English
Level 1
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini.
I come not with my own strengths but bring with me the gifts, talents and strengths
of my family, tribe and ancestors.
Which English skills will you learn in 2020?
The English programme at Ormiston Senior College is an exciting subject where students find their sense of self, are challenged as learners and taught through language and literacy an awareness of their own society which connects them to a global world of ideas - past, present and an imagined future. Our programme reflects the rapidly changing global landscape, to foster future-ready students giving them a compass and navigation tools to find their own way. Programmes are personalised for all our learners to encourage them to grow, strive and build resilience and see the world through different lenses, different perspectives and appreciate different ways of thinking. Our English teachers seek to actively engage our learners in self-discovery in fostering deep critical thinking, character education, citizenship, creativity, be effective communicators and incorporating strong collaborative skills. Skills developed through nurturing positive reading attitudes, habits and meta-cognitive strategies by analysing past and present texts, both fiction and non-fiction to enable our learners to interpret the world they live in from both academic and critical points of view. This subject enables students to be creative and confident communicators to express themselves clearly and succinctly through the exploration of ideas and academic writing. English acknowledges the New Zealand curriculum, school's values and beliefs and norms embedded into all our lessons: Kahikatea, Mokoroa, Kea, Pukeko, Pungawerewere, Waka, Harakeke, Papatuanuku.
Semester One
In semester one you will increase your growing passion for English by learning through language. You will delve deeply into the ideas of writers, directors and orators. Further, you will be given time to develop your passion for creative and persuasive writing. Year 11 learners get to choose from a variety of films, music videos and documentaries to analyse and confidently identify, form and express sophisticated responses on ideas linked to our modern world. You will develop your skills to think critically through researching, debating and problem solving issues concerning our community and beyond Ormiston to our global world. There is an emphasis by our English teachers to ensure you learn to write academic responses, a requirement for all your subject areas as well as higher learning beyond Ormiston Senior College.
Semester Two
In semester two your love for English will see you embark on a pathway towards level two English. You will learn to deconstruct and analyse a range of written and visual text(s.) Your confidence and ability to write an academic response will increase. Responses which show a deep analytical understanding of creators and how they use language to enrich and shape your own and others' lives. You will create an online portfolio which features your written and visual work to include a variety of creative and persuasive pieces. Pieces which will be used to create a script and produce a short film for our iconic infamous 'short film' competition taking place in term four. Lastly, this semester will end with a summer reading challenge to continue your learning and love of reading.
What will I learn?
- Learning through Language to foster academic writing skills essential across all curriculum areas and higher learning beyond school.
- Text study involves engaging all students to make connections to our modern world by critically interrogating a range of written, visual and oral texts. To learn how to inference, read between the lines, an essential life skill. Reading a variety of texts which include novels, short stories, articles, poetry, plays, films and static images. To increase vocabulary and deepen knowledge on the way language enriches and shapes ours and others’ lives.
- Creative and Formal Writing to encourage creativity and persuasive writing abilities.
- Design Thinking Challenge - a human centred approach to encourage higher learning with students working in groups and connecting their research to real world problem solving within our community through questioning and investigation to find solutions.
- Presentations - presenting knowledge using a variety of digital technologies.
- Visual Text - you will examine perspectives and ideas presented by directors through studying visual text(s) to learn important messages and its relationship to our modern world.
What will I learn?
- Personal Response Reading - Term three is dedicated to teaching the important analysis skills required to enter the Year 12 English course in 2021. Learners will self-select a variety of texts, written, visual and oral, then use these to present judgements and personal thoughts using a variety of methods.
- Writing Portfolio - students will learn the processes of writing persuasively and creatively to prepare them for the writing portfolio at year 12 to gain six university credits. This will involve students using agency to increase their creativity and ability to write on topics of their choosing. Writing which is controlled, compelling and crafted using a variety of language features.
- Short Film Competition - you will work collaboratively in groups to produce a short film based on ideas learned from texts studied or from your pieces of crafted writing from throughout the year.
- Summer Reading Challenge - to round off the year you will participate in our popular reading challenge where you will choose a text to read across the summer holidays. The purpose of the challenge is for you to maintain and improve upon reading levels developed throughout the year and prepare you for your next level of learning in English the following year.
What are the course costs?
Poetry in Action - $20