English / Year 7 / Literature / Examining literature

Curriculum content descriptions

Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different approaches (ACELT1622)

Elaborations
  • analysing and explaining the structure and features of short stories discussing the purposes and appeal of different authorial choices for structure and language
  • exploring traditional stories from Asia and discussing their engaging features, for example use of the oral mode, visual elements, verse, use of puppets to convey the narrative
  • analysing writers’ depictions of challenges in texts, for example those faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  • discussing a text’s intended audience, whether the text is typical of its type and whether it has fulfilled its purpose
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Narratives

Video

How to Build Stories, Ep 4: Exploring genre and setting of your story

Every genre has different rules. But once you know them, you can choose which rules you want to break. Find out how you can mix and match genres to create unique, interesting stories!

Video

Interviews With 10 Australian Authors, Ch 2: Draw with Bronwyn Bancroft

How do you draw a giant rainstorm? Bronwyn Bancroft loves Australian nature. She knows how to paint the weather, the land, and the animals. In this interview she speaks about what it's like to live in a country town when a storm hits.

Video

Story development and plot holes with Andy Griffiths

How do you move your characters forward in a story? A trick Andy Griffiths uses is asking a lot of questions. His favourite question to ask is "what's the worst thing that can happen next?" Try asking yourself that question if you get stuck when writing your next story. In this clip Andy also talks about plot holes. What ...

Video

Thinking about story themes

Noa and Francis are two young writers who've had their stories published. Listen as they talk about the main ideas they chose to explore in their stories. Find and watch the clips of Noa and Francis reading their pieces at the Melbourne Writers Festival (also found on Splash). How did they build their stories around the ...

Video

Interviews With 10 Australian Authors, Ch 1: Yasou! from Nadia Wheatley

Yasou! Five Times Dizzy is the story of a young girl who tries to bring happiness back into her Yaya's life by giving her a goat. Author Nadia Wheatley speaks with Tom Tilley about her memories of a Greek Australian family living in Newtown and of the years she lived in Crete as being the inspiration behind the story.

Video

Rebecca Lim's spooky themes

Do you enjoy reading spooky stories? Listen to Rebecca Lim as she describes how her half-memories, reading experiences and imagination come together to inspire her.

Text

A World of Myths

How did past civilizations explain natural phenomena? In this teaching activity students will explore how myths help to explain nature and science. Students will read, discuss, and draw comparisons between creation myths and explanatory myths. Examples of myths are included in the unit.

Text

Writing Fables

How do the events in a fable relate to the moral of the story? In this lesson, students will engage in the writing process to create original fables and perform a skit. They will review the elements of a fable and develop an understanding of how to create a centralized focus in a narrative.

Interactive

Nicki Greenberg

This resource is a series of videos featuring writer Nicki Greenberg talking about her career and graphic novels. Related resources and teaching notes are included.

Interactive

Tristan Bancks

This resource is a series of videos featuring writer Tristan Bancks talking about his writing. Related resources and teaching notes are included.

Video

Alice Pung on story settings

Watch this clip to learn how author Alice Pung thinks about settings in her writing. What does she say about they way they inform the characters she develops? Why does Alice think a high school is a good setting for a story? Write a short story that's set in a high school, paying special attention to the dramatic possibilities ...

Video

Sally Rippin on sculpting stories

Watch this clip to learn where Sally Rippin finds inspiration for her writing. What does she say about where story ideas come from? Sally talks about noting down ideas in a notebook and remembering how particular experiences made her feel. What does she say about turning ideas into stories? Why not try keeping a notebook ...

Video

What is spec fic? Rebecca Lim explains

Have you heard of the term 'spec fic'? What is speculative fiction? If you're interested in reading some, why not find out more about the books that Rebecca Lim refers to.

Text

Panchatantra: the lion and the rabbit

This is a folk story titled The lion and the rabbit from the Panchatantra, a book that contains a collection of South Asian folk stories dating back at least 2,000 years. The message of the story is that intelligence is power. The story is eight web pages in length and includes text, illustrations, arrows at the top of ...

Interactive

Syllabus bites: Exploring Asia-related texts

This resource has information, links and study guides on Asia-related texts to support the Australian Curriculum in English for Year 7, 8, 9, 10.

Interactive

Syllabus bites – responding to literature

A web page with information, teacher guides and resources on responding to texts. This resource supports the NSW English K-10 syllabus.

Interactive

Syllabus bites: Visual literacy

A resource with information, study guides and resources on visual literacy to support the English K-10 Australian Curriculum in English. It provides a series of activities, guidelines and tasks about visual texts from a variety of sources. Contains writing scaffolds, templates and proformas for responding and composing ...

Text

Elements of Fables

What are the key elements of a fable? In this teaching activity, students will improvise scenarios found in fables. They will identify the key elements of a fable and describe the author’s use of personification. Examples of fables are included in the unit.

Text

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worldbuilding

In this lesson, students will explore the intersection of science fiction and fantasy from the works of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy. Students will create an original character, thing, ability, and/or place using worldbuilding elements. Students will choose between dramatizing, making a book trailer, or ...

Text

Focus on Indonesia: Cross Curriculum Connections in Secondary Schools

Ideas and resources that connect the learning of Indonesian language with other learning areas.