New Objectives for Unit II

• demonstrate the ability to trace a coherent thought pattern to a suitable conclusion
• prepare final copy using appropriate conventions of publication (e.g., title page, references, bibliography)
• write a descriptive essay or character sketch
• write a review evaluating a poem, short story, play, or film/video
• other:

Possible Objectives from Unit I for Review and Reinforcement

• practise the behaviours of effective writers
• use what is known as the writing process
• use appropriate pre-writing and planning strategies
• develop ideas previously explored into draft forms
• revise and polish compositions
• write a formal literary essay
• experiment with various forms of writing such as a poem, play, short story, parody, or satire
• other:

• assess how content and organization are influenced by the writer’s choice of literary form
• identify the effect created by the author’s "voice", tone, and style, and examine the methods by which they are achieved
• appreciate the way in which a writer’s form and ideas are shaped into an artistic unit
• evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of information presented
• read to understand and appreciate an international literary heritage and world perspective
• other:

• practise the behaviours of effective, strategic readers
• explore human experiences and values reflected in texts
• respond personally, critically, and creatively
• record responses in a reader’s journal, log, or notebook
• recognize major literary forms and techniques
• other:

• recognize language techniques and media conventions in visuals, films, and multimedia presentations
• other:

• create appropriate nonverbal aids and visual images to enhance communication
• 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 viewing as an active process that requires viewers to:
• 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 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
• other:

(List key language concepts for this unit.)

Because the first unit did not include the intensive study of a full-length novel and nonfiction book, the focus of the second unit should be on these two prose genres. Focusing on one or more of the sub-themes, students could study full-length works (such as those shown in the chart on the following pages) using a whole class, small group, or individual approach. On the chart, F (female) and M (male) indicate the gender of the author. This unit for English Language Arts A30 could also include several examples of short prose (fiction and nonfiction), poetry, and multimedia selections.

... not selfishly--or not always selfishly, we are in search of our identity, the identity of our human condition.                                                                  
                              - Malcolm Ross & John Stevens

The most profound discovery that we can make is our discovery of self. Our identity rests in the kind of people we are. To understand who we are and to develop fully as human beings, we must explore the nature of our humanness and the purpose of our lives. Who and what are we? What are the common human qualities and ideals we hold? What roles do other people (e.g., friends, family) play in our lives? What brings us joy, inspiration, and fulfillment? What doubts and fears do we have? By examining our lives and searching for answers to these and other questions, we can find meaning and fulfilment as human beings.

The life which is unexamined is not worth living.

                                                                                                     - Plato

One of the roles of literature is to hold a mirror to the human condition and to show us the nature of the human mind and heart. By addressing and describing the issues of life, literature shows us the admirable side of humanity--the dignity, the valour, the integrity, the selflessness--as well as the ignoble side--the envy, the deceit, the vanity, and the greed. Individuals are always searching for answers and striving to realize dreams. However, they are often filled with self-doubt and come up short of their expectations. In the final analysis, we must ask "what makes us who we are"?

In this unit, students are asked to consider who they are, how they relate to others, how they deal with the joy, doubts, and fears of life, and what kind of identity they wish to create for themselves throughout life.

Possible sub-issues include:
Identity and Sense of Self
Human Qualities and Ideals
Human Relationships
Joy and Inspiration; Doubt and Fear.

In an issue-based course, students explore their thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions as they examine issues related to their world and the world of others. Students are encouraged to use language purposefully and effectively as they process information, make decisions, solve problems, and think creatively and critically. As students examine issues, they develop competence in understanding and using language. As they examine literature from many periods and different genres, students understand the scope of human experience.

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

This unit explores the human condition through the literature of a variety of writers who have worked and lived in different geographical regions during different historical periods. Using contemporary and traditional world literature as a basis for comparison, students are given opportunities to compare and contrast global perspectives on a particular issue. During this unit, students also learn about the development of the English language and its literature as well as world literature. Throughout the unit, students are expected to speak, listen, write, read, represent, and view for a variety of purposes. They are expected to prepare a portfolio of spoken, written, and visual products including a nomination speech, a review, and a research essay.

• Expectations and Procedures
• Preparing a Portfolio
• Introduction to Unit

The following is a list of resources and topics by sub-issue. A full list of resources for the unit appears on page 324.

• What’s In a Name?
  • Who Are You? (Davidson, USA) (essay)
  • What’s Your Right Name? (Davidson, USA) (essay)
  • How I Came to Have a Man’s Name (E. Lee Warrior, USA) (poem)
  • Two Standards (E. Paschen, USA) (poem)
• Who Are You? (Voznesenky, Russia) (poem) or Identity (Palanco, Puerto Rico) (poem)
• I am Not I (Jiménez, Spain) (poem), The Mirror (Plath, USA) (poem)
• The Enemy (Neruda, Chile) (poem)
• Writing

• Admirable People of Our Time
• Shooting An Elephant (Orwell, England) (essay) or excerpt from Night (Wiesel, Romania) (essay)
• Short stories from the Global Community
• A Nomination Speech for an Award
• Admirable and Not-so-admirable People of Other Times:
  • excerpts from Beowulf, England (poem)
  • The Pardoner's Tale (Chaucer, England) (poem)

• Fear (Mistral, Chile) (poem), Rituals--Yours and Mine (Blaeser, USA) (poem), or Understanding Each Other (Noel, USA) (poem)
• The Season’s Dying (Ziller, USA) (short story) or Eavesdropping (McDaniel, USA) (short story)
• Immortality (Seiden, USA) (essay)
• Road (Libby, USA) (poem)
• Special Relationships:
  • Sonnet 43 (E. B. Browning, England) (poem) or My Last Duchess (R. Browning, England) (poem)
  • Porphyra's Lover (R. Browning, England) (poem) or from In Memoriam (Tennyson, England) (poem)
• Tonight I Can Write (Neruda, Chile) (poem)
• Working in Groups:
  • A Warning Against Passion (C. Brontë, England) (letter/essay)
  • Of Love or Of Marriage and Single Life (Bacon, England) (essay)
• Listening:
  • Judas (O’Connor, Ireland) (short story), A Marriage Is a Private Affair (Achebe, Nigeria) (short story), or Love Must Not Be Forgotten (Jie, China) (short story)

• The Pursuit of Happiness
• Happiness (Kenyon, USA) (poem), Happiness (Sandburg, USA) (poem), Happiness (Whitman, USA) (poem), or Happiness Is a Butterfly (Hawthorne, USA) (poem)
• The Happy Man (Mahfouz, Egypt) (short story), Three Years of Carefree Happiness (Chen, China) (short story), Life Is Sweet at Kumansenu (Niceal, Sierra Leone) (short story), Searching for the Bishop (Medicine, USA) (short story) or The Pig (Kimenye, Uganda) (short story)
• Doubts and Fears
  • When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be (Keats, England) (poem)
  • id rather forget we cant live forever (Machura, USA) (poem) or On His Blindness (Milton, England) (poem)
• Hamlet (Shakespeare, England) (play)
  • Review of a play or a film
  • Research essay or position paper
• Contrapuntual Reading: The Kitchen God’s Wife (Tan, USA) (novel)

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

COM	Communication
CCT	Critical and Creative Thinking
IL	Independent Learning
PSVS	Personal and Social Values and Skills
TL	Technological Literacy
NUM	Numeracy

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

The Common Essential Learnings and several objectives and language concepts addressed in this unit will require emphasis throughout the English Language Arts B30 course. For example, the writing process and the behaviours of good speakers, listeners, and readers might also receive attention, development, and extension in a subsequent 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 oral presentation elements (e.g., articulation, pronunciation, volume, tempo, pitch, stress, gesture, eye contact, facial expression, and poise) effectively and in keeping with purpose, audience needs, and individual cultural and linguistic background
  • critically review their own oral presentations for content, organization, delivery, style, and audience response
• Speak fluently and confidently in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences (FO)
  • speak to inform and persuade
  • develop and articulate defensible positions on individual, community, national, and world issues
  • function effectively as both a group member and a group leader
  • participate in a panel discussion
  • present a nomination speech.

Students will:

• Recognize listening as an active, constructive process (FO)
  • anticipate a message and set a purpose for listening
  • attend
  • 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
  • adjust listening strategies to purpose
  • identify bias and fallacy in a speaker’s argument
  • distinguish between emotional appeal and reasoned argument
  • identify tone and mood of presentations
• 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
  • listen in order to assess positions on individual, community, national, or world issues.

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, present, or publish compositions
• Practise the behaviours of effective writers (FO)
  • develop compositions with explicit thesis statements
  • write introductions which engage interest, focus the thoughts of the readers, and establish the mood and tone of compositions
  • use a variety of methods of development and, when appropriate, incorporate research material smoothly and effectively
  • 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 a convincing argument using logical thought and persuasive language
  • write and document a short formal research essay
  • write and document a convincing analysis of a literary work
  • write a review evaluating a poem, short story, play, or film/video
  • experiment with various forms of writing such as a poem, play, short story, chapter of a novel, parody, or satire.

Students will:

• Recognize reading as an active process (FO) that requires readers to:
  • 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
  • paraphrase a prose and/or poetry passage
  • consider the social, historical, and philosophical milieu in which a selection was created
  • recognize satire
• 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
  • read to understand and appreciate an international literary heritage and world perspective
  • assess an author's ideas and techniques
  • make and defend an informed critical response
  • compare, contrast, and evaluate texts
  • develop and articulate defensible positions on individual, community, national, or world issues reflected in texts.

Students will:

• Create appropriate nonverbal aids and visual images to enhance communication (FO)
  • communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings using two or more media
• 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 behaviours of effective viewers (FO)
  • respond personally, critically, and creatively to films/videos
  • identify the purposes, intended audiences, messages, and points of view of films/videos
  • evaluate critically information obtained from viewing films/videos.

The English language is a significant global and multi-cultural language. 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 and not through isolated drills and exercises that are presented out of context (e.g., workbooks). During the course of this and the subsequent unit, students should be actively engaged in using real language processes 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.

Also during the course of this unit, it is anticipated that students will develop an understanding and respect for the diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.

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

Text

__ Different purposes and audiences affect the tone and style of a presentation or composition.
__ Different purposes and audiences require different modes of discourse (i.e., descriptive, narrative, expository, or persuasive).
__ An effective composition is unified, coherent, and emphatic.
__ The main ideas of a longer composition can be outlined.

Sentence

__ Writers should strive for clear, varied, and emphatic sentences in their compositions.
__ Clear formal compositions avoid sentence fragments, run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, and faulty pronoun reference.
__ Basic English sentence patterns can be expanded, compounded, and transformed.
__ Effective written sentences use precise words.
__ Sentences structures can be loose or periodic.
__ Sentence structures can be made parallel, balanced, or inverted.

Word

__ An appropriate word suits the time, place, and audience.
__ Words can be powerful tools to achieve particular purposes.
__ Word can be loaded with meaning and significance.
__ Canadian English is marked by spelling choices.
__The wealth of English words is the result of historical change and expansion of the language.

Sound

__ Several production factors are important in oral communication (i.e., articulation, pronunciation, tempo, tone, volume, emphasis, pitch).
__ Language has sound patterns including rhyme, rhythm, meter, alliteration, consonance, assonance, sibilance, and repetition.
__ The sounds in the English language have changed over time.

The learning of language conventions can be supported, for example:

• with the whole class in preparation for an editing task
• with small groups who have a common writing problem
• with individuals during conferences
• with mini-lessons.

Some students may require more assistance than others with specific language concepts and processes. Teachers should take the time to model the speaking, listening, writing, and reading processes and, if necessary, to provide mini-lessons before, during, or after students engage in these processes. A mini-lesson can be taught to the whole class, to a small group, or to an individual.

The following is an example of a mini-lesson on teaching students how to prepare a paraphrase, précis, or outline.

Paraphrases, précis, and outlines encourage more thoughtful reading and listening. They require students to express in their own words the key ideas and essential supporting details of a presentation. When students transform a piece of writing from one form to another, they come to understand it better.

A paraphrase restates in one’s own words what one has read or heard. It must state fully and clearly the intended meaning of a piece and it usually, although not always, simplifies and shortens it. When writing a paraphrase students might :

• locate the main idea(s)
• list the supporting details
• simplify, if possible, the vocabulary
• reflect the proportion and emphasis of the ideas in the original
• convey the tone of the original as accurately as possible.

A précis is a summary in our own words of something we have read or heard. In most cases, the précis is no more than one-third as long as the original. When writing a précis, students might:

• determine the overall meaning of the speech or written work
• identify the major idea(s)
• write a summary of the major ideas using their own words
• include only essential information
• keep the point of view of the original.

An outline is an organized list of what a speech, written work, or presentation includes. Topic (idea) outlines are usually stated in words and phrases rather than complete sentences. Sentence outlines contain major points made as well as the important supporting details. When writing an outline, students might:

• identify the key ideas and words
• list the supporting ideas
• use the outline format:

• remember that the new subdivision should not be started unless there are at least two points to be listed in the new divisions (each 1 must have a 2).

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

Assessment and Evaluation

Throughout this unit, assessment and evaluation must be closely tied to the learning objectives and processes of the course. A suggested summary evaluation form is included on page 326 for ease of planning and unit evaluation.

Resources

Although specific language resources and literary selections are identified for particular activities, 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 can be used to achieve the objectives of this curriculum.

Some resources chosen for this sample unit are listed below.

Who Are You? (Davidson)
What’s Your Name? (Davidson)
Shooting An Elephant (Orwell)
Excerpt from Night (Wiesel)
Immortality (Seiden)
A Warning Against Passion (C. Brontë)
Of Love (Bacon)
Of Marriage and Single Life (Bacon)

Short Stories

The Season’s Dying (Ziller)
Judas (O’Connor)
Marriage Is a Private Affair (Achebe)
Love Must Not Be Forgotten (Jie)
The Happy Man (Mahfouz)
Three Years of Carefree Happiness (Chen)
Life is Sweet at Kumansena (Nical)
The Pig (Kimenye)
Eavesdropping (McDaniel)
Searching for the Bishop (Medicine)

Poetry

Who Are You (Voznesenky)
Identity (Palanco)
I Am Not I (Jiménez)
The Enemy (Neruda)
The Mirror (Plath)
How I Came to Have a Man’s Name (Warrior)
Two Standards (Paschen)
Rituals--Yours and Mine (Blaeser)
Understanding Each Other (Noel)
Beowulf
The Pardoner’s Tale (Chaucer)
Fear (Mistral)
Road (Libby)
Sonnet 43 (E. B. Browning)
My Last Duchess (R. Browning)
Porphyra’s Lover (R. Browning)
In Memoriam (Tennyson)
Tonight I Can Write (Neruda)
Happinesss (Kenyon)
Happiness (Sandburg)
Happiness (Whitman)
Happiness Is a Butterfly (Hawthorne)
When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be (Keats)
id rather forget we cant live forever (Machura)
On His Blindness (Milton)

Plays

Hamlet (Shakespeare)

Novels

The Kitchen God’s Wife (Tan)

Other Resources

Newspaper clippings, radio and television advertisements, posters, films and videos, language handbooks, dictionaries, style guides, and thesauri are also useful in this unit.

Guiding Questions

In this unit, students are asked to consider who they are, how they relate to others, how they deal with the joys, doubts, and fears of life, and how personal identity develops. Appropriate guiding questions can help students grow in their language and thinking skills, and in their appreciation for the issues being examined in this unit. Students are encouraged to consider the following guiding questions.

Identity and Sense of Self

Guiding Question: Who and what are we?

Sample Related Questions:

• What makes us unique? Distinctive?
• What does it mean to be a human being? What is our human nature?
• Do we see ourselves the same way that others see us?
• How do our values of self affect our lives?
• How does being the member of a particular group affect our identity and sense of self?

Guiding Question: What are the common human qualities and ideals we hold?

Sample Related Questions:

• Are there universal ideals for which we all strive?
• How ought human beings to behave? Is desirable behaviour the same in all cultures? In all communities?
• What is right? What is admirable? What is not-so-admirable? Does everyone agree?
• Why do our actions sometimes fall short of our ideals?
• What is the darker side to human nature?

Guiding Question: What role do people (e.g., friends, family) play in our lives?

Sample Related Questions:

• How should we treat people?
• What characteristics make people liked and respected? Is it good to strive to be liked? When might it be bad?
• What is the meaning of love?
• Can love be destructive? Do people sometimes confuse love with other feelings?
• How do we get our needs met through our relationships with others?

Guiding Question: What brings us joy and inspiration in life?

Sample Related Questions:

• What do optimistic and pessimistic mean? How do they apply to one’s view of life?
• What is the "good life"? Is it the same for everyone?
• What is a happy life? What is the meaning of happiness? Does happiness mean different things to different people? How might we achieve perfect happiness in life? How might we find personal fulfillment?
• What inspires us?
• What gives us reason to celebrate as individuals and as communities?

Guiding Question: What doubts and fears do we have?

Sample Related Questions:

• What special challenges do doubts and fears bring to an individual?
• What are ways of overcoming doubts and fears?
• How can having doubts and fears be an advantage?
• How do people react to tragedy or loss in their lives?
• Is it natural to feel anger and hatred sometimes?
• What are people's sources of strength?
• How can strength and healing arise out of tragedy and loss?

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Sample Assessment and Evaluation Summary English Language Arts B10