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Syllabus is the foundation of a society. Despite the invasion of many languages including English, Tamil, the classical language, has survived and prospered over the millennium. The objective of this analysis is to investigate the content used for teaching Tamil 60 years ago. This syllabus has been prepared keeping in mind the age, the innate skill of the learners, learning content prescribed,textbooks, objectives ofteaching, transactional strategies and the allotted working days. This syllabus throws light onthe purpose ofSyllabus writing (i.e) transforming students as future resources ofthe society. There is an obvious gradation in the use ofvocabulary from 500 words at Std I and moving on to 1000 words at Std VI. From Std I to III focus is on oral reading, oral responses and copy writing and at IV and V this is taken forward to life-oriented writing tasks such as writing business letters, filling up forms, writing essays on field trips and personal experiences. Stories and prose pieces gradually move from simple to rich examples drawn from the cultural life ofTamils. Poems are culled out from religious literature. Didactic literature, one act plays, Biographical sketches, inventions and innovations spiced up inthe lessons also make language learning very interesting