English Teaching and Learning Curriculum Unit

This curriculum unit focuses on increasing primary language capabilities of students in year 1 through the analysis of imagery used in texts and emotional impacts on children. The curriculum follows ACARA regulations and focuses on literacy and environmental responsibility.

Running head: ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING
ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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1. The Focus of the Curriculum Unit
The aim of the planning process is to develop an optimally sufficient learning
process for students in year 1. The curriculum will be focused towards increasing the primary
language capabilities of the students. The planning process will consider essentially the
learning aim of the curriculum. The learning aim is that after the interactive reading of the
little corroboree frog and the presentation of the inter text of the Dingo tree children will be
able to analyse the imagery used in the texts and create emotional impacts on the children.
The planning is done through the strong consideration of ACARA regulations. ACELT 1581
will be the principal focus of the study. This is in regards to making the students understand
how authors can make the use of imagery and words to build characters and stories. The
students that are blind will be made to listen to the audio versions of the texts. Students with
verbal disabilities will be shown video versions of the texts. The students will also be
specialty guided by the teachers to help them develop strong understanding. The essential
similarity between the mentor and inter text is that they are both based on natural
environments. Hence, the natural imageries in both the texts are high (Gauci and Curwood
2017). The Little Corroboree Frog talks of water pollution, whereas Dingo’s Tree about land
degradation through mining (Milroy and Milroy 2011). After completing a reading of the
mentor text, the teacher should follow a similar pattern with the inter-text as well. This time,
the responses are bound to be more comprehensive as plurality of perspectives would
strengthen the students’ understanding of human activities on the environment (Holton-
Ramirez and Ramirez 2013). If the responses are inadequate, then the teacher has to
understand that there is some fault with the teachers’ ability to explain the texts properly,
which has acted as a hindrance upon the students’ listening and understanding. Therefore, the
teacher should have a PowerPoint presentation ready at hand, which would involve a lot of
graphics and accelerate the students’ understanding of the two texts (Leu et al. 2011)..

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The little
Coroboree frog
The Dingo Tree
Natural Imagery

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2. Phases and sequence
Phase 1
The phase 1 will be focused towards creating a foundational knowledge among the
students. The teacher will start to introduce the students to various literature. The focus will
be towards developing a mutually enjoyable learning environment. Teachers will introduce
themselves to the children. Emphasis will be provided towards making the children more
familiar with each other. The teachers in this phase will focus on creating an effective
learning environment (Prior 2016). The primary phase will also focus towards developing
imagination of the students. This is important in order to achieve the goals of year 1 as per
the Australian curriculum plan and also the curriculum unit being discussed. The emphasis on
the first phase will be to help the students gain a strong and effective means to help them to
navigate, read and evaluate the meanings of simple texts. Moreover, emphasis will be
provided towards introducing students to familiar vocabularies and this will be supported
through effective illustrations. Children will at first be introduced to the language through
picture books with simplistic English. The children are also to be provided a preview of the
learning materials that will be used for the curriculum. The teachers will help the students to
learn words and phrases better so that they are prepared for the learning of the texts. The
students will have to identify words and meanings and associated images (Hattingh, Kettle
and Brownlee 2017). The students will have to give spelling tests and grammar texts.
Phase 2
In this face the mentor text, A little corroborre frog will be introduced to the students.
The teacher will read loud the chapters to the student in an interactive environment. A little
corroborree frog is the mentor text in the curriculum hence it is much important that it is
essentially covered in this phase. The teachers will make use of imagery and interactive

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settings in order to effectively increase the interest of the students towards the text. The text
will be divided in some parts. Each of these parts will be essentially taught by the teachers.
After the completion of each parts, the students will be made to answer questions both
collectively and individually at times. For the blind students the audio versions of the text
will be used. Students that have voice disabilities will be taught in a manner that focuses
more on the imagery of the literature. The bringing it to life tool framework will be used in
order to enhance the learning capabilities of the students (Leu et al. 2011). After the textual
study the teachers will further enhance the learning of the text through the effective usage of
a power point slide version of the story book. As mentioned earlier the teacher will try to
enhance the student’s understanding of the imagery and develop an emotional perception of
the study material. The Little Corroboree Frog talks of water pollution hence, the
development of the students perspective about environmental degradation will be focused
along with language development. Students will be required to answer questions after the end
of the study (Gauci and Curwood 2017).
Phase 3
This phase will consider the essential introduction of the inter text the Dingo’s Tree.
As explained earlier with regard to the inter text the emphasis will be towards a more
comprehensive pluralistic understanding of the environmental impacts being discussed.
Hence the teachers will need to make the classes more interactive. The teachers at this phase
will ask the students to read the text. All the students in the class will read the text and one
student will start reading from where the other student left. After this the teachers will ask the
student to give their own versions of the understandings that they have derived from the text.
Moving forward the teachers will provide an essential understanding of the environmental
factors that affect the situation of the text (Holdaway 1979). Moreover, the emphasis will be
given by the teachers to how the students are being able to describe the story. Not much

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pressure will be provided to the students to use correct language. The teachers will guide the
students from time to time in regards to proper interpretation of language. The students will
be made to understand the various environmental problems that are affecting the world. The
teachers will then relate to the previous text and focus towards establishing a relationship
between the two texts. The emphasis will be towards developing the interpretation and
analysis of language and texts among the students. Once again visuals will be used and an
audio-visual version of the Dingo’s tree will be shown to the students.
Phase 4
This phase will be the last phase of the curriculum. Hence, the emphasis in this stage
will be towards the effective evaluation of the learning of the students. The assessments will
be essentially based on the significant learning outcomes that are to be realized through the
texts. The emphasis will be towards assessing the identification of words and phrases among
students. The assessments will consider the evaluation of the intrinsic learning abilities of the
students. Although the assessments will be done on a regular basis throughout the phases, the
last phase will concentrate on generating more conclusive assessment results. The initial
assessment is done immediately after the first readings of the texts. The conclusions drawn by
the students at the end of group discussions and the final story-writing assignment works as
primary assessment tools (Aerila and Rönkkö 2015). The final assignments examines how
much the student have understood and could relate to the crisis of the protagonists of both the
texts. The assessment will require students to write their understandings of both the little
corroborree frog and the Dingos’s tree. The teachers will give marks not only according to
the final assessment but the performances of individual students throughout the various
phases. The students will have to give test in regards to how much they understand words
phrases and their corresponding meanings. The students will need to display their acquired
skills in regards to navigation, response, interpretation and composition of texts.

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3. Materials and Resources
In spite of the apparent use of digital and paper based resources in the teaching-
learning process, the materials used in this curriculum extends to other modes or resources as
well. The digital platform involves the use of projectors and laptops or tablets for explanation
of the texts through PowerPoint presentations, as well as the teaching of the literary devices
in a more comprehensive manner. While paper-based resources are used by the students in
jotting down of points or their thoughts, as well as in the final assignment, the discussions,
interactions and exchange of opinions to come to conclusions within a group largely
facilitates community-based resources of learning. The teachers’ helping the students to find
out solutions by themselves display a multimodal gesture as a learning resource (Roche and
Gal-Petitfaux 2015). Finally, environment plays a major role in this curriculum.
Environmental awareness is extensively used as a resource to create a better understanding of
literature, as well as to make the children act responsibly in their personal lives.
4. Description of Assessment
The curriculum has to follow a constant process of learning and assessment. The
initial assessment is done immediately after the first readings of the texts. The conclusions
drawn by the students at the end of group discussions and the final story-writing assignment
works as primary assessment tools. The first one may have certain faulty perceptions due to a
lack of understanding that is clarified by the teacher through interactions. Besides, their social
skills are also considered through the amount of participation in discussions. The final
assignments examines how much the student have understood and could relate to the crisis of
the protagonists of both the texts. The various stages of assessment also helps to understand

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how much the environmental concerns are inculcated. The final assignment helps to assess
the development of language skills like grammar and vocabulary, at the same time, at the
same time assessing how well a student has learnt to structure and organize a literary text
with the use of proper literary devices in the correct places. These assessments would help the
teaching body to plan and work accordingly upon the intellect, social skills and power of
concentration of the students. Therefore, the given pattern of assessment falls in line with the
ultimate learning outcomes of this unit.
5. Principles of Literacy/English Teaching
The curriculum unit and aforementioned processes of learning exemplifies an
introduction into the vast academic discipline of English Literature and Language which
borders heavily upon the modern world. The principles of English teaching and learning in
Australia focuses on optimizing the language use of the average student (Derewianka, 2012).
It becomes very important that the student can develop essential communicative ability
concerning the English language. The mentor text as well as the inter-texts display fine
quality of literacy and art, promoting social and environmental responsibility, bundled
together into a concise format. Through their engagements with multiple texts, reading,
writing and listening skills of the students will be enhanced (Australiancurriculum.edu.au,
2018). Personal interpretation, when given importance and channelized in the correct
direction, would develop the critical and analytical faculty of the students. New ideas would
gain prominence along with rational and moral judgement. Through the playful nature of the
texts, children would come to realize the harsh realities of the modern world. They would
learn to look beyond their own interests and learns to value a friendly environment for all.
Thus, it fulfils the role that art and literature should play in a society, more importantly in the
present society (Leu et al. 2011).

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The pre-requisites of good literature and art are inadvertently inculcated within them.
While on one hand, the unit gives a basic idea of plot, character, setting and theme, on the
other hand the structural and functional qualities of typos and images, their organization and
correct positioning with respect to the objectives of a good literary text, are also presented, all
of which caters to the aesthetic development of the children, which would enable them to
understand and appreciate, or even create good literature in future. There are also a number of
rhetoric or figures of speech belonging to the domain of English language that are present in
the texts that enriches the language of the students.

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Reference List
Aerila, J.A. and Rönkkö, M.L., 2015. Integrating literature with craft in a learning process
with creative elements. Early Childhood Education Journal, 43(2), pp.89-98.
Australiancurriculum.edu.au. (2018). English. [online] Available at:
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?
year=11576&year=11577&year=11578&strand=Literature&capability=ignore&capability=L
iteracy&capability=Numeracy&capability=Information+and+Communication+Technology+
%28ICT
%29+Capability&capability=Critical+and+Creative+Thinking&capability=Personal+and+So
cial+Capability&capability=Ethical+Understanding&capability=Intercultural+Understanding
&priority=ignore&priority=Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Histories+and+Cultures
&priority=Asia+and+Australia
%E2%80%99s+Engagement+with+Asia&priority=Sustainability&elaborations=true&elabor
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Callow, J. 2013. The shape of text to come. 1st ed. Primary English Teaching Association
Australia (PETAA).
Derewianka, B., 2012. Knowledge about language in the Australian curriculum:
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Gauci, R. and Curwood, J.S., 2017. Teaching Asia: English pedagogy and Asia literacy
within the Australian curriculum. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, The, 40(3),
p.163.
Hattingh, S., Kettle, M. and Brownlee, J., 2017. Internationalising a school: teachers’
perspectives on pedagogy, curriculum and inclusion. TESOL in Context, 26(1).
Holdaway, D., 1979. The foundations of literacy (Vol. 138). Sydney: Ashton Scholastic.

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Holton-Ramirez, T. and Ramirez, A. 2013. The little corroboree frog. Broome, W.A.:
Magabala Books.
Leu, D.J., McVerry, J.G., O'Byrne, W.I., Kiili, C., Zawilinski, L., Everett‐Cacopardo, H.,
Kennedy, C. and Forzani, E., 2011. The new literacies of online reading comprehension:
Expanding the literacy and learning curriculum. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 55(1), pp.5-14.
Milroy, G. and Milroy, J., 2011. Dingo's Tree. Magabala Books.
Prior, R.W., 2016. How arts education makes a difference: research examining successful
classroom practice and pedagogy, edited by Josephine Fleming, Robyn Gibson and Michael
Anderson. Pedagogies: An International Journal.
Roche, L. and Gal-Petitfaux, N., 2015. A video-enhanced teacher learning environment based
on multimodal resources: A case study in PETE. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge
Society, 11(2).
Ssgt.nsw.edu.au. (2018). [online] Available at:
http://www.ssgt.nsw.edu.au/documents/6_stage3_plan_learning.pdf