Introduction

The introduction of English as a second foreign language at the level of the first year
middle school stems from the official instructions, issued by the authorities. It implies
a whole process going through an exhaustive work plan of designing syllabuses.
The newly built syllabus contains a short introduction making explicit the finalities of
the English language teaching, as set by the educational authorities of our country
The accompanying document provides the teaching personnel with a great deal of
useful recommendations on how to implement the contents of the syllabus.

Spotlight on English is a textbook intended for young learners who have never
studied English before. It is based on the 2002 official syllabus for the first year of
middle school. This syllabus requires the implementation of a competency based
approach through the development of three main competencies (Interact orally in
English) (Interpret visual verbal and non verbal texts), (produce visual verbal and non
verbal texts)
The textbook of English for first year pupils reflects the finalities and aims of the
national syllabus. It follows a framework which aims to improve the teaching of
English and to respond to the needs of beginners. It takes into account the pupils'
interests through a choice of topics that appeal to their age.
It develops the main features of the syllabus .The competencies that have been
assigned are integrated, though priority is given to oral interaction. It helps the
learners develop strategies in foreign language acquisition. It initiates self evaluation
and focuses on a project based pedagogy', which provides the learners with useful
methodological tools.

File content :
All the files have a linguistic, methodological and cultural content .The book contains
a preliminary file which raises the learners' awareness to the fact that they already
know English, present in their environment. Then follow seven files; each of which
are grouped into learning sections which are topical notional and functional.
The content of these seven files each of them centered around a general theme are
organized under four major headings.
The headings are:
1

1-learn the language

2-learn about culture
3-Reminder
4-Check
5-Project
1-LEARN THE LANGUAGE
Learn the language has a linguistic aim. It focuses on grammar-pronunciation and
lexis through the four integrated, interwoven skills, listen, speak read and write in
a communicative context it is made up of three learning sequences sub-divided
into:
a- Listen and speak, b-Practice,
c-Produce
a- Listen and speak.
In this step pupils are encouraged to interact. It is an illustrated conversation;
sometimes an 'advert' introduces the topic, the grammar of each sequence
communicatively, to prepare the learners to perform various tasks.
Listen and speak includes a pronunciation phase that familiarizes the learner with
some of the important feature of the English language. The learner is taught the
most frequent consonants, stress and intonation.
This phase is structured into:
1- Listen and repeat which introduces and familiarizes the learner with isolated
consonants sounds in pairs and some vowel sounds, and stressed/ unstressed
syllables.
2- Identify and compare is step forward to practise the sounds that have been
presented.
3- Practise stress and intonation aims at preparing the learners to accurate
pronunciation of English sentences, messages, in an enjoyable, way as much as
possible.
(In the book Stress is indicated in red and bigger fonts. Intonation is in arrows and
curves for rising/falling intonation)
-Practise stress and intonation.
Jim likes football , Arsenal 3 Newcastle 1 , Egypt , Poland
B-Practice
This part provides the learner with more practice of the new teaching points, through
role play, information gap activities and a reading passage. Grammar is taught at this
stage to fit a communicative function .At this stage the pupils also learn vocabulary in
context and how to use it.

C-produce: The activities suggested in this section are designed to assess

gradually the learner mastery of the newly taught notions. From easy Controlled
to less or more difficult.
2- Learn about culture
It is a bridge between the learner's culture and the culture of the language or of other
languages .Each file introduces a cultural aspect related to the topics dealt with in the
sequences of learn the language.
3- Reminder
2
In this section learners are given the opportunity to evaluate their own progress. It is
also an opportunity for them to be aware to be of their weaknesses and consequently
ask teachers for help or use any other means.
4- Check
Check
The aims
of
is to make sure that the items introduced in the file have been
properly acquired." Check" could be exploited as follows:
-At the end of a period; teachers could select an activity from "check" making
sure it is appropriate to any language pattern studied for confirmation.
At the beginning of the following period, to check whether learners have
assimilated previous acquisitions for recycling and paving the new
language.
Learners could use them for self evaluation at any point of time in their
learning process.
5- The Project
This part constitutes the final output of the file. With the production of a project all
the efforts developed along the file will be made apparent. From the very beginning
of the exploitation of the file, the learners should be encouraged to start and organize
their portfolios (collecting data for the project).

Prefile (learner's background knowledge)

Habilets
nombre x

Connaissances
Capacit
nombrenombre
x
x

I.I.P

File 1

Connaissances
nombre x

Habilets
nombre x

Capacit
nombre x

I.I.P

File 2

Connaissances
nombre x

Habilets
nombre x

Capacit
nombre x

I.I.P

File 3

Connaissances
nombre x

Habilets
nombre x

Capacit
nombre x

I.I.P

File 4
+

Connaissances
nombre x

Habilets
nombre x

Capacit
nombre x

I.I.P

File 5
+

Connaissances
nombre x

Habilets
nombre x

Capacit
nombre x

I.I.P

File 6

Connaissances Habilets nombre

nombre x
x

Capacit nombre
x

I.I.P

COMPETENCES 1 2 3 INTERAGIR
INTERPRETER
PRODUIRE

File 7