• review their own oral activities carefully for content, organization, delivery, and style
• introduce and thank a speaker
• practise informal and career-oriented interviewing skills
• deliver formal speeches on familiar topics
• other:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• practise the behaviours of effective speakers
• speak to clarify and extend thinking
• speak to inform and persuade
• practise the various roles of group members
• other:

Listening

New Objectives for Unit II

• provide appropriate feedback (e.g., supportive stance, gesture, comment)
• listen to understand and learn
• listen to analyze and evaluate
• evaluate a speaker's qualifications to speak about a given subject
• write a paraphrase and summary of an oral presentation
• other:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• recognize listening as an active process that requires listeners to:
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for listening
  • seek and check understanding by making and confirming predictions and inferences
  • analyze and evaluate
• recognize factors that interfere with effective listening, including personal biases
• practise the behaviours of effective listeners (FO)
• listen for personal pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction
• respond personally, critically, creatively, and empathetically
• assess their own ability to listen effectively
• other:

Writing

New Objectives for Unit II

• prepare final copy using appropriate conventions of publication (e.g., title page, references, bibliography)
• write a short research essay on a topic of their own choosing
• write a letter of application and a résumé vother:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• write to reflect, clarify, and explore ideas
• write to describe, narrate, inform, and persuade
• use what is known as the writing process
• practise the behaviours of effective writers
• write introductions which engage interest and focus readers' attention
• write effective conclusions appropriate to the overall intent
• outline a multi-paragraph composition
• experiment with a variety of forms of writing
• other:

Reading

New Objectives for Unit II

• recognize the major literary forms, elements, and techniques
• relate the structure of the work to the author's purpose and theme
• understand the tone and organization of the formal and informal essay
• state and evaluate author's theme, tone, and viewpoint
• recognize and explain allusions, symbols, figurative language, and stylistic devices in a literary text
• locate, assess, and summarize information from a variety of sources
• make and defend an informed critical response
• other:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• recognize reading as an active process which requires readers to:
  • make connections
  • find meaning
  • make and confirm predictions and inferences
  • reflect and evaluate
• practise the behaviours of effective, strategic readers
• relate literary experience to personal experience
• explore human experiences and values reflected in texts
• record responses in a reader's journal, log, or notebook
• read an increasingly wide range of material for personal enjoyment and extension of experiences
• compare, contrast, and evaluate texts other:

Representing and Viewing

New Objectives for Unit II

• communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings for a specific audience and purpose through a radio script, an advertisement, or a photo essay
• practice the behaviours of effective viewers
• respond personally, critically, and creatively to a radio documentary or dramatization
• respond personally, critically, and creatively to a print and audio advertisement
• identify the purpose, intended audiences, messages, and points of view of a radio documentary or dramatization
• recognize language techniques and media conventions in a radio presentation
• recognize persuasive techniques in print and multimedia advertising
• evaluate critically information obtained from viewing a print advertisement
• other:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• recognize nonverbal aids and visual representations as tools for communicating and learning
• create appropriate nonverbal aids and visual images to enhance communication
• present thoughts, ideas, and feelings using an appropriate combination of visual aids and print
• present information, incorporating visual, audio-visual, and dramatic aids to engage the intended audience
• recognize viewing as an active process which requires viewers to:
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for viewing
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for viewing
  • attend
  • seek and check understanding by making connections, and by making and confirming predictions and inferences
  • interpret and summarize
  • analyze and evaluate
• respond personally, critically, and creatively to a print and audio advertisement
• other:

Language Concepts

Teachers are encouraged to continue diagnosing the strengths and needs of their students. See the section on pages 40-41 for language concepts to be addressed at this grade level.

                                                                                                                                                      - Al Purdy, My Canada

Canada is a diverse country made up of multiple regions, cultures, histories, and identities. In addition to its diverse landscapes, Canada is a nation of many diverse voices and perspectives. Literature gives voice to a country, and its writers help us understand the nature of the people who live here.

Note: This course and the following sample unit offer many opportunities for interdisciplinary and cross-curricula study, particularly with the Canadian Studies courses (i.e., Social Studies 30, Native Studies 30, and History 30). The English Language Arts and Canadian Studies teachers may wish to collaborate in their planning.

Diverse Landscapes and Peoples

... Everything that is central in Canadian writing seems to be marked by the imminence of the natural world.

                                                                                                                                        - Northrop Frye

Canada is more than simply a place. It is a particular combination of geography, climate, and resources that have shaped the people who live here. Nature and its various rhythms of life have influenced not only Canada as a nation but also its literature.

When one thinks of the influence of a place on one’s writing, two aspects come to mind. First the physical presence of the place itself--its geography, its appearance. Second, the people.

                                                                                                                     - Margaret Laurence

The largest land mass in the world features a diverse and awe-inspiring landscape that is home to a diverse and complex people. Canadians have multi-faceted cultural make-ups and origins. The peoples of Canada are composed of the original peoples--the First Nations--and new arrivals from around the globe. This diversity is reflected in the literature and languages of Canada.

If we are to survive as a people, then we must trust in ourselves and our art.

                                                                                                                                - Patrick Lane

The people do not make the land; it is the land that makes the people.

                                                                                                                        - Cree Saying

Possible sub-themes include:

• Regional Voices and Perspectives
• A Vast and Varied Land
• Nature and the Seasons
• Canadian Identity
• Do You Speak Canadian?

The suggested time frame for this unit is ten weeks (50 hours). This is a suggested time only. Teachers may need to adjust it based on their students’ needs, interests, and learning paces.

This unit uses a variety of literary forms--poetry, prose, and plays--as well as visual and auditory presentations to explore the influence of the Canadian landscape on Canadians and their identity . A national perspective is contrasted with a regional perspective. Students listen to, read about, view, discuss, and write about different Canadian voices. They explore Canadian dialects and plan a variety of essays--literary, personal, and editorial--and oral presentations, including an oral interpretation, a formal speech, and a symposium. The unit ends with a choice of projects (e.g., poetry anthology, multimedia presentation, oral interpretation).

Note: Teachers may wish to begin with the theme Regional Voices and Perspectives: The Prairie (or The North) and then explore national themes (e.g., A Vast and Varied Land or Nature and the Seasons).

Introduction

• Expectations and Procedures

• Land of the Living Skies: Visual images of the Prairie Region and its People
• Reading Nonfiction: Where the World Began (Laurence) or Introduction to Back on the Rez (Maracle) [Tundra (Mowat) or The Idea of North (Friedrich)]
• Listening to Nonfiction (a lecture): excerpt from Far Horizon, Man Along: Landscape in Saskatchewan Writing (King) [The True North Strong and Free (Berger)]
• Reading Fiction: The Painted Door (Ross) or The Desert (Grove) [Ouluk (Wiebe), The Outhouse (Haley), or Akua Nuten (Theriault)]
• Images of a Region in Drama: Mirage (Ringwood) and Canadian Gothic (Glass) [The Land Called Morning (Selkirk) and The Great Hunger (Peterson)]
• Writing a Literary Essay
• Exploring A Region through its Prose and Poetry (projects)

A Vast and Varied Land

Reading Poetry

• from Between Two Furious Oceans (Diespecker)
• The Provinces (Klein)
• The Lonely Land (Smith)
• Our Drum (Mountain) and Not Just a Platform for My Dance (Dumont)
• Your Country/Ton Pays (Lapointe) or Mon Pays (VigneauIt)
• What’s in A Name? The Story Behind Saskatchewan Place Names (Russell)

Nature and the Seasons

• Reading Poetry: Canadian Nature Poems
• Double Entry Journal
• Short Poetry Appreciation and Oral Interpretation

Canadian Identity

• Visual Images of Canadians
• Reading Nonfiction: The Canadian Personality (Hutchinson) or Monday, October 12 (Gzowski)
• Reading Fiction: My Financial Career (Leacock) and We Have to Sit Opposite (Wilson)
• Writing and Presenting an Oral Essay: Profile of a Canadian
• Reading Nonfiction: The Day I Became a Canadian (Pittman) and I Have Known You (George) or Home on the Political Range (Maracle)
• Reading Poetry: O’ Canada (Weir) and Politically Correct O’Canada (Friesen) or O’Canada, Your Home’s on Native Land (Wagamese)
• Reading Non Fiction: Political Correctness Laughed Off Stage (Newman)
• Writing Option: Build Your Own Poem

Do You Speak Canadian?

Note: Teachers selecting this theme should be especially careful to present dialects in an authentic manner, and to treat them seriously and respectfully. Teachers should ensure that selections chosen reflect authentic dialects, and not inauthentic interpretations of dialects.

• Dialects and Idiolects
• Canadianisms
• Regional Dialects

In the English Language Arts A30 course, as in the other English language arts courses, planning and resource selection are determined by the objectives and language concepts. Objectives not addressed in this sample unit should be addressed in the next unit.

Throughout this unit, the following symbols are used to refer to the Common Essential Learnings (C.E.L.s):

Emphasis on particular C.E.L.s within a unit does not preclude the development of other Common Essential Learnings.

The Common Essential Learnings and several objectives and language concepts addressed in this unit will require emphasis in both units of the English Language Arts A30 course. For example, the writing process and the behaviours of good speakers, listeners, and readers are introduced in the first unit and must also receive attention, development, and extension in the second unit.

The following objectives were selected for this sample unit. Foundational objectives are identified by the symbol FO. Related specific learning objectives are listed below each foundational objective.

Speaking

Students will:

• Recognize that talk is an important tool for communicating, thinking, and learning (FO)
  • speak to clarify and extend thinking
  • speak to express understanding
  • speak to share thoughts, opinions, and feelings
• Practise the behaviours of effective speakers (FO)
• recognize and adjust verbal and nonverbal presentation elements (i.e., appropriate articulation, pronunciation, volume, tempo, pitch, stress, gestures, eye contact, facial expression, and poise) effectively and in keeping with purpose, audience needs, and individual cultural and linguistic background
• Speak fluently and confidently in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences (FO)
  • speak to inform and persuade
  • function effectively as both a group member and a group leader
  • deliver an explanatory presentation, supplemented with diagrams, charts, illustrations, or demonstration
  • prepare an oral interpretation or presentation of prose, poetry, or a play
  • participate in a symposium
  • critically review their own oral presentations for content, organization, delivery, style, and audience response.

Listening

Students will:

• Recognize listening as an active, constructive process (FO)
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for listening
  • seek and check understanding by making connections, and by making and confirming predictions and inferences
  • interpret and summarize
  • analyze and evaluate
• Practise the behaviours of effective listeners (FO)
  • respond personally, critically, creatively, and empathetically
  • ask for clarification
  • evaluate ideas critically
• Listen effectively in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes (FO)
  • listen for personal pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction
  • listen to understand and learn
  • assess the overall effectiveness of discussions, presentations, meetings, and speeches
  • outline an oral presentation heard.

Writing

Students will:

• Recognize writing as a constructive and recursive process (FO)
  • use what is known as the writing process
  • use appropriate pre-writing and planning strategies
  • develop ideas previously explored into draft form
  • revise and polish compositions
  • share or present compositions
• Practise the behaviours of effective writers (FO)
  • write introductions that engage interest, focus the thoughts of the readers, and establish the mood and tone of compositions
  • develop compositions with explicit thesis statements
  • use a variety of methods of development and, when appropriate, incorporate research material smoothly and effectively into compositions
  • write conclusions appropriate to the overall intent
  • assess compositions for unity, coherence, and emphasis>
  • analyze and evaluate their own and others’ writing for ideas, organization, sentence clarity, word choice, and mechanics
• Write fluently and confidently for a variety of purposes and audiences (FO)
  • write an editorial and letter to the editor
  • present point of view in a personal essay
  • write a formal literary essay
  • experiment with various forms of writing such as a poem, short story, and parody.

Reading

Students will:

• Recognize reading as an active, constructive process (FO)
  • make connections
  • find meaning
  • make and confirm predictions
  • make and confirm inferences
  • reflect and evaluate
• Practise the behaviours of effective, strategic readers (FO)
  • respond personally, critically, and creatively
  • record responses in a reader’s journal, log, or notebook
  • recognize major literary forms and techniques
  • evaluate the extent to which a specific piece of writing achieves its purpose
• Read a variety of texts for a variety of purposes (FO)
  • relate literary experience to personal experience and extend personal response
  • explore human experiences and values reflected in texts
  • read a wide range of material to extend experience
  • read to stimulate imagination<
  • assess an author’s ideas and techniques
  • read to broaden their knowledge of Canadian literary and cultural heritage
  • compare, contrast, and evaluate texts
  • make and defend an informed critical response
  • cite appropriate evidence to support responses
  • develop an awareness and appreciation of Canadian dialects and Canadian literature
  • recognize that Canadian literature is their literature, and that it expresses in diverse ways their cultural heritage
  • recognize and appreciate the multiplicity of voices that make up Canadian literature.

• Create appropriate nonverbal aids and visual images to enhance communication (FO)
  • present information on a topic with class members in a planned and focused group session using a variety of audio-visual strategies
  • communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings using two or more media
  • deliver a multimedia presentation for a specific audience and purpose
• Recognize nonverbal aids and visual representations as tools for communicating and learning (FO)
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for viewing
  • attend
  • seek and check understanding by making connections, and by making and confirming predictions and inferences
  • interpret and summarize
  • analyze and evaluate
• Practise the behaviors of effective viewers (FO)
  • respond personally, critically, and creatively to visuals, films, and multimedia presentations
  • identify the purposes, intended audiences, messages, and points of view of visuals, films/videos, and multimedia presentations
  • evaluate critically information obtained from viewing visuals, films/videos, and multimedia presentations.

Note: At the 30 Level, teachers should pay special attention to the learning objectives and language concepts relating to Canadian literature and language so that students see connections between language, identity, and cultural heritage.

Language Concepts

The English language arts curriculum is designed to assist students to widen their knowledge and appreciation of the English language. The "nature of language" is best learned contextually, growing out of students’ language production not through isolated drills and exercises that are presented out of context (e.g., workbooks). Students should be actively engaged in using language for their communication purposes. In addition, they should increase their understanding of three broad language concepts:

1. Language varies according to audience, purpose, and situation.
2. Language has structural patterns and conventions.
3. Language develops and changes over time.

As students are engaged in the language processes, teachers are encouraged to diagnose their strengths and needs. A checklist such as the following might be used to keep a record of their understandings and needs.

Text

__ Different purposes and audiences affect the tone and style of a presentation or composition.
__ Speaking and writing have style--qualities that distinguish one speaker/writer from another.
__ A writer’s or speaker’s style is affected by the period or time in which the work is written.
__ Other:

Sentences

__ Writers should strive for clear, varied, and emphatic sentences in their compositions.
__ Sentence variety is an important component of effective style.
__ Other:

Words

__ Words can be powerful tools to achieve particular purposes.
__ Each word has a history (i.e., etymology).
__ The wealth of English words is the result of historical change and expansion of the language.
__ There are different dialects of English (i.e., variations in vocabulary, pronunciation, or idioms).
__ Other:

Sounds

__ Several production factors are important in oral communication (i.e., articulation, pronunciation, tempo, tone, volume, emphasis, pitch).
__ Production factors vary according to particular dialects.
__ Language has sound patterns including rhyme, rhythm, meter, alliteration, consonance, assonance, sibilance, and repetition.

Mini-lessons

Some students may require more assistance than others with specific language concepts and processes. Teachers should take the time to model speaking, listening, writing, reading, viewing, and representing processes and, if necessary, provide mini-lessons before, during, or after students engage in these processes. A mini-lesson is a focused lesson designed to help students learn how to do something (e.g., write a critique). A mini-lesson might also address a language concept needed for a task (e.g., how to vary sentence structures). These lessons can be taught to the whole class, to a small group, or to an individual.

A mini-lesson on writing a thesis statement, for example, might include the following information.

Consciously or unconsciously, readers look for a thesis. Most speakers and writers announce exactly what they want to say to their audience in a thesis statement.

• A thesis statement narrows and focuses the general topic of a presentation.
• A thesis statement makes the main point of a presentation clear to the audience/reader.
• A thesis statement tells the audience/reader what to expect by making the main point of the presentation clear.
• A thesis statement is made early and might be presented as an arguable point (e.g., "Chemistry is not for everyone"), as an observation (e.g., "My experiences with chemistry were disastrous"), as a suggestion (e.g., "Chemistry should be a required subject for everyone"), or as a question (e.g., "How does chemistry help all students?").
• Everything else that follows should support the thesis statement.
• Find several examples of thesis statements in prose that you read during the course of the past week.

Any of the language concepts, strategies, or conventions designated for the course or needed by the students could be developed into mini-lessons.

Assessment and Evaluation

Assessment and evaluation must be closely tied to the learning objectives and processes of this course. A suggested summary form is included on page 284 for ease of planning and unit evaluation. >

Resources

Although specific language resources and literary selections are identified for particular activities in the curriculum, alternative resources and activities of comparable challenge to the students can be used to achieve the unit objectives. English Language Arts 30: A Bibliography for the Secondary Level lists a range of resources that could be used for this unit.

Nonfiction

Short Stories

My Financial Career (Leacock)
We Have to Sit Opposite (Wilson)
The Painted Door (Ross)
The Desert (Grove)
The Outhouse (Haley)
Ouluk (Wiebe)
Akua Nuten (Theriault)

Poems

from Between Two Furious Oceans (Diespecker)
The Provinces (Klein)
The Lonely Land (Smith)
Our Drum (Mountain)
Not Just a Platform for My Dance (Dumont)
Your Country/Ton Pays (Lapointe)
Canadian Nature Poems
O’Canada (Weir; Bill C-36)
Politically Correct O’Canada (Friesen)
Mon Pays (Vigneault)
O Canada, Your Home’s on Native Land (Wagamese)

Plays

Mirage (Ringwood)
Canadian Gothic (Glass)
The Land Called Morning (Selkirk)
The Great Hunger (Peterson)

Other Resources

Heritage Moment: The Naming of Canada (CRB Foundation)
Great Canadian Heritage Quiz (CRB Foundation)
Insight: Culture (Terpening)

Canadian works of art, newspaper clippings, radio and television advertisements, posters, language handbooks, dictionaries, and thesauri are also useful in this unit.

Teachers should also keep several style guides in the classroom and make sure students understand that different style guides are used by different publications and areas of study in post-secondary institutions (e.g., science vs. humanities).

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Sample Assessment and Evaluation Summary English Language Arts 20