Unit topic: Tomorrow, When the War Began and finishing persuasive writing unit
Domain: English
Level: Year 9
Unit duration: 5 weeks (20 x 48 minute lessons)
Unit focus: Students will be able to read Tomorrow, When the War Began and view
the Tomorrow, When the War Began film and recognise how events, situations and
people can be represented by identify stated and implied meaning in the text. They
will infer meaning from the text by interpreting and integrating information from parts
of the text. They draw conclusions about characters, events and key ideas, justifying
these with selective use of textual evidence.
Rationale (how is this unit practical for students?) Learning to appreciate literary
texts and to create their own literary texts enriches students’ understanding of human
experiences and the capacity for language to deepen those experiences.
Assessment
1. Assignment: Tomorrow, When the War Began (writing)
2. Oral presentation: ‘That the film is better than the book’ (listening and
speaking) (allows them to compare, contrast and evaluate their own
responses to texts and different interpretations presented by others).
3. Creative writing piece – alternative ending to Tomorrow, When the War
Began (writing) (short story, narrative) (with a focus on FORM, GENRE and
AUDIENCE, CHARACTERISATION, CONSISTENCY OF VIEWPOINT AND
RESOLUTION).
4. Text response essay (purpose, context and audience) ‘that the death
penalty should be abolished’ (accompany with lessons on TEEL).
5. POV assignment is due at the end of week 2 (writing)
Learning Objectives
Knowledge:
RESPONDING TO LITERATURE: Students learn to identify personal ideas,
experiences and opinions about literary texts and discuss them with others.
EXAMINING LITERATURE: Students learn how to explain and analyse the ways in
which stories, characters, settings and experiences are reflected in particular literary
genres, and discuss the appeal of these genres.
CREATING LITERATURE: Students learn how to use personal knowledge and
literary texts as starting points to create imaginative writing in different forms and
genres and for particular audiences.
LITERACY (INTERACTING WITH OTHERS): Students learn how to promote a point
of view by designing, rehearsing and delivering spoken and written presentations and
by appropriately selecting and sequencing linguistic elements.
VOCABULARY: students will use a range of contextually appropriate vocabulary and
oral language with precision and accuracy.
COHESION: students will be able to use and control multiple ideas throughout their
written and oral work through the use of grammatical elements (text connectives,
conjunctions) and lexical elements (repetitions, connotations).
PARAGRAPHING: students will segment their text into introduction, body and
conclusion and will use TEEL (topic sentence, elaboration, example and link to
contention) to express their ideas cohesively.
Skills (with curriculum links):
Students will be able to:
ENGLISH VELS
READING
Infer meanings and messages in texts, analyse how social values or attitudes
are conveyed (5.0); (text response essay).
Judge how use of language varies depending on audience and purpose
(5.25).
WRITING
Students write arguments that state and justify a personal viewpoint, personal
reflections on, or evaluations of, texts presenting challenging themes and
issues (5.0); (oral presentation)
Improve accuracy of writing through use of grammatical conventions (5.0);
Edit their writing for clarity, coherence and consistency of style and proofread
and correct spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors (5.0);
Write expressively about opinions and ideas to explore different perspectives
on current issues (5.25) using the TEEL format.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
Identify main issues in a topic and provide supporting detail and evidence for
opinions (5.0); (oral presentation)
Critically evaluate the spoken language of others and select, prepare and
present spoken texts for specific audiences and purposes (5.25);
When listening to others, students ask clarifying questions and build on the
ideas of others (5.25) (oral presentations).
PYHYSICAL, PERSONAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING
* Working in Teams

Students accept responsibility as a team member and support other members
to share information, explore the ideas of others and work cooperatively to
achieve a shared purpose within a realistic timeframe. They reflect on
individual team outcomes and act to improve their own and the team’s
performance.
Values and attitudes:

Students will develop an appreciation for the way in which language (verbal
and non verbal) can be used to establish a relationship with an audience.

Through a consideration of the complex arguments that influence the debate
on the death penalty, students will recognise how events, situations and
people can be represented from different perspectives and that an argument
must be supported by evidence to be effective.