English (cross curricular – History)

Year 4 – Term 2
Achievement Standard:

Writing and Creating

Students use language features to create coherence and add detail to their texts. They understand how to express an opinion
based on information in a text. They create texts that show understanding of how images and detail can be used to extend key
ideas. Students create structured texts to explain ideas for different audiences. They demonstrate understanding of grammar, select
vocabulary from a range of resources and use accurate spelling and punctuation, editing their work to improve meaning.
Speaking and Listening
Students listen for and share key points in discussions. They use language features to create coherence and add detail to their
texts. Students understand how to express an opinion based on information in a text. They create texts that show understanding of
how images and detail can be used to extend key ideas. Students create structured texts to explain ideas for different audiences.
They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, varying language according to context.
 TERM FOCUS: THE FIRST FLEET
Strand and sub-strand Content description
Language
 Understand that Standard Australian English is one of many social dialects used in
Language variation Australia, and that while it originated in England it has been influenced by many
and change other languages ACELA1487
Language for Understand differences between the language of opinion and feeling and the
interaction language of factual reporting or recording ACELA1489
Text structure and Understand how texts vary in complexity and technicality depending on the
organisation approach to the topic, the purpose and the intended audience ACELA1490
Understand how texts are made cohesive through the use of linking devices
including pronoun reference and text connectives ACELA1491
Recognise how quotation marks are used in texts to signal dialogue, titles and
quoted (direct) speech ACELA1492
Identify features of online texts that enhance readability, including text,
navigation, links, graphics and layout ACELA1793
Expressing and Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of
developing ideas noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases
ACELA1493
Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in
different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity ACELA1495
Explore the effect of choices when framing an image, placement of elements in
the image, and salience on composition of still and moving images in a range of
types of texts ACELA1496
Incorporate new vocabulary from a range of sources into students’ own texts,
including vocabulary encountered in research ACELA1498
Literature
 Make connections between the ways different authors may represent similar
Literature and context storylines, ideas and relationships ACELT1602
Responding to Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point
literature of view ACELT1603
Elaboration in this unit of work
Sequence 1: Exploring words in Australian English that
derive from Aboriginal languages during reading of class
novel. Continues in all following sequences as students
revisit word bank and RAN chart.
Sequence 1: Viewing of video.
Sequence 4: Studying text.
Sequence 5: Comparing texts.
Sequence 2: Discussed during reading of informative text.
Sequence 3: Reading of text.
Sequence 4: Sharing author notes and comparing texts.
Sequence 5: Discussing class novel.
Sequence 2: Identifying the visual cohesive devices used
in text.
Sequence 3: Reading of text.
Sequence 4: Identifying pronouns.
Sequence 6: Studying excerpt of literary text.
Sequence 9: Studying transcript of video clips.
Sequence 3: Using quotation marks for direct quotes in
text studied.
Sequence 10: Examining online texts (websites).
Sequence 4: Studying verb groups to explore modality.
Sequence 6: Studying excerpt of literary text.
Sequence 9: Studying transcript of video clips.
Sequence 6: Studying excerpt of literary text.
Sequence 1: Viewing of video.
Sequence 2: Studying visual elements such as framing.
Sequence 3: Reading of text.
Sequence 4: Identifying in text either independently or
pairs/small groups.
Sequence 8: Analysing and discussing artworks.
Sequence 9: Studying video clips.
Sequence 10: Examining online texts (websites).
Sequence 11: Examining still and moving images.
Commences in Sequence 2 and then in all sequences as
students revisit the word bank and RAN chart
Sequences 3 and 4: Comparing texts.
Sequence 5: Discussing and comparing texts.
Sequence 1: Engaging in group discussion.
Sequence 5: Engaging in group discussion.
 Sequence 7: Discussing and planning informative text.
Sequence 8: Analysing and discussing artworks.
Sequence 9: Studying video clips.
Use metalanguage to describe the effects of ideas, text structures and language Sequence 5: Engaging in group discussion.
features of literary texts ACELT1604 Sequence 6: Studying excerpt of literary text.
Sequence 7: Discussing and planning, then presenting an
informative text.
Sequence 8: Analysing and discussing artworks.
Examining literature Discuss how authors and illustrators make stories exciting, moving and absorbing Sequence 4: Reading of class novel.
and hold readers’ interest by using various techniques; for example, character Sequence 5: Engaging in group discussion.
development and plot tension ACELT1605 Sequence 6: Studying excerpt of literary text.
Creating literature Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings ACELT1794 Sequence 12: Creating a narrative text.
Literacy Identify and explain language features of texts from earlier times and compare Sequence 2: Viewing first-hand accounts from First Fleet.
Texts in context with the vocabulary, images, layout and content of contemporary texts Sequence 4: Reading of class novel.
ACELY1686 Sequence 9: Studying video clips.
Interacting with others Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking Sequence 1: Participating in group discussion and posing
students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range questions.
of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and Sequence 5: Participating in group discussion.
coherently ACELY1688 Sequence 7: Discussing and planning an informative text.
Sequence 12: Discussing, planning and drafting a
narrative text.
Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, incorporating learned content and Sequence 7: Presentating an informative text.
taking into account the particular purposes and audiences ACELY1689
Interpreting, analysing Identify characteristic features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive Sequence 2: Discussing before and during reading of
and evaluating texts to meet the purpose of the text ACELY1690 informative text.
Sequence 4: Comparing texts.
Sequence 5: Discussing text.
Sequence 9: Studying video clips.
Sequence 10: Examining online texts (websites).
Sequence 11: Examining still and moving images;
discussion of hybrid texts.
Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand Sequence 2: Discussing before and during reading of an
content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating informative text.
texts ACELY1692 Sequence 11: Examining still and moving images.
Creating text Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing Sequence 7: Creating an informative text.
key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, Sequence 12: Creating a narrative text.
demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features
ACELY1694
Reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word Sequences 7 and 12: Editing activity.
groups to improve content and structure ACELY1695
Use a range of software including word processing programs to construct, edit Sequence 7: Creating an informative text.
and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio Sequence 12: Creating narrative text.
elements ACELY1697

A B
Excellent achievement
Text structure Creates a range of detailed and
logical written, digital and
multimodal texts, selecting
appropriate structure for
different purposes and
audiences.
Creates engaging texts, using
images and detail, to extend
key ideas.
Language features Effectively uses pronouns and
connectives, and varied
sentence structures punctuated
accurately, to create coherence
and add detail to their texts.
Effectively expresses an opinion
about information from a text
through the use of evaluative
and factual language.
Spelling Uses knowledge of letter
patterns and letter
combinations to spell common
and less familiar words with
accuracy.
Punctuation Consistently and accurately
uses punctuation, including the
use of quotation marks, to
enhance meaning.
Editing Consistently re-reads and edits
their work, checking their work
frequently, to improve
structure and meaning.
GRADING: WRITING AND CREATING
High achievement
Uses appropriate elements of
structure and logical detail to
create written, digital and
multimodal texts for different
purposes and audiences.
Creates texts, using images
and detail, to extend key
ideas.
Uses pronouns and
connectives, and varied
sentence structures with
some punctuation accuracy,
to create coherence and add
detail to their texts.
Expresses an opinion about
information from a text, using
evaluative and factual
language.
Uses knowledge of letter
patterns and letter
combinations to spell
common words accurately
and attempt less familiar
words.
Uses punctuation accurately,
including the use of
quotation marks, to support
meaning.
Re-reads and edits their
work, checking their work
frequently, to improve
structure and meaning.
C D
Satisfactory
achievement
Uses elements of structure
and logical detail to create
written, digital and
multimodal texts for
different audiences.
Creates texts, experimenting
with the use of images and
detail to extend key ideas.
Uses simple pronouns and
connectives, and varied
sentence structures with
some punctuation accuracy,
to create coherence and add
detail to their texts.
Expresses an opinion based
on information in a text.
Uses knowledge of letter
patterns and letter
combinations to spell
common words, accurately.
Uses mostly correct
punctuation, experimenting
with the use of quotation
marks, to support meaning.
Re-reads and edits their
work to improve structure
and meaning.
Limited achievement
Uses some elements of text
structures to create written,
digital and multimodal texts.
Creates texts that
demonstrate some use of
images and detail.
Uses repetitive and familiar
connectives, and simple and
compound sentences, in an
attempt to create coherence
in their texts.
Attempts to express an
opinion based on
information in a text.
Attempts to spell common
words using knowledge of
letter patterns and letter
combinations.
Uses simple punctuation.
Recognises errors in their
work.
E
Very low
achievement
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.

A B
Excellent achievement
Creating and Creates coherent and well-
responding structured oral texts to explain
ideas for different audiences,
using relevant images and
detail to extend key ideas.
Plans, rehearses and delivers
detailed presentations which
include relevant learned
content and a purposeful
selection of appropriate
language features to create
coherence and add detail.
Uses metalanguage when
sharing detailed responses to
texts, effectively using relevant
information from a range of
texts to extend ideas and
express opinions.
Contributes actively to class
and group discussions,
purposefully using language
appropriate for the context and
effectively listening for key
points in order to share and
extend ideas.
Communication skills Speaks clearly and coherently,
effectively using tone, pace,
pitch and/or volume with the
purpose of engaging familiar
and unfamiliar audiences.
Purposefully uses body
language, gestures and eye
contact.
GRADING: SPEAKING AND LISTENING
High achievement
Creates coherent and
structured oral texts to
explain ideas for different
audiences, using images and
detail to extend key ideas.
Plans, rehearses and delivers
presentations which include
relevant learned content,
using appropriate language
features to create coherence
and add detail.
Uses some metalanguage
when sharing responses to
texts, using relevant
information from a text to
support ideas and express
opinions.
Contributes actively to class
and group discussions, using
language appropriate for the
context and listening for key
points in order to share and
extend ideas.
Speaks clearly and
coherently, using tone, pace,
pitch and/or volume with the
purpose of engaging familiar
and unfamiliar audiences.
Uses body language, gestures
and/or eye contact.
C D
Satisfactory
achievement
Creates structured oral texts
to explain ideas for different
audiences, using some
images and detail to extend
key ideas.
Plans, rehearses and delivers
presentations which include
learned content, using
language features to create
coherence and add detail.
Shares responses to texts,
using information from a
text to support ideas and
express opinions.
Contributes actively to class
and group discussions,
varying language for the
context and listening for key
points.
Speaks clearly and
coherently with some use of
tone, pace, pitch and/or
volume to familiar and/or
unfamiliar audiences.
Uses some body language,
gestures or eye contact.
Limited achievement
Creates simple oral texts for
a familiar audience.
Makes presentations that
include some learned
content.
Expresses some ideas or
personal opinions based on
shared texts.
Attempts to contribute in
group or class discussions
and listen for key points.
Attempts to speak clearly to
a familiar audience.
Makes little attempt to use
non-verbal behaviours.
E
Very low
achievement
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Does not meet the
requirements of a D grade.
Week Day Context Content Resources
1 W First day of school
Single lesson Recount writing: On my holiday – recap recount text types and what they
include.

Start reading Nanberry

2 T Narratives – motivate, discuss and decide on audience, co-construct the Personal narrative writing
criteria for the lesson by showing an exemplar.
https://www.youtube.com/c
 Discuss narratives written last term hannel/UCvYQMdqI7YJkBlY-
 Beginning, middle and end ln8iSTA
 Writing from experience
 Writing process (brainstorm / plan, draft, revise, edit, publish) Story map

View brainstorming a story – students brainstorm what they could write

View planning & prewriting – students write about what their story will be about
(next page = next paragraph) using the story map

View writing an introduction – students decide what kind of opening their story
will have and write their first paragraph

Teacher modeled and shared writing – show them how it’s done and then do it
together.

View writing a draft – students begin writing their drafts

W Writing own narratives through writing process.

Remind students of sizzling starts, dynamic dialogue, tightening tension.

View writing a closing – students continue writing their drafts.

One-on-one conferencing with students.

3 T Writing own narratives through writing process

View revising

View editing

One-on-one conferencing with students.

 Editing writing, partner-check

W Writing own narratives through writing process

Editing writing, partner-check

Publishing.

4 T Excursion – Shipwreck Galleries

W NB: Double lesson LESSON 1: Avoid Being a Convict Sent
to Australia.
In small groups, the students provide a personal response to the characters,
events and issues in the novel to date. Groups share their responses with the Stories from Australia’s History
whole class.
Semiotic systems worksheet
Shared reading: Avoid Being a Convict Sent to Australia. http://e4ac.edu.au/units/yea
Before reading: r-4/documents/e4ac-y4-s2-
 Cover the title and look at the cover of the book. 1.pdf
 Ask the students what type of book they think it is (that is, whether it is
informative or imaginative). Word Bank
 Reveal the title and ask whether their opinion has changed.
 Open and skim through the book and identify characteristics and Venn Chart
features such as the contents, index and glossary, confirming that it is an
information text.
 Ask the students why the illustrator has used this type of illustration and
who is the intended audience.
During reading:
 Assist the students to identify the features and characteristics of this
informative text, such as layout, contents, index, glossary, use of
headings and subheadings, and bold type used to convey meaning.
 Discuss the text structure and organisation (for example, how it is written
in the second person and has a narrative structure combined with
informative features – it is a hybrid text).
 Make connections between the words and images.
 Discuss the point of view of the text and the fact that it is written from a
convict’s point of view.
 Ask the students what points of view are missing (those of Indigenous
people and a woman, for example) and how the text might change if it
was written from these points of view.

Identify any new vocabulary and create a word bank for new vocabulary and
words used in Standard Australian English that have been derived from
Aboriginal languages.
Refer to the class RAN chart and have the students identify whether there are
any ideas that can be confirmed or misconceptions identified. Have the
students add any new learnings or new wonderings.

Explicit teaching of semiotic systems used in this text

Draw the students’ attention to how cohesion is realised in the visual text
through the use of visual elements such as:
 the chain border
 consistent placement of handy hints on each page (spatial)
 the first letter of the first word on each page

Look at how the guard’s body language and facial expressions are presented
throughout (gestural) and what impact this might have on the reader.

Compare how the convicts are depicted.

LESSON 2:

Shared reading Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet by Melanie Guile

Before reading:
 Show the cover of the book: what type of text do the students think it is?
 Skim and scan the book to locate the contents, glossary and index, to
confirm their choice.
 Orient the students to the purpose of reading this text: to interpret the
possible meanings of the different design elements that have been
used.

During reading: Read the book from the beginning and examine its features
with the students.

Ask the students what the similarities and differences are between this text
Avoid Being a Convict Sent to Australia.
Examples:
 Explicit use of primary sources in the text
 Written in the third person as opposed to the second person
 Use of graphic novel and cartoon features including call-out boxes and
thought bubbles, visually cohesive elements on each page, and an
exploration of all viewpoints.

Model and jointly construct a visual representation of this discussion, using a

Venn diagram
 Continue to add to the class word banks and to the RAN chart.

5 T Double lesson Explicitly teach informative texts: Informational writing

Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/w
 Introduces topic atch?v=DN4d76QP_MA
 Big ideas about the topic

Paragraphs:
 Each paragraph usually begins with a topic sentence (main point)
followed by a series of sentences that add to the main idea.
 Acronym: SEE – statement, elaboration, elaboration
 Extension: add another sentence. This sentence could summarise the
paragraph, evaluate the idea, add opinion or offer reflection.
Conclusion:
 Pulls ideas together
 Summarizes the main ideas
 Provides no new information

Other features:
Written in the present tense, factual information, may have subheadings, new
category = new paragraph, subject-specific nouns.
View Informational writing video
W Single lesson As a class, examine Grim Crims and Convicts. Ask them the following questions: Grim Crims and Convicts
 From examining the cover: What sort of text is this? How do we know?
 Show the contents and index. Does this confirm what we thought? Linguistic features task
 Flick through the pages and have the students identify illustrations,
boxes of text, subtitles and chapter titles.
 Read and discuss the author’s notes prior to page 1.
 Ask the students why they think she has written this book and what she is
encouraging the reader to do.

Revisit the meaning of primary and secondary resources with the students.
Compare this text with other informative texts they have studied. Ask them
what similarities and differences they have noticed.

The students read Chapter 7 (pages 63–67) of Grim Crims and Convicts.

Briefly discuss the information in this passage. Ask the students whether this is
factual reporting or opinion or a combination of the two.

Ask them to consider the following questions:

 Why does the author use questions? (Inviting the reader to think about
the limitations of our knowledge of the past and to participate actively.)
 What does the author use to orient the reader to this way of thinking?
 (Questions, modal language choices such as ‘as though’ and ‘we will
never know for sure’.)
 How do the language choices establish a relationship between the
author and the reader?

Explain to the students that they are about to undertake a close study of the
linguistic features of a text. They will look at the Language features that make
the text cohesive and coherent.

What is a pronoun? Demonstrate how pronouns are used to track participants

through the text and make the text cohesive and coherent.
 Model this by choosing a piece of text from the book and then
completing the following steps:
o Underline nouns/noun groups (participants).
o Draw a shape around the pronouns used in the text.
o Draw a connection from the nouns to the pronoun(s) back to
the nouns you have marked.
o Use a different colour for each participant being tracked.

Students then complete this task individually – Linguistic Feature task.

Continue to add to the class word bank and to the RAN chart for this unit.

Continue reading the class novel Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie French to the students.
Make explicit your thinking as a reader, monitoring for meaning, re-reading passages to make sense and predicting.
The students should continue adding to the word bank of historical vocabulary, which can be drawn upon for their own writing.
They also identify words used in Australian English that have been derived from Aboriginal languages.
Chapters 1–12 tell the story up to the death of Arabanoo. The text in this sequence touches briefly on the smallpox plague and Arabanoo’s death.
Lead a discussion about the fact that these texts are written by the same author and think about the way the novel has engaged the reader through the
character development of Nanberry.
6 T Double lesson Students will discuss the class novel so far (having read at least to Chapter 10) Historical fiction
and identify techniques the author has used to make the story engaging. They characteristics poster
will then compare the novel with the other texts that they have been
examining. Venn diagram

Comparing Nanberry to factual texts Analysing literary question

Lead the class in an in-depth discussion of the class novel and compare it to cards
factual texts: http://e4ac.edu.au/units/yea
r-4/documents/e4ac-y4-s5-
 Ask the students what type of text Nanberry is: is it informative (factual), 1.pdf
imaginative (narrative) or a combination?
 Discuss the features of historical narratives (poster).
 Ask the students if the book attempts, either implicitly or explicitly, to
persuade readers to any particular point of view.
 Look at the structure of the text (narrative point of view and alternating
character point of view).
 Why do the students think the author has alternated the points of view?
 Discuss the chapter titles and location and time identifiers at the
beginning of each chapter. Ask the students how these support the
reader.

Select a specific passage that deals with a historical fact (for example, the
discovery of Nanberry, the smallpox epidemic or the death of Arabanoo).

Compare this with a factual text that has been examined dealing with same
fact.

Ask the students how these texts differ and how they are similar (for example,
language choices and description). Use a Venn diagram to provide visual
support.

Analysing points of view in a literary text

Use think-pair-share to discuss the characters of Surgeon White, Nanberry and
Maria and how points of view can be presented in literary texts.

They will work with a set of question cards, or questions displayed on the
interactive whiteboard to analyse this literary text.

Instructions for analysing points of view:

Briefly have the students think about how they initially responded to each
character.
  Did they like the character? Why or why not?
 What sort of person did they think this character was?
 Record these ideas on the interactive whiteboard, flip charts or a table.

Form the class into small groups and supply each group with an Analysing
literary texts question card or display the questions for each character on the
interactive whiteboard.

Have students think about the questions by themselves first. Then discuss them
with their group.

Regroup and share with the class after each question has been discussed in the
groups. The students should use evidence from the text to support their
responses.
W Single lesson Looking at grammatical elements
NB – review: Revising and teach about single grammatical elements (verb, noun, adjective
and adverb).
A new Grammar
Companion for FIND ACTIVITY
Teachers:
Derewianka Looking at grammatical elements LO1: Super Stories: The
Revising and teach about single grammatical elements (verb, noun, adjective Abandoned House – nouns
A Literature and adverb). and adjectives
Companion for http://www.scootle.edu.au/e
Teachers Model and jointly construct the 1st learning object with the class. c/viewing/L6184/index.html

COMPUTER LESSON Looking at grammatical elements LO1: Super Stories: The

Revising and teach about single grammatical elements (verb, noun, adjective Abandoned House – nouns
and adverb). and adjectives
http://www.scootle.edu.au/e
Model and jointly construct the 1st learning object with the class. The 2nd and c/viewing/L6184/index.html
3rd may be completed individually. Learning object 4 can be completed
individually and can be used for assessment. LO2: Super Stories: The Sea
Cave – nouns and adjectives
http://www.scootle.edu.au/e
c/viewing/L6186/index.html

LO3: Super Stories: The Sea

Cave – verbs and adverbs
http://www.scootle.edu.au/e
c/viewing/L6187/index.html

LO4: Super Stories – verbs and

adverbs, assessment
 http://www.scootle.edu.au/e
c/viewing/L8469/index.html

7 T Double lesson Examining grammatical groups and phrases

Using these text extracts from Nanberry, examine as a class how: Text extracts from Nanberry
NB – review: 1. Adverb group/phrases and prepositional phrases provide information
about circumstances Exploring the text: exploring
A new Grammar 2. Noun groups/phrases, verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases language choices
Companion for enrich the meaning of sentences.
Teachers:
Derewianka First model Exploring the text: exploring the language choices made by the
author to build up meanings in the text.
A Literature
Companion for Then arrange for students to work in small groups to conduct their own
Teachers explorations.

 To assist the students in identifying particular grammatical forms, a

frequently used convention is to colour code noun groups in red, verb
groups in green and circumstances (prepositional or adverbial phrases)
in blue.

W Single lesson Enriching a simple sentence This activity is adapted from

After the novel text has been studied, undertake a joint construction of activities looking at the noun
enriching a simple sentence using noun groups/phrases, verb group/phrases, group in Beverly Derewianka,
prepositional phrases and adverbial phrases. A New Grammar Companion
for Teachers, page 42.
This activity allows the students to experience how rich and detailed
information can be added and encourages improvement in their own writing.

Choose a particular incident or event that the students are familiar with, write a
simple sentence and have the students add information using groups and
phrases.

An example is:
We played ball.
We played dodge ball. (What type?)
The whole class played dodge ball. (Who?)
The whole class played dodge ball after lunch. (When?)
The whole class played dodge ball after lunch for an hour. (How
long?)
As a reward, the whole class played dodge ball after lunch for
an hour. (Why?)
As a reward for everyone doing their homework, the whole class
 played dodge ball after lunch for an hour. (For what?)

8 T Double Looking at a documentary from the 1960s Clip: The Land that Waited
View Clip 1 from the 1963 documentary series The Land that Waited
 What sort of text do the students think this is (imaginative, informative, https://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/th
persuasive or a combination)? Why? e-land-that-waited/clip1/
 The text is made from a collection of still images from convict artists’
works from the early days of the colony.

Display the transcript of the narration (see below) to discuss the language of
the 1960s and the language choices that position the reader, such as:
 Noun groups (hopeless convicts, reluctant soldiery, opportunist officers,
kindred eyes, nostalgic settlers)
 Verbs (gaze, adore)

Discuss:
1. What point of view is the narrator suggesting? (The colonists did not like
the landscape of Sydney Cove and wanted to create a landscape in the
image of England.)
2. What position has the narrator taken towards the colonists? (The convicts
were hopeless, the soldiers were reluctant to carry out their duties and the
officers were looking for ways to make their lives easier.)
W Single Creating our own historical narrative / journal Historical narrative plan
The students will create their own historical narrative - i.e. just like we have
been reading, by going through the writing process:

Develop a historical narrative to explain how life changed after arriving in

Australia on the First Fleet. This may be a personal letter, annotated photo
album, diary extract or newspaper article. Your text should be 200–400 words in
length.

Include:

 an introduction that explains why your person is on the First Fleet

 sequenced historical events in chronological order using dates

 comparison of life before and after the First Fleet arrival in

Australia
  historical terms and concepts

 key people

 the significance of European settlement

 a conclusion about how life has changed/or stayed the same

Planning and drafting a historical narrative / journal

Model the planning and drafting of a historical narrative.
Include any of the vocabulary from our word bank.
Share the task parameters and criteria

9 T Double Creating our own historical narrative / journal

The students will create their own historical narrative by going through the
writing process:
1. Plan
2. Draft
3. Revise
4. Edit
5. Publish

W Single Creating our own historical narrative / journal

The students will create their own excerpt of a historical narrative by going
through the writing process:
1. Plan
2. Draft
3. Revise
4. Edit
5. Publish

10 T Double
Last week of school
W Single
 Worked example: Semiotic systems at work
Text: Avoid Being a Convict by Meredith Costain, pages 18 and 19

Semiotic system What can you identify in the text and what meaning does this have for the reader?
Linguistic The first letter of the text is highlighted or featured (visual feature). Does this signal a new chapter?
Letters You may use the text on this page to closely study the use of particular grammar features and vocabulary
Words to create meaning for the reader.
Grammar
Vocabulary
Visual Main image: framing/shot – long shot on main picture giving information about the setting (unloading items
Frame/shot from the ships).
Angle Guards/Indigenous people: medium shot (from the waist up) showing interactions between the groups;
Colour looks like the guards are trying to trade. Indigenous people are illustrated with spears and there is a
Lighting reference in the text to ‘stabbings and death’.
Intertextuality Governor Phillip hoisting the flag: medium shot. Flag is salient feature: bright colour and blowing out of the
Objects as frame.
symbols Props: clothing looks in good condition.

Audio Call-out boxes: ‘Keep moving – we’ll soon sort out those sea-legs!’
Pitch
Volume
Expression
Pacing
Voice
Silence
Sound effects
Music
Gestural Soldiers’ facial expressions: mean, angry and dumbfounded.
Expressions Convicts: strained, exhausted. (Does their appearance match the text?)
Gestures Indigenous people: inquisitive.
Movement
Gaze
Proximity
Physical contact
Facial
expressions
Body language
Spatial Placement, size and design of handy hint – same on every page – cohesion of text.
Layout and Chain border: cohesion of text.
landscape Use of a main image and two smaller images in boxes giving additional information. Plus handy hint.
How things are Foreground: convicts.
organised
How things are
placed on a
page
Setting and
props

You could ask the following questions for further discussion:

 How do the visual elements of a text assist us as readers? How much information do we get from the visuals?
 What are some of the opinions we could form using this text for our inquiry?
 How do the gestural features of the different groups of people influence our opinion about their roles and
relationships? Is this stereotypical?
 What has the illustrator used to create salience (highlighting the important features of the text)?
 Does the use of cartoon type illustrations and call-out boxes make the reader question the information in the text? Is
this an informative or narrative text? Why? Why have the author and illustrator used this format for presenting an
informative text?
 Look specifically at the smaller frame of the guards perhaps trading with the Indigenous people:
o What information can we gain from that text?
o Only Indigenous males are featured, carrying spears: are they friendly?
o What do the facial expressions of the guards tell us?
o Text underneath says ‘new neighbours’: a friendly term, but also refers to stabbings and death –
juxtaposition.
o Guards have jewels, gold and riches. Did they have these on the First Fleet?
 Linguistic Features Task
Grims, Crims and Convicts – Jackie French
Chp 7, p. 63

1. Underline the nouns/noun groups (participants)

2. Draw a shape around the pronouns in the text
3. Draw a connection from the nouns to the pronouns.
4. Use a different colour for each participant being tracked.

On April 15 1789 a party of men who were cutting grass trees found a sick Eora
man and boy, and another boy dead. They took the sick people back to hospital,
where the surgeon decided they had smallpox — a deadly disease that left is
sufferers with sores all over their body.
 Text extracts from Nanberry
Nanberry: Excerpt from Chapter 1

The white ghosts chopped down trees. They built big huts. They lived in them all year, until they
stank. Their women didn’t know how to fish and when they gathered oysters they threw away
the flesh and kept only the shells.

The white ghosts stole Cadigal canoes and spears. They tried to attack the Cadigal women,
though the women had fought them and run off. They had even made the stream a filthy
stinking thing. Didn’t white-ghost mothers tell their children how important it was to keep the
water clean?
How could people be so stupid as these? When they had captured Colbee – maybe so he
could show them how to build canoes – it had been easy for him to escape.

Surgeon White: Excerpt from Chapter 2

As Chief Surgeon he had insisted that the convicts eat fresh food in England, at Tenerife in the
Canary Islands, and at Cape Town on the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa,
the last port before the final seemingly endless voyage across the almost uncharted ocean.
Convicts who refused to eat because the fruit juice stung their mouths were whipped.

The day after they had landed in this poor excuse for a country he’d made sure the tents for
his laboratory and the sick had been put up. He’d had a garden fenced off to grow fresh
vegetables. The poor wretches, swollen with scurvy, their teeth falling out, too weak to stand
after so long at sea, needed fresh food, not medicine. And again, he’d had to threaten
beatings if they didn’t eat.

Maria: Excerpt from Chapter 3

Maria peered into the black pot on the kitchen fire. It held wild duck the Surgeon had shot last
dusk, and potatoes from their garden, stewed with turnips and parsnips.
Later she’d add wild greens, like Surgeon White had told her to, and use their flour ration to
make fresh soda bread on the hearth, near enough to the coals to cook but not to burn.
She and the Surgeon ate better than anyone in the colony except the Governor, she
reckoned.
Gran had taught her to boil a pudding and sew a seam. Then Gran had died. She’d eaten
flour and water gruel in the workhouse after that, till the lady came to buy her to be a kitchen
maid.
 Characters and language features table
Character Nanberry
Possible character Strong
traits identified by Brave (his people had died)
students in last Thoughtful
lesson Respectful
Did not think all European people
were very smart
Torn between two cultures
Some possible Written in the third person from
aspects of language Nanberry’s point of view – so we
choices to explore know what Nanberry is thinking
with students from and feeling.
excerpts Verb groups that relate to the
white ghosts try to make readers
understand Nanberry’s attitude
(attitudinal language) as he
judges the behaviour of the
settlers (for example, ‘lived in
them until they stank’, ‘didn’t
know how to fish’, ‘they tried to
attack’, ‘white ghosts stole’,
‘made the stream filthy’, ‘be so
stupid’ and ‘show them how to
build canoes’).
Surgeon White
Distant
Thinks that he is superior to others
in the colony
Caring but not loving
Written in the third person from
Surgeon White’s point of view – so
we know what Surgeon White is
thinking and feeling (for example,
‘Seemingly endless voyage’, ‘Poor
excuse for a country’).
Verb groups that use modal
auxiliaries that indicate the degree
of certainty – in this case a high
degree (for example, ‘he had
insisted that the convicts eat fresh
food’, ‘he’d made sure’ and ‘he’d
had to threaten’).
Students could rewrite part of the
text using lower modality choices
and discuss how this could affect
the development of the character
(for example, ‘he had requested
that’ and ‘he had hoped that’).
Maria
Distrusts Indigenous people, who
she refers to as ‘natives’
Has been very poor
Grateful to Surgeon White
Knew her place as a servant
Lower class
Written in the third person from
Maria’s point of view – so we
know what Maria is thinking and
feeling.
Readers can interpret ideas
about characters through the
influence of how the participant’s
role is shown. Are they in control
of their own affairs or are others
in control? (Humphrey, Droga
and Feez, 2011)
Study of verb groups/phrases (or
processes) shows that Maria is
often in the position of having
something done to her (for
example, ‘like Surgeon White had
told her to’, ‘Gran had taught her’
and ‘till the lady came to buy
her’).
 Transcript from The Land That
Waited (1963)

When they sailed into Sydney Cove, the hopeless

convicts, the reluctant soldiery and the opportunist
officers all looked with kindred eyes on the
landscape before them, vast, seemingly endless.

Holding onto the very edges of sanity they said to

themselves the strange dry things we see are not
real, for this place is England, we ourselves are
England and this land we will form in our own image.

Slowly the tents and the makeshift huts spread over

the dry undulations above the harbour; the embryo
of Sydney took shape.

The small Georgian houses sprang up, the feeble

little Tank Stream flowed down to Sydney Cove as
the newcomers began to make their Antipodean
England amongst the rocks and sun-baked earth of
Sydney harbour.

When a small potted primrose was shipped out from

home, the nostalgic settlers stormed the wharf shed
just to gaze at and adore their little bit of England.