Sample scope and sequence – Year 8 English, 2015 (Note: AHISA term dates for 2015 used)
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Unit 1: Urban Lines – a themed poetry study
Term 1
This unit focuses on the way poetry has been used to represent
cities of the world. Students examine how poetic features are
used to shape a range of meanings about urban experiences in
different cities and time periods.
Core text: poetry
Types of Texts: visual texts, multimedia
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-3B, EN4-5C, EN4-7D
Assessment: Critical annotation of TWO poems 15%
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Term 2
Unit 3: Future Worlds/New Worlds
Through a close study of the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth,
as well as Gary Ross’ film The Hunger Games, students will
explore various dystopian worlds and analyse how composers
construct imagined, futuristic settings that examine contemporary
issues and concerns. Students will also focus on their own
creative compositions, using a variety of speculative fiction texts
as models.
Term 4
Term 3
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Unit 2: Film Study: Studio Ghibli and Cultural Expression in Anime
This unit of work will focus on a study of the Japanese animation company, Studio Ghibli through
the prescribed text Grave of the Fireflies and extracts from a range of other films produced by
director Hayao Miyazaki. Students will examine and evaluate a range of specific devices
employed in anime film in order to understand the cultural and historical context of this form and
its place in the broader animation context.
Core text: film
Types of Texts: visual (animation and manga) and spoken texts
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-6C, EN4-7D, EN4-8D
Assessment: Directorial Commentary on Key Scene; analysis of screenshots and interpretation
of cultural representation 25%
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
(15-19 June)
(22-26 June)
Year 8
camp
Unit 3: Future Worlds/New Worlds continued
Core text: fiction and film
Types of Texts: film, graphic novel/picture books; nonfiction,
multimedia
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-3B, EN4-4B, EN4-5C, EN4-6C
EN4-7D, EN4-9E
Assessment: Creative Writing Task 30%
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
When
does
YOUR
school
finish in
Term 2?
Week 10
Unit 4: Is Shakespeare still relevant to contemporary audiences?
This unit serves as an introduction to Shakespearean theatre as well as his writing and plays. Students
will consider how plays written over 400 years ago can powerfully portray universal ideas about human
behaviour and society today.
Core text: Drama (eg A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Types of Texts: nonfiction, media, documentaries and multimedia websites
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-5C, EN4-7D, EN4-9E
Assessment: Group Performance and Critical Reflection Tasks (Peer and self assessment)
Unit 5: Our Own Backyard . . . continued in Term 4
This unit focuses on the representation of Australian
society as we take a close look at “our own backyard”.
Students explore how Australian culture and people,
stereotypes, iconic figures, heroes and cultural
landscapes are depicted in our literature and media.
Week 1
Week 8
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Unit 5 Our Own Backyard continued:
A close study of the Dust Echoes website and anthology
True Blue? On Being Australian (ed Peter Goldsworthy);
true story novel Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie
French, TV documentaries and picture books (eg Window,
My Place, Walking With the Seasons in Kakadu)
Core text: nonfiction, fiction, media/multimedia
Types of Texts: poetry, visual texts
Outcomes: EN4-2A, EN4-5C, EN4-6C, EN4-7D, EN4-8D
Assessment: in examination
Week 5
Exam
Block
30%
(inclusive of
Units 4 & 5)
Week 6
Week 7
Week 9
Week 10
(30/11-4/12)
(7-11 Dec)
Unit 6: My Own Backyard: Research project
Students research “their own personal backyard” and cultural heritage
and create a digital text that represents it. (Students to choose the
form of their digital text and investigate its features eg creative; blog,
documentary, picture e-book etc.)
Types of Texts: nonfiction, media, multimedia websites
Outcomes: EN4-4B EN4-9E
Assessment: Digital Text: “My Own Backyard” - Peer and Self
Assessment
Outcomes in bold for each unit are those to be assessed in the cited
task.
When
does
YOUR
school
finish in
Term 4?
1
Text requirement mapping of Year 8 scope and sequence
CLOSE reading, viewing, listening of at least two texts per stage
Unit 3: Divergent
Fiction
In each year:
 Spoken
Unit 5: Nanberry: Black Brother White
Drama
Unit 2: Grave of the Fireflies
Unit 3: The Hunger Games
Shakespeare play
Poetry
Unit 1: Urban Lines
Nonfiction
Unit 5: Dust Echoes website; True Blue anthology
Film

Print

Visual

Media,
Multimedia
and digital
texts
Films, dramatic performances, TV
documentaries
Poems, fiction, play, nonfiction
anthology, media articles
Anime film, manga, picture books,
images of cities and Australia,
Our Own/My Own Backyard units’
texts: Dust Echoes website; TV
documentaries; blogs, e-books
Shakespeare internet research;
Shakespeare DVD documentaries,
Animation texts
Across the stage, students must be given experience of:












Texts which are widely regarded as quality literature
Widely defined Australian literature
Insights into Aboriginal experiences
Literary texts from other countries and times including
poetry, drama scripts, prose fiction and picture books
Texts written about intercultural experiences
Insights about peoples and cultures of Asia
Everyday and
workplace texts
a wide range of ultural, social, gender perspectives,
popular and youth cultures
texts that include aspects of environmental and social
sustainability
Nonfiction, picture books, graphic novels
An appropriate range of digital texts, including film,
media and multimedia
Core texts for Units 1-4
True Blue Anthology; Australian poetry in Urban Lines unit
Nanberry, Black Brother White; Dust Echoes website
Shakespeare
Japanese texts (Unit 2)
Nanberry, Black Brother White
Studio Ghibli study and Grave of the Fireflies film study
Our Own Backyard unit
Divergent and Future World texts
Manga, anime texts; Our Own Backyard texts
Urban Lines unit
Future Worlds/New Worlds unit
True Blue? anthology
Picture books for Future World and Our Own Backyard units
manga texts
Dust Echoes website; TV documentaries; Shakespeare DVD documentaries
2
3