Units – 3–6 multi-age Year A – English
Teachers of multi-age classes have the flexibility to select the Year A units below, or the Year B sample units to reflect their cycle of programming.
These units are cumulative and designed to be taught in numerical order. A suggested term-by-term approach, aligned with the department’s scope and sequence is outlined below, including the mentor textual concept and unit description.
Syllabus
Syllabus outcomes and content descriptors from English K–10 Syllabus (2022) © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024.
Unit 1 – narrative
Students will explore how narratives set up expectations for the reader using predictable structure and familiar characters and situations. They will analyse excerpts of the mentor text and use as the basis for their own innovation. Students will also plan, draft and revise a narrative sequel using an orientation, complication, resolution structure.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 1 Narrative (DOCX 2.6 MB)
Unit 2 – argument and authority
Students will gain greater understanding of the textual concepts of argument and authority, and genre. Through the study of the mentor text and supporting digital texts, students will recognise that an argument can be presented as a single perspective and understand the difference between authority and authorship. Students will analyse digital texts to locate and retrieve relevant information to plan, revise, edit and publish a persuasive multimodal national park brochure.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 2 Argument and authority (DOCX 3.4 MB)
Unit 3 – genre
Students will gain greater understanding of the textual concepts of genre and perspective and context. Students will apply their understanding of genre to analyse texts and identify their purpose, subject matter, form, structure and language choices. Students will plan, compose, revise, edit and publish a hybrid text that will recount a historical extreme weather event in Australia.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 3 Genre (DOCX 3.7 MB)
Unit 4 – imagery, symbol and connotation
Students will gain a deeper understanding of the textual concepts of imagery, symbol and connotation and perspective and context. Students will explore how authors use imagery, symbol and connotation in poetry and how figurative language can influence meaning. Students will apply their understanding of structure and language choices to create a mini anthology of poetry.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 4 Imagery, symbol and connotation (DOCX 3.7 MB)
Unit 5 – characterisation
Throughout the unit, students will explore the textual concepts of characterisation and narrative. They will investigate ways in which characters are represented in literature and will experiment with dialogue to develop characterisation. Students will draw on shared experiences of texts read and viewed to plan, draft, revise and present an imaginative text.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 5 Characterisation (DOCX 2.9 MB)
Unit 6 – perspective and context
Students will develop their understanding of perspective and context, characterisation and theme. They will explore how personal, social and cultural contexts shape perspective and authorial choices. Inspired by the mentor text, students will create imaginative texts including free verse poetry. Using digital technologies, students will publish their work and orally present their texts to their peers.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 6 Perspective and context (DOCX 5.88 MB)
Unit 7 – narrative
Students will broaden their understanding of the textual concepts of 'narrative' and 'imagery, symbol and connotation' through two texts written by Aboriginal authors. They will identify the purpose and structure of Cultural narratives, including Dreaming stories and Songlines. Students will learn about the significance of natural phenomena (such as the moon and seasons) in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture and ways of living. They will use this information to create both imaginative and informative texts. They will reflect on the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander ways of ‘storytelling’ and ‘passing down information’ by presenting a hybrid multimodal text about an Indigenous season to a younger audience.
3–6 multi-age Year A – Unit 7 Narrative (DOCX 4.7 MB)
Unit 8 – theme
In this 5-week unit, students will explore the textual concepts of theme, argument and authority, and perspective and context. They will use their understanding of historical context to compose a timeline and a historical account. Inspired by themes presented in the text, students will generate arguments with authority.