Year 8 English

The Australian Curriculum: Classroom Approaches English units were originally designed to align with Version 3 of the Australian Curriculum (2012) but have recently been mapped to Version 9 (2024). The four units provide adaptable and scalable learning pathways that can be shaped for use in diverse classroom contexts, and hopefully provide inspiration for locally-developed units of work for other depth studies and areas of the curriculum. Click the "Download Year 8 Units" button to get a PDF of the units outlined below.

Year 8 Overview

The Australian Curriculum: English for Year 8 continues to build on students' literacy, critical thinking, and creative skills through engaging and diverse units. Each unit allows students to explore different aspects of English language and literature, encouraging them to respond to texts and create their own in meaningful ways.

Year 8 Units

UNIT ONE: TRUTH AND FICTION

  • Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas:

    • That authors can make the past come alive through the weaving of fact and fiction.

    • That true stories can be just as compelling as fiction.

    • That stories about the past can help us to understand our history.

  • Suggested Texts: "The Diary of a Young Girl" (Anne Frank), "Hitler’s Daughter" (Jackie French), "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" (John Boyne), "The Book Thief" (Markus Zusak)

  • Performance Task: Short story competition set in an alternate historical period

  • Links to Australian Curriculum v9 Content Descriptions: AC9E8LA01, AC9E8LA02, AC9E8LA04, AC9E8LA09, AC9E8LA05, AC9E8LA08, AC9E8LA06, AC9E8LE01, AC9E8LE02, AC9E8LE04, AC9E8LE06, AC9E8LY02, AC9E8LY05, AC9E8LY07, AC9E8LY06, AC9E8LY08

  • General Capabilities: Literacy, ICT Capability, Critical & Creative Thinking, Personal & Social Capability, Ethical Behaviour, Intercultural Understanding

UNIT TWO: FROM PAGE TO SCREEN

  • Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas:

    • That film-makers apply imagination and technique to bring stories to life.

    • That creators and composers of texts can build on and work with texts created by others to create different but related texts.

    • That stories can be seen through different ‘lenses’ depending on the media through which they are presented.

  • Suggested Texts: "Where the Wild Things Are" (Picture book by Maurice Sendak), "Where the Wild Things Are" (Film by Spike Jonze)

  • Performance Task: Storyboard for a film version of a popular children’s picture book

  • Links to Australian Curriculum v9 Content Descriptions: AC9E8LA02, AC9E8LA09, AC9E8LA07, AC9E8LA08, AC9E8LE01, AC9E8LE05, AC9E8LE06, AC9E8LY02, AC9E8LY03, AC9E8LY05, AC9E8LY04, AC9E8LY06, AC9E8LY07

  • General Capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, ICT Capability, Critical & Creative Thinking, Personal & Social Capability, Ethical Behaviour

UNIT THREE: AUSTRALIAN STORIES - TOWARD RECONCILIATION

  • Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas:

    • That stories by and of First Nations Australians reflect the richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Histories and Cultures.

    • That stories by and of First Nations Australians provide important windows onto Australian society for all Australians.

    • That engaging with stories and writings of First Nations Australians can support non-Indigenous Australians to meet their responsibility to learn about and understand the impacts of colonisation on First Nations Peoples in Australia, and to contribute to reconciliation.

  • Suggested Texts: "Maybe Tomorrow", by Boori Monty Pryor (Kunggandji/Birri-gubba) and Meme McDonald; "Do Not Go Around the Edges", by Daisy Utemorrah (Wunambal); "The Honey Spot", by Jack Davis (Noongar); and “Black Cockatoo”, “Dirrarn” and/or “Tracks of the Missing” by Carl Merrison (Jaru and Kija) and Hakea Hustler.

  • Performance Task: Nominate keynote speakers for a writers’ festival for young people based on the theme of Reconciliation.

  • Links to Australian Curriculum v9 Content Descriptions: AC9E8LA07, AC9E8LA09, AC9E8LA05, AC9E8LE01, AC9E8LE05, AC9E8LE03, AC9E8LE02, AC9E8LY03, AC9E8LY05, AC9E8LY08

  • General Capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, ICT Capability, Critical & Creative Thinking, Personal & Social Capability, Ethical Behaviour, Intercultural Understanding

UNIT FOUR: BRAVE

  • Enduring Understandings/Big Ideas:

    • That the defining quality of heroism is bravery.

    • That heroes, both literary and real, can help us to define what’s worth fighting for.

  • Suggested Texts: "Harry Potter" Series, "The Hunger Games" (Suzanne Collins), "Brave" (Pixar), Assorted non-fiction texts

  • Performance Task: Three different speeches on heroism, designed for different contexts, purposes, and audiences

  • Links to Australian Curriculum v9 Content Descriptions: AC9E8LA01, AC9E8LA03, AC9E8LA06, AC9E8LE01, AC9E8LE02, AC9E8LE03, AC9E8LY01, AC9E8LY03, AC9E8LY06, AC9E8LY07, AC9E8LY08

  • General Capabilities: Literacy, Numeracy, ICT Capability, Critical & Creative Thinking, Personal & Social Capability, Ethical Behaviour

Alternatively, if you prefer to create your own unit of work, please click the 'DIY Design Template' button below to download an attached Word document template.