DRAFT: Considerations when programming using the English Years 7 – 10 Syllabus
Syllabus outcomes and content
Step one:
Identify what students already
know and can do.
Consider:
 Have they demonstrated
the outcomes of Stage 3.
(Consider class reports,
assessment results,
students work samples,
IEP (Intensive Education
Program) exit reports,
assessment on the ESL
Scales)
 Are they working at or
beyond the Stage they are
in?
Step two:
Select the outcomes and content to
be addressed through the teaching
and learning unit.
Teaching and learning
sequence
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

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Step three:
Identify additional needs / language
learning focus for students who
have not yet achieved the outcomes
of the previous stage.
Troubleshooting:
Check that there is a balance
between the learning to (skills)
content and the learning about
(knowledge and understanding)
content.
Choose a number of outcomes per
unit that can be taught
systematically.
Sequence teaching and
learning activities to
consolidate and extend
students’ current skills,
knowledge and
understanding.
Ensure all six language
modes are integrated into the
teaching and learning
sequence.
Incorporate explicit teaching
of language structures and
features and ensure teaching
and learning strategies meet
the needs of all students.
Incorporate technology
purposefully and ensure
students learn to use and
learn about technology
(critical literacy).
Troubleshooting:
 Ensure all students are
working towards the
outcomes of the stage they
are in.

‘Learning in English is
recursive’.
Ensure the teaching and
learning sequence provides
opportunities for students to
revisit, reflect on, consolidate
and extend their achievement
of outcomes.
NSW Department of Education and Training
Curriculum K-12 Directorate
Language demands and
explicit teaching
1. Where are my students
now?
Use evidence of achievement
in English from internal
assessment and external
assessment, such as ELLA,
use primary school reports,
assessment on the ESL Scales
and IEC exit reports.
2. Where are my students
going?
Consider the language
demands of the planned
teaching and learning
sequence and texts that
students will engage with.
3. How will my students
demonstrate the outcomes for
the unit?
Use:
o ELLA support
documents, Teaching
literacy in English
support documents
o ESL Scales
o professional judgement
to identify and program in
explicit language teaching
that will provide students
with the language skills,
knowledge and understanding
to participate successfully in
the teaching and learning
experiences of the unit.
May 2003
Resources
Consider mandatory content and
Assessment
Should be:
text requirements:
For each stage
At least two of:
- fiction, poetry, film, nonfiction, drama
In each year, examples of:
- spoken texts, print texts,
visual texts, media and
multimedia texts (Internet,
CD-ROM)
Experience of:
- Australian literature,
literature from other
countries and times, cultural
heritages, popular cultures
and youth cultures, picture
books, everyday and
workplace texts, a range of
social, gender and cultural
perspectives
In Stage 5:
- increasingly sophisticated
and extended texts
- experience of
Shakespearean drama
1. integrated into the teaching
and learning sequence thereby
assessing the outcomes and
content that have been explicitly
addressed by the teaching and
learning sequence.
2. assessment for learning not
only assessment of learning.
3. both informal and formal,
examination and nonexamination.
4. multimodal – ‘assessment of
English syllabus outcomes
should…use a range and
combination of modes.’ p.64
English 7 – 10 syllabus
5. student-constructed as well as
teacher-constructed, peer marked
as well as teacher marked, group,
individual and pair work based.
6. accompanied by clear criteria
7. followed by meaningful
feedback.
Consider:
- the needs, interests and
abilities of your student
group
- previous learning in English
- available resources.
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