English / Year 9 / Language / Expressing and developing ideas

Curriculum content descriptions

Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness (ACELA1561)

Elaborations
  • comparing and contrasting vocabulary choices in informative and narrative texts, considering how they are used to create precise information, abstract ideas and/or stylistic interpretations of texts
  • identifying examples of acronyms, abbreviations and proprietary words which are used creatively in texts
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Literary styles,  Vocabularies

Video

Can We Help?: Shakespeare words: the process of language change

Imagine being responsible for inventing over 1700 words! That is the legacy of William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the English language. Most of these words were created through translations of Latin words or by combining words with prefixes and suffixes in original ways. In this clip, you'll discover the ...

Video

Can We Help?: Vanishing words: the process of language change

The English language is full of strange contradictions and vanishing words. Have you ever wondered why we sometimes put words together that contradict each other, such as 'pretty awful' or 'terribly good'? If we can be 'ruthless', can we be 'ruthly' as well? Watch as Professor Kate Burridge explains these curious irregularities ...

Audio

Heywire: Autobiography of a flood survivor

Imagine if the town or suburb you live in came under threat due to a natural disaster. How would you react? Shelby Garlick from Kerang, Victoria, was a finalist of the 2012 Heywire storytelling competition for young people. Listen to her inspiring story and explore the lessons she learnt as a result of working with her ...

Video

Heywire: Sussing out the similes in a footy game

If you've ever tried to describe an experience to a friend and said, 'It was just like', you were using a simile. Similes and their close pals metaphors are figures of speech that writers of all sorts of texts use. As you listen to this Heywire audio story, explore Taylor Smith's use of them in his recount of a Saturday ...

Video

Can We Help?: New meanings: the processes of language change

Have you ever engaged in a bit of argle-bargle? It's the original form of a colloquialism you might be more familiar with: argy-bargy. But where does this phrase come from? Etymology is the study of the history and evolution of words. In this clip Professor Kate Burridge explains the origins of this curious phrase and other words.

Online

Persuasive Language

This PDF provides a valuable reference guide and teaching and learning resource for students and teachers on the purpose, features and influence of written and visual persuasive texts. The text provides the reader with information on the techniques employed in creating persuasive texts including appealing to emotions through ...

Text

Creating Fictional Characters

In this teaching activity, students will examine character as a significant element of fictional stories. They will learn methods of characterization, identify supporting details, and critique these methods in works of fiction.

Text

Art and Poetry

How are surrealist techniques applied in art and poetry? In this lesson, students will analyse poetic devices in the poems and images of the surrealist movement. They will learn about artists including André Breton, Robert Desnos, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miró. Students will write original poems using surrealist techniques.

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Learning From Lyrics

In this lesson, students will research the lyrics of contemporary songs to analyse how social issues, are expressed through music and other art forms. Students will interpret song lyrics to create original art expressing the theme, issue, point of view, and/or facts from the song.

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 ...

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The Poetics of Hip Hop

What is the relationship between Shakespearean sonnets and hip hop music? In this lesson, students will analyse the rhythm, form, diction, and sound of hip hop and Shakespearean sonnets. They will then compare characteristics between Shakespeare’s work and the work of hip hop artists to create an original poem or set of lyrics.

Text

Work Sample Year 9 English: Macbeth oral presentation

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 9 English. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

Video

Wuthering Heights: Violence and cruelty

Why might Emily Bronte have included numerous instances of cruelty in Wuthering Heights? Listen as John Bowen, Professor of Nineteeth-century Literature, considers the reasons behind the brutality in the novel. This clip is one in a series of four from the British Library.

Video

Heywire: Fortissimo frogs frustrate family

How could words convey the nightly racket of hundreds of croaking frogs outside your bedroom window? Can you think of ways to engage readers' senses so that they 'experience' the frog chorus? A use of imagery is one of them. It's something we'll explore in this humorous story about the perils of frogs. Could you write or ...

Video

First Tuesday Book Club: The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' is a dystopian novel set in the fictional Republic of Gilead. What are some hallmarks of dystopian novels? What are some similarities and differences between this novel and another dystopian novel mentioned in this video, Orwell's '1984'?

Video

Ways to tell stories

In this video, student writers Noa and Francis discuss the creative choices they made when writing the short stories they've recently had published. Why might structuring a story as a letter be a good way to tell a story about a personal experience? Why was it important for Francis to use a first person narrative voice ...

Online

Trade and Investment at a Glance

Using an illustrated report from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, this Teacher guide provides ten learning sequences that engage students in the analysis and interpretation of data about Australian imports and exports. Students: identify Australia's major exports and imports; investigate international trade ...

Video

Modernism and Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'

Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf is a modernist novel. What makes it so? Think of how it contrasts with Edwardian and even 19th century novels. How does consciousness, or internal reality, as well as multiple perspectives play a part in modernist literature like 'Mrs Dalloway'?

Text

The Conversation - poetry collection

This collection of short articles is about poetry, and its role, relevance and meaning in contemporary Australia and the modern world. It includes commentary about the point of learning poetry, the role of poetry in understanding history (e.g. WW1, Arab Spring, the moon landing), and the role of a Poet Laureate. The articles ...

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 ...