Teaching goals for English Language Arts

These are our current objectives for English language study with our children. These are very high level goals, but we feel it is important to write these down so that they can guide our detailed choices. Ultimately, our hope is to guide the kids to be independent learners.

Strong Readers (in-bound communication)

• Able to use reading as a tool for further learning. This means they must:
• Enjoy reading
• Have a large vocabulary and tools to build their vocabulary
• Good comprehension and tools to analyze what they are reading
• Familiarity with sources of information
• Read a wide variety of material: topics, authors, styles, forms

Writing (out-bound communication)

• Able to communicate ideas clearly and effectively (writing and speaking)
• Comfortable with the mechanics of writing: vocabulary, spelling, grammar, punctuation, physical writing and typing
• Learn a writing process: research, brainstorming, forming ideas, organizing ideas, drafting, revising

Conduit for other content

We will make use of language activities that also teach them:

• History: having data of history to learn from the past, ideas of historiography and perspective
• Science: technical jargon, tools to understand and develop scientific frameworks
• Philosophy and comparative religion: what are the great questions, different perspectives, forming their own values and understanding those of other people
• Current events: understanding the current context of their lives

Develop skills that support other language learning

• Grammar frameworks
• Methods for learning vocabulary
• Motivation