Most P4 GEP students will enjoy the English curriculum. For the first time in school, they will get to try out different genres of writing and be exposed to the wonderful world of Literature.
The first challenge students will face is writing a Fractured Fairytale in the first half of the year, which requires a different set of skills from regular composition writing.
Thereafter, they will be required to do self-reading from the ERP list and complete a Sandwich Book Report on a selected novel from the ERP list. For many students, this is the first time they will be doing a critical analysis and dissertation on a novel. Being able to organise their thoughts and opinions on a piece of writing and formulate a review will lay the foundation for their next major task of the year – the Reading Response Journal.
In Semester 2, P4 GEP students will be required to read A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, and complete a Reading Response Journal on the novel. This requires students to empathise with characters and relate key events in the story to their own life experiences and the world at large. It is a mammoth task that demands maturity, meticulous organisation of points, and solid language skills. To do well in this task, students should start building up their repertoire of skills as early in the year as possible.
Most schools will also cover Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, which is an introduction to poetry and free verse. In recent years, this piece has become more of a post-exam supplementary reading text. Its specific treatment, though, varies from school to school.
On the grammar front – students will be expected to know how to conjugate verbs in the Sequence of Tenses component in their tests. Unlike the grammar component in the mainstream English paper, the Sequence of Tenses component in GEP English is not an MCQ section; students will be required to write out the correct form of the verb.
Summary of GEP English Components
– Fractured Fairytales
– Sandwich Book Report
– Reading Response Journal
– Poetry
– A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
– Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
– Sequence of Tenses – grammar component
Need help in guiding your P4 GEP child in his or her GEP English learning journey?
Enrol for our GEP/Advanced English Programme and let our ex-Rosyth/RI GEP Specialist Teacher help you! Download the Programme Booklet for detailed syllabus.
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