English Language Arts

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The study of English language arts enables each student to understand and appreciate language and to use it competently and confidently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction, and learning. All courses are skill based and will empower students to become competent and confident users of all six language arts through many opportunities to listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent in a variety of different ways. Additionally, Indigenous perspectives are applied to learning experiences for all students. Each course will address the perspectives and accomplishments of Indigenous peoples, and take direction and input from students to inform the learning experiences in the classroom.

In selecting learning resources and in planning instruction and assessment, teachers maintain an Indigenous focus, and achieve variety and balance in the use of the six language arts. Teachers will often use texts by and about Indigenous people to help students acquire a positive self-identity by exploring their histories, cultures, and lifestyles. All students develop understanding and respect and informed opinions on matters relating to Indigenous Peoples.

Instruction in all six language arts equips students for effective participation in a technological society in which information, communication, arts, and entertainment are increasingly conveyed in language forms other than print. Units for each grade level build upon the work done in the previous grades and at the completion of their studies, students have a well-rounded, fully developed understanding of all the language arts.

Listed below are the units covered in the ELA program from Grade 9 through Grade 12.

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Grade 9 ELA – The Individual

Grade 9 English Language Arts sets the foundation for the senior years. The English language arts enable each student to understand and appreciate language. Language proficiency generates confidence and competence in communicating in a variety of situations, as well as facilitating personal satisfaction and learning. Students are exposed to several forms of writing including short stories, novels, visual texts, and plays. The central focus is on developing the skills of the student in identifying various aspects of literary content through the exploration of aesthetic and pragmatic texts. A variety of authors and genres are explored to provide students with a solid foundation upon which to build in future years. Grade 9 ELA includes a compulsory unit on Human Rights issues, exploring the Holocaust and "The Diary of Anne Frank" as the foundation document. The overall theme for this course is "The Individual".​

Grade 10-12 ELA

Independent Reading Program: All students enrolled in English Language Arts will read an independent novel (or novels) of their choice throughout the semester. They will be assigned journal tasks throughout the year, and a final book assignment that can be a published book review, IMovie book trailer, or another teacher approved option.

Article of the Week: Once or twice per month students in English 20F, 30S, and 40S will learn the process of reading, discussing, and writing a personal reflection on an "article of the week" (AOW).

Courses

The following courses are fluid, ever changing entities. The specific units, literature, and assignments used are always changing. Many additional language arts lessons/activities/assignments are embedded throughout and weaved between the big units used to organize the core of the language arts courses.

Grade 10 English (20F)

This course builds on the grade nine course by emphasizing the six language arts skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and representing. The course will enable each student to understand and appreciate language and use it competently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction, and learning.

Grade 11 English Comprehensive Focus (30S)

This course builds ont he grade ten course to continue to develop students in the six language arts skills. Students will engage with and appreciate a variety of texts through their development of these literacy skills. They will work with both pragmatic, expressive, and aesthetic texts, and write in a variety of forms for different purposes.

Grade 12 English Comprehensive Focus (40S)

This course builds on the grade eleven comprehensive course to further the development of students language arts skills. The course will allow students to develop and refine a range of literacy skills that deepen engagement and appreciation of a variety of texts. In the comprehensive course, content will be divided equally between pragmatic and aesthetic texts.

​Grade 12 English Transactional Focus (40S)

This course allows students to develop and refine a range of literacy skills thay help them function effectively in various communities. Transactional Focus emphasizes the pragmatic uses of language to inform, direct, persuade, analyze, argue, and explain.

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