English in Years 7 to 9

The following suggestions match sample activities against specific objectives in the National Framework for English. They can easily be adapted to the objectives of other national curricula.

• Year 7
• Year 8
• Year 9

Year 7 Reading

Objective 3

Compare and contrast the ways information is presented in different forms.

Sample activity

Silence could be used in lessons which focus on the Holocaust and its aftermath. Students could compare the film with short extracts from Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus, The Diary of Anne Frank and Spielberg's Schindler's List. This could lead to group work where students make notes on the differences between the different media and forms used across the texts. Which is the most effective text? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the forms and media used?

Objective 10

Identify how media texts are tailored to suit their audience, and recognise that audience responses vary.

Sample activity

Show the students Hidden. Discuss why the director has chosen to present Giancarlo as an animated figure. How might they have reacted differently to the film if it had been a 'straight' live action documentary? Does it matter that the film isn't visually 'realistic' despite telling a true story?

Objective 11

Recognise how print, sounds and still or moving images combine to create meaning.

Sample activity

The non-linear nature of the soundtrack of Blight is an invitation to students' imaginations. Play the film or a section of it without visuals, and ask students to write down what they think the film is about and to sketch the images which come into their heads. These could be shared in groups. Follow this by showing the film. In groups discuss whether the visuals met their expectations. Discuss what effect is created by putting this soundtrack over these images. In what way is this different from most TV documentaries students have seen?

Year 7 Writing

Objective 5

Structure a story with an arresting opening, a developing plot, a complication, a crisis and a satisfying resolution.

Objective 6

Portray character, directly and indirectly, through description, dialogue and action.

Sample activity

Any of the films could be used as starting points for narrative writing. For example: a story based around the day Joan received the news of her husband's death in I Expect Joan Feels the Same; a recount of a holiday adventure or disaster inspired by Holiday; a typical day in the type of a slum presented in Housing Problems. Encourage students to draw on the information provided in the film, and consider what is left out and what they have to imagine. What in the chosen film leads them in a particular imaginative narrative direction? (For example, how is Joan's, or her friend's, personality conveyed through the film?) Students could also reflect on how they may need to mould 'real life' stories to fit traditional narrative structures.

Objective 14

Describe an object, person or setting in a way that includes relevant details and is accurate and evocative.

Sample activity

Any of the four Mitchell and Kenyon films could be used as a stimulus for descriptive writing. For example, how does a typical 11 year-old look now and 100 years ago? Using the films as a reference point, what evocative features, presented on camera, can be used in a written description?

Year 7 Speaking and Listening

Objective 2

Recount a story, anecdote or experience, and consider how this differs from written narrative.

Sample activity

Show I Love My Nails and discuss what information is conveyed conversationally and how it would be conveyed in writing. Students could compose and deliver a speech about their favourite hobby/interest and reflect on what it means to them or what it says about their personality.

Objective 6

Listen for and recall the main points of a talk, reading or television programme, reflecting on what has been heard to ask searching questions, make comments or challenge the views expressed.

Sample activity

Show Silence. Group discussions: If you could ask Tana a question what would it be? What do we learn about her life? Why is it important for Tana to tell her story now? How have events during the war influenced Tana's life?

Year 8 Reading

Objective 6

Recognise bias and objectivity, distinguish facts from hypotheses, theories or opinions.

Sample activity

Show Housing Problems. Is this a neutral text? List ways in which it is a text to a) inform, b) persuade. Students could be presented with information about some of the social problems that have arisen from the building of high-rise flats in slum clearance areas - how does this information change their view of the original film?

Objective 9

Recognise how texts are shaped by the technology they use.

Sample activity

Show Ferment. Discuss the 'time-slice' technique the film uses. What effects does it make possible that would otherwise be impossible? In what ways does the technique fit with the film's content? Interesting comparisons could be made with short extracts from The Matrix. This could lead to a wider discussion of special effects - do they always add to the effectiveness of films? Students could also compare Ferment with a Mitchell and Kenyon film: does either film convey more or less information? Do they convey different types of information because of what the technology makes possible?

Objective 16

Recognise how texts refer to and reflect the culture in which they were produced.

Sample activity

Bush Bikes could be a case study in representation of Australian Aborigines. What impression do we get of what the lives of these children are like? What shots/shot sequences convey positive representations of their lives? What shots may seem less positive? What seems to be important and of value to the children in the film? How do they interact with their environment? This could lead to research into land-rights issues. Students could identify similarities and differences with their own culture.

Year 8 Writing

Objective 8

Develop an imaginative or unusual treatment of familiar material or established conventions.

Sample activity

Students could adapt the 'mocumentary' style of The Urban Savannah by producing their own humorous 'mocumentary' script for a subject of interest to them: for example, have all the teachers at school been possessed by aliens? These could be made as short films where facilities exist.

Objective 17

Integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions.

Sample activity

Several of the films could be used as a stimulus for analytical writing, requiring students to use close textual evidence to support their views. Possible essay questions could be 'Do you agree that Tomorrow's Saturday focuses on the hardships of life for working people?' or 'Do you agree that as viewers of Hidden we are encouraged to feel sympathy for Giancarlo?'

Year 8 Speaking and Listening

Objective 4

Provide an explanation or commentary which links words with actions or images.

Sample activity

Students select a still/series of stills which impresses them from a visually striking film such as Holiday or Ferment. They give a short presentation on the image(s) discussing what they find effective about it. As far as possible analytical film language should be used, for example, mise-en-scène, framing, camera angle, shot type.

Objective 7

Listen for a specific purpose, paying sustained attention and selecting for comment or question that which is relevant to the agreed focus.

Sample activity

Play the soundtrack to Blight without the visuals. Ask students to note all the different voices, sound effects which they can identify. In groups, discuss expectations of what the film will be about.

Year 9 Reading

Objective 6

Comment on the authorial perspectives offered on individuals, community and society in texts from different cultures.

Sample activity

None of the films use 'voice of God' narration to make the film-maker's perspectives explicit. As a speaking and listening task students could hot-seat the film-makers of the non-British films to clarify their perspectives. For example, what is the director of Hidden's view of immigration policy?

Objective 7

Compare the presentation of ideas, values or emotions in related or contrasting texts.

Sample activity

The selection of films in Real Shorts offers rich possibilities for comparative work, particularly in terms of representation. Possible topics are: experiences of childhood (Silence, Hidden, and Bush Bikes); Britain then and now (I Expect Joan Feels the Same, the Mitch ell and Kenyon films, The Urban Savannah, Ferment); experiences of the city (Housing Problems, Ferment); interests and leisure ( Holiday, I Love My Nails, Bush Bikes).

Objective 11

Analyse how an author's standpoint can affect meaning in non-literary as well as literary texts.

Sample activity

Can non-fiction films ever tell the 'true' story? Ask students to identify any evidence of bias in any of the films. Do the film-makers attempt to disguise this bias? Students could develop ideas for films from different viewpoints than those of the film-makers in Real Shorts. For example, in response to Blight, students could think about how a film-maker who was in favour of road expansion might make a 'counter' film.

Year 9 Writing

Objective 5

Explore different ways of opening, structuring and ending narratives and experiment with narrative perspective, for example, multiple narration.

Sample activity

Students take a selection of the individuals from Ferment and write about their experience of the moment we share with them in the film.

Objective 6

Explore how non-fiction texts can convey information or ideas in amusing or entertaining ways.

Sample activity

The Urban Savannah could be used as part of a wider study of parody. It could be compared with a typical David Attenborough wildlife documentary, with students encouraged to identify the generic features which such films utilise, and discuss how they are used for comic effect in The Urban Savannah. Comparisons could be made with written examples of parody, such as Swift's A Modest Proposal.

Objective 8

Write within the discipline of different poetic forms, exploring how form contributes to the meaning.

Sample activity

Within the context of wider study of poetic forms, and having viewed several of the Real Shorts films, students write a poem in response to one or two of the films in a form they feel is appropriate. For example, sonnet for I Expect Joan Feels the Same, limerick for Holiday, rap for The Urban Savannah. The students could also write a short commentary explaining why they chose their poetic form.

Objective 14

Make a counter-argument to a view that has been expressed, addressing weaknesses in the argument and offering alternatives.

Objective 17

Cite specific and relevant textual evidence to justify critical judgements about texts.

Sample activity

Having seen several of the films,students are presented with contentious statements to attack, such as 'The lives of ordinary people are too boring to make films out of.' Their arguments should be supported with close textual evidence.

Year 9 Speaking and Listening

Objective 3

Develop interview techniques which include planning a series of linked questions, helping the respondent to give useful answers, responding to and extending the responses.

Sample activity

In pairs students could formulate additional questions for Giancarlo in Hidden, or the women in I Expect Joan Feels the Same. Key characters such as the 'pink' woman in I Love My Nails could be hot-seated.

Objective 7

Identify the underlying themes, implications and issues raised by a talk, reading or programme.

Sample activity

The film to be studied could be shown at the end of the preceding lesson, with homework task being to identify likely themes and issues to be discussed next lesson. This could be paired with research work.

Objective 9

Discuss and evaluate conflicting evidence to arrive at a considered viewpoint.

Sample activity

Show Holiday and compare with a humorous memoir recounting a miserable 1950s British seaside holiday. Invite groups to discuss what 1950s seaside holidays were 'really' like.