Functional literacy in native language – Bulgarian Language with high language culture for students from 5^th and 6^th grade

The teaching of Bulgarian language in 5^th and 6^th grade is an upgrade of knowledge and skills for communication in the native language, acquired in the primary school level.

In accordance with the State Educational Requirements and the forthcoming National External Assessment /NEA/ of the students in 7^th grade, the curriculum is presented as language norms, rules and practice tests, which cover the form of this exam. The voluminous learning content and the time for studying at school do not allow the students to work on the development of practical, functional skills for communication in the native language.

Communication in the mother tongue is the first key competence of the 8 key competences of the European Framework for Lifelong Learning.

The content of the key competence “Communication in the mother tongue” includes:

1. Understanding the content of communication – Communication is the ability to express and analyze thoughts, feelings and facts orally and in writing (ability to read, listen, write and speak in an appropriate language form).

2. Knowledge – Knowledge of basic vocabulary, grammar and different styles (conversational, scientific, journalistic, business, artistic) and functions of the language.

3. Skills – Ability to communicate with a high language culture in oral and written form, ability to express correctly, to express arguments, to present ideas, ability to understand what is written and to analyze information.

4. Relationship – Forming a positive attitude towards the native language by recognizing is as a potential source of personal and cultural enrichment.

The age of the children in 5^th and 6^th grade is the most favourable for the formation of a positive attitude towards the native language. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to go beyond the academic norms for learning the native language and present it in an interesting and easy for students to learn way through which they will feel confident in the process of communication – spoken and written.

The new product for functional literacy in Bulgarian Language of Educational Technologies™ fully covers this norm – knowledge, skills and confidence to communicate in the native language.

This provides a very good basis for upgrading academic knowledge in the form of the National External Assessment Exam in the 7^th grade.

The product on functional literacy in Bulgarian language fully covers the curriculum in 5^th and 6^th grade in Bulgarian language and upgrades it.

The product includes teaching materials and an author’s training system of Educational Technologies™.

1. Textbook in two parts

The textbook is suggestopedically designed. It uses stories in details by the means of which language norms are presented and it applies the system “open book” through which students use specific models in the textbook when performing written or test tasks. This forms an intuitive habit of correct language expression and style.

2. Workbooks

Workbooks are tailored to the age of the students, respectively: workbook for 5^th grade if the student is in the 5^th grade, and workbook for 6th grade if the student is in the 6^th grade.

3. Package with tests in the 7^th grade exam format – this package is only for students in 6^th grade.

In the learning process students acquire the following skills:

• correct language expression in oral and written speech
• high language culture in spelling and punctuation
• ability to create texts with different purposes – description, reasoning, essay and composition
• ability to work with test questions – recognition of key words in the task of finding correct answers

The main benefit for all students is gaining confidence in communicating in their native language, motivation for learning language norms and interest in reading and searching for information.

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