Grade 6 English First Additional Language

Parts of speech help learners understand the job each word does in a sentence. Grade 6 learners should recognise and use common word classes correctly in context.

Nouns name people, places, things and ideas. Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition and make writing smoother.

• Common nouns: school, book, friend, river
• Proper nouns: South Africa, Thandi, Monday
• Collective nouns: team, class, crowd, flock
• Pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, mine, ours

Verbs show actions or states of being. Tenses show when an action happens: now, before or later.

Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They help learners add detail and make writing more interesting.

• Adjectives: tall, brave, quiet, delicious, colourful
• Adverbs: slowly, carefully, yesterday, outside, very
• Degrees of comparison: big, bigger, biggest; careful, more careful, most careful

Learners should write complete sentences with correct punctuation. They should also identify and use different sentence types.

Direct speech gives the exact words a person says. Indirect speech reports what someone said without using the exact words.

• Use quotation marks for direct speech.
• Start the spoken words with a capital letter.
• Change pronouns correctly when rewriting as indirect speech.
• Change tense carefully where needed.

Vocabulary work helps learners understand texts and express themselves more clearly. Learners should use context clues and word parts to work out meaning.

Reading skills help learners understand written and visual texts. Learners should be able to find information, make inferences and explain their answers using evidence from the text.

• Predict what a text may be about.
• Skim for the main idea.
• Scan for specific information.
• Identify characters, setting, plot and theme in stories.
• Use headings, pictures, captions and diagrams in visual texts.
• Answer literal, inferential and opinion questions.

Writing in Term 3 should include planning, drafting, revising, editing and presenting a final piece. Learners must write for different purposes and audiences.

Learners practise listening for information and speaking clearly. They should use appropriate vocabulary, correct pronunciation and respectful discussion skills.

• Listen for main ideas and supporting details.
• Ask and answer questions.
• Take turns in conversations.
• Give short prepared talks.
• Use suitable tone, pace and volume.
• Retell events in the correct order.