Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of research, criticism or review as permitted in terms of the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the publisher.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
There are instances where we have been unable to trace or contact the copyright holder. If notified, the publisher will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity.
Reg. No.: 2011/011959/07
English Home Language
Study Guide 2/2
Grade 5
CAPS aligned A Mills
2505-E-EHL-SG02
RECOMMENDED READING
All the texts for this year are either in the facilitator’s guide or this study guide – but don’t stop there! Read as much as you can. Reading helps you relax and improves your concentration, memory, creativity, and imagination. The more you read, the better you will write. There’s a whole world of books out there – so get going!
SAMPLE
INTRODUCTION
This study guide is organised into 4 units and 18 lessons. Each lesson is taught over 2 weeks.
• Unit 1 has five themed lessons.
• Unit 2 has four themed lessons and a mid-year examination.
• Unit 3 has five themed lessons.
• Unit 4 has four themed lessons and a year-end examination.
At the end of units 2 and 4, you write exams.
Each lesson has 4 sections:
1. Listening and speaking
2. Reading and viewing
3. Writing and presenting
4. Language structures and conventions
Each section contains activities. At the beginning of each lesson is a list of the topics covered.
SAMPLE
If you feel you need more practise or want to do a few additional exercises, visit the Optimi Online Learning Portal. There you will find remedial and extension activities to stretch your creativity and give you some added practise in different aspects of the language. Examples of the activities can be found at the end of Lesson 1
YEAR PLAN
Unit 3 (term 3) and unit 4 (term 4) are in this study guide, unit 1 (term 1) and unit 2 (term 2) are in study guide 1/2.
LESSONS:
Fantastic flyers
Treasures: Lost and found
River t ails
Dogs with jobs
Language structures and conventions
Writing and presenting
• Relative and reflexive pronouns
• Conjunctions
• Antonyms and synon yms
• Degrees of comparison
• Subject-verb agr eement
• Homophones
• Homonyms
• Colons and semicolons
• Oxymoron
• Sight words and spelling test
SAMPLE
Delightful donke ys Reading and viewing
• Write a book review
• Write an ad vertisement
• Write a story (folk tale/myth)
• Write a description of characters
• Write a w eather report
• Write a script for a play
• Read a biography
• Read an adv ertisement
• Read a st ory (folk tale/myth)
• Read a weather report
• Read a play
Listening and speaking
• Listen to a novel
• Describe events
• Listen to an ad vertisement
• Listen to a story (folk tale/ myth)
• Listen to a w eather report
• Listen and respond t o a play
UNIT 3: Weeks 1 – 2
In this lesson you will:
• predict a novel
• listen to a novel
• discuss the novel
• describe events
• read a biography
• answer questions
• do dictionary work
• plan a book review
• write the first draft of a book review
• revise, edit, and proofread a book review
• write the final version of your book review
• practise relative and reflexive pronouns
• practise conjunctions
LESSON 10:
Fantastic flyers
SECTION 1
Listening and speaking
‘When pigs fly …’
ODo you know what this expression means? Share your answers with your facilitator or the class.
ur lesson is about fantastic flyers – animals that can fly but aren’t birds (not including pigs!) Can you think of any animals like this? We look at five of these winged creatures below, but there are others you can find by yourself.
Flying fox
SAMPLE
Have you ever heard of flying foxes? Did you know that they aren’t foxes at all but bats?
Flying foxes are bats that live in trees and eat fruit and nectar They live in camps of as many as 1 million at a time! They are not ‘blind as a bat’ and can see and smell very well. Flying foxes are pollinators like bees and are very important in nature. The main threat to these bats is the loss of trees and the flowers and fruits they depend on.
Pollinators are insects or animals that carry pollen from one plant or part of a plant to another.
Mobula ray
A Mobula ray can launch itself 1,8 metres above the ocean. It glides for many seconds before splashing back down into the waves. Mobula rays live in warm oceans all over the world. These fish have a pair of winglike fins that can be up to 5 metres wide. The fins help the rays rocket from the sea when they leap. Scientists don’t know why Mobula rays do these jumps, but they think it may be to show off to other rays, get rid of parasites, or communicate.
Flying squirrel
Flying squirrels are nocturnal. They ‘fly’ through the air on a furry blanket of skin stretched between their limbs. They can glide up to 150 metres, going from tree to tree. They do this to avoid predators on the ground. They use their tails to steer in the air and brake when they reach a tree. Flying squirrels eat seeds, nuts, insects, fruit, or funguses like mushrooms or toadstools.
Nocturnal animals come out at night.
Flying
fish
Flying fish love warm oceans. They are shaped like torpedoes, which helps them gather enough underwater speed to break the surface, and their large, winglike pectoral (chest) fins get them into the air. They use this ability to escape predators, such as mackerel, tuna, swordfish, marlin, and other large fish.
Flying fish swim up to 60 km/h underwater. They flap their tails fast when they break through the waves while still beneath the surface. They then ‘fly’, sometimes as high as 1,2 metres and as far as 200 metres at a time. They can keep gliding like this for a long time, and some flying fish have been recorded stretching out their flights up to 400 metres!
A torpedo is a long, thin bomb that travels underwater to destroy the ship at which it is aimed.
Wallace’s
Flying Frog
Why hop when you can fly? Also known as parachute frogs, Wallace’s flying frogs live in the thick tropical jungles of Malaysia and Borneo. They live mostly in the trees, only coming down to mate and lay eggs.
When threatened or looking for prey, they leap from a branch and spread their four webbed feet. The membranes (thin skin) between their toes and loose skin flaps on their sides catch the air as they fall, helping them glide, sometimes 15 metres or more, to a nearby tree branch or the ground. They also have oversized toe pads to help them land softly and stick to tree trunks.
‘Tropical’ refers to the areas of our planet that lie in the middle of the globe, between the latitude lines of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The tropics include the equator and parts of North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Flying creatures in stories
Not only are there fantastic flying animals in nature, but also in our books and stories.
Do you recognise these mythical winged creatures? Have you read any books about them?
Share what you know with the class or your facilitator.
SAMPLE
Gargoyles often guard cathedrals and castles. In Terry Pratchett’s book, Feet of Clay, Constable Downspout is a police officer. As a gargoyle, he can remain still in one spot and watch for days at a time. He is a “world champion at not moving”. He doesn’t need money and receives his salary in pigeons, which he eats.
The griffin is a lion with an eagle’s wings, beak, and claws. Griffins guarded treasure. Ancient peoples believed that griffins built nests out of gold. Thieves would try to steal the gold, causing the griffins to guard it fiercely. Griffins appear in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia where they fight in Aslan’s army.
Dragons love shiny things. The most famous of all book dragons is Smaug from J. R. R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit. Smaug lives alone in the Lonely Mountain, his only purpose is to guard the treasure he stole from the dwarves.
Activity 152: Predict a novel
Look at the front cover of the novel below.
1. Look at the picture, the title, and the fonts.
2. What do you think the novel will be about?
3. Why do you say this?
SAMPLE
Now, look at the back cover of the novel.
1. Read the blurb. What further details do you know about the novel now?
2. What finer details can you now predict?
What is a blurb?
The blurb is a small ‘advertisement’ on the back cover of the book. Authors usually only have 100–200 words to impress and attract readers. A blurb should introduce the book’s main idea, give some insight into the content, show the genre, and get readers interested
SAMPLE
Blurbs sell books. It is a creative and short selling tool to convince readers to buy a book. Many publishers believe that it must sound like a movie teaser (without too much drama!). The blurb should include information that best represents the book and interests readers. This can even mean quotes, support, or praise from others.
SAMPLE
Reviews
Author and book information
Tagline Blurb
1. Look at the cover of a novel that your facilitator will show you and answer the questions.
a) What themes can you infer from the title and picture?
b) What do you think the book will be about?
c) Ask your facilitator when the book was written or published. What does this tell you about the book?
d) Ask your facilitator how many chapters the novel has.
e) Ask your facilitator whether there are any illustrations in the novel. Does this change your perception of the book?
2. Listen to the blurb your facilitator will read to you and answer the questions above again.
Activity 153: Listen to a novel
Listen to the novel that your facilitator will read to you. Remember to practise your active listening skills
Activity 154: Discuss a novel
Your facilitator will read more of the novel to you.
Discuss:
Your facilitator will ask you to listen for specific details as they read. Listen carefully and write down the answers as you hear them
SAMPLE
1. The social values in the novel. Social values refer to the way people relate to each other
2. The moral values in the novel. Moral values refer to right and wrong behaviour.
3. The cultural values in the novel. Cultural values refer to the customs and ideas of a particular group of people
4. Can you relate to any of these values? Do the characters share any of your values? Or do they act in a way that contradicts your values?
Activity 155: Describe events
Have you ever met a strange animal or been outside in the bush or a forest?
Perhaps you have seen a bat? Bats also fly, but they are not birds! If you haven’t experienced any of these things, you can try to imagine what it would be like and describe the events.
1. Think about the event in detail.
2. Explain the event clearly.
3. Explain the event in the correct sequence.
4. Describe your feelings about the animal or adventure in the bush or forest.
SECTION 2 Reading and viewing
Activity 156: Read a biography
Do you know what a biography is? A biography is a non-fiction description of someone’s life, usually in the form of a book. A biography is not written by the person who the book is about. We call that an autobiography.
SAMPLE
Biographies are true pieces of text based on fact, so biographers (the people who write biographies) do a lot of research. They use websites, letters, photos, diaries, and newspapers to help them
Because biographies are written by someone else, they are written in the third person (he/she/they). They are usually written in chronological order (the order in which events happened – the timeline).
If the person a biographer wants to write about, or anyone who knew them, is still alive, they sometimes do an interview to ask many questions about the person’s life.
Biographies are often about famous people or ones who have outstanding achievements. Scientists, artists, sports stars, and world leaders have biographies written about them. For example, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and so on.
But biographies are not always just written about famous people – some ordinary people have interesting life stories that others want to read about. Your biography could one day be on bookshelves everywhere!
Read the vocabulary box before reading the text.
naturalist: Someone who studies and knows a lot about plants and animals.
theory of evolution: This is the theory that every group of organisms have a common ancestor (parent) and that all groups of organisms, including animals, plants, and microorganisms, go back to a ‘single origin of life on earth’.
surveyor: Someone who measures and describes the details of an area of land.
botany: The scientific study of plants.
fieldwork: When you do practical activities away from school, college, or a place of work.
specimens: Something shown or examined as an example.
cargo: Goods carried by ship, aeroplane, or another large vehicle.
calico: A heavy plain cloth made from cotton.
SAMPLE
adrift: Floating in the sea.
natural history: The study of plants, animals, rocks, etc.
British Museum: Opened in 1753, it is a national museum of rare and valuable objects in London.
observations: The recorded information from studying a scientific object.
evolve: Change or develop naturally.
hallucinations: Something that you see, hear, feel, or smell that does not exist.
Do you remember Wallace’s flying frog you read about earlier? This is a biography of the man who discovered the frog.
Alfred Russel Wallace: One of the 19th century’s greatest explorers
Alfred Russel Wallace was born in Wales on 8 January 1823 near Usk. He was an explorer, naturalist, and scientist who developed his own theory of evolution.
When Wallace was five, he moved to Hertford with his family. Between 1828 and 1836, he attended the local school, where he learnt maths, algebra, English grammar, geography, and French – but not science. Science was not a subject taught in schools in those days.
He left school at 13 and worked with his brother William, a surveyor. When there was no work for them, Wallace would wander the countryside, and using a botany textbook, he learnt to identify many of the common plants he found. This formed the basis for his later exploration and fieldwork.
At the age of 25, Wallace, with his friend Walter Bates, went on an expedition to the Amazon Rainforest. Wallace and Bates studied the plants and animals of the rainforest, collecting specimens of many new species. He also produced the first detailed map of the Rio Negro [a very large river in South America]. Wallace spent four years in the Amazon before sailing back to London aboard the Helen.
After only 26 days at sea, part of the ship’s cargo caught fire, and the Helen sank. All Wallace’s specimens from the final year of his trip were lost. He managed to save a few drawings of fish and palm trees and the thin calico suit he was wearing. After ten days adrift, the survivors were rescued.
SAMPLE
On his return from the Amazon, Wallace spent 18 months in London, writing books and scientific papers. He also spent time visiting the natural history collections at the British Museum.
In 1854, Wallace set off on an expedition to Southeast Asia to collect more samples. By 1855, his observations led him to conclude that living things change over long periods – they evolve. However, he could not explain how or why they evolved. Then, in 1858, while still in Southeast Asia, he became ill with a fever. He suffered hallucinations, but when the fever broke, the answer came to him – species evolve by adapting to their environment!
Wallace spent eight years studying and collecting biological specimens in Southeast Asia. During that time, he gathered more than 125,000 specimens.
• A complete guide with all the texts and explanations included.
• Comprehensive explanations of language aspects.
• Step-by-step guidelines in plain language.
• Fun, engaging, and practical activities.
• Interesting themes for Grade 5s to expand general knowledge and inspire curiosity.
• Encourages independent thinking and develops reasoning skills.
