WORKING WITH CURRICULUM
English
In this section:
- English expert – with Barbara Comber – describes the essentials in English learning – video/workshop
- What ‘Adelaideans’ think about English – video/workshop
- English animation (essence) – key elements of the Australian Curriculum English learning area – video
- English ‘Bringing it to Life’ [BitL] – questioning tool: students thinking like a powerful language user – interactive resource
- English BitL printables – posters, placemats, questioning tools & overviews to use with F-10 students – print
- Audio series about the big ideas/concepts (conceptual narratives) – in English that grow in complexity across the year levels – audio
- English booklets (conceptual narratives – print)– taking the big ideas/concepts to practical classroom English learning tasks F-10 – print
- English explorer – the English curriculum at a glance – 1 reference page for each year level – print
- English Wordles – identifying the core ideas of each section of the English curriculum – resources
- The ‘Randomiser’ tool – bringing together the English receptive and productive modes and content – video / interactive online tool
1. English expert
Professor Barbara Comber – English
Video (3.33 mins)
Barbara Comber is a research professor at the University of South Australia and has been involved in literacy education for many years.
Here she speaks about the essentials of English learning.
Downloads:
English workshop – expert voice
(PDF, 412KB)
The essentials of English – the essentials in English learning
2. What ‘Adelaideans’ think about English
Video (2.19 mins)
Teachers, students and community members talk about what they think English is for.
This video clip promotes discussions to reflect on what we believe English is for and what we want our students to take forward into their lives from it. We call this the essence of the learning area.
Downloads:
English workshop – Sound bites
(PDF, 413KB)
What ‘Adelaideans’ think about English
3. English animation – What is it for?
Video (3.36 mins)
A video animation describes the essence of English and how the components of this learning area work together.
A useful starting point for a conversation with teachers, students and community.
4. English ‘Bringing it to Life’ [BitL]
A process tool that demonstrates how we can bring together what we want students to learn and how we want them to learn it – to engage our students in deep learning.
*Click the ‘enlarge icon’ to access the full benefits of this tool (located on the bottom right).
5. English BitL printables
These posters, placemats, questioning tools and BitL overviews have been designed to be used in classrooms with students F-10.
Downloads:
Learning area specific resources available to be downloaded and printed.
Overview of Question Strands F-10
(PDF, 231KB)
F-2 Questions with examples
(PDF, 73KB)
3-4 Questions with examples
(PDF, 73KB)
5-6 Questions with examples
(PDF, 73KB)
7-8 Questions with examples
(PDF, 73KB)
9-10 Questions with examples
(PDF, 74KB)
Placemat F-2
(PDF, 158KB)
Placemat 3-4
(PDF, 158KB)
Placemat 5-6
(PDF, 159KB)
Posters F-2
(PDF, 99KB)
Posters 3-4
(PDF, 99KB)
Posters 5-6
(PDF, 84KB)
Student questioning tool 7-8
(PDF, 78KB)
Student questioning tool 9-10
(PDF, 79KB)
6. The conceptual narratives for Learning Areas F-10
The audio series describes the big ideas and concepts in the curriculum of each learning area that grow in complexity across the year levels F-10. These brief descriptions give teachers clarity about the key concepts of each learning area and support designing learning to connect up concepts across multi-age groups.
*Click the ‘enlarge icon’ to access the full benefits of this tool (located on the bottom right).
7. Conceptual narrative – English printables
The resources show examples of how the BitL questions can be used to develop conceptual understanding using specific learning area content from F-10.
Downloads:
Learning area specific resources available to be downloaded and printed.
Literacy Texts:
Year 9-10
(PDF, 371KB)
Texts to inform:
8. Learning Area Explorer
The learning explorers (A3) summarise the Australian Curriculum learning area for easy reference during learning design.
Downloads:
9. English wordles
Identifying the core ideas of each section of the English curriculum.
Downloads:
Aims
(PDF, 147KB)
Rationale
(PDF, 219KB)
Year level descriptions
(PDF, 295KB)
Achievement standards
(PDF, 287KB)
10. Connecting content and essence
This tool supports teachers consider the Australian Curriculum Content Descriptions together with the ‘essence’ of the learning area. When they are considered together it influences how we design the learning.