Year 8 English Curriculum
Scheme of Learning Dystopian Futures What is the best of all possible worlds?
Where in the year? Autumn 1
Gothic Fiction Why do we enjoy being frightened?
Autumn 2
The Tempest Is this play a comedy or a tragedy? Ice How can words change form like water?
Summer 1
Voices How can I make people listen to me?
Summer 2
Spring 1
What will you be learning?
How will you be assessed?
We will be exploring the science fiction genre and using inference and deduction as we study a novel, The Declaration. We will be adopting roles in group debates and discussions and reading and producing some non-fiction writing on population growth. We will be studying a variety of modern media and nineteenth century written texts from the gothic genre. You will be encouraged to explore the structure and language of these texts and to discuss how writers establish mood and atmosphere, before producing your own writing in the Gothic genre. We will read this Shakespeare play, tracking ideas and themes that run through it and focusing on close textual analysis skills. We will be reading a variety of winter and ice themed poetry, including some Japanese haiku and Coleridge’s Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. We will look at nonfiction media and written texts, including extracts from Captain Scott’s diary, Frozen Planet and some travel writing. You will be participating in the Isaac Newton Public Speaking Competition. We will analyse some of the most inspirational speeches from history and look at the techniques that make them so powerful. You will then write and deliver a two minute speech on a subject of your own choice.
You will produce a piece of creative writing using ideas about ‘dystopia’ as a stimulus and participate in Harkness discussions about the themes and ideas in the novel.
You will complete an analytical essay on a 19th Century Gothic story and participate in Harkness discussions about the language and structure of a Gothic text.
You will prepare for and sit your Y8 ARK English assessment, which will be a tiered paper about The Tempest. You will sit your end-of-year English exam comparing two texts with the theme of ‘ice’.
You will write a persuasive speech on a subject of your choice and deliver it to the class.