WAEC English Language Curriculum
Your course of study, class by class and term by term. Work through the units in order and tick each one off.
- 91 study units
- 9 terms
- SS1 to SS3
The curriculum comes with the Complete plan
Complete gives you revision notes, the curriculum checklist, practice papers and problem-solving quizzes, as well as every exam question with its worked answer. ₦15,000 a month, or ₦162,000 a year.
SS1 Foundation
Reading skills, parts of speech, phrases, clauses and sentences, tenses, spelling and punctuation, the sounds of English, summary, letters and essays
First Term 11 units
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1
Unit 01
Parts of speech; doubling consonants
Review of last term’s examination; nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives; doubling of consonants in spelling.
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2
Unit 02
Word meanings; more parts of speech
Reading skills and word meanings in context; introduction to phrasal verbs; adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions; words associated with libraries.
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3
Unit 03
Types of essay; pure vowels
The types of essay; the monophthongs; idioms; words associated with entertainment.
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4
Unit 04
Skimming and scanning; phrases
Skimming and scanning; words associated with agriculture; noun phrases and verb phrases; words commonly misspelt.
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5
Unit 05
Kinds of sentences; expository essay
Simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences; the expository essay; words of the stock exchange and insurance.
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6
Unit 06
Figures of speech; adverbial clauses
Simile, metaphor, irony, personification and rhetorical question; the adverbial clause; the descriptive essay; diphthongs.
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7
Unit 07
Noun clauses; consonants; narrative essay
The noun clause; words of air, rail, road and sea transport; introduction to consonant sounds; the narrative essay.
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8
Unit 08
Adjectival clauses; argumentative essay
Reading skills; more on consonant sounds; the adjectival clause; the argumentative essay.
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9
Unit 09
Answering comprehension questions; stress
How to answer comprehension questions; words associated with religion; word stress.
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10
Unit 10
Introduction to summary; affixes
Introduction to summary writing; prefixes and suffixes; adverbial and prepositional phrases.
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11
Unit 11
Informal letters; articles
Words of the law court; the informal letter; definite and indefinite articles; more on consonants.
Second Term 11 units
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1
Unit 01
Homographs and spelling
Review of last term’s examination; homographs; more on spelling.
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2
Unit 02
Listening for main points; present tenses
Listening to grasp the main points; the simple present, present continuous, present perfect and present perfect continuous; words of government and politics.
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3
Unit 03
Word meanings; will and would
Word meanings in context; the auxiliaries will and would; words of photography.
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4
Unit 04
Formal letters; /θ/ and /ð/; participles
The formal letter; contrasting /θ/, /ð/, /t/ and /d/; present and past participles.
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5
Unit 05
Summary questions; shall and should
Answering summary questions; the auxiliaries shall and should; the descriptive essay.
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6
Unit 06
Can and could; using a dictionary
Comprehension; words of printing and the mass media; the auxiliaries can and could; words commonly misspelt; using a dictionary.
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7
Unit 07
Past tenses; paraphrase; introductions
Oral and written interviews; the past tenses; paraphrasing a passage; ways of introducing writing.
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8
Unit 08
Future tenses; argumentative essay
The argumentative essay; words of religion; the future tenses.
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9
Unit 09
Syllables; homophones; punctuation
Comprehension; the syllable; homophones; the question mark, apostrophe and exclamation mark.
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10
Unit 10
Stress; minutes; punctuation
Introduction to word stress; minutes of meetings; the full stop, comma, dash, colon, semicolon and quotation marks.
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11
Unit 11
Revision and examination
Revision of the term’s work; the end-of-term examination.
Third Term 12 units
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1
Unit 01
Word meanings; misspelt words
Review of last term’s examination; reading for word meanings in various contexts; commonly misspelt words; using a dictionary.
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2
Unit 02
Practical summary; adjuncts; narrative
A practical approach to summary writing; reading for the main point; words of advertising; adjuncts; the features and outline of a narrative essay.
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3
Unit 03
Sample summary; clauses; expository
Comprehension; a sample summary; words of home and family life; the features and outline of an expository essay; introduction to clauses.
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4
Unit 04
Rhymes; more formal letters
Rhymes; more on the formal letter; words of government and politics.
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5
Unit 05
Scanning; /s/ and /z/; conjuncts
More on skimming and scanning; contrasting /s/, /z/ and /ʒ/, and /f/ and /v/; the diphthongs /eɪ/ and /aɪ/; conjuncts and disjuncts; introduction to nominalisation.
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6
Unit 06
Prefixes, plurals and two-syllable stress
Prefixes and negation; suffixes; plural and compound nouns; stress in two-syllable words; story writing.
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7
Unit 07
Sentence structure; semi-formal letters
Reading for leisure; the semi-formal letter; sentence structure and formation; dropping and keeping e.
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8
Unit 08
Summarising in sentences; intonation
Summarising in a given number of sentences; intonation for polite requests and greetings; homophones; the functions of comparatives; words of sports and entertainment.
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9
Unit 09
Topic and theme; antonyms
Identifying the topic, theme and key sentences of a passage; words of journalism and advertising; antonyms; the informal letter.
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10
Unit 10
/ɪ/ and /iː/; pronoun reference
Speaking skills; contrasting /ɪ/ and /iː/; the argumentative essay; pronoun reference to the three persons.
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11
Unit 11
Summarising in words; synonyms
Summarising in a given number of words; words associated with building; synonyms.
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12
Unit 12
Revision and examination
Revision of the year’s work; the end-of-year examination.
SS2 Development
Main ideas and implied meaning, summary skills, concord, voice, nouns and modifiers, word formation, phrasal verbs, idioms, stress in long words, reports, articles and speeches
First Term 11 units
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1
Unit 01
Main points; nominalisation
Reading for main points; nominalisation of adjectives and verbs; consonants followed by /j/; the features of a summary.
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2
Unit 02
Main ideas; consonant clusters
Main ideas and supporting details; words of the human body; clusters of two, three and four consonants; expository writing.
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3
Unit 03
Following ideas; noun phrases
Reading to follow the writer’s ideas; words of health; the meaning, identification and functions of noun phrases.
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4
Unit 04
Reading to summarise; relative pronouns
Reading to summarise; words of building; narrative writing; relative pronouns.
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5
Unit 05
The weak vowel /ə/; argument
Reading for main points; the unstressed vowel /ə/; an argumentative essay.
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6
Unit 06
Sentence types; four-syllable stress
Extracting the main points of a passage; sentence types; stress in four-syllable words; a descriptive essay.
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7
Unit 07
Note-taking; adverbs; arguments
Reading to take notes; kinds of adverb; summarising an argument.
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8
Unit 08
Modifiers; colour, smell and taste; reports
Adjectives and adverbs as modifiers; words of colour, smell and taste; listening comprehension; report writing.
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9
Unit 09
Plurals; five-syllable stress
Plural forms of nouns; stress in five-syllable words; the features of a short story; identifying topic sentences.
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10
Unit 10
Paraphrase; phrasal verbs
Reading to paraphrase a prose passage; phrasal verbs; the format of an informal letter.
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11
Unit 11
Revision and examination
Revision of the term’s work; the end-of-term examination.
Second Term 10 units
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1
Unit 01
Possessive apostrophe; main points
Review of last term’s examination; the possessive apostrophe; reading to grasp main points; narrative writing.
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2
Unit 02
Transitions; the press; punctuation
Sentence and paragraph transition; words of the press; the comma, semicolon, question mark and colon.
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3
Unit 03
Letters of complaint; diphthongs
A formal letter of complaint; sentence types by function; diphthongs; how to answer summary questions.
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4
Unit 04
Implied meaning; the environment
An informal letter to a friend; the diphthongs /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /aʊ/ and /ɔɪ/; reading for implied meaning; words of the environment.
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5
Unit 05
Summary; pronouns; rhyme scheme
Summary writing; kinds of pronoun; rhyme scheme.
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6
Unit 06
Critical reading; sequence of tenses
Reading for critical evaluation; words of nation building; introduction to the sequence of tenses; the diphthongs /ɪə/, /eə/, /əʊ/ and /ʊə/.
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7
Unit 07
Phrasal verbs; /tʃ/ and /ʃ/
More phrasal verbs; comprehension on technology; words of technology; comparing /tʃ/ and /ʃ/, and /dʒ/ and /ʒ/.
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8
Unit 08
Articles; active and passive
Writing articles; active and passive structures; words of cultural entertainment.
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9
Unit 09
Countable nouns; a model summary
Making uncountable nouns countable; answers to a model summary passage; words commonly misspelt; the semi-formal letter.
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10
Unit 10
Revision and examination
Revision of the term’s work; the end-of-term examination.
Third Term 12 units
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1
Unit 01
Revision of the tenses
Review of last term’s examination; the tenses; narrative writing.
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2
Unit 02
Conditionals; speech writing
Conditional clauses and complex sentences; words of publishing; the meaning and features of speech writing.
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3
Unit 03
Stress patterns; passive voice; prefixes
Stress patterns; active and passive voice; prefixes; the features of article writing.
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4
Unit 04
Concord; prepositional phrases
Prepositional phrases; using a dictionary; the rules of concord; a comprehension passage.
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5
Unit 05
Stress placement; the writer’s purpose
Stress placement on words of two or more syllables; story writing; reading for the writer’s purpose; words of a manufacturing industry.
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6
Unit 06
Summary; adjectival clauses; films
A summary passage; the adjectival clause; words of films and television.
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7
Unit 07
/ɪ/ and /iː/; sentence types; adverbs
The vowels /ɪ/ and /iː/; an expository essay; identifying sentence types in a passage; adverbs.
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8
Unit 08
Implied meaning in summary; catering
Words of hotel and catering; summarising to get implied meaning; prepositional phrases.
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9
Unit 09
Idioms; descriptive essay
A comprehension passage; idioms; words of politics and government; a descriptive essay.
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10
Unit 10
Suffixes; nasal sounds
Affixation and suffixes; the nasal sounds /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/; words of transport.
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11
Unit 11
Clauses; long-word stress; inference
Subordinate clauses; stress on the fifth and sixth syllables; reading for implied meaning.
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12
Unit 12
Revision and examination
Revision of the year’s work; the end-of-year examination.
SS3 Mastery
Literary and factual passages, reported speech, modals and adverbials, advanced vocabulary, intonation and examination technique, then WASSCE revision
First Term 11 units
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1
Unit 01
British and American English
Review of last term’s examination; basic differences between British and American spelling.
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2
Unit 02
Phrases and clauses review; festivals
A comprehension passage; words of festivals; noun and adjectival phrases and clauses; narrative and descriptive essays.
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3
Unit 03
Intonation; party systems
Sentence intonation patterns; an argumentative essay; comprehension on government; a summary on party systems.
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4
Unit 04
Business; nominalisation; vowels
Comprehension and words of business; nominalisation; monophthongs and diphthongs.
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5
Unit 05
Letters; adverbials; novel summary
Formal and informal letters; a summary of a novel extract; adverbs and adverbials.
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6
Unit 06
Irrigation; sequence of tenses
Comprehension on irrigation; vocabulary; the sequence of tenses; clusters of two consonants at the start and end of words.
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7
Unit 07
Novel extract; articles; figures
Comprehension of a novel extract; an article on accountability and transparency; figures of speech.
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8
Unit 08
Law enforcement; lexical and auxiliary verbs
Comprehension on law enforcement; words of justice; lexical and auxiliary verbs; more on consonants.
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9
Unit 09
Law and order; modals; reports
Comprehension on law and order; words of justice; more on modals; more on report writing.
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10
Unit 10
Long-word and compound stress
A comprehension passage and vocabulary; stress in words of seven syllables and in compound words.
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11
Unit 11
Revision and examination
Revision of the term’s work; the end-of-term examination.
Second Term 8 units
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1
Unit 01
Summary of a play extract
Review of last term’s examination; a summary of an extract from a play.
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2
Unit 02
Clauses; speech; Latin expressions
Clauses; speech writing; comprehension of a play; Latin expressions.
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3
Unit 03
Reported speech; contrastive stress
Direct and indirect speech; contrastive stress; comprehension on meteors; words of astronomy.
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4
Unit 04
A journey; letters; infinitives
Comprehension of a railway journey; formal and informal letters; nominalisation of infinitives.
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5
Unit 05
Restrictive clauses; examination essays
A comprehension passage; a summary on transport; restrictive and non-restrictive clauses; hints on writing essays in the examination.
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6
Unit 06
Hints for the examination
The requirements of the oral examination; hints on lexis and structure; hints on answering comprehension questions.
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7
Unit 07
Sounds and tenses review
Reviewing the vowels and consonants; a review of tenses; further hints on comprehension.
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8
Unit 08
Revision
Revision of the term’s work.
Third Term 5 units
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1
Unit 01
WASSCE revision: comprehension and summary
Comprehension and summary questions under timed conditions.
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2
Unit 02
WASSCE revision: lexis and structure
Vocabulary, grammar and cloze questions.
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3
Unit 03
WASSCE revision: oral English
Vowels, consonants, stress, rhymes, emphatic stress and intonation.
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4
Unit 04
WASSCE revision: continuous writing
Letters, essays, articles, reports and speeches.
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5
Unit 05
Final practice papers
Full timed practice papers under examination conditions.