English First Peoples 12

Core Competencies

Communicating
 
Collaborating
Critical and Reflective Thinking
 
Creative Thinking
Personal Awareness and Responsibility
 
Positive Personal and Cultural Identity
 
Social Awareness and Responsibility

Students are expected to know the following:

Using oral, written, visual, and digital texts, students are expected individually and collaboratively to be able to:

Big Ideas

Big Ideas

The exploration of text
any type of oral, written, visual, or digital expression or communication:
  • Visual texts can include gestural and spatial components (as in dance) as well as images (e.g., posters, photographs, paintings, carvings,  poles, textiles, regalia, and masks).
  • Digital texts can include electronic forms of oral, written, and visual expression.
  • Multimodal texts can include any combination of oral, written, visual, and/or digital elements and can be delivered via different media or technologies (some examples of multimodal texts are dramatic presentations, web pages, music videos, on-line presentations, graphic novels, and closed-captioned films).
and story
a narrative text that shares ideas about human nature, motivation, behaviour, and experience; stories can record history, reflect a personal journey, or explore identity; stories can be oral, written, or visual, and used to instruct, inspire, and/or entertain listeners and readers
deepens our understanding of diverse, complex ideas about identity, others, and the world.
Oral and other texts
any type of oral, written, visual, or digital expression or communication:
  • Visual texts can include gestural and spatial components (as in dance) as well as images (e.g., posters, photographs, paintings, carvings, poles, textiles, regalia, and masks).
  • Digital texts can include electronic forms of oral, written, and visual expression.
  • Multimodal texts can include any combination of oral, written, visual, and/or digital elements and can be delivered via different media or technologies (some examples of multimodal texts are dramatic presentations, web pages, music videos, on-line presentations, graphic novels, and closed-captioned films).
are socially, culturally, geographically, and historically constructed.
Voice is powerful and evocative.
First Peoples texts and stories
a narrative text that shares ideas about human nature, motivation, behaviour, and experience; stories can record history, reflect a personal journey, or explore identity; stories can be oral, written, or visual, and used to instruct, inspire, and/or entertain listeners and readers
provide insight into key aspects of Canada’s past, present, and future.
Self-representation through authentic First Peoples text
a written, oral, visual, digital, or multimodal text that:
  • presents authentic First Peoples voices (i.e., historical or contemporary texts created by First Peoples, or created through the substantial contributions of First Peoples)
  • depicts themes and issues important to First Peoples cultures (e.g., loss of identity and affirmation of identity, tradition, healing, role of family, importance of Elders, connection to the land, the nature and place of spirituality as an aspect of wisdom, the relationships between individual and community, the importance of oral tradition, the experience of colonization and decolonization)
  • incorporates First Peoples storytelling techniques and features as applicable (e.g., circular structure, repetition, weaving in of spirituality, humour)
  • includes respectful portrayals or representation of First Peoples, their traditions, and their beliefs
is a means to foster justice.
First Peoples voices and texts play a role within the process of Reconciliation
the movement to heal the relationship between First Peoples and Canada that was damaged by colonial policies such as the Indian residential school system
.

Content

Learning Standards

Content

A wide variety of BC, Canadian, and global First Peoples texts
A wide variety of text forms
Within a type of communication, the writer, speaker, or designer chooses a form based on the purpose of the piece. Common written forms include narrative, journal, procedural, expository, explanatory, news article, e-mail, blog, advertisements, poetry, novel, and letter.
and genres
literary or thematic categories (e.g., science fiction, biography, satire, memoir, poem, visual essay, personal narrative, speech, oral history)
Common themes in First Peoples literature
  • connection to the land
  • the nature and place of spirituality as an aspect of wisdom
  • the relationships between individual and community
  • the importance of oral tradition
  • the experience of colonization and decolonization
  • loss of identity and affirmation of identity
  • tradition
  • healing
  • role of family
  • importance of Elders
Reconciliation in Canada
First Peoples oral traditions
  • the legal status
    First Peoples oral histories are valid evidence of ownership of the land within Canadian law. The Supreme Court of Canada recognizes that First Peoples oral tradition is as important as written documents in considering legal issues. See resource disputes (e.g., Delgamuukw or Xeni Gwetin), treaties and title cases (e.g., Nisga’a), and environmental impact studies (e.g., Puntledge River Dam, Berger Inquiry).
    of First Peoples oral traditions in Canada
  • purposes of oral texts
  • the relationship between oral tradition and land/place
Protocols
  • Protocols are rules governing behaviour or interactions.
  • Protocols can be general and apply to many First Peoples cultures, or specific to individual First Nations.
Text features
attributes or elements of the text that may include typography (bold, italics, underlining, font choice), guide words, key words, titles, diagrams, captions, labels, maps, charts, illustrations, tables, photographs, and sidebars/text boxes
and structures
how text is organized
Strategies and processes
  • reading strategies
    There are many strategies that readers use when making sense of text. Students consider what strategies they need to use to “unpack” text. They employ strategies with increasing independence depending on the purpose, text, and context. Strategies include but may not be limited to predicting, inferring, questioning, paraphrasing, using context clues, using text features, visualizing, making connections, summarizing, identifying big ideas, synthesizing, and reflecting.
  • oral language strategies
    speaking with expression; connecting to listeners, asking questions to clarify, listening for specifics, summarizing, paraphrasing
  • metacognitive strategies
    • thinking about our own thinking, and reflecting on our processes and determining strengths and challenges
    • Students employ metacognitive strategies to gain increasing independence in learning.
  • writing processes
    There are various writing processes depending on context. These may include determining audience and purpose, generating or gathering ideas, free-writing, making notes, drafting, revising, and/or editing. Writers often have very personalized processes when writing. Writing is an iterative process.
  • presentation techniques 
Language features, structures, and conventions
  • features of oral language
    intonation, enunciation, volume, pacing, expression, purpose, diction, acoustics
  • elements of style
    stylistic choices that make a specific writer distinguishable from others, including diction, vocabulary, sentence structure, and tone.
  • language change
    • Languages change slowly but continually (e.g., influence of different languages on each other, Old English to Modern English).
    • Changes are evident in different dialects.
    • New words and new ways of saying things emerge as culture and society change.
  • syntax and sentence fluency
  • rhetorical devices
    examples include figurative language, parallelism, repetition, irony, humour, exaggeration, emotional language, logic, direct address, rhetorical questions, and allusion
  • usage
    avoiding common usage errors (e.g., double negatives, mixed metaphors, malapropisms, and word misuse)
    and conventions
    common practices of standard punctuation in capitalization, quoting, and spelling of Canadian and First Peoples words
  • literary elements and devices
    Texts use various literary devices, including figurative language, according to purpose and audience.
  • literal and inferential meaning
  • persuasive techniques
    • ethical, logical, and emotional appeals
    • may include using repetition, rhetorical questions, irony, or satire
  • citations and acknowledgements
    formal acknowledgements of another person’s work, idea, or intellectual property

Curricular Competency

Learning Standards

Curricular Competency

Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)

Analyze how First Peoples languages and texts reflect their cultures, knowledge, histories, and worldviews
Access information for diverse purposes and from a variety of sources
includes print, digital, visual, artistic and diverse cultural sources from multiple perspectives
and evaluate its relevance
Consider the extent to which material has credibility, currency, and significance for the purpose, and whether it resonates with personal experience.
, accuracy, and reliability
Consider point of view, bias, and propaganda, and voices omitted or misrepresented.
Select and apply appropriate strategies
Strategies used will depend on purpose and context. These may include making predictions, asking questions, paraphrasing, forming images, making inferences, determining importance, identifying themes, and drawing conclusions.
in a variety of contexts
includes independent and collaborative settings, and formal and informal situations
to guide inquiry, extend thinking, and comprehend texts
Analyze how different forms, formats, structures, and features of texts reflect a variety of purposes, audiences, and messages
Students may consider the relationship between form and function (e.g., considering the role in various texts of elements such as negative space in graphic novels, advertisements on websites, lighting and camera angles in film and photography, use of music, paragraph length, line breaks in poetry, silence and intonation in spoken word, and use of colour).
Think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts
Recognize and identify personal, social, and cultural contexts, values, and perspectives
Students should be prompted to understand the influence of family, friends, community, education, spirituality/religion, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, land/place, settlement patterns, traditional First Peoples teachings, economic factors, political events (local and beyond), and colonial policies; to understand that authors write from a perspective influenced by such factors; and to understand the relationship between text and context.
in texts, including gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors
Appreciate and understand how language constructs and reflects personal, social, and cultural identities
  • A person’s sense of identity is a product of linguistic factors or constructs, including oral tradition, story, recorded history, and social media; voice; cultural aspects; literacy history; linguistic background (English as first or additional language); and language as a system of meaning.
  • Students may consider register (jargon, colloquialisms, vernacular, dialects, accent, diction, slang).
Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world
Demonstrate understanding of the role of story
a narrative text that shares ideas about human nature, motivation, behaviour, and experience; stories can record history, reflect a personal journey, or explore identity; stories can be oral, written, or visual, and used to instruct, inspire, and/or entertain listeners and readers
and oral traditions
Oral traditions are the means by which cultural transmission occurs over generations, other than through written records. Among First Peoples, oral traditions may consist of told stories, songs, and/or other types of distilled wisdom or information, often complemented by dance or various forms of visual representation such as carvings or masks. In addition to expressing spiritual and emotional truth (e.g., via symbol and metaphor), these traditions provides a record of literal truth (e.g., regarding events and/or situations). They were integrated into every facet of life and were the basis of First Peoples education system. They continue to endure in contemporary contexts.
in expressing First Peoples perspectives, values, beliefs and points of view
Understand and evaluate how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning and impact
Analyze the diversity within and across First Peoples societies as represented in texts
Assess the authenticity of First Peoples texts
Analyze the influence of land/place
refers to the land and other aspects of physical environment on which people interact to learn, create memory, reflect on history, connect with culture, and establish identity
in First Peoples texts
Examine the significance of terms/words from First Peoples languages used in English texts
Discern nuances in the meanings of words, considering social, political, historical, and literary contexts
Identify bias, contradictions, distortions, and omissions

Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing)

Respectfully exchange ideas and viewpoints
  • using active listening skills and receptive body language (e.g., paraphrasing and building on others’ ideas)
  • disagreeing respectfully
  • extending thinking (e.g., shifting, changing) to broader contexts (social media, digital environments)
  • collaborating in large and small groups
from diverse perspectives to build shared understandings and extend thinking
Demonstrate speaking and listening skills
  • Strategies associated with speaking skills may include the conscious use of emotion, pauses, inflection, silence, and emphasis according to context.
  • Strategies associated with listening skills may include receptive body language, eye contact, paraphrasing building on others’ ideas, asking clarifying questions, and disagreeing respectfully.
in a variety of formal and informal contexts for a range of purposes
may include to understand, to inquire, to explore, to inform, to interpret, to explain, to take a position, to evaluate, to provoke, to problem solve, and to entertain
Select and apply appropriate oral communication formats for intended purposes
Express and support an opinion with evidence
Respond to text in personal, creative, and critical ways
Use writing and design processes
There are various writing and/or design processes depending on context, and these may include determining audience and purpose, generating or gathering ideas, free-writing, making notes, drafting, revising and/or editing, and selecting appropriate format and layout.
to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences
Students expand their understandings of the range of real-world audiences. These can include children, peers, and community members, as well as technical, academic, and business audiences.
Assess and refine texts to improve clarity, effectiveness, and impact
  • creatively and critically manipulating language for a desired effect
  • consciously and purposefully making intentional stylistic choices (e.g., using sentence fragments or inverted syntax for emphasis or impact)
  • using techniques such as adjusting diction and form according to audience needs and preferences, using verbs effectively, using repetition and substitution for effect, maintaining parallelism, adding modifiers, varying sentence types
Experiment with genres, forms, or styles of texts
Use the conventions of First Peoples and other Canadian spelling, syntax, and diction proficiently and as appropriate to the context
Transform ideas and information to create original texts, using various genres, forms, structures, and styles
Recognize intellectual property rights and community protocols and apply as necessary