Year 9 English Curriculum Plan

Autumn Terms One & Two: Novel Study (13 weeks)

All students will work on Animal Farm. They should be able to understand Orwell's political allegory but should also look at characterisation, plot and structure. They should produce a series of written and oral responses, some analytical and some empathic. Speaking and listening work should include class discussion and debate work.

The 1954 cartoon and/or the 1999 film should be studied in comparison with the novel, looking at the different ways in which a text can be interpreted and adapted. The Peter Hall play could also be used as a resource.

Assessment: Non-fiction Persuasive Writing Leaflet completed as a controlled assessment in preparation for the GCSE course

Spring Terms One and Two: Shakespeare Study (11 weeks)

All students should study Macbeth, looking at the ways in which Shakespeare creates tragedy in his work, and discussing the roles of fate, witchcraft, ambition and power-lust. The use of verse should be considered as should the creation of character and plot.

It should be remembered that Macbeth is a dramatic text and so some focus should be given to dramatic interpretation. Students should consider the ways in which design elements in a theatre might add to the power of a performance. They should watch one film interpretation of the play in its entirety (Roman Polanski's version being a popular choice) and may compare and contrast certain scenes from other productions.

Shakespeare's use of themes and messages should be considered by students and this should give rise to group and whole class discussion. The students should analyse language and imagery and consider the way in which Shakespeare uses dramatic irony and other devices to build up tension. They should also be introduced to the term soliloquy.

A range of oral and written responses to the text should be undertaken; some creative and some essay-style responses.

Assessment: Essay question on a particular scene or scenes from the play

Summer Term One: Writing to Describe & Genre Conventions (6 weeks)

In preparation for their GCSE controlled assessments, students should revisit descriptive writing. They should learn the basic conventions and begin to develop an understanding of helpful techniques to adopt when writing descriptively. This will be done by discussion of a variety of extracts and by students experimenting with their own writing.

Students should look at the conventions of a variety of genres of writing, noticing similarities and differences as well as considering the essential characteristics of a particular genre. They should be able to categorise extracts from unseen texts.
Writing within the conventions of a genre should also be undertaken and should lead naturally into the assessment.

Assessment: Genre-based writing task

Summer Term Two: Poetry Analysis

Students should be taught how to analyse poetry, considering structure, language and imagery, versification, messages, mood, atmosphere and personal response. They should look at a range of poetry from different periods, making sure that some Pre-20th Century poetry is considered.
Work could include the presentation, analysis and performance/reading of a poem by small groups, but all students should end the module feeling more comfortable with the analysis of poetry, ready for the challenges of unseen poetry comparison at GCSE.

By the end of Key Stage 3, students should understand:

• The use of audience and purpose in texts and in their own writing
• The importance of the drafting process
• The way in which writing can be crafted to influence a reader through choice of word, phrase, image and layout
• How to use an extensive and varied range of punctuation
• The different triplets of purpose for writing
• The difference between different genres and forms of literature and language
• Knowledge of appropriate terminology to analyse a range of literary and non-literary texts.