<p> English Department Curriculum Share</p><p>Year 7</p><p>The courses and exam boards students follow:-</p><p>GCSE Exam Board: AQA English Language and Literature.</p><p>Each term, Year 7 pupils will be following an English Language scheme of learning with elements of the English Literature exam embedded in the thematic units. </p><p>Useful course materials / revision guides / study aids to support your child at home:-</p><p>Any access to reading of any sort will assist your child immensely throughout the year. In particular, your child will be reading the novel ‘Cirque du Freak’ by Darren Shan, a selection of non-fiction materials, newspaper articles, internet blogs, reviews and extracts from plays, poems and other Literature texts such as ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Monkey’s Paw.’ </p><p>List of resources in the academy available to borrow from our Library:-</p><p>‘Cirque du Freak’ and a selection of other novels by the same author.</p><p>‘Harry Potter’ novels.</p><p>Gothic horror stories such as Frankenstein.</p><p>A wide variety of autobiographies and biographies.</p><p>Magazines are available to be read in the library.</p><p>Students are assessed by:-</p><p>An initial reading and writing assessment in September 2017, followed by smaller reading or writing assessments each half term. The year culminates in a formal Language exam in June 2018 where your child will be expected to complete a reading and writing section of an examination paper which is modelled off the GCSE English Language paper 1.</p><p>Homework help and advice available from:-</p><p>Classroom teachers, Academic Mentors, Learning Support Assistants and from the KS3 homework club which will be running every Monday from 2.55-3.45pm and at Thursday lunchtimes.</p><p>Useful apps and website to support this stage of learning:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/z3kw2hv www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/spelling-and-grammar http://www.educationquizzes.com/ks3/english/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/ http://www.btboces.org/Downloads/6_The%20Monkeys%20Paw%20by%20WW%20Jacobs.pdf </p><p>My child is struggling – what can I do? Contact your child’s English teacher, either at the Academy or by writing a note in your child’s planner so they are aware of your concerns. Advise your child to ask for help from their teacher and other adults in the classroom. Ask your child to attend homework and revision clubs for assistance or speak with Miss Rhodes or Mrs Young in the Academic Mentors area.</p><p>My child loves this subject – what else can they do?</p><p>Your child could become a part of the following extra-curricular activities we have available in the department which consist of reading and writing clubs with Miss Palmer; Drama in English with Miss Marsden; Homework Club with Miss Wilding and Reading Hub in the school library. They could also attend some of the extra-curricular trips which will be on offer throughout the year, e.g theatre trips, cinema trips, visits to the library. Students can also actively become involved with the activities around World Book Day. </p><p>The English team recommend going to see/do:-</p><p>Joining the Learning Resource Centre on Victoria Avenue East Joining your local library Reading children’s literature from the new Children's Laureate, Lauren Child.</p><p>Half –Term planner 2017-8</p><p>Sept-Oct Oct-Dec</p><p>Topics and texts Key Vocabulary / Topics and texts Key Vocabulary: studied: games to play: studied: Alliteration,  Autobiography - A Bit audience,  Thematic Unit: imperative, verbs, About Me autobiography, Heroes and Villains. adverbs, adjectives,  Cirque du Freak biography, explain, Students will read the novel connotations, Students will read the novel fact, non-fiction, Students will read a metaphor, simile, Cirque Du Freak. They will opinion, paragraph, selection of text types opinions, structure. produce a range of written point of view, based on heroes and pieces including creative purpose, sentence villains. Students will be writing. A final reading a types, figurative writing assessment will be working towards language techniques, at the end of the unit. completing a piece of tone, impression, descriptive writing and how context, impression, writers’ structure their connotations, work for effect. protagonist.</p><p>Activities and ways to help at home: Activities and ways to help at home:</p><p>Discussing your child’s background/family tree Discuss with your child what your ideas of with them. heroes and villains are and why.</p><p>Reading extracts of the novel with your child Discuss with your child about how people can be perceived versus how they actually are. along with any other works by the same author. Encourage your child to use more adventurous Reading first drafts of work completed. words when describing. Supporting with completion of homework. Supporting with completion of homework.</p><p>Jan-Feb Feb-Mar</p><p>Topics and texts Key Vocabulary: Topics and texts Key Vocabulary: studied: studied: Alliteration, anecdote, Alliteration, anecdote, Thematic Unit: People and fact, opinion, Comparative Non-Fiction fact, opinion, Places. rhetorical question, Reading and Writing. rhetorical question, statistics, imperatives, statistics, imperatives, Students will read a Students will read a selection of text types modal verbs, triplets, modal verbs, triplets, selection of non-fiction based on the theme of repetition, bias, repetition, bias, people and places. Students journalist, columns, texts and be asked to journalist, columns, will be working towards photographs, compare them. They will photographs, also be working on a letter completing a persuasive audience, readership, audience, readership, speech. to the local council arguing purpose, form, purpose, form. their point of view. stanza.</p><p>Activities and ways to help at home: Activities and ways to help at home:</p><p>Discuss with your child about places – link to Your child could have access to a newspaper what they know in Geography. and/or news website to familiarise themselves Encourage your child to be confident at with how an article is presented. persuading people to support their views. Encourage your child to listen to famous Supporting with completion of homework. speeches. Supporting with completion of homework.</p><p>Apr-May Jun-July</p><p>Topics and texts Key Vocabulary: Topics and texts Key Vocabulary: studied: studied: Inferences, Character, setting, Exam preparation and quotations, language, Introduction to Gothic impressions, pathetic structure, addressing the issues. Literature: The Monkey’s fallacy, connotations, comparisons, content, Paw context, tension, In this half-term, students engagement, critical evaluation. will be sitting a formal exam sentences, Students will be reading that is split into two vocabulary, The Monkey’s Paw and sections – reading and punctuation. completing a range of writing – based on the GCSE activities to support the paper 1. skills of critical evaluation and narrative writing.</p><p>Activities and ways to help at home Activities and ways to help at home:</p><p>To assist your child as they work through Discuss elements of gothic literature – sinister revision work given to them by their teacher. settings, werewolves, vampires.</p><p>To encourage your child to attend revision Discussion around magic and making wishes classes that will be run by the English and dealing with consequences. department. Supporting with completion of homework. Supporting with completion of homework.</p>