Core Subject
ENGLISH
Core English provides progressive instruction in the wide range of language-based literacies
required to be a confident and critical communicator. The course is constructed in accordance
with the concepts of Language, Literature and Literacy from the Western Australian
Curriculum.
Through the study of English, students will gain a range of functional and critical skills,
developing their ability to examine texts, topics and express their ideas. Students will also
expand upon their use and understanding of text types.
All students in Years 7 - 9 study the same core program. However, from Semester 2 in Year
7 and in Years 8 - 9 they will be grouped by similar learning needs, and given appropriate
remediation or extension, both individually and as a class. Support is also available through
our FOCUS English courses for those students who are experiencing particular difficulties with
developing their literacy skills.
Year 7
Students study English as a formal subject. The focus in Year 7 is functional literacy,
expression, text analysis and forms of academic writing.
Topics covered are:
• Digital stories
• Grammar and punctuation
• Structured paragraph writing
• Essay writing
• Persuasive and argumentative writing
• Film analysis
• Poetry
• Narrative and text conventions
• Comprehension strategies
• Novels and short stories
Year 8
In Year 8, students will develop their skills further and study texts of increasing complexity.
Topics covered are:
• Autobiographical writing
• Opinionative and comparative essay writing
• Public speaking
• Picture books
• Report writing
• Film analysis
• The short story and novel
• Print advertising
• Poetry
• Library skills: fiction and non-fiction, research
• Interpretation and analysis: popular, cultural and social artefacts
Year 9
The Year 9 English course aims to develop critical skills through a range of more challenging
texts and topics. To facilitate this, the students’ study will include three main areas: Asian
studies and Asia’s relationship with Australia; Rebellion and Protest; and Technology and the
Future. Students will also have a greater element of choice in certain assessments to help
foster their growth as independent learners.
Skills and understandings covered are:
• Advanced academic essay writing, complex sentence and argument construction
• Stereotypes and character representation, representations of values and beliefs
• Conventions: audience, context and genre
• Personal author, text or topic study
• More complex generic conventions in a variety of films, novels, drama texts and
short stories covering a more sophisticated range of issues and concepts
For additional details about the Core English courses, please contact:
Head of English, Mr Ben Nilsson, [email protected] or 9377 9265.
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