English Scheme of Work Year 8 – Unit 2: Myself and Others

Term 1
Recommended Prior Knowledge: Cambridge Lower Secondary Programme English, Year 7, The Senses.

Context: The scheme of work uses a topic based structure to develop students’ abilities to use language effectively, to communicate in speech and writing and to
respond with understanding and insight to a wide range of texts. The general topic linking the Year 8 activities is ‘Myself and Others’.

Outline: Activities cover the following skills: reading for explicit and implicit meaning; writing in the forms of autobiography, biography, and diaries; developing and
using appropriate vocabulary in speech and writing to clarify meaning and to interest an audience; using commas and dashes; writing character studies.

Learning Outcomes Suggested Teaching Activities Resources

Learn the terms ‘biography’ and Introduce the term ‘autobiography’. Read extracts from
‘autobiography’. autobiographies pointing out differences in style.

Develop the ability to listen Work in small groups to talk about the following: earliest memories,
courteously to others and be friends and enemies, illness or accidents, first day at school.
sensitive to turn taking.
(1) Framework
• Earliest memories
Write part of an autobiography. Use the feedback from the group discussions and Framework (1) as
• First day at school
a writing model to produce an extract from an autobiography.
• Friends and enemies
Introduce the term ‘biography’. Read some extracts from • Illness or accident
biographies making clear the difference between autobiographies
and biographies.(2) (2) Reading Between the Lines, Non-Fiction – Sue
Bonnett -Letts Educational 2002 p. 32-56

Participate in speaking and Ask students to bring photos of selves when young. Work with a
listening activities in order to partner and describe the photos to each other explaining the
prepare assignments. circumstances around each of them in detail.
Write to inform. Remind students of the use of first person and third person in
writing.
Get each student to be the biographer of the other and write an (3) Launch into Literacy Book 4 – Jane Medwell
extract from the biography using the information they have been and Maureen Lewis – OUP 2000 p.4 - 17
told about the photographs.(3)

Discuss other ways of recording what happens to you throughout

your life: film, video, diaries.
Consider the audience and purpose of these records.
Demonstrate understanding of
Discuss what sort of thing goes into a diary – events, feelings?
features of diaries. (4) Zlata’s Diary, Penguin Books, 1994
Read extracts from diaries. (4) How does the writer’s use of
language help convey feelings about events? E.g. Zlata Filopovic.

Use a dictionary and thesaurus Use a thesaurus to find words to express happiness, despair or
effectively to further develop anger. Make lists of these words and consider context for use.
vocabulary.
Ask students to imagine they have been keeping a diary for a year.
Write diary entries to inform, Write two diary entries explaining events which have happened to
explain, review, comment, explore. them which caused feelings of happiness, despair or anger.

Return to issues of audience for autobiographies and diaries. How (5) Points for discussion:
might personal facts be less objective than other factual writing? sharing, rivalry, brothers, sisters, someone to
In groups ‘brainstorm’ the ideas around families. See Resources. talk to, family occasions, grandparents,
(5) relatives, family holidays, divorce and
remarriage.

Recognise implied meaning, such Read extracts from texts which describe appearance and character. (6) Unit 7 Checkpoint English 3 Sue Hackman, Alan
as inference of character from what (6) Make notes on how the writer’s use of language shows Howe. Sue Bonnett, Hodder Murray,
someone says or does in a text. character and appearance. ISBN0340887397
Structure writing, using paragraphs Discuss the use of paragraphs to organise writing. Draw attention (7) Find the topic sentence and sequence the
and sequencing events, details and to topic sentences and how each paragraph is built around one. paragraph:
ideas within paragraphs. See resources (7) for exercise in sequencing sentences within On Thursday I went to work but found it hard to
paragraphs. See also (8). concentrate. I think I must have picked it up on
Remind students of the ‘brainstorming’ sessions on families. Use Wednesday in the cinema. I am suffering from
four paragraphs to write about a family member showing aspects of a really terrible cold. By the time I went to bed I
their character and appearance through their actions. was so bunged up I could hardly breathe. I
went to see Titanic for the twentieth time and it
Remind students of simple sentence structure and the use of was hot and stuffy. As for today, well I’m far too
Use a range of increasingly unfit to go to work, so I’ll stay home. I distinctly
complex sentence structures. connectives. Use Resources (9) to practice developing complex
sentences. See also (10). remember this guy sneezing behind me all the
way through the film. I notice they are showing
Titanic on television.
(8) Usage Section Checkpoint English 2 Sue
Read ‘Auntie’ – Philippa Pearce (11) Hackman, Alan Howe, Sue Bonnett, Hodder
Use as explicit and implicit comprehension by writing or discussing Murray
Recognise explicit and implied
what Auntie is like and what Auntie thinks of Billy, what Billy thinks (9) He used to go riding off to his allotments.
meaning.
of Auntie and what mother thinks of both of them. (Or use another
He rode on a rickety old bicycle.
prose extract of your choice about a family relationship).
It was falling apart.
Begin to understand the correct use He used to wear an enormous pair of Wellington
Use the extract to discuss the use of commas and dashes.
of commas in various situations. boots.
Ask students to find and comment on other forms of punctuation
Learn a wide range of punctuation He’d stay there all day.
used by the writer. (12)
to define shades of meaning. That was if he could.
Try joining these to make one, two or three
sentences. You will need to miss words,
change a few and use words like and, if, which
etc.
(10) Checkpoint English I and 2 Sue Hackman, Alan
Howe, Sue Bonnett, Hodder Murray
(11) Oxford English Programme 1 p. 10 – 17 OUP
0198311613
(12) English Skills Punctuation Module- Schofield
and Sims Ltd 1991.