Grade 9 English Language Arts
6 units matched to the BC Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Big Ideas
- Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy.
- Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world.
- People understand text differently depending on their worldviews and perspectives.
- Texts are socially, culturally, and historically constructed.
- Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.
Units
Unit 1
Close Reading
Reading original short passages and answering questions about theme, tone, word choice, structure and the author's purpose, using evidence from the text.
Learning standard: Reading closely: inference, theme, tone and the author's craft in short fiction and non-fiction texts
Unit 2
Literary Elements
Recognizing devices such as irony, symbolism, motif, allusion and foils in short excerpts, and describing tone and mood.
Learning standard: Literary elements and devices: irony, symbolism, motif, allusion, foil, tone and mood
Unit 3
Argument & Rhetoric
Spotting ethos, pathos and logos, common fallacies such as straw man and false dilemma, loaded language and bias, and judging whether a source or media message can be trusted.
Learning standard: Persuasive techniques and critical thinking: rhetorical appeals, logical fallacies, bias and the credibility of sources
Unit 4
Grammar & Style
Semicolons, colons, dashes, commas and apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, misplaced modifiers, run-ons and fragments, and choosing a formal or informal register.
Learning standard: Conventions of Canadian English: sentence structure, punctuation, agreement, parallelism and formal register
Unit 5
Language & Style
How word choice shapes feeling (connotation and denotation), how English changes and borrows words, formal and informal register, concise and varied sentences, and devices such as anaphora and rhetorical questions.
Learning standard: Language change, connotation and denotation, elements of style, register and rhetorical devices
Unit 6
Voices & Perspectives
How point of view and background shape a text, why oral traditions and the protocols around them matter, and asking whose voices are present or missing. This unit introduces ideas only; teachers and local First Peoples communities lead deeper learning.
Learning standard: Perspectives and First Peoples texts: point of view, oral storytelling, bias and respectful use of sources
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