English & Literacy
“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American philosopher and essayist
“The English Language is nobody’s special property.
It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.”
Derek Walcott
St. Lucian poet
Nobel Prize for Literature 1992
English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.
Year 7 English Curriculum
Year 8 English Curriculum
|
Unit |
Content |
Assessment |
|
1 Prose – short stories (6 weeks)
|
Text analysis of selected short stories, working with literacy and later language frameworks. Modelled creative responses |
Unit end: text comparison |
|
2 Genre focus Selected novels (6 weeks) |
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, Northern Lights, Gothic stories Literary analysis with Language Paper 1 tasks looking at Sci-fi, the Gothic, supernatural K: character construction methods, setting, narrative design; K & U of ways to respond to modern prose fiction; K & U of essay form; S: research team work oral presentation |
Unit end: single text extract focus (45-min) |
|
3 Drama 20th century
(6 weeks) |
Journey’s End, Our Day Out, A Curious Incident Literary analysis – with Literacy and language tasks – context and theme exploration K: dramatic character construction methods, setting, scene and wider narrative design; K & U of ways to respond to drama; K & U of essay form S: research, team work, oral presentation |
Unit end: extract drama response |
|
4 Non-Fiction
(6 weeks) |
Paper 2 Language texts K & U: How writers use language to portray a range of events, characters and global cultural experiences, with focus on a range of short texts and some awareness of origins and historical events
|
Unit end: Extracts and wider text commentary (45 min) |
|
5 Early Literature
(6 weeks) |
The Odyssey and Greek Myths; Chaucer and his times; Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon world K & U of ways to write, and respond to, different creative genres; grammar and style; S: developing techniques such as PoV, voice and tone in fiction and non-fiction writing |
Generic texts response (with context and creative work)
|
|
6 The 7 Deadly Sins (6 weeks) |
Contemporary advertising genres and techniques examined from a range of perspectives K & U: range of multi modal techniques and forms; developing ability to read for implication in a defined context S: research, team work, oral presentation
|
Advert creation and analysis |
|
Literacy |
K & U of Language paper question types and ways to respond to fiction and non-fiction texts. S: Teamwork; research; oral communication. |
Ongoing by unit |