English Standard Four – Annual Teaching Periods Allocation for All 11 Units (TIE 2023)

This annual teaching plan presents a suggested distribution of the 234 English periods for Standard Four across the 11 Units. It is prepared with reference to the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) English Language Syllabus for Primary Education, Standards III–VI (2023), and the Standard IV English pupil’s book (2024).

1. Important note about the allocation

The TIE syllabus allocates periods to Specific Competences. It does not provide the exact period totals in the table below as an official allocation for each Unit. The Unit-by-Unit distribution is therefore a suggested teaching plan derived from the official Standard IV total of 234 periods. Teachers should adjust the sequence and pacing to the school calendar, learners’ progress and the prescribed syllabus and pupil’s book.

2. Summary of periods by Unit

Unit	Unit title	Periods
1	Unit 1: Developing Vocabulary about Everyday Environment (22 Periods)	22
2	Unit 2: Expressing Quantity (8 Periods)	8
3	Unit 3: Expressing Location (12 Periods)	12
4	Unit 4: Expressing Past Events (12 Periods)	12
5	Unit 5: Using Conjunctions – So and Because (8 Periods)	8
6	Unit 6: Taking Part in Conversations (42 Periods)	42
7	Unit 7: Reading for Comprehension (30 Periods)	30
8	Unit 8: The Basic Features of Spoken English (35 Periods)	35
9	Unit 9: Writing Wishes and Short Messages (15 Periods)	15
10	Unit 10: My Daily Routines (15 Periods)	15
11	Unit 11: Creative Writing (35 Periods)	35
Total		234

Standard Four has 7 periods per week, with each period lasting 40 minutes. The 234 periods are approximately 33.4 teaching weeks.

3. Suggested period-by-period teaching sequence

Unit 1: Developing Vocabulary about Everyday Environment (22 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to vocabulary about everyday environment
• 2–4. Vocabulary about the home environment
• 5–7. Vocabulary about the hospital environment
• 8–10. Vocabulary about the market environment
• 11–13. Vocabulary about the bus station environment
• 14–16. Matching objects with their names, characteristics and uses
• 17–19. Describing objects and constructing sentences
• 20–21. Oral and written vocabulary practice
• 22. Revision and assessment

Unit 2: Expressing Quantity (8 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to expressing quantity
• 2. Using some
• 3. Using many
• 4. Using much
• 5. Using any
• 6. Distinguishing between some, many, any and much
• 7. Oral and written practice
• 8. Revision and assessment

Unit 3: Expressing Location (12 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to expressing location
• 2. Using in and on
• 3. Using at
• 4. Using under and over
• 5. Using inside and outside
• 6. Using near
• 7. Using prepositions of place in sentences
• 8–10. Guided oral and written practice using location expressions from the syllabus and pupil’s book
• 11. Application in familiar contexts
• 12. Revision and assessment

Unit 4: Expressing Past Events (12 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to expressing past events
• 2. Introduction to Simple Past Tense
• 3. Regular verbs in the Simple Past
• 4. Irregular verbs in the Simple Past
• 5. Constructing affirmative sentences
• 6. Constructing negative sentences and questions
• 7. Introduction to Past Continuous Tense
• 8. Constructing affirmative sentences in Past Continuous
• 9. Constructing negative sentences and questions
• 10. Distinguishing Simple Past and Past Continuous
• 11. Oral and written practice
• 12. Revision and assessment

Unit 5: Using Conjunctions – So and Because (8 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to conjunctions
• 2. Understanding and using so
• 3. Constructing sentences using so
• 4. Understanding and using because
• 5. Constructing sentences using because
• 6. Distinguishing between so and because
• 7. Oral and written practice
• 8. Revision and assessment

Unit 6: Taking Part in Conversations (42 Periods)

• 1–2. Introduction to conversations and dialogues
• 3–8. Dialogue at home
• 9–14. Dialogue at school
• 15–20. Dialogue at the hospital
• 21–26. Dialogue at the market
• 27–32. Dialogue at the railway station
• 33–35. Asking and answering questions
• 36–38. Responding appropriately in familiar situations
• 39–40. Role-play and conversation practice
• 41–42. Revision and assessment

Unit 7: Reading for Comprehension (30 Periods)

• 1–3. Introduction to reading simple texts
• 4–7. Reading words and simple sentences
• 8–12. Reading short passages
• 13–16. Reading for general information
• 17–20. Reading for specific information
• 21–24. Answering comprehension questions
• 25–27. Reading fluently with appropriate pronunciation and intonation
• 28–29. Reading practice and comprehension exercises
• 30. Revision and assessment

Unit 8: The Basic Features of Spoken English (35 Periods)

• 1–2. Introduction to spoken English
• 3–8. Pronouncing words with similar sounds
• 9–14. Distinguishing and practising similar-sounding words
• 15–19. Using similar-sounding words to convey simple ideas
• 20–25. Identifying and using words with opposite meanings
• 26–29. Homophones and their use in spoken contexts
• 30–32. Stress and intonation practice
• 33–34. Oral communication practice
• 35. Revision and assessment

Unit 9: Writing Wishes and Short Messages (15 Periods)

• 1. Introduction to wishes and short messages
• 2–3. Identifying the form and content of wishes
• 4–5. Writing birthday wishes
• 6–7. Writing congratulatory messages
• 8–9. Writing appreciation messages
• 10–11. Writing anniversary wishes and messages
• 12–13. Writing messages to parents, teachers and friends
• 14. Practical writing exercises
• 15. Revision and assessment

Unit 10: My Daily Routines (15 Periods)

• 1–2. Introduction to daily routines
• 3–5. Identifying and describing daily activities
• 6–8. Talking about personal daily routines
• 9–11. Arranging daily activities in a sequence
• 12–13. Preparing a schedule of daily routines
• 14. Oral and written practice
• 15. Revision and assessment

Unit 11: Creative Writing (35 Periods)

• 1–2. Introduction to creative writing
• 3–8. Observing pictures and identifying activities
• 9–14. Writing simple sentences from pictures
• 15–19. Arranging words to form meaningful sentences
• 20–25. Writing guided paragraphs
• 26–29. Using conjunctions in creative writing
• 30–32. Using punctuation marks: full stops, commas and question marks
• 33–34. Writing and improving short paragraphs
• 35. Revision and assessment

4. Reference

Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE). (2023). English Language Syllabus for Primary Education: Standards III–VI. TIE. Read the official syllabus.

Teacher’s reminder: Use this allocation as a planning guide. Check each lesson’s specific competence, learning activities and assessment against the official syllabus and the prescribed pupil’s book before teaching.