English According to Blue Jeans Egg

Primary School - Grade 6 ! Yeah !!

In Japan, where I am teaching, from April 2009 the government has done another revamp of the curriculum for this grade, or perhaps I should say, has begun to use a curriculum for this grade. The new curriculum is based on the ESL textbook English Note 1 and 2. The book company, Kairyudo, was good enough to provide, free of charge, very basic translations of the lesson plans taken from sections of the accompanying teachers guide book. The Grade 6 lesson plans can be found here on the companies website. Whether this new curriculum is better, or lagging in what was being taught around schools prior will be a topic of discussion around Japanese primary schools in 1 years time. No doubt, teachers will take on board areas which they think are good, and work around the rest.

Here is the curriculum translated by Blue Jeans Egg into English, for the convenience of us English Speakers. The original transcript, in Japanese, can be found here. This transcript comes from The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology - Japan home page. Though this document can only be found on pages written in Japanese, there is also an English language area which has various education related documents which may be of interest to you.

Blue Jeans Egg has done his best to translate the meaning of this document. If however, you have any suggestions for improvement, your advice is always much appreciated. Blue Jeans Egg loves your mail the most.

Once again, Blue Jeans Egg does not hold any copyright ownership over the content of this page.
The copyright ownership is held by the book company Kairyudo.
Blue Jeans Egg translated this page for the benefit of Assistant Language Teachers (ALT's) working in schools in Japan.
A basic summary of the lesson plans has been kindly translated and provided by the book company Kairyudo.

A printable version of the curriculum below, translated by Blue Jeans Egg, can be found here.

A Primary School ESL Curriculum - Grade 6 Speaking/ Communication Component
Unit	Lesson Number	Topic	Example
Unit 1 Let's have fun with the alphabet!	1.1	Learning how to read the alphabet (capital letters).	A - Z
	1.2	Practicing hearing and recognizing the alphabet (capital letters).	A - Z
	1.3	Matching alphabet letters with pronunciation (capital letters).	A - Z
Unit 2 Different kinds of letters	2.1	Learning there are also small letters and practicing reading them.	a - z
	2.2	Recognizing small letters.	a - z
	2.3	Matching small letters and capital letters.	a - z, A - Z
	2.4	Tracing the capital and small letters of the alphabet on personal possessions.	a - z, A - Z
Unit 3 Let's make a calender !	3.1	Learn how to say the months of the year in English as they correspond to special events on the Japanese calender.	eg. Tannabata --> July
	3.2	Students learn there own birthdays in English.	eg. January 21st
	3.3	Ask and answer questions about birthdays and make a birthday calender.	A: "When's your birthday?" B: "January 21st."
	3.4	Using the birthday calender, make a short speech.	"My birthday is January 21st."
Unit 4 Talk about things we can do.	4.1	Students listen carefully to their partners and find out what they can and can't do.	"I can swim." etc.
	4.2	Students answer their partners questions about what they can and can't do.	A: "Can you swim?" B: "Yes, I can.", "No, I can't."
	4.3	With a partner, find out and and answer questions about things they can and can't do.	As and expanding upon lesson 4.2.
	4.4	Students make a speech presentation about their abilities. Practice listening and comprehension when their friends make their speeches.	"I can play the guitar." ... etc.
Unit 5 Let's give street directions !	5.1	Learn how to say the names of places of students interest around town.	"Movie theatre", "swimming pool", ...etc.
	5.2	Listen to and understand expressions for directions.	"Turn left, go straight, ..." etc.
	5.3	Practice expressions to ask for and give directions.	A: "Where's the supermarket?" B: "Turn left, go straight, ..." etc.
	5.4	To give and follow directions.	As in lesson 3
Unit 6 The countries I want to go to!	6.1	Learn that English spoken in different countries in the world.	"What country is this?", "I want to go to Italy."
	6.2	Listen to and understand language about countries we want to go to and why.	"I want to go to Italy. I want to go eat pizza."
	6.3	Asking and answering questions about countries student want to go to.	A: "Where do you want to go?" B: "I want to go to Italy."
	6.4	Students practice talking with their friends about what countries they want to go to and why.	A: "Where do you want to go?" B: "I want to go to Italy." A: "Why?" B: "To eat pizza."
Unit 7 What I do in a day!	7.1	Understanding global time differences and learning expressions of time in English.	7 o'clock etc.
	7.2	What does the teacher do in a day? Students listen to and understand.	"I get up at 6 o'clock."
	7.3	Students write a summary of what they do in a day.	as above
	7.4	Students give a speech presentation about what they do in a day.	as above
Unit 8 Let's make an original play!	8.1	Learn about folktales from around the world. Listen to some excerpts.	Excerpts from a few folktales.
	8.2	Learn the funny folktale The Big Turnip. In groups, change the characters and make an original version of the story.	Excerpts and variations from this folktale.
	8.3	In groups, practice the created versions of The Big Turnip	Excerpts and variations from this folktale.
	8.4	Present original plays in groups. Listen to and understand other groups presentations.	Excerpts and variations from this folktale.
Unit 9 My dreams !	9.1	Learning the names of some occupations in English.	"Pilot", "dentist",...etc
	9.2	Understanding conversation about occupations we want to have in the future	A: "What do you want to be?" B: I want to be a teacher.
	9.3	Asking and answering questions about occupations we want to have in the future.	as above
	9.4	Using a memo, making speech presentations about what occupations we want to have in the future and why.	"When I grow up, I want to be a pilot. I want to fly aeroplanes."

Too much sleep makes you sleepy.