[seeker33]

I'd be interested in hearing how English is taught in the English speaking countries where the students are native speakers?

I'm quite familiar with studying /teaching English as a second language, but I'm curious about studying English as a native.
When do kids begin with reading? Is phonics the main method used?

How much time is spent studying grammar? How much focus is given to studying English and world literature?
In the movies, I've seen students cramming some vocab lists for SAT. What's that about?
Do you spend time actually expressing your opinions and creativity in the lessons? (because here in Slovakia, there's very little space for being creative in our Slovak lessons. Even though we do write essays, they have such rigorous structure and rules you can't be "free" when writing them. The main point of our essays is to show we understood the theory, not to share our actual feelings or opinions, those are secondary)

[zapatoes]

In America English is taught with the basics at younger ages to include spelling various words. Then later in high school for teenagers complex grammar and diagramming sentences is taught. In middle school I do recall reading a particular book assigned by the teacher and then had to write a “book report.” In college enjoyed learning about the process of writing when defending a particular opinion that included write a thesis sentence then write a short essay supporting your thesis sentence. Did enjoy studying American and International literature, and writing a creative story related to Dante’s Inferno was interesting. Yes I studied vocabulary for the SAT and words are now my thing since I’m into crosswords and enjoy and am good at learning foreign languages.

sats are these exams that students take.

it's not just in english, it's in other subjects as well.

I never got that far though. I hear they are hard!.

when I was at school we didn't do too much on grammer. we did a lot of reading and comprihention exercises (so the teacher would read a story, then ask questions about it), we did a lot of creative writing, and also an essay (I did mine on for and against school uniforms). I remember that, I love to express my opinion so that was fun

[TunedOut]

I will give a short explanation because I am about to teach an ESL class online.

I was an elementary school major. American education goes through a lot of trends so how we teach English varies. When I was in college, there was always the should we emphasize "whole language" or "phonics/explicit grammar/memorization" debate. Children definitely need both but sometimes our educational leadership emphasizes one method (or trends that usually are a bit of one or the other). Whole language is about children learning from what they hear and say. For instance, rather than having them memorize a list of spelling words, they would write a story then just edit the words they already use (a classmate or teacher might underline mispelled words and then have the child look them up in the dictionary). In whole language, they start writing right away and spelling things wrong is OK--it's part of the process. When I grew up, we memorized more sight words, phonics was emphasized and grammar explicitely taught but we didn't spend as much time writing. Good teaching incorporates both methodologies. I have worked schools that did not study grammar rules at all. It is all good. All of the methods are good for children to have in their "tool belts". Some children like and rely on one "tool" more than others. The best reading and writing programs realize this from my POV.

Originally Posted by seeker33

I'd be interested in hearing how English is taught in the English speaking countries where the students are native speakers?

I'm quite familiar with studying /teaching English as a second language, but I'm curious about studying English as a native.
When do kids begin with reading? Is phonics the main method used?

How much time is spent studying grammar? How much focus is given to studying English and world literature?
In the movies, I've seen students cramming some vocab lists for SAT. What's that about?
Do you spend time actually expressing your opinions and creativity in the lessons? (because here in Slovakia, there's very little space for being creative in our Slovak lessons. Even though we do write essays, they have such rigorous structure and rules you can't be "free" when writing them. The main point of our essays is to show we understood the theory, not to share our actual feelings or opinions, those are secondary)

English is taught in America the same way second-language is taught in America. The specific learning process varies by teacher, and we take standard tests that includes, math, reading and writing. Phonics doesn't matter and is not emphasized in school. Your score on the test largely depends on your understanding and your own interpretation of the test questions. Cheating is a big no-no. Also, we accept different accents and uses of many words. There is one correct answer on tests, yes, but when writing creatively, you can do what you want as long as you do not harm someone with your creativity.