English Is... English for the Australian Curriculum Year 8 - Print & eBookPLUS

English is… series uses a creative approach to learning to inspire students to embrace the English language in all its variations and develop key skills in reading, understanding and creating. It includes structured inquiry into the big ideas or concepts that support English, underpinned by the skills needed for literate citizenship.

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English Is ... English for the Australian Curriculum Year 8 & eBookPLUS

KEY FEATURES

• Full coverage of the Australian Curriculum: English content descriptions allows students to achieve year level standards
• The text is always at the centre of the learning
• Differentiated activities provide all students with an entry point to the texts through a Getting started, Working through and Going further grading
• Sub-unit structure allows for a dip-in, dip-out approach
• Wordsmiths or mini-workshops drill down to teach key skills in a Tell me, Show me, Let me do it process
• Ready to Read prepares less able readers to engage with the texts
• Asian and Indigenous texts are featured along with classic, world, Australian and contemporary texts
• 'Need to know' explains key terms at point of need so that students learn English's metalanguage
• Language, Literature and Literacy links connect to the Australian Curriculum content descriptions
• Wide variety of assessment options at the end of every unit with rubrics to guide students

English Is ... English for the Australian Curriculum Year 8 & eBookPLUS is a hard-copy student text accompanied by eBookPLUS. eBookPLUS resources include

• Access from any digital device: PC/MAC/iPad/Android Tablet.
• Worksheets - Word documents designed for easy customisation and editing.
• Interactivities and games to reinforce and enhance student learning.
• eLessons - engaging video clips and supporting material.
• Weblinks to relevant support material on the internet.
• ProjectsPLUS - unique ICT-based projects that provide opportunities for students to demonstrate creativity, thinking skills and teamwork.

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Contents

• About eBookPLUS ix
• How to use this book x
• Acknowledgements xii
• UNIT 1 Language Evolution 1
  • How and why does language evolve? 1
  • What do we mean when we say that language evolves? 3
  • Tuning in 3
• 1.1 Reading language from another era 4
  • How do I observe language change? 4
  • Wordsmith . . . Adjectives and adverbs 9
• 1.2 Technology and language change 11
  • How has technology influenced language? 11
  • Wordsmith . . . Writing an explanatory paragraph using analogies 15
• 1.3 The influence of other languages on English 16
  • How have other languages influenced English in the past? 16
  • Wordsmith . . . Subjective and objective writing 22
  • How does popular culture introduce foreign words? 24
  • Compose and create 28
• UNIT 2 Me, Myself and I 31
  • How does language influence a person’s identity? 31
  • What do we mean by ‘language influencing identity’? 33
  • Getting started 33
• 2.1 Names, labels and identity 34
  • How do names affect our view of people and characters? 34
  • Wordsmith . . . Using nouns 38
  • How are characters in fiction named and introduced? 39
• 2.2 The teenage community 44
  • How does language influence teenage identities? 44
  • Wordsmith . . . Audience and purpose 49
• 2.3 Spoken language in fiction and non-fiction 51
  • How does lost or hidden language affect identity? 51
  • Wordsmith . . . Setting out dialogue in fiction 56
  • Compose and create 58
• UNIT 3 Constructing Effective texts 61
  • How does a writer construct effective texts for a variety of audiences and purposes? 61
  • What is a text? 63
  • Tuning in 63
• 3.1 Constructing imaginative texts 64
  • How do imaginative texts entertain their readers? 64
  • Wordsmith . . . How writers use sentence structure and punctuation to help pace the reader
  • Imaginative texts with a more serious purpose 74
• 3.2 Constructing informative texts 78
  • How do informative texts inform their readers? 78
  • Other informative texts — news reports 81
  • Wordsmith . . . Using nominalisations 85
• 3.3 Experimenting with text structures and features 87
  • How can the same subject matter be used to create different text types? 87
  • Wordsmith . . . Separating fact and opinion in expressing a viewpoint 93
  • Compose and create 94
• UNIT 4 Crafting Character 97
  • How do writers make their characters come to life? 97
  • What do we mean by ‘crafting character’? 99
  • Tuning in 99
• 4.1 Characters and self-discovery 100
  • How do characters help us to understand ourselves? 100
  • Wordsmith . . . Writing dialogue to reveal character 106
• 4.2 Characters and their worlds 108
  • How do characters help us understand the world of the text? 108
  • Wordsmith . . . Sentence structure and imagery 114
• 4.3 Characters and social commentary 116
  • How do writers craft characters to explore our culture, history and values? 116
  • Wordsmith . . . Linking characters to values using analogies and ethical dilemmas 124
  • Compose and create 126
• UNIT 5 Hearts and minds 129
  • How does the spoken word persuade? 129
  • Did you use rhetoric today? 131
  • Tuning in 131
• 5.1 Rhetoric in action 132
  • What is rhetoric and how can we recognise it? 132
  • Rhetoric in media texts — advertisements 134
  • Wordsmith . . . Using connotations to create rhetoric 137
  • Rhetoric in a feature article 138
• 5.2 Writing rhetoric 141
  • How do we use rhetoric when we write to influence others? 141
  • Repetition 141
  • Repetition in speeches 143
  • Playing with hyperbole 144
  • Using metaphors and similes 145
  • Extending a metaphor 146
  • Figurative language in speeches 147
  • Wordsmith . . . Working with irony 150
• 5.3 Persuasive speaking techniques 151
  • How can we speak to influence others? 151
  • What makes a great speech? 154
  • How have great writers such as Shakespeare used rhetoric? 157
  • Wordsmith . . . Clauses 159
  • Compose and create 160
• UNIT 6 Picture this 163
  • Why do visual texts have meaning? 163
  • What’s in a picture? 165
  • Tuning in 165
• 6.1 The idea of representation 166
  • What does an image mean? 168
  • Do the meanings of images change over time? 168
  • Cultural perspectives 168
  • Changing stereotypes 169
  • Old-fashioned heroes 170
  • The female hero 171
  • Wordsmith . . . Storyboarding 173
• 6.2 ideas expressed in images 174
  • Are there universal truths? 174
  • Anime and good versus evil 174
  • Fear of the unfamiliar 176
  • Heroes and villains 177
  • Wordsmith . . . Connotative language 178
• 6.3 Making meaning 179
  • How do images and words convey meaning? 179
  • Graphic novels and short stories 179
  • Words or images? 186
  • Wordsmith . . . Comparing and contrasting 188
  • Compose and create 190
• UNIT 7 Seriously funny 193
  • How does humour entertain and persuade within its historical, social and cultural context?
  • The power of laughter 195
  • Tuning in 195
• 7.1 Humour entertains 196
  • How do humorous texts entertain? 196
  • Wordsmith . . . Using puns to create humour 199
  • Humorous media texts that entertain 201
• 7.2 Humour entertains and persuades 205
  • How do humorous texts persuade as well as entertain? 205
  • Wordsmith . . . Creating spoofs with names 208
  • Satire persuades 209
• 7.3 Humour in context 212
  • How is humour part of its social, cultural and historical context? 212
  • Wordsmith . . . Avoiding verbosity 217
  • Compose and create 218
• Projects PLUS
  • Persuasively speaking 222
  • Creating character 224
• Glossary 226
• Subject index 229
• Author/Title index 232