The UK's National Curriculum has twelve strands, as you know.
"I didn't know, actually."
"Well, now you do ."
"Thanks. But what are they specifically?"
"In order, they are:
1. Speaking
2. Listening and Understanding
3. Group Discussion and Interaction
4. Drama
5. Word Recognition
6. Word Structure and Spelling
7. Understanding and Interpreting Texts
8. Engaging With and Responding to Texts
9. Creating and Shaping Texts
10. Text Structure and Organization
11. Sentence Structure and Punctuation
12. Presentation."
"Okay, and when are our children supposed to have mastered these?"
"End of Key Stage 2, years 6/7."
"All that?"
"Yes."
"That's a tall order."
"Yes."
"How are primary schools meeting the challenge?"
"They hire experts in literacy, but even there it's not easy."
"You're going to talk about Latin again, aren't you?"
"Am I?"
"Yes, you are."
"Well, what would I say?"
"You'd say that this is where Latin comes in to help folks meet these literacy requirements."
"That it?"
"That's the problem with you Americans. You don't know your grammar. You should have said, 'Is that it?'"
"Fair enough. Is that it?"
"No. You'd then take a look at the twelve, and pinpoint the two or three strands upon which all the rest are dependent."
"That's a good idea. Any suggestions?"
"Well, they have Speaking as number 1."
"Sure. But what good is speaking if you don't understand what someone is saying?"
"Ok, they should probably learn how to listen, too."
"But if they don't understand words, why would they bother to listen?"
"They have ears, don't they?"
"Ears, eyes, mouths, lips, tongues, vocal chords, fingers, hands, brains, etc. Yes. But that's not the question."
"What is?"
"What is what?"
"The question, you crazy American!"
"The question is how to use them in the learning process."
"So, what do you suggest?"
"I suggest that higher and deeper level learning doesn't really start until after kids learn how to speak and hear words as words."
"Isn't hearing the same as listening?"
"Is it?"