Intermediate Phase
Grade 6
A Tiny Seed
This story is about a young girl from a small village in Africa, who becomes a woman with a great dream for Africa. The remarkable story of Wangari Maathai will resonate with learners because it touches on universal themes: hardship, discrimination, empathy, vision and environmental awareness. The story provides learners with the opportunity to reflect on their own dreams while being exposed to the genre of (child-friendly) biography.
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Ambassador for SASL
In this drama, a Deaf boy is asked by his hearing cousin to visit the cousin’s class to tell the hearing children about Sign Language and about being Deaf. The Deaf boy’s classmates provide him with information on what they think the salient points are that he should convey to the hearing children.
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The New Restaurant
This comedy is about what happens when a no-nonsense type of family visits a pretentious new restaurant in their small town. They quickly figure out that the owner regards the people of their town as simpletons, but they are not prepared to be accept this…
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An Educational Evening in Mitchell’s Plain
In the Deaf community, people often interact with Deaf people from other ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds than their own. At school level, learners don’t always grasp how much their cultural contexts at home may differ from one another. This story illustrates some of these differences by focussing on differing cultural practices relating to wedding ceremonies.
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Most Beautiful Country
The national animal of each country has been invited to give a presentation on why their country should win the award for ‘The Most Beautiful Country’. Learners should enjoy this story, filled with animals and fun facts, and will probably be able to identify with the main character being nervous about his presentation.
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Nobu goes on a soccer tour
Nobu goes on a soccer tour to Cape Town. We see the tour through her eyes: flying for the first time, sleeping away from home for the first time, making new friends and having new experiences, including a cable car ride up Table Mountain.
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Learning: It’s a Key
Simphiwe loves to learn. He asks many questions and he learns from his teacher, his friends and the environment. In this story he interacts with friends who are like-minded and realises that learning is a key to opening up new worlds.
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Tiny saves the Day
Tiny is smaller than his classmates, and the school bully, Len, makes sure that he knows this. But then an experiment goes wrong in the
science class, a fire breaks out and the children are trapped in the classroom. A suspenseful story in which the child that is being bullied, turns out to be the hero.
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Love-Struck
Akani has a girlfriend! His sister cannot believe it: Akani knows he is not allowed to have a girlfriend until he improves his marks. What Akanai’s sister doesn’t realise, is that this girlfriend is not an ordinary girl… A simple story with a delightful ending.
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Where do I feel at Home?
The poet considers creatures ranging from worms and bugs to camels and monkeys, and finds that each of them has its own special home. She keeps on wondering where she feels at home, until she realises that her home is not a place, but a person. This beautifully performed poem should capture learners’ attention and imagination.
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Struggles makes us Strong
This poem describes how a butterfly struggles to break free from its cocoon. It sketches two scenarios, one in which the butterfly’s struggles are cut short by a well-meaning person and one in which the butterfly is
left to endure the struggles. The poem shows the important purpose of struggles in our lives.
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I Can Teach You to Catch Butterflies
In ‘I can teach you to catch butterflies’, the poet describes language use in terms of catching and releasing butterflies. A Deaf girl teaches her hearing friend Sign Language. When the hearing and Deaf friends start communicating in Sign Language, everybody catches and releases butterflies together, and the effect is beautiful.
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How Bees Communicate + (Addendum of Facts) + Poem: Life of a Plant
Bees are exceptionally interesting insects that actually fulfil an essential role in humans’ survival. This informative text states the various and fascinating ways in which bees communicate with each other. Also included are a list of interesting facts, as well as a poem.
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Technology that assists Deaf people
The size of a Deaf person’s world is often determined by their access to technology. This text informs learners about some of the latest
technologies that can assist Deaf persons in living fully engaged and connected lives. It also discusses what Deaf persons used before the existence of these technologies.
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Food from Around the World
One of the differences between cultures involves their food practices.
This lesson explains why people eat different types of food in different parts of the world, and introduces learners to the specific food practices of some countries.
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The Big Five
This text introduces learners to the Kruger National Park and the ‘Big Five’ animals - the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo - by integrating maps and graphs with interesting facts.
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The Rainbow World of Cultures
Learners are introduced to the concept of ‘culture’ and to the languages, religions, food and customs that form part of some cultures
around the world. They are also reminded of the wealth of cultures in South Africa. This text aims to enhance consciousness and
appreciation of diversity.
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SASL Competition
This text advertises a competition for the best poem, story or drama presented in SASL, and then sets out the rules and other details of the
competition.
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Deaf Dancers
Learners learn how three Deaf individuals from three different continents overcame challenges to become world-class dancers: CiCi Gregory (USA), Chris Fonseca (UK) and Darren Rajbal (SA).
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How to Play UNO
UNO is one of the best-loved card games of all time. This text provides instructions on how to play the game. In addition to illustrating the
content and structure of an instructional text, the text also equips learners to be able to join in the fun if they come across the game.
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How to make a Kite + (Addendum: Facts about Kites)
This text provides simple instructions for making a kite from twigs or sticks, paper and string. In addition to offering learners the opportunity to be creative, the text reminds learners of the requirements for an
instructional text, and contains some fun facts about kites.
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How to Create a Birthday Invitation
This text provides instructions for creating a birthday invitation in three ways: in written form, online and in the form of a social media message. The three texts illustrate the structure of an instruction text, while also
teaching learners useful skills.
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How to Make a Pizza
Most teenagers love pizza. In this text, the presenter teaches learners how to make a pizza from scratch. The text reminds learners of the structure of instructions and how detailed and clear they should be. With pizza as the topic, learners are sure to retain more information.
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World Hearing Day
This text is a news item about World Hearing Day 2021 and how the Ndlovu Youth Choir celebrated it by performing the song ‘What a
wonderful world’ in English and SASL. Learners are introduced to the inspiring story of a choir that consists of orphans and other vulnerable children, who ended up winning the world’s hearts.
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Interview with Jabaar Mohammed
Jabaar Mohamed is the Provincial Director of DeafSA in the Western Cape. He is passionate about advocating Deaf people’s rights and was a strong campaigner for SASL becoming South Africa’s 12 the official language. In this interview, Jabaar talks about his childhood and challenges, as well as his successful career as a television presenter
and talk show host.
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Interview with Braam Jordaan
Braam Jordaan is an internationally renowned South African filmmaker and animator. In this interview, Braam shares his journey from being a learner at De la Bat School to becoming an international celebrity. The text exposes learners to a virtual interview and introduces them to a wonderful Deaf role model.
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Children with Disabilities Not in School
Due to a limited number of schools for children with special needs, and the cost of some of these schools, many such children are not in school at all. This lesson sharpens learners’ awareness of the challenges
faced by children with disabilities other than deafness, and introduces them to the structure of a magazine item.
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Should Children Use Cell phones? + (Addendum: Symptoms of Screen Addiction)
The purpose of this text is to show learners how to create a persuasive text when one is for a certain issue and when one is against it. Given how topical cell phone addiction is amongst teenagers, the topic ought to be of interest to the target learners.
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I am Staying
Between 2015 and 2020, almost one million South Africans emigrated to other countries. This text discusses the reasons why some people choose to emigrate but also the reasons why many South Africans are adamant that they want to stay right where they are.
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