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English Language Overview
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English, as a language, is commonly used in English speaking countries. These include the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.
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However, English is also used by non-English speaking countries like China, in which students are still required to learn English.
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Some countries use words from the English language as a fallback if they do not have a word for it in their own language. For example, in France, if you want to say "The cheesecake," you would need to say "Le cheesecake," because there is no official word for "cheesecake," and the closest phrase for the word could possibly be "Le gateau du fromage," which can be a completely different meaning.
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To conclude, English is a well-known and commonly used language.
English First Peoples 12 Big Ideas
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The big ideas for English 12 are about the exploration of text and how different stories, tales, and anecdotes deepens our understanding about the diverse and complex ideas about our identity and others. This also includes the world.
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The oral and a variety of texts are socially, culturally, geographically, and historically constructed. Our voice is powerful and evocative.
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The First Peoples texts, stories, tales, and anecdotes provide insight into key aspects of Canada’s past, present, and future.
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The self-representation through authentic First Peoples text is a means to foster justice, and the First Peoples' voices and texts play a role within the process of Reconciliation.
Course Information
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In English First Peoples 12, this course builds upon and extends students’ previous learning experiences in ELA courses, (which is an abbreviation for "English Language Arts.") The course is grounded in the First Peoples Principles of Learning.
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This particular area of the course will allow the students to dive into the First Peoples’ oral and written literature. It is designed for all students to think critically and creatively as they continue to explore, extend, and strengthen their own writing.
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Within a supportive community, students work individually and collaboratively to explore oral and written literature and create powerful, purposeful compositions.
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Furthermore, through the study of authentic Indigenous text students will be able to extend their capacity to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts, deepen their understanding of themselves and insights into key aspects of Canada’s past, present, and future as related to First Peoples, and expand their understanding of what it means to be educated Canadian and global citizens.
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This course meets the new graduation requirement to have 4 credits in both an Indigenous Focused course, and the English Language Arts 12 requirement for all students graduating in British Columbia after September 2023.
Curricular Competency
Composition
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Students will be learning how to analyze how First Peoples languages and texts reflect their cultures, knowledge, worldviews, and how different features reflect a variety of audiences and messages.
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They will access information for diverse purposes and from a variety of sources. They will also select strategies for inquiry and comprehension.
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Students think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas related to texts, recognize and identify personal, social, and cultural contexts in texts, appreciate and understand how language constructs and reflects identities, construct meaningful connections between self, text, and world, demonstrate understanding of the role of story and oral traditions in expressing First Peoples values and perspective, understand and evaluate how literary elements enhance and shape meaning and impact, analyze the diversity and influence of land/place in First Peoples societies represented in texts, as well as assessing its authenticity, examine the significance of terms/words from First Peoples languages used in English texts, and discern nuances in the meanings of words in wide contexts, and identify bias, contradictions, distortions, and omissions.
A library is a great place to boost students' English First Peoples learning.
Communication
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Students will communicate between the First Peoples. They will respectfully exchange ideas and viewpoints from diverse perspectives to build shared understandings and extend thinking, demonstrate speaking and listening skills in a variety of contexts in different purposes, apply appropriate oral communication for intended purposes, express and support opinions with evidence, respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways, use writing and design processes to create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences, assess and refine texts to improve clarity and impact, experiment with genres, forms, or styles of texts, use the conventions of First Peoples and other Canadian spelling, syntax, and diction proficiently and appropriately to the context, transform ideas and information to create original texts, using various genres, forms, structures, and styles, and recognize intellectual property rights and protocols and apply as necessary.
Course Content
Grade 12
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Canadian students in grade 12 will be following this British Columbia course content.
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They will learn a variety of BC, Canadian, and global First Peoples texts, as well as text forms and genres. They will study the common themes in First Peoples literature, the reconciliation in Canada, the First Peoples oral traditions, the legal status of First Peoples oral traditions in Canada, the purposes of oral texts, the relationship between oral tradition and land, and the relationship between oral tradition and land/place.
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Students will also study the protocols which includes protocols related to ownership and use of First Peoples oral texts, acknowledgement of territory, situating oneself in relation to others and place, processes when engaging with First Nations communities and aboriginal organizations.
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In the form of literature, students will learn and understand more about the text features and structures. These include the narrative structures, including those found in First Peoples texts, form, function, and genre of texts, elements of visual and graphic texts.​
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Students will use strategies and processes including reading strategies, oral language strategies, metacognitive strategies, writing processes, and presentation techniques.​
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They will also use language features, structures, and conventions. Skills that students are expected to know are: features of oral language, elements of style, language change, syntax and sentence fluency, rhetorical devices, usage and conventions, literary elements and devices, literal and inferential meaning, persuasive techniques, citations, and acknowledgements.
Students' Expectations from Teachers
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Students are expected to know the contents about the course that are listed above.
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For teachers, they expect students to succeed in those areas of English.
Interview
About This Teacher Interview
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The interview is to show an explanation how teachers teach the course. This is to learn more on how teachers who teach English as a language can tell what students should expect when they learn in this course.
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During the interview, the teacher will be given some interview questions and the teacher will answer them carefully.
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Some sample questions include "What is English as a language?," "How do you teach English? What is your teaching skill/method/technique?," "What contents in English will you teach to your students?," "What will you do if someone is struggling in this course? How will you help him/her?," and "Why do you like English? What persuades you to teach this language: English?" These questions can also allow the teachers to respond with more detail.
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Having more than one question can release important key information about this course. They will give a deeper information on what you are not sure about.
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This is really useful so when you want to know what this course is about and how teachers teach it, then this is the best idea to go with.​
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This interview will take place in a teacher's classroom to discuss about the course.​
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During the intermission, the teacher must prepare their answers and the student must create realistic and detailed questions that are not amusing, funny, whimsical, nonsensical, or any questions that are jokes, unhelpful, meaningless, or unrelated to the subject.​
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In the interview, the student will be asking for the key curriculum, expectations, assessments, requirements, teaching style and the topic. Refer to the interview questions.