Foundation and Stage 1 outcomes overlap especially in oral interaction because the Foundation Stage student typically achieves English oracy skills in the same way and at approximately the same pace as their Stage 1 counterparts. Particular focus is given at Foundation Stage to explicit teaching of the initial literacy and oral language skills which are essential for all beginning English language learners. These are specified in the Teaching Components for these stages and must include a systematic phonemic awareness programme which explicitly teaches the names and sounds and the written forms of letters, consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, and vowel blends. They will also need a systematic vocabulary teaching and learning programme which allows them to master the first 500-1000 most frequent English words.
