Curriculum Online - English Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

The ideas and approaches outlined in these Guidelines will not be new to some teachers: to others they may appear unfamiliar and radical. Essentially the Junior Certificate syllabus and methodologies are an attempt to build o n the best practice of the past to meet the challenge of a highly diversified constituency of students. Creative, integrated English teaching can provide a rich context for classroom work, easing the stress and resentment frequently occasioned by limited and prescribed courses. The new English syllabus invites the teacher to express his/her enthusiasm in a professional context, in dialogue with the needs of specific students.

Ideally, guidelines should arise out of tested classroom practice. These Guidelines have that affirmation and pedigree supporting them. It is hoped teachers will try out the recommendations made here in their own classrooms and report back their experiences so that the Guidelines can be revised in the light of those encounters.

FOREWORD

There is a recognition of the need for guidelines to help teachers implement new syllabuses for the Junior Certificate. These guidelines are now being issued to schools as part of a wider programme of support. The Minister for Education wishes to express her appreciation of the work of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, of the members of the various course committees, of the Education Officers appointed by the Council and of others who have contributed to the development of these materials - in particular, the Inspectorate of her Department and the presenters and participants at the in-service courses held in Spring 1989.

These guidelines are not prescriptive. Each individual teacher is free to choose his or her preferred teaching methodology for the achievement of the specified objectives and desired outcomes of each new syllabus. These guidelines offer some suggestions which may be of further help to teachers. Particular attention is paid to areas of knowledge, understanding, skills, concepts and attitudes which the new syllabus highlights more than heretofore.

In that context, it is considered desirable to stress some important features which should inform the teaching and learning of the new syllabus -

each syllabus should be taught with conscious reference to the overall aims of the Junior Certificate programme (see inside front cover). Numerous opportunities exist for cross-curriculum linkages: these should be exploited through collective teacher planning and through individual teacher initiative;
teaching practice should highlight the economic, social and cultural implications of Ireland's membership of the European Community and the challenges and opportunities which this provides within a wider context of citizenship. Subjects such as Business Studies and History and Geography are particularly important in this sense but all subject-teaching should incorporate this European dimension.
in Geography and in Science, it is important that issues relating to the environment be treated in a balanced fashion as between the need to conserve and protect the natural environment and legitimate demands of economic development and industrial activity.

These guidelines are but one part of an overall programme of support for teachers. It is envisaged, for example, that in-service courses will focus on many issues which are raised in these guidelines.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment will consult with individual Subject Associations as to how best they might expand, develop and update preliminary lists of references and contacts which have been drawn up by course committees. These references would include books, videos, teaching-packs, computer software and other such material; teachers are advised to contact their particular Subject Association for further information.

SECTION A
The Content of the Junior Certificate English Syllabus

What is to be taught?

At the centre of the syllabus is a series of skills, concepts and attitudes which give positive directions for the teaching of Junior Cycle English. These skills, concet and attitudes are outlined for each year of the programme.

These are essentially the same skills, concepts and attitutdes (with some additions) which were taught for the Intermediate Certificate in the context of prescribed texts.

The major difference in this new syllabus is that teachers are free to choose their own texts and materials to achieve the objectives of the programme. In their choice teachers are expected to choose materials from a wide range of literacy genre along with other print and media material. Lists of material appropriate to each year are outlined in this handbook. These lists are neither prescriptive not exhaustive.

Teachers should design their own programme appropriate to their students by integrating freely chosen texts with skills and concepts in syllabus units.

A syllabus unit is a selection of concepts and skills in literature and language organised about a chosen focus (Texts, Theme, Genre, Language forms/functions) which gives purpose and direction to a part of a programme in English.

Over the three years of the programme teachers are expected to teach six substantial syllabus units. Units should be designed and planned to suit the ability level of the students.

Typically then a teacher might plan a course (in co-ordination with his/her colleagues in English) in a variety of ways. Over the three yeats of the course the teacher should ensure that the students repeatedly encounter all the literary genre (poetry, prose, ploys, novels, short stories and media material) in a variety of units. The choice, structure and approach in a syllabus unit will be very much dependant on the teacher's perception of student needs in the personal, social and cultural domains of language.

For example

Teacher A may choose

Three fiction units
Two drama units
One mass media unit

Teacher B may choose

Three drama units
Two fiction units
One language unit

Teacher C may choose

Three thematic units
Two language units
One poetry unit

Teacher D may choose

One media unit
One thematic unit
One language unit
One poetry unit
One short story unit
One fiction unit

Teacher E may choose

One local studies unit
One prose unit
One poetry unit
Two fiction units
One drama unit

lllustrative examples of a variety of units are contained in Section C of these Guidelines.

The variations in unit choice are endless. But because of the integrated approach advocated, each teacher irrespective of the units chosen will cover the same concepts and skills at a level appropriate to his/her students, through the text's and materials they have chosen.

Assessment will be based on the student's ability to use the skills listed and to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts listed. The approach to assessment will reflect and reinforce the philosophy of the syllabus.

First Year English

Targets and Activites

To facilitate the transition from first to second level education, students in the first year of the English course should be encouraged to use, explore, develop, refine the language that is most immediate and closest to themselves. The orientation of first year teaching will be towards building the student's confidence in language-use in a range of concrete and familiar personal, socail and cultural contexts.

Language

Students should be confirmed and developed in their understanding of:

the forms and structures of sentences and paragraphs
the basic punctuation conventions
language awareness e.g. nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs
a range of spelling patterns
a sense of register and audience

Literature

Students should be able to use these concepts and terms with understanding to facilitate the expression of their personal response to literary experiences or media experiences. These concepts will provide an overall framework for the teaching of a wide range f literary or media genre. The treatment of these concepts must allow for the ability and aptitude of the students concerned.

hero/heroine/villain
conflicts, tensions, climax
point-of-view
characters and relationships
scenes and story-shape
sounds, textures and rhythms of words
style and word selection
sensationalism and realism

Students should encounter these concepts of language and literature neither as isolated abstractions nor in the form of absolute definition. These concepts should be introduced gradually by the teacher, to facilitate students' personal interaction with material and class discussion of material.

The above conceptual core should be integrated with a selection from the following range of language activities.

ORAL AND AURAL SKILLS

Students should be encouraged to -

tell personal anecdote; report another person's anecdote.
engage in conversation in pairs and small groups on familiar and topical issues.
talk on telephone; report telephone conversation.
give and receive instructions and directions.
describe and report on events, places and people.
interview and question at a factual level.
comment on appropriately chosen television and radio material.
participate in interpretative oral approaches to literary experiences, e.g. group-readings, choral verse and scriptreading - improvise in simple dramatic situations
discuss aspects of other students' written work.

READING SKILLS

Students should be encouraged to -

read own written work foe revising and editing purposes.
read other students' written work for the purposes of commentary and revision.
read silently for a variety of particular purposes, e.g. gather facts, seek information, find evidence, discover details, establish viewpoint, give affective/imaginative response.
use a range of reference resources, e.g. dictionaries, indices, encyclopaedias, timetables, catalogues.
read newspapers and journals attending to the selectivity of words, images and general presentation.
view television programmes attending to the selectivity of words, images and general presentation.
read and respond to a range of literary genre; develop and awareness of the significance of sound, texture and rhythm.
respond to cloze-testing and sequencing procedures.

WRITING SKILLS

Students should be introduced to the four basic procedures involved in all substantial writing contexts:

Prewriting: discussion, making notes, brainstorming, drafting.
Writing: first rough draft, initial plan and paragraphing.
Rewriting: redraft and revise as necessary.
Editing: proofreading for errors in style, syntax, spelling, and punctuation.

Students should be encouraged to engage in these procedures continually so they come to experience that the writing process is a thinking process. The act of writing is to be seen as an exploratory process - the student can, through words discover his/her own ideas, feelings and viewpoint. Writing is at best a process of self-definition in relation to a given topic or subject.
Students should be encouraged to engage in the following forms of written discourse:

give information in short cogent notes.
compose captions, headlines and titles.
fill in a variety of application forms.
report on event.
describe in a variety of forms places, events, and people.
write personal letter; write letter requesting/giving information.
keep journal/diary on a range of experiences.
write coherent narrative about self; compose fictional narrative.
write simple dialogue or play-script.
write in simple verse forms.
review literature read privately or read in class.
review films, television material and videos.
write commentary and give response to aspects of literary and media experiences.
engage in word-play to increase familiarity with the linguistic conventions of spellings, punctuation, grammar and syntax.

Some Suggested Resources

A. NOVELS

The Midnight Fox - B. Byars
The Eighteenth Emergency - B. Byars
The Iron Man - T. Hughes
The Boy Who Was Afraid - A. Sperry
The Shrinking of Treehorn - F. Heide
The Red Pony - J. Steinbeck
The Cay - T. Taylor
I am David - A. Holm
The Twelfth of July - J. Lingard
Kes - B. Hines
The Children of the Oregon Trail - R. Van der Loeff
The Summer of My German Soldier - B. Greene
Henry's Log - A. Pilling
The Eagle of the Ninth - R. Sutcliffe
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - P. Lively
The Whispering Knights - P. Lively
In a Blue Velvet Dress - C. Sefton
The Machine Gunners - R. Westall
Under Goliath - P. Carter
The Nargun and the Stars - P. Wrightson
The Great Gilly Hopkins - K. Paterson
Jacob, Have I Loved - K. Paterson
Bridge to Terabithia - K. Paterson
Role of Thunder, Hear my Cry - M. Taylor
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Walkabout - J.V. Marshall
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein
The Hounds of the Morrigan - P. O'Shea
Danny, Champion of the World - R. Dahl
Goodnight, Mr. Tom - M. Magorian
The Runways - V. Canning
Flight of the Doves - W. Macken
Island of the Great Yellow Ox - W. Macken
Viking Princess - M. Mullen
The Coriander - E. Dillon
Irish Tales and Sagas - U. O'Connor
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - S. Townsend
The Diddakoi - R. Godden

B. ANTHOLOGIES OF SHORT STORIES

Meetings and Partings - M. Marland (Longman Imprint)
Loves, Hopes and Fears - M. Marland (Longman Imprint)
The Goalkeeper's Revenge - Bill Naughton (Puffin)
The Lucky Bag - P. Donlon & p. Egan (O'Brien Press)
A Thief in the Night - James Berry (Puffin)
Exploring English I - A, Martin (Gill & Macmillan)
The Shadow Cage - Phillipa Pearce (Puffin)
What the Neighbours Did - P. Pearce
The Fib and Other Stories - G. Layton (Longman)
The Balaclava Story and - G. Layton (Longman)
Other Stories - K. Webb (Puffin)
I Like This Story - M. Riley (BBC)
(novel extracts) - R. Jones (Heinemann Ed)
Tales from the Edge - G. Jarvie (Puffin)
of the World - G. Jarvie (Puffin)
Story Plus Books 1 & 2 - L. O'Flaherty
The Wild Ride and other Scottish Stories - G. Jarvie (Puffin)
The Genius and other Irish Stories - G. Jarvie (Puffin)
The Pedlar's Revenge and Other Stories - L. O'Flaherty

C. POETRY ANTHOLOGIES

*Golden Apples - Fiona Waters (Heinemann)
I Like This Poem - Kay Webb (Puffin)
*A Puffin Book of Verse - E. Graham (Puffin)
The Puffin Book of Magic Verse - C. Causley (Puffin)
*The Wolfhound Book of Irish Poems for young people - Quinn & Cashman (Wolfhound)
Exploring English 3 - A. Martin (Gill)
I Like That Stuff - Ed. Morag Styles (Cambridge)
You'll Love This Stuff - Ed. Morag Styles (Cambridge)
* A full year of poems - M. Harrison & C. Stuart-Clarke (Oxford)
*The New Dragon Book of Verse - C. Harrison & C. Stuart-Clarke (Oxford)
The Rattle Bag - Heaney & Hughes (Faber)
The Lore and Language of School Children - Iona & Peter Opie (Oxford University Press)
The Poolbeg Book of Children's Verse - Sean McMahon (Poolbeg)
Touchstones Books 1, 2 & 3 - M. Benton & P. Benton

*Suitable for class anthology if resources allow

D. DRAMA

The Windmill Series - (6 one-act plays) - (Heinemann)
Play Ten - I0 short plays - Edward Arnold
It's your choice - Six role-playing exercises - Michael Lynch (Edward Arnold)
Drama World Series - S. Fitzpatrick (Cambridge Educ.)
Plays Plus Series - (Collins Educational)
100+ Ideas for Drama - Scher & Verrall (Heinemann)
Another 100+ Ideas For Drama - Scher & Verrall (Heinemann)

Second Year English

Targets and Activities

During the Second Year of the course, students should consolidate the progress made throughout the First Year through -

repetition of the skills in more challenging contexts
development of a richer understanding of the concepts encountered
exploration and application of these concepts in different contexts

While the First Year emphasises language use in informal situations, and while this should remain important, the Second Year should challenge the students in more formal and demanding language situations

LANGUAGE:

Students should be confirmed and developed in their understanding of:

the forms and structures of paragraphs and of more extended compositions.
the basic punctuation conventions
more complex spelling patterns
more challenging sense of register, audience and purpose
language awareness, e.g. prefixes, suffixes, root-words, pronouns, prepositions

LITERATURE:

Students should be able to use these concepts and terms with understanding to facilitate the expression of their personal response to literary experiences or media experiences- These concepts will provide an overall framework for the teaching of a wide range of literary or media genre- The treatment of these concepts must allow for the ability and aptitude of the students concerned-

contrast
narrative voice
character development and motivation
beginnings and endings
mood, atmosphere, tone, imagery and setting
style, word-pattern and verbal choice, in all literature
romance
short-story, novel and play as literary forms

Students should encounter these concepts of language and literature neither as isolated abstractions nor in the form of absolute definition- These concepts should be introduced gradually by the teacher, to facilitate students' personal interaction with material and class discussion of material.
This conceptual core should be integrated with a selection from the following range of language activities.

ORAL AND AURAL SKILLS

Students should be encouraged to

Re-use the First Year activities
Tell story (autobiographical or fictional) to group or class: record and dramatise narrative.
Engage in reasoned debate on agreed topic: put forward opinion or hypothesis and support with evidence. Listen to other presentations and attempt to develop counter arguments.
Give short public speech or presentation on personally chosen topic. Deal with questions on the topic from class audience. Make radio documentary with others on agreed topic.
Ask questions in public addressed to peers or invited speakers. Questions may be literal initially but should try to move into the areas of interpretation, evaluation and speculation.
Cotament on, explore, interpret and evaluate media experiences. Discuss and re-create orally language strategies encountered in the mass media.
Participate in a more sustained oral presentation of literary experiences.
Improvise more extended conversation in more complex situations. Attempt more challenging role-plays.
Attempt theatrical presentations of short scenes from texts.

READING SKILLS

Students should be encouraged to -

Revise and readdress First Year activities.
Read silently for a more sustained period of time for specific purposes, for pleasure, information, evidence.
Engage in private independent reading in fictional and non-fictional prose. Report to class on material read.
Read newspapers, journals, magazines attending to viewpoint, assumptions, accuracy of reporting and style of language. Contrast and evaluate the approach of a range of print-media. Comment on use of illustrations, cartoons and photographs.
View TV programmes attended to the implicit values and assumptions presented. Comment on and evaluate the purpose of a variety of TV programmes.
Read widely in a range of literary genre. Develop an awarensss of the significance and impact of imagery, atmosphere, tone, mood and setting.

WRITING SKILLS

The student should be encouraged to -

Write and rewrite, to develop craft of writing.
Write a report on given topic.
Write a range of formal letters, e.g. invitation, application, condolence, inquiry, gratitude.
Devise application forms for specific purposes e.g. for job, membership.
Devise advertisements brochures for a range of purposes and items.
Write more complex narratives with more than two characters. Use specific setting and create mood.
Write descriptive essay on chosen topic.
Write argumentative essay on chosen topic.
Compose alternative scenes in literary texts.
Write in literary forms about a range of experiences.
Write commentaries and evaluate significance of a range of literary and media experiences.

Some Further Suggested Resources - Second Year

Carrie's War - Nina Bawden (Puffin)
The Fox in Winter - John Branfield (Puffin)
The First of Midnight - Marjorie Darke (Puffin)
The Village by the Sea - Anita Desai (Puffin)
The Granny Project - Anne Fine (Puffin)
The Slave Dancer - Paula Fox (Puffin)
A Mouse and his Child - Russell Hoban
A Wrinkle in Time - Madelene L'Engle (Puffin)
A Wizard of Earth Sea - Ursula Le Guin (Puffin)
The Changeover - Margaret Mahy (Magnet)
Z for Zachariah - Robert O'Brien (Armada)
Island of the Strangers - Catherine Sefton
Shane - Jack Schaefer (Puffin)
Josh - Ivan Southall (Puffin)
Ash Road - Ivan Southall (Puffin)
Song for a Dark Queen - Rosemary Sutcliffe (Knight)
Warrior Scarlet - Rosemary Sutcliffe (Puffin)
A Stitch in Time - Penelope Lively
Let the Circle be Unbroken - Mildren Taylor (Puffin)
A Solitary Blue - Cynthia Voight (Collins)
Talking in Whispers - James Watson (Armada)
The Freedom Tree - James Watson (Armada)
The Scarecrows - Robert Westall (Puffin)

Poetry & Short Stories: As in First Year lists.

Drama

The Tinker's Wedding - J.M. Synge
Riders to the Sea - J.M. Synge
The Shadow of a Gumnan - S. O'Casey
On the Outside - T. Murphy
The Pot of Broth - W.B. Yeats
The Proposal - A. Chekov
Julius Caesar - W. Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice - W. Shakespeare
Henry IV P I - W. Shakespeare
Romeo & Juliet - W. Shakespeare
The Royal Hunt of the Sun - Peter Schaefer

THIRD YEAR ENGLISH

Targets and Activities

The Third Year involves re-encountering at more challenging levels, all the skills and concepts encountered during the first two years.
At this level it would be expected that the student should be able to exhibit more confidence, expertise and understanding in all the domains of language experience.
Students will have encountered a broad range of skills and concepts during the previous two years. This year should be seen as providing the opportunity to exercise and apply the expertise gained and so build up confidence in his/her own response and ability to use words accurately and appropriately.

LANGUAGE

Students should be confirmed and developed in their ability to -

develop basic vocabulary to discuss language use: the grammatical terms, and such terms as phrase, connotation, cliche, synonym, register, audience.
identify manipulative language techniques.
recognise appropriate and inappropriate use of style and register.
be aware of strategies for spelling and punctuation procedures.

LITERATURE

Students should be able to use these concepts and terms with understanding, to facilitate the expression of their personal response to literary experiences or media experiences. These concepts will provide an overall framework for the teaching of a wide range of literary or media genre. The treatment of these concepts must allow for the ability and aptitude of the students concerned.

plot
comedy
tragedy
satire
pathos
melodrama
theatre
lyrical and narrative
tone and irony
symbolism

Students should encounter these concepts of language and literature neither as isolated abstractions nor in the form of absolute definitions. These concepts should be introduced gradually by the teacher, to facilitate students' personal interaction with material and class discussion of material.

This conceptual core should be integrated with a selection from the following range of language activities:

ORAL AND AURAL SKILLS

The student should be encouraged to -

Talk and listen in a wide range of contexts both formal and informal, including all activities suggested for first and second year.

READING

Students should be encouraged to -

Identify types of logical order, chronological, spatial, order of importance.
Identify a writer's purpose in a given passage, to inform, entertain, persuade, inspire.
Draw conclusions, predict outcomes and suggest implications.
Be aware of narrative stance of author, first person, third person, varied, omniscient.
Distinguish between fact and opinion.
Identify in material encountered forms of stereo typing, sex, age, race occupation, nationality, religion.

WRITING

Students should be encouraged to -

Write more extended compositions in a wide range of contexts.
Show clear awareness of variety of audience, purpose and register.

Some Further Suggested Resources - Third Year

Things Fall Apart - C. Acherbe
Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen
Oliver Twist - C. Dickens
The Old Man and the Sea - E. Hemingway
How many miles to Babylon - J. Johnston
A Separate Peace - J. Knowles
To Kill a Mocking Bird - H. Lee
Lamb - B. McLaverty
Cal - B. McLaverty
The Country Girls - E. O'Brien
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - M. Spark
Of Mice and Men - J. Steinbeck
The Day of the Triffids - J. Wyndham
Fahrenheit 451 - R. Bradbury
The Grapes of Wrath - J. Steinbeck
Cry, The Beloved Country - A. Paton

English Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

FOREWORD