English 英語 5, First Semester 上, "Syllabus" 課程計畫

The syllabus/outline below was taken from the Dino On the Go! textbook published by Han Lin 翰林出版.  Other textbook series will vary, but given the government-mandated curriculum they won't vary much.

Kids in Taiwanese elementary schools have English class at least twice a week.  Each unit would be completed in about a month's time, adding up to the four months that comprise a semester.

The English textbooks start at #1 in grade three, and the numbers advance each semester.  This means that book #2 is for the second semester of grade three, book #3 is for the first semester of grade four, etc.  The numbers for other subject textbooks (i.e. "Social Studies 社會 3上") reflect the actual grade level, and use a 上 or 下 to indicate the semester.

Unit	Title		Sentence Patterns		Key Words		Daily Talk		Phonics
Starter Unit			l   Where’s Dino? l   He’s reading under the table.		ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred				l: lamp, pool, seal r: rope, deer, flour
Unit 1	How’s the Weather?		l   How’s the weather? l   It’s sunny. l   We can / can’t go fishing.		cloudy, rainy, snowy, sunny, windy, go camping, go fishing, go shopping, go swimming		Good idea! Have a good time.		th: bath, teeth, three th: that, this, those
Unit 2	Where Are You Going?		l   Where are you going? l   I’m going to the park. l   Where’s the supermarket? l   It’s on Blue Street.		bank, bookstore, hospital, library, park, post office, supermarket, zoo		Sorry, I’m late. Follow me.		wh: whale, when, white ph: dolphin, Phil, phone
Review 1
Unit 3	How Many Lions Are There?		l   What do you see? l   I see a monkey / some turtles. l   How many horses are there? l   There is one horse. l   There are two horses.	bears, elephants, horses, lions, monkeys, tigers, turtles, zebras		Be careful. Can you give me a hand?		ch: chair, church, lunch sh: fish, shop, short
Unit 4	What’s Wrong?		l   What’s wrong? l   My / His / Her leg hurts. l   I have a headache. l   He / She has a toothache.	arms, ears, eyes, foot, hands, legs, headache, runny nose, toothache		Calm down. Take care!		ng: king, ring, sing nk: bank, Hank, pink
Review 2
Festivals		Christmas		a bell, a candy cane, a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, a star, a stocking		Merry Christmas! Let’s open the gifts.
Culture		Wonders of the World

*...and a couple notes here.  I really don't understand why the Taiwanese educational authorities mandate this "What's Wrong?" unit in every textbook series.  It's SO HARD to have any meaningful/interesting conversation regarding this topic, and a unit on body parts would make so much more sense.

Also, differentiating between the "th" sound in "bath" and the "th" sound in "that" just confuses people.  It's similar to the distinction made between "this/that" and "these/those" in the same textbooks.  Yes, a distinction could be made, but if you say it wrong who's going to know?