Overcome!
28.Do You Have a Library Card?
29. Fitzy Frog Loses Hs Voice.
Back page Wise-word: Slow and
steady wins e race.
Some activities for improving
Listening and Speaking Skills:
- Look, listen,
say, do etc,
- Reading aloud,
3. Memory games,
4. Dialogue practice,
5. Answering questions (for about pictures, reading or
listening texts),
6. Open questions and answers (for example students asking
each other about families),
7. Role play (for example, acting out dialogues and plays),
8. Rhymes and songs,
9. Stories,
10. Guessing games,
11. Talking about a picture,
12. Describing pictures,
13. Exchanging personal information,
14. Social talk in the class room (for example, about
holidays or festivals),
15. Taking interviews,
16. Debates,
17. Audio recordings
18. Teacher/students talk.
Stages of listening and speaking:
For recognizing words:
Pre-listening/speaking
Help students to guess the meaning of unknown words using
context.
While listening/speaking
1. Present the words/numbers orally as the children listen,
2. Then ask the children to reproduce the words/numbers
orally as child speaks,
3. Do some activities, like; listen, and show/matching.
Post-listening/speaking:
-Provide feedback on the strengths and the area of
improvement,
-Use activities, like; Look and say
For test presentation:
Pre=listening/speaking
- Discussing the
topic or type of conversation with the learners,
- Helping the
teachers to develop their vocabulary relted to the topic.
While listening/speaking
- Ask learners to
read and understand the questions/fill in the blanks/True-False.
- Tell them to
listen to the text and answer the question(teacher will read the text
aloud)
- Let the students
listen to the text again and do the task while listening (if necessary)
Post-listening/speaking
Give feedback, and consolidate what they have learnt.
Some techniques for improving Listening and speaking skills:
- Repeating
words/phrases, text, rhymes; making sure that students hear them more than
once,
- Relating the
text to the students lives; for example by getting them interested in the
topic or finding out what they know about the topic,
- Using pictures
or drawings
- Teaching words
and phrases that students don`t know, or helping them to find out what they
mean,
- Breaking up long
texts into short pieces,
- Telling students
that they need to practice listening to English. The more they listen, the
easier it will get,
- Telling students
not to worry, if they don’t understand every word.
Techniques used in speaking:
- Teaching
vocabulary, 2. Chorus drilling, 3. Chain drilling, 4. Open pair work (Demonstrate
how to do it in group), 5. Pair practice, 6. Open group work (Demonstrate
how to do it in group) and 7. Group practice.
When and how to correct speaking:
- Finding the
mistakes during pair/group work: When the students are working in pairs or
groups, the teacher can walk around and listen to as many students as
possible. He/she can make notes about common mistakes,
- Controlled practice
(chorus drill, chain drill/pronunciation practice): The teacher can
arrange a controlled activity after the pair/group activity without
mentioning which pair/group made the mistakes. It helps them avoid making
similar mistakes next time they use the language and in this way helps them
improve their English.
How and When to asses speaking:
Here are some suggestions for speaking skills. We may have
more ideas. We can add the following list with our ideas;
- Teachers can
regularly ask questions to all students in the class, At the nd of the
lesson, teachers make notes on the students` performance. Teachers can do
this over time—for example they can ask six different students each time,
making sure that they ask all students in the class eventually (and not
always the same students, for example, the students having roll no first,
middle, last or the more confident students).
- When students
are working in pairs or groups, teachers can walk around the room and
listen and make notes. It will usually be impossible for teachers to
monitor each pair or group or every activity. Teachers can assess 3 to 4
different groups each time.
- Teachers can
give oral tests to individuals or small groups of students.
- Teachers can
give oral tests to pairs over a period of time-when other students are
doing pair work.
Conclusion:
I have read through all
the English textbooks and they are written for the primary level students.
Here, I have re-written the topics class-wise. All the topics given for making
the students to achieve four language skills; like Reading, Writing, Listening
and Speaking. These topics have been written for the general students of our
country, but I think for the good and advanced students it needs to add more
serious types of topics. The NCTB experts and the writers of the Textbooks `English
for Today’ from class-I to class-5, all are very experienced and renowned
educationists. We can keep confidence upon them. Their thought and plan for the
primary level students wouldn’t go in vain. The teachers, who teach English at
primary schools, are advised to do their teaching-learning activities,
acquiring the contents and outcomes, effectively. If possible, please, make the
students read and learn more seen and unseen topics compared to the textbooks
matters, so that they could be able to be competent enough for the competency
based test-items given in the Primary Education Completion Examination.
