Syllabus Units

SAMPLE UNITS

General Approaches to Sample Units

1. The following units are simply illustrative of the approach recommended by the syllabus. All these units, whether detailed or in outline, will need to be adapted by individual teachers to suit their own particular situation. Teacher interest, availability of resources and student ability will obviously be major factors determining changes.
2. If teachers find these units unsatisfactory then they should design their own Units in co-operation with colleagues.
3. In text based units it is of fundamental importance that a priority position is given in the classroom to an initial enjoyable encounter with the chosen text. Although language assignments can be provisionally planned by the teacher they should arise naturally out of the imaginative and recreative experience of the text. Language assignments should not be arbitrarily imposed as texts.
4. Theme based units should be approached in such a manner that does not severely reduce the potential and fullness of texts to serve the needs of the unit.
5. In all units literacy and oracy skills should be effectively integrated as the teacher realises the needs and standards of the students in these areas.

NOTE: The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has identified the specific need to ensure that routes through the syllabus be devised for weak or remedial students.Some sample units, focusing on language development will be developed in this context. In particular, it must be stressed that the current syllabus can easily encompass remedial courses designed to meet the needs of twelve to fifteen year olds with language difficulties.

LIST OF SAMPLE UNITS

1. Heroes and Heroines
2. Fiction: 'The Midnight Fox'
3. Fiction: 'Walkabout'
4. Fiction: 'The Cay'
5. Prose (Autobiography): 'Twopence to Cross the Mersey'
6. People and Relationships
7. Fiction: 'The Iron Man'
8. Short Stories: Animals in Literatur~
9. Poetry: Narrative Verse
10. Fiction: 'Huckleberry Finn'
11. Drama
12. Drama: 'The Merchant of Venice'
13. Drama: 'Henry IV'
14. Mass Media: general
15. Mass Media: advertising

SAMPLE UNIT 1 - A Thematic Unit

A. HEROES AND HEROINES

1. First Year.
2. Contexts of Interest
(a) Pop Stars and Sport Heroes/Heroines
(b) Dreams of Fame and Fortune
(c) Rebels, Patriots, Explorers, Handicapped Persons
(d) Heroes/Heroines in Literature
3. Provisional Objectives
(a) Personal Literacy and Oracy:
Speaking and Listening: Group/Class Discussions, Interviewing
Writing: Personal Letter
(b) Social Literacy and Oracy:
Reading: Newspapers and Magazines
Writing:Headlines, Captions and Record Blurbs
(c) Cultural Literacy: Respond to short-stories, poems and novels in a variety of ways e.g. compose scenes, interpret orally, listen to readings: read novel.
4. Resources

Choose from the following as appropriate to students' abilities and interests.

1. Pictures of Pop Stars and Sports Stars
2. Newspapers, magazines, record sleeves
3. Short Stories: Walter Mitty: The Trout
4. Novels: The Boy Who was Afraid - A. Sperry; The Eighteenth Emergency - B. Byars; Walkabout - J.V. Marshall
5. Verse and Story: The Highwayman: The Ballad of Athlone; Horatius on the Bridge (Extract); Songs of the Sourdough; et al.

OUTLINE OF CLASS ACTIVITY: Heroes and Heroines

SAMPLE UNIT 2 - A Fiction Unit

The midnight Fox - Betsy Byars

Resources

1. Copy of novel for each student.
2. Selection of poems, short stories, media material.
3. File/copybook for each student - to make a portfolio of work focussed on the novel.

General Objectives (taken from First Year programme of concepts and activities)

1. Oral/Aural: tell anecdote; engage in discussion; ask questions; present poems.
2. Reading: read silently for a range of literal and appreciative purposes; read aloud interpretatively; read stories and poems for pleasure; approach media material to focus on word choice.
3. Writing: write narrative with beginning, middle, end shape; compose nonsense poems, engage in word play; plan and present poster; write letter to outside audience.
4. Basic Skills: Capitals, Fullstops, paragraph making, spellings and vocabulary as they arise.
5. Literary concepts: character development, hero, story shape.

Pre-Reading Activities

APPROACHES:

• Discuss cover picture
• Speculate on title
• Read opening paragraphs: prediction

Reading the Novel:

Strategies for developing student engagement:

1. Teacher reads regularly - humour, tone, emotional range
2. Students do group reading for interpretative purpose
3. Silent reading for particular end, e.g. facts, opinion, response - class and group discussion on character and action.
4. Students write regularly in response journal free or directed written interventions in text, fill in gaps, change viewpoint.
5. Language awareness procedures as is thought desireable - cloze, prediction, sequencing, summary.

Post-Reading

1. Divide novel into episodes for T.V. series; give title to each.
2. Describe a picture you would compose for this novel - reconsider the cover picture.
3. Compose epilogues: what happened to Tom, the fox and cub, Petie.

SAMPLE UNIT - 'The Midnight Fox' - extended activities

I. RE-READINGS/AESTHETIC A N D IMAGINATIVE CONTEXTS

Assignments:
Compose suitable Headlines/Captions for each story:
Write paragraph to develop headline

Oral/Written:
Imagine characters from the different stories meeting - suggest what would happen.
Tell anecdote about animal encounter.
Compose story and animal theme:
viewpoint:
beginning/middle/ end: 3-6 paragraphs.
After final draft insert into file.

2. HUMOUR AND FANTASY

3. MASS MEDIA

4. LANGUAGE AWARENESS

Optional Private Reading

The Eighteenth Emergency - B. Byars
Run Wild, Run Free - T. McCaughren
Bless the Beasts and the Children - G. Swarthout
The Incredible Journey - S. Burnford
The Red Pony - J. Steinbeck

SAMPLE UNIT 3 - A Fiction Unit

Walkabout - J. V. Marshall

Resources

1. Copy of novel for each student.
2. Selection of poems, short stories, media material.
3. File/copybook for each student - to make a portfolio of work focussed on the novel.

General Objectives (taken from First Year programme of concepts and activities).

1. Oral/Aural: tell anecdote; engage in discussion; ask questions; present poems.
2. Reading: read silently for a range of literal and appreciative purposes; read aloud interpretatively; read stories and poems for pleasure; approach media material to focus on word choice.
3. Writing: write narrative with beginning, middle, end shape; compose nonsense poems, engage in word play; plan and present poster; write letter to outside audience.
4. Basic Skills: capitals, fullstops, paragraph making, spellings and vocabulary as they arise, speech marks, forms of composition and story.
5. Literary Concepts: story-shape, viewpoint relationships, character change, sound and texture of words.

Pre-reading

1. Tell stories from the exploration of Australia (Burke and Wills).
2. Discuss the Aborigines (the word) - beliefs, practices, attitudes.
3. Display paintings, photos - select impressions.
4. Draw map of Australia - mark in deserts - create a sense of size and space.

Reading

1. Teacher reads - description and settings.
2. Student participation - dialogues/choral.
3. Silent reading - facts, outlook, viewpoint, attitudes, responses.
4. Students write regularly in response journals; free or directed; comments, images, feelings, ideas, words.
5. Interventions in the text: add scene, fill in background, change viewpoint, speculate on alternatives.
6. Language awareness exercises on quality of style, etc.

Post-Reading

1. Write a eulogy for the aborigine - give him a name appropriate to his actions.
2. Write epilogues - in a variety of forms, e.g.
   (i) Mary back in Charleston - diary, newspaper, report, public speech.
   (ii) Peter - parents view on him - the changes.

Imagine filming the three most important scenes of the book. Make out a series of 'shots' you would take to create the feeling and the mood of these scenes.

Re-Readings - 'Walkabout'

1. Prejudice and Cultural Values

Related Readings

2. Landscapes of Australia - The Natural World

Individual/pairs project work

Aim: a brochure/poster/folder of chosen animal/objects/place. Have exhibition for other class.

Approaches: Co-operate with History/Geographt/Art (?)
Write to various agencies for material
Invite Australian to talk to class
Film/Video - Australian world

3. Sounds and Texture of Words: [Syllables - Spelling]

Make dictionary/glossary of aborigine words in novel

Add other words, now a part of English e.g. Boomerang; didgeridoo.

(iii) Discuss the 'kind' of words they are.

(iv) Make a list of your favourite words - (sound and texture mostly).

Related Readings

Mushrooms - Sylvia Plath

'Ough' - W.T. Goodge

Assignment: Compose a poem of your own favour words

e.g. Haberdashery
Ooze and frippery
Elongate and hippo too
Pom-pom, do-do
Blight and sojourn
Are words I like to listen to

4. Myths, Legends/Lore
(a) Frequent refrence throughout the novel:
"The-rock-that-fell-out-of-the-moon"
Only Man has Fire
Avalon, Valhalla, The Isle of the Blest
Dreamtime - the Spirits
Significance of place names in all landscapes [Irish]

(b) Supplementary Reading:
A selection of myths/legends

(c) Assignments
(i) Tell legend to the class/group
(ii) Compose narrative in legend/myth based on some of the events in the book
(iii) The aborigine was not buried according to the ritual of his people: base a legend/ghost story about this involving the three characters.

Private Optional Reading

Across the Barricades, Joan Lingard
The Great Gilly Hopkins, K. Paterson
The Cay, Theodore Taylor
The Machine Gunners, Robert Westall

SAMPLE UNIT 4 - A Fiction Unit

THE CAY BY T. TAYLOR

For optional private reading:

1. TREASURE ISLAND - R.L. Stevenson
2. MOONFLEET - J. Meade F.
3. THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - E. Hemingway
4. ACROSS THE BARRICADES - J. Lingard

Sample Unit 5 - A Prose Unit

Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester

Ordinary and Higher Level First Year

Asterisked section may be considered too difficult for Ordinary Level.
Preperation: Collect information/pictures on Victorian houses/slums/The Depression.

Follow-up: Helen is interviewed for television. Write, then Dramatize.

In the case of some themes, there may seem to be too many "assignments" listed. Only as many as the teacher considers suitable should be tackled.

For Optional Private Reading by Pupils During This Unit

A Strong and Willing Girl by Dorothy Edwards.
I Was There Friedrick by Hans Peter Richter.
Dan Alone by Frances Hodgeson Burnett.
The Didekoy by Rumer Godden.
*The Circle Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor (Plus).
*Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.
The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene.

(Devised by Ms. Colette Dunne, Assumption Secondary School, Walkinstown, Dublin).

N-Novel; P-Poem; SS-Short Story

SAMPLE UNIT 6 - A Thematic Unit

PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS

Resources:

Pictures
Newspaper article
Short Stories - M y Oedipus Complex, Frank O'Connor
Novels: - Walkabout - James Vance Marshall; The Red Pony - John Steinbeck.
Verse: The Wild Traveller - Nan Joyce; In Memory of My Mother Patrick Kavanagh; The Hired Man - Robert Frost; A Boy's Head Miroslav Holub; Lucy - Wordsworth; It Was Long Ago - Eleanor Farejo~n; A Gentleman - Edward Thomas; Not Waving But Drowning Stevie Smith; Danny Murphy - James Stephens.

Extracts from novels e.g. Dickens - Mrs. Gamp in 'Martin Chuzzlewit'; Steinbeck - George and Lennie in 'Of Mice and Men'. Media - Episode of a Soap Opera.

SEQUENCE O F CLASSES

(Devised by Lorna Gault, Ursuline Convent School, Sligo).

SAMPLE UNIT 7 - A Fiction Unit

THE IRON MAN by TED HUGHES 1ST YEAR

SAMPLE UNIT 8 - A Short Story Unit

OUTLINE UNIT ANIMALS IN LITERATURE 2ND/3RD YEARS

Optional private reading during this Unit

The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Kes by Barry Hines
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson
My Family and Other Animals by Gerard Durrell

SAMPLE UNIT 9 - A Poetry Unit

OUTLINE UNIT NARRATIVE VERSE 2ND/3RD YEARS

SAMPLE UNIT 10 - A Fiction Unit

HUCKLKBERRY Finn by Mark Twain 2ND/3RD YEARS

Optional Private Reading

Roll o f Thunder, Hear my Cry - Mildred Taylor
The Cay - T. Taylor
Across the Barricades - J. Lingard
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
A Separate Peace - J. Knowles
How Many Miles to Babylon - J. Johnston
The Great Ghilly Hopkins - K . Paterson

SAMPLE UNIT II - A Drama Unit

DRAMA: SECOND YEAR Theme: Youth and Age

Imaginative and Aesthetic Contexts:

The imaginative contexts for this unit include the recognition of the needs and the problems of old age both in themselves and in how they relate to children. The aesthetic contexts include the recognition of the shaping of the experience into different literary forms and the translation of personal or imagined experience into one or more of those forms.

Core Text:

The Granny Project by Anne Fine from the Plays Plus Series. (Books in this series each contain a play text and a great many suggestions for work based on the text).

TEXTS: All supplementary texts are from Exploring English 1 and 3.

CORE TEXT: The Granny Project by Rosemary Fine from the Plays Plus Series, Collins Educational, 1986, Price (December 1988) IR£2.55.

(Devised by Emilie Fitzglbbon, GRAFFITI Theatre in Education Company, Cork).

SAMPLE UNIT 12 - A Drama Unit

The Merchant of Venice - W. Shakespeare 2ND/3RD YEAR HIGHER LEVEL

The core of this Unit is a close, careful reading of the play.

Optional reading: To Kill a Mockingbird; The Diary of Anne Frank.

SAMPLE UNIT 13 - A Drama Unit

Henry IV by W. Shakespeare 2ND/3RD YEAR

For optional private reading by pupils during this unit:

1. Catch 22 - J. Heller
2. The Good Soldier Svejk - I. Hasek
3. The Human Factor - G. Greene
4. I am the Cheese - R. Cormier
5. The Spy who Came in from the Cold - J. Le Carte

SAMPLE UNIT 14 - Mass Media

Introduction to Media Studies

Introduction to Media Studies is designed for 1st year students and hopes to encourage them to begin to think and talk about the media as products/processes. Through a range of linguistic exercises it aims to develop:

1. Basic cognitive skills, in terms of media.
   
2. The understanding of underlying media concepts:
   • media/medium
   • broadcast media
   • print media
   • images/visuals
   • selection
   • construction
     
3. The awareness of personal, social and cultural facets of the media:
   • student's own interaction with the media
   • peergroup consumption/preference/opinions
   • views/judgements of consumption patterns of other sub groups

(Adapted from Unit devised by Irish Film Institute).

SAMPLE UNIT 15 - Mass Media

ADVERTISING

'Advertising' is designed to follow on the Introduction to Media Studies Unit for 1st year students - Through a range of linguistic exercises focusing on advertising, it aims to develop:

1. Basic cognitive skills, in terms of media.
2. The understanding of fundamental media concepts
   • denotation
   • connotation
   • anchorage
   • preferred reading
   • target audience
   • representation
3. The awareness of personal, social and cultural facets of the media
   • range of media products in society
   • personal consumption of media products
   • personal/social preference for media products
   • media as a source of pleasure
   • cultural-specific elements in the media

The unit is designed to encourage the use of a wide range of media formats as is feasible - magazines, newspapers, record/book sleeves, comics, bill board reproductions, radio, television, video as well as integrating literary texts (drama, poetry, novels).

Duration of the course would be approximately 6 weeks.

(Adapted from unit devised by Irish Film Institute).

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH