an english curriculum built on a functional-notional approach to

Learning for Children Internationally

Transforming English Language

How Schools Are Winning the Battle

for English Pro�ciency

with Learning Methods based

on the Acclaimed Functional-Notional Approach

Page ii

GrapeSEED White Paper www.grapeseedenglish.com

Table of Contents KEY TRENDS FAVORING INTERNATIONAL REFORM OF EARLY ENGLISH EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN..............1

WHY CONVENTIONAL ENGLISH PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN ARE INEFFECTIVE.........................................5

SOLUTION: AN ENGLISH CURRICULUM BUILT ON A FUNCTIONAL-NOTIONAL APPROACH TO LEARNING .........7

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A FUNCTIONAL-NOTIONAL ENGLISH CURRICULUM.......................................... 10

INTRODUCING GRAPESEED ...................................................................................................... 12

UNDERSTANDING GRAPESEED’S SIX PILLARS OF EARLY ENGLISH EDUCATION....................................... 14

REFERENCES/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.................................................................................... 18

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The information in this document is provided for informational purposes only. GrapeSEED Media Limited specifically disclaims all warranties, express or limited, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.

GrapeSEED is a registered trademark of GrapeSEED Media Ltd. Other products mentioned herein may be protected by their respective owners.

GrapeSEED White Paper www.grapeseed.com


English is Global

Of the recognized 195countries in the world, English is spoken for business and political reasons in 104 of them—a reach beyond that of any other language in the world. English has become the bridge language for nations that thrive on globalization.

More than 80% of all printed technical information needed by industry for global interaction is originally written in English. In fact, some experts put the number at 92%.

Key Trends Favoring International Reform of Early English Education for Children

The British Council published an authoritative study called “English Next” on the state of the English language worldwide. This section summarizes the points from that study that are most relevant to this white paper.

The historical perspective on English adoption was of a small group of English speaking nations that had wide economic influence. The new reality is a global community with a diverse mix of populations that want to be able to fluently speak international English that spans countries and cultures.

Today, the boundaries between teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English as a Second Language (ESL), and English for Young Learners (EYL) are fast blurring. At the same time, basic English communication skills have become critical prerequisites for all, rather than the privilege of the few. In short, English has become a global language.

Following are some of the key worldwide trends and issues in English language usage that the British Council report identifies:

English is the preferred language of learning for international students. Between 2 and 3 million students each year travel to another country to study—mostly to English speaking countries, such as the US and UK. In fact, according to the British Council, over half the world’s international students are taught in English.

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English is Becoming a Basic Education

Requirement

Countries are increasingly teaching English at the primary grades—often beginning at Grade 1—with students expected to be proficient in English by the time they reach the secondary level.

English is the preferred language of international education.

Source: British Council, 2006

English is being increasingly taught to young children. Many countries now realize that the only way to ensure good English communication skills for their populations is to teach English to young children at the preschool and elementary levels.

Trends in the percentage of all pupils in primary education who are learning English.

Source: Eurydice network, 2008

English has become the global language for higher education. Higher education institutions in non-English-speaking countries are using English language courses to retain local students and attract international students and teachers. The result is a more global distribution of students opting for higher education—and that education is being delivered in English.

Forecasts for international student numbers show faster growth in the non-English speaking countries than in the UK and the major English-speaking destination countries (MESDCs).

Source: British Council, 2006

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Knowledge of English is a Strategic Advantage

Countries are realizing that English is at the center of many globalization initiatives.

The economic future of many non-English speaking countries is likely to be closely associated with the country's performance as a global entity.

English is at the root of changing national economies. The services sector, including business process outsourcing, will continue to grow in terms of the employed population, and fluent English communication is one of the key skills required by this sector.

New international communication channels need global English skills. Technology is enabling new patterns of global communication, with English becoming more widely used as an international language.

2010 world Internet users by language, showing the top 10 languages (in millions of users)

Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2010

English is the common language of global travel and business. Three-quarters of all international travel occurs between non-English-speaking countries. This statistic suggests a large demand for the increasing use of English as the common language for travel and business.

The percentage of the US workforce employed in the services sector that needs good English skills is growing, while the percentages employed in industrial and agriculture sectors are shrinking.

British Council, 2006

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Knowledge of English is a Strategic Advantage

Businesses need English proficiency to benefit from global opportunities.

English has become the global symbol of urban middle-class aspirations.

Tourism is growing, and the majority of communications takes place between non-English speakers.

World Tourism Organization, 2004.

Businesses need English proficiency to benefit from globalopportunities. In the outsourcing business in particular, English is an essential skill—because most of the offshore contracts come from English-speaking corporations.

Offshore contractsoutsourced by countries.

Technology Partners International (TPI), 2005.

English has become the global symbol of urban middle-class aspirations. Urbanization is one of the major contributors to linguistic change. The rise of the urban middle class in developing countries is creating new constituencies of English users.

China was less urbanized than India until the 1980s but India’s rural population has been slower to migrate to the cities.

British Council, 2006

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Tell-tale Signs of an English Curriculum That

Will Never Work

System is based on learning grammar rules.

Program focuses on memorizing vocabulary instead of on communication.

Program emphasizes hear/say method, where the teacher says a phrase and students repeat it.

Phonics program is based on methods usedin American kindergartens.

Program attempts to teach reading and writing without first developing sufficient readiness skills.

Program fails to provide English exposure outside the classroom

Why Conventional English Programs for Children are Ineffective

Conventional English programs don’t succeed in building effective commu-nication skills in young minds because they were designed for adults, not children. These programs have their roots in English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction, which, as part of a movement to establish English as the world’s business language, focused on teaching English to adult business-people. Later, with English gaining popularity as an international language,young people realized the benefits of being able to converse in English and also began to seek ESL instruction. Parents, likewise, saw the importance of their children learning English.

As ESL students became a progressively younger group, ESL publishers responded by merely simplifying the structure originally intended for teaching adults. Today, many prominent ESL courses are the result of several such modifications to these adult-oriented systems.

Result of Focus on Adults: A Teacher-Student GapConventional systems, which emphasize grammatical structures and logical reasoning, fail to retain the interest of young children, who may not have enough knowledge of language in general to grasp these concepts. Moreover, these programs do not provide sufficient support materials to enable teachers to progressively build their lessons over time—nor do they leverage a child’s natural aptitude and method for acquiring a new language.

Six fundamental flaws of the old English learning system explain why it is failing—and doomed to continued failure.

Flaw #1: Grammar-Based Structure Conventional systems start by teaching complex grammar rules to young children. The reality is that children have a very different way of learning a new language, which can be observed in how they learn their mother tongue.

Young children learn language by hearing it, becoming familiar with it, and then learning the sounds required to accomplish a needed task. In other words, they do not learn a language by memorizing words and sentences tied to a systematic structure. Instead, they learn words and phrases that have become familiar to them over a period of time—the words and phrases they need to accomplish certain tasks.

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The Fundamental Flaw in the Old System

The old grammar-based system for English learning was designed for adults. Successful English learning programs for young children must begin with comprehen-sion—otherwise, the childrenwon’t learn at all.

Conclusion

Conventional English instruction systems require an inherent ability to understand, analyze and retain complex grammati-cal rules. It is unrealistic to expect children to have this capability at such an early age.

Flaw #2: Vocabulary-Driven ProgramsConventional approaches are vocabulary-driven, based on a false perception that volume equals proficiency. However, a student can learn thousands of English words and still be unable to verbally express a complete thought. Publishers compete to have the largest vocabulary as part of their teaching material—but one list is not any better than another unless the child knows how to use those words.

Focusing on vocabulary over function results in much learning, but little ability to communicate. And when schools are unable to produce results, their fall-back plan is to focus on memorizing and reciting—which, again, does nothing for the student’s ability to communicate.

Flaw #3: Hear/Say Delivery Method Conventional approaches use the hear/say delivery method, with the teacher saying something and the child repeating it. This is an effective method for adults, who can mentally process what they are learning. Children, however, need to hear expressions over and over again in a variety of situations before they can reproduce them. Once they are ready, children will perfectly mimic the sounds they have memorized, with exact diction and intonation.

Flaw #4: Phonics Based on English Literacy SkillsLooking for a simplified approach to teaching reading skills, conventional programs have taken phonics programs used in American kindergartens. But the phonics system taught in America doesn’t work for non-native speakers: it requires English literacy skills that children haven’t yet developed.

For traditional phonics to work, students must have a large enough language base to comprehend the phonics being taught. That language base, according to one of the early proponents of linguistic phonics, is a five-thousand-word English vocabulary.

Flaw #5: Insufficient Reading and Writing ReadinessConventional approaches teach reading long before students have developed sufficient ability to communicate in English, a sufficient vocabulary, or even the necessary comprehension. Because the children don’t know how to use the language, reading becomes recitation (quoting from memory), and writing is mostly done from dictation, rather than student-initiated (primarily for the purpose of “proving” to parents that their children are learning).

Flaw # 6: Insufficient Class TimeChildren need approximately two hours a day to become proficient in a language—to get enough exposure, review, and practice to learn how to use the 166 words that make up approximately 75% of spoken English. Most schools and parents can’t afford two hours of English class every day.

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Why English Language Programs Have Not

Changed (Despite Their Ineffectiveness)

Publishers simply have too much invested in the old grammar-based system. They have little economic incentive to make the switch to a curriculum built on the functional-notional approach.

Solution: An English Curriculum Built on a Functional-Notional Approach to Learning

In the 1990s, the Council of Europe invested tens of millions of dollars in researching the best way to teach children English. They found that theapproach that works best is the functional-notional approach, which emphasizes function (use of language) over grammar. With this approach, learning begins with what the children want to do with the language—much the same as how they learn their first language naturally. Through a variety of activities, children learn how to use the language to express common needs and tasks (“functions”) and concepts (“notions”). Table 1 lists some common functions and general notions, with examples.

Table 1. Examples of Functions and Notions

Functions: Using the language to accomplish tasks, such as:

Providing/seeking informationIdentifying (This is the bedroom).Reporting (He said the train left.)Asking (Where did you go?)

Expressing/finding attitudes[Dis]Agreeing (Yes, I like cookies).Enquiring (Do you think it will rain?)Denying (No, I didn’t do it.)

Getting things doneSuggesting (Shall we play?)Advising (Why don’t you…)Warning (Be careful.)

SocializingGreeting (Hello, how do you do?)Responding (I’m fine. How are you?)Toasting (Cheers! Here’s to success!)

Structuring conversationsOpening (Hello, do I know you?)Closing (So, I will see you later.)Correcting (Sorry, I meant…)

Follow-up communicationsAsking to repeat (Sorry, can you…?)Expressing ignorance (I didn’t get…)Clarifying (Can you speak slowly?)

Notions: Communicating real world concepts, such as:

Existential[Non]Existence (Is there any sugar?)Availability (When will it be ready?)Occurrence (Will it happen?)

SpatialLocation (He has been to Paris.)Distance (The rain is far away.)Dimension (This is big.)

TemporalDays of the week; monthsTime zones; time of dayDurations, earliness, lateness

QuantitativeSingular/plural (cat, dogs)Quantity (more, full, half, less)Degree (not as much, somewhat)

QualitativeShape, taste (square, sweet)Quality (good, bad, right, wrong)Desirability (like, don’t like)

RelationalContrast (same, different)Ownership (mine, yours, theirs)Cause/effect (That’s why this happened)

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Key Benefit of a Functional-Notional

approach

Learning begins with what the children want to do with the language—much the same as how they learntheir first language naturally—and their early sense of accomplishment motivates them to further pursue higher levels of proficiency.

With the functional-notional approach, a carefully orchestrated mix of progressively more difficult and overlapping functions and notions enableschildren to move easily from first words to language proficiency—and theirearly sense of accomplishment motivates them to further pursue higher levels of proficiency.

The Council of Europe’s seemingly simple conclusion was dramatic in that it advocated a fundamental departure from the conventional grammar-based method used by all leading curriculum providers. In the two decades since the study, there has been a phenomenal surge in demand for training in the English language—a demand level that is expected to continue for many moreyears. Yet every major curriculum on the world market has continued to use grammar-based methods that have been proven not to work—and will never work. Why? Simply because it would be cost-prohibitive for publishers to toss out decades of investment and start from scratch to build a new curriculum.

A comprehensive functional-notional approach to teaching English to young children delivers the following benefits:

Speeds language development. Children develop communication skills much faster through the process of hearing functions, memorizingthem, and repeating them, while learning just enough vocabulary to be able to use those functions. Before long, they begin to express their thoughts and desires in their newly acquired language, further motivating them to keep learning.

Jump-starts communications with only the most essential vocabulary. Building early communication ability with fewer words lays the foundation for basic fluency, incremental growth, and eventual proficiency. Since class time is limited, using a progressive,focused vocabulary is key to developing the children’s ability to communicate.

Facilitates a more interactive, close-knit teacher-student relation-ship. The functional-notional approach brings teachers and students together in a harmonious relationship—one where learning becomes a joy-filled experience, and students take a more active role in shaping their own education.

Combines the best of top-down teaching with student participa-tion. Traditional English teaching emphasizes a top-down, teacher-centric approach, without regard to how children best learn. In contrast, the functional-notional approach emphasizes students’cognitive and functional capabilities, allowing them to think and interact—an approach that enhances their ability to communicate in English outside the classroom.

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Greatly enhances student interest, accelerating the learning process. The functional-notional approach encourages student participation. Because classroom lessons reflect their everyday life experiences, students become major stakeholders in their own education, and their personal interest in the lessons accelerates the learning process.

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Look for Completeness

A complete curriculum not only needs a laser-likefocus on the student, but also must include compre-hensive support for teachers and after-class learning.

Making Teachers successful

An effective curriculum provides plenty of teacher support—because it’s the teachers who ultimately break or make a school’s success.

What to Look For in a Functional-NotionalEnglish Curriculum

An effective functional-notional curriculum for teaching English to childrenmeets the following critical requirements:

Designed for children from the ground up. The curriculum should closely mirror how children acquire a new language, building on a child’s natural language-learning aptitude and processes.

Proven track record of classroom success. The curriculum should be a proven performer—one that has been implemented in a number of schools with excellent results. Before choosing a curriculum, visit schools using it so you can personally gauge its success.

Strong functional-notional foundation. The curriculum should use the functional-notional approach to address every aspect of the learning process. Some legacy learning systems have made cosmetic changes under the guise of incorporating functional-notional teaching principles, but they don’t deliver results. Look for a curriculum that was designed from the start to be functional-notional.

Precise coverage of every learning objective. Look for a curriculum that addresses every learning objective with academic precision,leaving out no part of the learning process.

Optimized for reading/writing excellence. Choose a curriculum that is carefully structured to maximize a child’s reading and writing potential. A good curriculum will ensure that children have all their prerequisites completed and are ready to read and write before the reading and writing lessons officially start.

Complete student and teacher materials. An effective curriculum will provide all necessary teacher and student materials for each teaching each level, with no additional expense needed. Materials should include teacher tools, program guides, and training manuals that describe how the curriculum is to be used, leaving nothing to chance.

After-class learning opportunities. A key factor that slows down learning is insufficient class time—so an effective curriculum provides children with fun, easy learning activities they can pursue outside of class—such as CDs they can listen to and DVDs they can watch. Look for a curriculum that includes detailed materials and guidelines for such activities.

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Ongoing teacher training and support. No curriculum can succeed if its teachers are not successful—so choose a curriculum that provides supporting materials and services promoting teacher effectivenessafter the curriculum is rolled out. These may include in-person discussions, hands-on training, opportunities for customization to address different school situations, and ongoing teacher support.

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Endorsed by Experts

“This is more than simply an effective ESL curriculum. It is a potential teaching and learning revolution! I am confident that it is also an effective curriculum for children with learning disabilities and for those from impoverished environments.”

Bonnie A. Lesley, Ed.D.President, Creative Education Institute, Texas

Proven Track Record

GrapeSEED has been implemented by over 200 schools in more than 10 countries, benefitting more than 26,000 students.

Introducing GrapeSEEDThe GrapeSEED English Arts Curriculum for Children is the world's first comprehensive English language curriculum based on the acclaimed functional-notional approach to teaching English—an approach specifically designed for teaching children. GrapeSEED has been implemented by over 200 schools in more than 10 countries, benefitting more than 26,000 students.

Backed By Breakthrough Educational ResearchThe GrapeSEED curriculum was developed at the MeySen Academy in Sendai, Japan—a premier educational institution that has been teaching ESL to children between the ages of 2 and 12 for more than 40 years. The school’s “joy of learning” philosophy, core to its culture, has influenced many K-6th grade educational institutions throughout Asia.

Several years ago, as part of an internal effort to seek the highest levels of educational excellence, the MeySen leadership undertook a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of early English education for children—both in its own facilities and internationally. This research, facilitated by world experts in English language acquisition and early childhood learning,concluded that to improve English education for children by an order of magnitude, fundamental changes were needed in philosophy, approach, andcurriculum—and that these changes could best be accomplished by adopting a functional-notional approach to teaching English.

Creation of the GrapeSEED™ CurriculumMeySen then expanded its assessment into a brand-new curriculum for early childhood English language learning. In 2006, before creating the first storybook, the curriculum designers invested a year of research and planning. Beginning with a blank slate, they built everything on the framework of the functional-notional approach. For example, they derived vocabulary not from existing lists, but from common functions that children would want to perform—functions such as seeking information, expressing opinions, and socializing.

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Attention to Detail

GrapeSEED’s uniqueness lies in amazing attention to detail in every aspect of early language education. Nothing is left to chance.

The designers created a comprehensive, yet streamlined, functional-notional system and added a daily feature called pronunciation focus, which aids the teacher in systematically emphasizing important sounds. They also replaced phonics based on English literacy with their own version of phonics—one that doesn’t require prior knowledge of English—and added a complete reading and writing readiness program; a language arts program that further helps students learn to read and write English; and the Extended English Environment, a unique educational element that multiplies the effectiveness of all the rest by enabling students to continue their learning outside the classroom.

The goal of this effort was to have a smarter, more efficient program—one that removes the obstacles to learning found in traditional, adult-oriented curricula; provides more exposure to the elements that are most important for teaching English to young children; and ensures positive results.

Examples of Classroom materials

Examples of after-school Extended English Environment (EEE) materials

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Endorsed by Experts

“We all know the theory regarding the functional-notional curriculum for children, but this is the first time I have seen it actually implemented in this scale at a school delivering such good results.”

Tej K. Bhatia, Linguistics/LLL, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Understanding GrapeSEED’s Six Pillars of Early English Education

To see how GrapeSEED moves childhood language learning from perpetual fail-ure to ensured success, let’s examine the program’s six pillars in more detail.

The six pillars of early English education

1. Uncompromising Functional-Notional Approach With GrapeSEED’s functional-notional teaching approach, children learn how to use the language to express common, real-world needs and tasks (“functions”) and concepts (“notions”).

Children first listen to various phrases and sentences related to common functions, prioritized in the curriculum according to their frequency of use. The songs, chants, poems, stories, and other activities are followed by the integrated use of the vocabulary, phrases, and sentences into every class activity. With this approach, children learn useful expressions instead of simply quoting sentences from memory.

The process of hearing, becoming familiar with, memorizing, and repeating the language related to these common functions, along with other useful vocabulary, helps students develop communication skills more quickly. Before long, they begin to create expressions themselves to express their own thoughts and desires.

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Built-In Efficiencies

A systematic review of language functions and vocabulary is built into successive levels of the curriculum, ensuring that students retain what they learn and eliminating the need for teachers to incorporate reviews into their lesson plans.

2. Focused, Progressive, Vocabulary Development In teaching children to communicate in a new language, function always comes first, but vocabulary is a necessary adjunct. Key aspects of our approach to teaching vocabulary are:

Focus: Building early communication abilities with fewer words lays the foundation for basic fluency, incremental growth, and eventual proficiency. In creating the vocabulary portion of our curriculum, we conducted substantial research to determine the best beginning, focus, and progression for a child-friendly vocabulary. We asked questions such as: When should we introduce a word? How should it be used? How many times? Since class time is limited, we wanted to make sure that we were introducing new words in the most effective way.

Integration: We integrate the vocabulary we teach into songs, chants, poems, and stories, reinforcing them in the dictionary that accompa-nies each story and in the Extended English Environment. The more new vocabulary that is taught at any one time, the less efficient class time becomes. That’s why our curriculum closely controls vocabulary and ensures that new words are integrated into all teaching materials.

Tracking: With the help of technology, we track every word, from introduction to full comprehension in reading and writing. Although we cannot promise that every child will learn every new word anduse it on schedule, this approach does provide students with plenty of exposure to new words—enough to enable them to learn the words thoroughly. And because the classroom materials contain few words that are not in past, current, or upcoming objectives, we make optimum use of the time available, with fewer distractions competing for students’ attention.

Repetition: A systematic review of language functions and vocabu-lary is built into successive levels of the curriculum, ensuring that students retain what they learn and eliminating the need for teachersto incorporate reviews into their lesson plans. For any given word, the degree of repetition depends on how critical the word is to a common language function. Some words are used thousands of timesin GrapeSEED materials, while others are used less than a hundred.

Structured: The vocabulary is divided into two groups: essential and academic. Essential words—such as “come” and “play”—are those that are crucial for basic communication; academic words are those that are necessary for proficiency. By the time students complete all 40 levels of GrapeSEED, they should have a working vocabulary of more than 2,500 words, of which 1,050 are classified as essential.

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A Strong Foundation

GrapeSEED Level 1 begins with phonograms, short poems, and picture books.These materials lay a solid foundation of phonemic andphonological awareness,upon which all other language skills are built.

Special Reading and Writing Vocabulary: Students initially learn touse, read, and write the GrapeSEED 100 words, then the GrapeSEED 500, 1000, and ultimately the GrapeSEED 1500. This approach equips students with all the most frequently used words, plus all the vocabu-lary they need to express themselves in writing on every general topic.

3. Phonemic and Phonological AwarenessThe term “phonemic and phonological awareness” refers to language skills developed by hearing, identifying, and then manipulating individual sounds (called “phonemes”). GrapeSEED Level 1 begins with phonograms (written symbols that stand for a sound, syllable, or word), short poems, and picture books. These materials lay a solid foundation of phonemic and phonological awareness upon which all other language skills are built. GrapeSEED materials—which include CDs and DVDs recorded by native English speakers—place a special emphasis on pronunciation, because mastery of English requires accurate pronunciation as well as fluency.

4. Vertical Phonics and Reading/Writing ReadinessPeople will always debate which phonics program is best, but the only question that matters is, “Which approach is best for young students?” Our research has shown that the answer is vertical phonics, in which all the sounds of a letter are taught at the same time, in order of frequency. To better understand this concept, suppose you wanted to memorize all the US presidents, in order. You would not first learn all their first names, then all their last names, and then try to remember the first and last names together in sequence. Rather, you would learn first and last names together. This is how vertical phonics works.

In this streamlined method of teaching reading, phonograms are flashed andpronounced, a few at a time, over and over, until students automatically hear the sound or sounds of that phonogram as soon as they see it. In each of GrapeSEED’s first 10 levels of instruction, students learn two or three single-letter phonograms. In Level 11, they begin a simple process called “assembly,” in which they learn how phonograms combine to form words. This process continues through Level 15, by which point students have learned almost all English phonograms. After that point, the program places more emphasis on reading.

In Levels 1 through 10, students learn to air-write the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. They are taught the stroke order for writing capital and lowercase letters and the numbers one through ten. Writing activities increase significantly at Level 11, where activity books take many of the important writing activities outside the classroom and into the Extended English Environment.

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Optimized for Reading and Writing Success

For both ESL students andat-risk native Englishspeakers, a tremendous amount of language learningmust take place before they can profitably begin to study language arts.

Extending the Learning Experience

Unique take-home materials effectively multiply the effects of classroom learning and guarantee sufficient exposure to the language.

5. Language Arts (Reading, Spelling, Literature, Composition)For both ESL students and at-risk native English speakers, a tremendous amount of language learning must take place before they can profitably begin to study language arts. In particular, it is vital for students to have well-developed verbal skills before jumping headlong into language arts.

Think of how a child naturally learns. Does she learn to speak or to read first? While the answer is obvious, sometimes teachers rush into teaching reading to the detriment of the child’s success. A premature focus on reading before the student has developed the necessary verbal skills consumes valuable class time without actually teaching reading. In contrast, once the student has developed sufficient verbal fluency, learning to read is effortless.

Early steps in the GrapeSEED curriculum include learning 88 phonetically decodable words and 12 “sight words”—that is, words that can’t be phoneti-cally decoded because they don’t sound the way they’re spelled. Such words—for example, “the,” “to,” and “he”—must be recognized on sight.

These 88 decodable words and 12 sight words constitute the GrapeSEED 100, a vocabulary set that includes the 50 most frequently used words in the English language. GrapeSEED gives priority to these high-frequency words in every area of learning—speaking, reading, and writing. Focusing initially on this limited set of key words enables students to learn to communicate much more quickly—and with greater confidence. Primers based on the GrapeSEED 100 give students ample opportunity to practice their reading skills.

Writing skills are progressively developed in Levels 11 through 40, with students learning to read and write the GrapeSEED 1500. They begin with simple reading and writing, advance to taking dictation and then to free writing, where they move from keeping a journal to composing letters and stories.

6. Extended English Environment GrapeSEED’s Extended English Environment (EEE) enhances classroom materials with home-based activities, ensuring sufficient language exposure. While children can learn a new language rather quickly, they can forget what they’ve learned equally quickly if they’re removed from that learning environment for an extended period of time. To progress from comprehension to proficiency, children must experience words and expressions 60 times or more in a relatively short period of time.

That’s why the GrapeSEED curriculum includes the EEE—CDs, DVDs, songbooks, storybooks, and activity books that students can use at home to reinforce the classroom work. Students who take advantage of the EEE gain English proficiency faster in a shorter period of time.

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References/Additional Information 1. Graddol, David, “English Next India”, British Council, 2010.2. Public Radio International, “English in Demand”, 2010.3. Howard, Daniel J. Ed.D, “The Pillars of GrapeSEED”, 2010.4. Council of Europe, “Waystage 1990”, 1990. 5. Council of Europe, “Threshold Level 1990”, 1990.6. Council of Europe, “Vantage Level 1990”, 1990.7. Nida, Eugene Albert, Ph.D., Linguistic Interludes, 1950.8. GrapeSEED Web Site: http://www.grapeseed.com9. MeySen Web Site: http://www.meysen.ac.jp/engli/eng.htm

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