This is the Grade 1 English First Additional Language (FAL) Annual Teaching Plan, with one file per term. It helps learners build a spoken English vocabulary through weekly themes, with a daily routine of greetings, songs and rhymes, a question of the day, theme vocabulary and sight words.
Each term runs for 10 weeks (45 days in Term 1, 51 in Term 2, 52 in Term 3 and 47 in Term 4) with a suggested theme every two weeks and about four new words taught a day. Themes and vocabulary are suggestions, and Foundation Phase assessment is continuous.
Download the ATP
- Download Term 1 (PDF, 810 KB)
- Download Term 2 (PDF, 616 KB)
- Download Term 3 (PDF, 610 KB)
- Download Term 4 (PDF, 709 KB)
What the English FAL Grade 1 ATP covers
Term 1
- Orientation and classroom routines
- Themes: This is me, My birthday
- Themes: We go to school, My family
- Themes: We play outside, We have feelings
- Greeting a friend and the class
- Songs and action rhymes
- Open-ended question of the day
- Vocabulary of the day and sight words
Formal assessment: Informal baseline assessment in the first 10 days, mainly through observation.
Term 2
- Themes: Friends, Growing things
- Themes: Animals, Sports and games
- Story theme: The three little pigs
- Action songs about seeds, animals and sport
- Question of the day linked to the theme
- Theme vocabulary and sight words
Term 3
- Themes: All around town, Working together
- Themes: Clothes, Reading is fun
- Theme: Keeping our bodies healthy and safe
- Action songs and rhymes
- Responding to simple instructions and questions
- Naming objects and using simple adjectives
- Language games, vocabulary and sight words
Term 4
- Themes: Solving problems, We grow and change
- Themes: Our living history, Science is fun
- Questions from the Shared Reading story
- Action songs and rhymes
- Oral description and riddle games
- Consolidation and revision (weeks 9 and 10)
Formal assessment: Formal assessment in weeks 8 to 10, including oral description and a language game (riddles).
Source: Department of Basic Education, 2023/24 Annual Teaching Plans. DBE Circular S19 of 2025 keeps the 2023/24 ATPs in use, with some exclusions, so check with your school or district for any changes.