ABSTRACT
This chapter contains a complete alternative curriculum for English, addressing the shortcomings of the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework and the new English orders, while incorporating material from those documents which can be welcomed. Learning English and learning through English are essentially recursive processes in which common fundamental abilities and experiences are repeated in ever more demanding contexts as children move through the school system. Teachers are always dealing with learners at varying stages of development, even when they are in the same year group, and it is teachers who are in a position to judge when best to introduce new knowledge, understanding and skill to individuals or to the class as a whole. This alternative curriculum is offered as malleable material rather than as a set of tablets of stone. In the chapter, the author acknowledges the following sources for wording in some of the sections of the alternative curriculum: Talk, writing, drama, age spreads, and overlaps.
