English classes

[Paulys]

Hello, I want to find out something about English speaking countries. Do native English speakers (students) have an English classes? If they do please tell me what they do during English classes.

 

[probus]

Children in English speaking countries definitely have English classes at school. In their early years they are taught grammar, parts of speech, proper sentence construction, how to analyze sentences and so on. In later years they study composition (how to write effectively) and literature. A typical year's work in English at my high school included a novel, one play by Shakespeare, one other play, and a few short stories and poems.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, when I was at school, we were taught reading, writing, handwriting, basic grammar, spelling and punctuation at primary/junior school. In secondary school, English Language (essays, précis, comprehension) and Maths were the only two obligatory exam courses. Only about a third of students chose to add English Literature to their exam courses.

Even the basics depended on what region you were in. One of my friends went to school in the Midlands (Birmingham area) and, until she started to study French at the age of 40, had never been taught the meaning of "verbs", "adjectives", "nouns" etc. It made learning French very difficult for her because the teacher assumed that everyone in the class knew the basics of grammar. They didn't.

However, I don't think schools these days teach "grammar" as a specific course at any age.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

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Thank you, probus and ems, so very much for your intelligent responses. I have a question to you, ems. When you say "writing" and "handwriting", do you mean the following interpretation?

Writing: Rules of written English.

Handwriting: How to put pen/pencil to paper.

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[5jj]

'Writing' is putting words together coherently and acceptably, on paper.

'Handwriting' is moving the pen/pencil around on the paper to produce letters, and to combine them into words.