English Language Arts

	English Language Arts - Units
	English Language Arts - The Six Strands

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. Students 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 combinations and through a wide range of relevant texts. Additionally, Aboriginal perspectives are applied to learning experiences for all students. Each unit addresses the perspectives and accomplishments of Aboriginal people.

In selecting learning resources and in planning instruction and assessment, teachers maintain an Aboriginal focus, and achieve variety and balance in the use of the six language arts. Teachers use texts by and about Aboriginal 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 Aboriginal 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.

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 ELA – The Family

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. Students become competent and confident users of all six language arts through opportunities to listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent in a variety of combinations and through a wide range of relevant texts. Building upon the learning accomplished in Grade 9, Grade 10 ELA students work to enhance communication skills, as well as awareness of their social, political, and economic environment. Grade 10 ELA includes a compulsory unit on Emerging Aboriginal Voices, with an exploration of Canadian Aboriginal writers in a variety of genres. The overall theme for this course is "The Family".

Grade 11 ELA – Comprehensive Focus – The Community

Grade 11 English Language Arts Comprehensive Focus allows students to develop a range of literacy skills that develops their engagement with and appreciation of a variety of texts. Comprehensive Focus addresses a variety of informal and formal discourse through texts that fall along a continuum of pragmatic, expressive, and aesthetic language uses. Course content is divided approximately equally between pragmatic and aesthetic texts. The course progresses through texts both historical and modern. The focus is on how each of these texts can be used as a tool to understanding ourselves in today’s society. The overall theme for this course is "The Community".

Grade 12 ELA – Comprehensive Focus – The World

Grade 12 English Language Arts Comprehensive Focus allows students to develop and refine a range of literacy skills that deepen their engagement with and appreciation of a variety of texts. Comprehensive Focus addresses a variety of informal and formal discourse through texts that fall along a continuum of pragmatic, expressive, and aesthetic language uses. Course content is divided approximately equally between pragmatic and aesthetic texts. The Province of Manitoba Grade 12 Provincial Standards Test is a part of this course and counts for 30% of the final grade. This course is recognized by post-secondary educational institutions and is a required course for admission to these institutions. The overall theme of this course is "Our Global Society".

Grade 12 ELA – Transactional Focus – Where I Fit In

Grade 12 English Language Arts Transactional Focus allows students to develop and refine a range of literacy skills that help them function effectively in various communities. Transactional Focus emphasizes the pragmatic uses of language to inform, direct, persuade, analyze, argue, and explain. Course content is divided approximately 70-30 between pragmatic and aesthetic texts. The primary focus of this course is to help students become critical consumers of media in all its forms, from newspapers and magazines, to television and movies. Students also receive practice in creating pragmatics texts, such as reports, reviews, and statistical analyses. The overall theme for this course is "My Place in the World".

The following is a sample Lesson Plan from Grade 12 ELA Comprehensive Focus, showing how Aboriginal perspectives are incorporated into the curriculum.

Target Outcomes

• Students will apply a broad repertoire of appropriate comprehension strategies to monitor understanding and extend interpretations of a variety of texts.
• Students will evaluate the effect of forms and genres on content and purpose.
• Students will experience texts from a variety of genres and cultural traditions; examine and analyze various interpretations of texts to revise or extend understanding
• Students will create original texts to communicate ideas and enhance understanding of forms and techniques.

Activating
Students will define and compare the terms under characteristics of mainstream and Indigenous literature:

Acquiring
Students will read several examples of Aboriginal texts in a variety of genres and forms, including both aesthetic and pragmatic texts. Students will discuss each example of Aboriginal literature, based on the writing variables of form, central idea, purpose, public audience, and context. Students will consider whether written examples follow the literary paradigms laid out above.

Applying
Students will select one text example and do an in-depth analysis based on the above listed criteria, OR students will create their own example of Aboriginal literature in one of the forms studied and discussed.

Evaluation
Students work will be graded based on whether they have included information on all of the elements discussed, OR how well their text represents the criteria of Aboriginal literature.