Year 9 English
ENG001 Course DescriptionTeacher in Charge: Mr A. van der Velden.
Recommended Prior LearningOpen entry.
English is the study of language and literature
Welcome to English at MBC!
English in Year 9 is a foundation course that focuses on core skills to develop confident and independent learners. We focus on reading and literacy skills to provide base understanding of how language works in a variety of contexts and develop writing skills to be able to communicate these learnings and ideas to others.
The programme supports student interest where practicable and differentiates both in learning tasks and ability in order to support all learners.
As per the New Zealand Curriculum document "English is the study, use, and enjoyment of the English language and its literature, communicated orally, visually, and in writing, for a range of purposes and audiences and in a variety of text forms. Learning English encompasses learning the language, learning through the language, and learning about the language."
The junior school marks using curriculum levels using a three step system - B, P, A which stands for Basic, Proficient and Advanced. All of our summative assessments are marked using this system so that we can get a clear picture of progress. You have access to this via the Google Classroom and our in-house data collection software KAMAR. Our goal is to have most students working in curriculum level 4 by the end of Year 9.
Students are also tested twice in the year using E-AsTtle reading programmes to help us gauge reading progress.
We look forward to taking you on a learning journey through English.
Course Overview
Term 1
We start at the beginning as we get to know each other, our interests and strengths. Usually this is developed around the key theme of identity. The learning focuses on developing core reading skills and looking at how to craft clever sentences. Research skills are the core focus on our website task and we also start work on our personal reading programme.
Term 2
This term we read unfamiliar texts on a centralised theme which is often survival. We practice our writing skills with paragraphs looking to perfect our technical accuracy. We also begin to work on our presentation skills.
Term 3
Making connections is a key component of the mahi this term as we look at how texts around a common theme develop their ideas. We also start to work on our essay writing skills.
Term 4
This term we refine, refresh and rework our core skills to ensure we have made progress this year.
Pathway