10ENG - ENGLISH

Year 10 English is important because it:

• Enhances lifelong learning and communication skills such as reading, writing, speaking, viewing and listening.

• Contributes to your developing sense of identity and connection with the world, and your awareness of Aotearoa’s bi-cultural heritage.  You will  learn how to think about a variety of texts in order to understand the power of language to enrich and shape your own and others’ lives.  

• Allows you to develop skills that empower you to think critically and express yourself creatively. 

This course prepares you by building foundational knowledge and skills for higher-level study, and the transferable literacy skills needed for success in all areas.

In Year 10 English you will:

• Develop reading and writing skills that help you engage meaningfully with a range of texts.

• Develop your ability to deliberately use a range of language features, and show increasing understanding of how language is purposely crafted in texts.

• Demonstrate your understanding by using language to communicate critical and creative thinking.

• Develop capacity to support ideas in writing with specific details.

• Use an increasing range of punctuation, spelling and grammar accurately to enhance ideas.

• Learn to improve your communication of ideas by using a feedback process, with teachers and peers.

• Learn to connect with texts to inform how you interact with the wider world.

You will examine how writers and directors creatively use the conventions of their chosen medium to make us consider a range of relevant ideas. This course reflects the New Zealand curriculum and is broadly based on making meaning (recognising the ideas and craft in the texts that you read) and creating meaning (presenting ideas in a range of mediums using techniques appropriate to purpose).  As such, you will have the opportunity to examine craft used in:

• Extended written text (Novels and/or Plays)

• Short written text (Short stories and/or poetry)

• Visual text (Posters and/or Film)

• Oral text (Speeches and/or Plays)

Through exposure to these text types you will develop your literacy skills in English.

Skills to be developed through the year include:

• Reading for meaning

• Sequencing supported ideas

• Using punctuation, spelling and grammar accurately

• Presenting moving and/or static images

• Students will be expected to use the style of the texts that they study in creating their own work as evidence of learning. 

Homework

You should be reading for pleasure - teachers will negotiate how reading is monitored with the students.  Other than that, homework expectations are that ākonga complete work started in class, and perhaps work on some learning tasks at home to deepen understanding and revisit the learning. 

The course flows from the material studied in Year 9, but a greater level of sophisticated thought and creativity is developed. In Year 10 English you should: 

• Be able to write using increasingly accurate sentence structures and detailed paragraphs.

• Be able to recognise and discuss a range of language features that writers and directors use to create ideas.

• Be able to draw conclusions based on a range of texts

You will be able to build your existing literacy skills by being:

• • Willing to listen and engage openly in the ideas of others in a range of forums.

  • Able to receive and provide feedback to their peers.

  • Curious about how others see the world.

  • Resilient and able to persist when dealing with challenges.

  • Able to work independently or collaboratively according to the task.

  • Able to take responsibility for themselves as learners including completing tasks and assignments independently.

If you would benefit from additional literacy support you may consider selecting INT as an option subject.

Your progress in communicating critical ideas creatively, will be tracked through:

• Responses to written and visual texts

• Creative and non-fiction writing opportunities

• Speaking/presenting tasks

• Responses to unfamiliar texts

A range of formal and informal checkpoints will take place throughout the year.  Students will be advised of targets at the start of each term.  

Assessment in the Middle School

This course is assessed using our WC Learning Progression Framework and provides an excellent foundation for students wishing to continue onto NCEA L2 English. The formative nature of our assessment is what supports continued learning over the course of the year.