Page 9 - Ace TB1 Cubierta.indd

At this higher level of English language learning, many young learners in Primary 1 to Primary 6 are entered for external examinations such as the Trinity examinations, the Cambridge English: Young Learners examinations (Starters, Movers and Flyers) and the Cambridge English: Key for schools examination (KET). The syllabus of Ace! 1–6 reflects the language and skills requirements of these examinations. Trinity Examinations: The Ace! series aims to prepare pupils to enter the Trinity Grade 2 examination by the end of Ace! 2, the Trinity Grade 4 examination by the end of Ace! 4 and the Trinity Grade 6 examination by the end of Ace! 6. Cambridge English: Young Learners Examinations: The Ace! series aims to prepare pupils to sit Starters by the end of Ace! 3, Movers by the end of Ace! 5 and Flyers by the end of Ace! 6. Cambridge English: Key for schools examination (KET): The Ace! series aims to prepare pupils to sit the Cambridge English: Key for schools examination (KET) by the end of Ace! 6. Practice tests for the Trinity, Cambridge English: Young Learners, Cambridge English: Key for schools (KET), as well as Cambridge English: Preliminary for schools (PET) can also be found on the Ace! External Exams Practice CD-ROM.

Ace! values intercultural education as an essential part of language learning. It is important for children to understand and reflect on the differences and similarities between their own and other cultures in order to develop Key Competences, in particular Competence in Social Skills and Citizenship and Competence in Interaction with the Physical Environment. The Culture lessons throughout the Ace! series raise the children’s awareness of being part of a global community by helping them to develop an awareness of the people around them, as well as a stronger understanding of the culture behind the language they are learning. There are regular culture lessons in every unit throughout the Ace! course, beginning in Ace! 1 with a focus on English culture. The cultural information is presented through engaging photos and extended reading texts on the Class Book page in Lesson 8, as well as a traditional song, skipping rhyme or tongue twister in Lesson 9.

The follow up activities in the Ace! 1 Activity Book give the children the opportunity to consolidate what they have learnt. They are also encouraged to reflect on the target culture and draw conclusions about similarities and differences by producing their own text and illustration, personalized with ideas and experiences from their own culture.

In addition to the cultural input in Lessons 8 and 9, further intercultural learning is provided through the three Festival Units located at the end of the Ace! Class Book. These are intended to be used at the appropriate times of the year: Halloween, Christmas and Carnival. The lessons include new themed vocabulary, a fun festival song, activity worksheets and craft projects, all of which can be used to create an intercultural festival atmosphere in the classroom. Details can be found in the Festivals section.

Ace! has developed a system which employs aspects of Phonics teaching which are of benefit to primary children learning English, making sure that they are fully adapted to the children’s needs. Like the UK and USA Phonics system for native speakers, the Phonics lessons in Ace! teach children skills to help them to read better in English. The Phonics lessons in Ace! also include an element of pronunciation practice, as children need to be able to recognize and say a letter sound before they can attempt to recognize and read it in text. In addition, the words used to exemplify each Phonics focus in Ace! are known words from the same unit, grouped semantically to aid memory and recall. In Ace! 1 the Phonics lesson of each unit raises awareness of the relationship between the sound and the spelling of individual letters and letter combinations in English.

Songs are an invaluable way of practising new language, as they naturally include plenty of repetition and greatly aid memory through their use of rhythm.

Each unit of Ace! 1 contains two songs; one in Lesson 1 and one in Lesson 4. These present and practise the new language of the lessons and cover a wide variety of musical genre, specifically designed to encompass the diverse range of musical styles children enjoy in the real world.

The Ace! course embraces the opportunity to transfer useful, practical English language to a range of different areas of the curriculum including Art, Music, Science, Geography, History and Maths. The areas chosen reflect and build on the kind of subject matter that the pupils are working with in other classes.

In Lesson 6 of every unit of Ace! 1, we join Monty and Lola at The Ace School, as one of their subject teachers presents the key content. The appropriate subject teacher appears on the large, colour poster, which is provided for presentation purposes for each cross-curricular lesson of the course. The poster provides step-by-step teacher’s notes for easy presentation of the cross-curricular concept and new cross-curricular words.

For teachers who have access to an Interactive Whiteboard, an interactive version of the poster can be found on the Ace! 1 iPack.

The cross-curricular content of the lesson is then

consolidated and practised through listening activities and a personalised communication game in the Class Book, as well as follow up activities in the Activity Book.

Learning about values is a key feature of the Ace! series as a whole.

In Ace! 1, the values focus is presented in every Lesson 9 by Mrs Drew, the Citizenship Education teacher at The Ace School. The Mrs Drew’s Values feature integrates socio-cultural aspects of learning and helps to promote self-esteem, as well as positive attitudes, tolerance and respect towards others. The Teacher’s Notes for Lesson 9 outline the Ace! 1 Values routine, which involves the teacher monitoring and rewarding good behavior and practice with regard to the values.