English , Grade 9 ,

ENL1W: English

This course is designed to develop the oral communication, reading, writing, and media literacy skills that students need for success in their secondary school academic programs and in their daily lives. Students will analyse literary texts from contemporary and historical periods, interpret informational and graphic texts, and create oral, written, and media texts in a variety of forms. An important focus will be on the use of strategies that contribute to effective communication. The course is intended to prepare students for the Grade 10 academic English course, which leads to university or college preparation courses in Grades 11 and 12.

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This course enables students to continue to develop and consolidate the foundational knowledge and skills that they need for reading, writing, and oral and visual communication. Throughout the course, students will continue to enhance their media literacy and critical literacy skills, and to develop and apply transferable skills, including digital literacy. Students will also make connections to their lived experiences and to society and increase their understanding of the importance of language and literacy across the curriculum.

Grade: 9

Level: De-streamed

Prerequisites: No prerequisites.

Credit Value: 1

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For the Curriculum Expectation Please click Here

Required Software, Equipment, Textbooks

Some of the activities in this course will require the installation of some free software "plugins" on your computer. Normally, the computer will prompt you to install the plugin when you need it, but if you want to install them ahead of time, you can use the links below. Installing these plugins is easy, and you will be given step by step instructions. Click on the links below to take you to the install pages. Please note that some of these installs can take some time if you are using a dial up Internet connection.

Geometer's Sketchpad
During this course you will be required to use a program called Geometer's Sketchpad. This is a dynamic geometry program which can be downloaded for free.If you are unfamiliar with Sketchpad, you can view an online tutorial at Atomic Learning. Here there are over 50 online tutorials on using sketchpad. They require the use of the Quicktime movie viewer which can be downloaded at www.quicktime.com. Also, throughout the course, as you encounter the sketchpad files, solutions will follow. In the beginning units, these solutions will be more explicit in how to use sketchpad, but those instructions will diminish as you go through the course.

Fathom
During this course you will also be required to use a program called Fathom. You can download if for free from Microsoft. If you are unfamiliar with Fathom, you can view a walkthrough guide and online tutorials at Key Press website.

Other Free Graphing technology
If you do not currently have graphing software installed on your computer, please take the time to install some before beginning this course. Some popular options, are: GeoGebra, GraphCalc, Winplot, and QuickGraph. The first two are the main ones that will be used in this course.

Java Runtime Environment
This program is needed to run a variety of applets in this course. Download the Java applets now.

SmartIdeas
This software is a handy tool for preparing flowchart types of diagrams. It is a piece of software that is licensed to school boards in Ontario. If you work from home there are many free and online tools that can be used if you conduct a web search for “mind mapping software”.

Apple QuickTime
QuickTime lets you add digital video media capabilities and components to your Mac or PC. Download Apple QuickTime .

Shockwave, Flash, and Authorware
Macromedia's Shockwave, Flash and Authorware Player plugins let you experience automation and entertainment in your Web browser. Download Shockwave, Flash and Authorware software.

Adobe Acrobat Reader
Free software that lets you view, print, search, and share Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files more securely using a variety of platforms and devices. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader .

Real Networks RealPlayer
Play online audio and video content. Download Real Networks RealPlayer

Microsoft Media Player
Windows Media Player supports Windows Media (WMA,ASF), MP3, WAV, MIDI, AVI, and other formats. Download Microsoft MediaPlayer.

Teachers will be flexible in terms of what a student uses to complete work, as long as the work meets the expectations of the assignment and can be submitted electronically in a standard format.