Grade 9 English Language Arts
8 units matched to the Alberta Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Language Arts”.
Organizing ideas
- General Outcome 1: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences
- General Outcome 2: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts
- General Outcome 3: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage ideas and information
- General Outcome 4: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication
- General Outcome 5: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect, support and collaborate with others
Units
Unit 1
Close Reading
Reading original short passages and answering questions about theme, tone, word choice, structure and the author's purpose, using evidence from the text.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 2 · reading closely for inference, theme, tone and the author's craft
Unit 2
Literary Elements
Recognizing devices such as irony, symbolism, motif, allusion and foils in short excerpts, and describing tone and mood.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 2 · literary elements and devices such as irony, symbolism and foreshadowing
Unit 3
Voices & Perspectives
How point of view and background shape a text, why oral traditions and the protocols around them matter, and asking whose voices are present or missing. This unit introduces ideas only; teachers and local First Peoples communities lead deeper learning.
Learning outcome: General Outcomes 2, 5 · point of view and respecting different voices and perspectives
Unit 4
Argument & Rhetoric
Spotting ethos, pathos and logos, common fallacies such as straw man and false dilemma, loaded language and bias, and judging whether a source or media message can be trusted.
Learning outcome: General Outcomes 2, 3 · persuasive techniques, credibility and bias
Unit 5
Digital Smarts
Telling misinformation from disinformation, checking sources before trusting them, managing passwords and privacy, spotting phishing, and citing and using other people's work respectfully.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 3 · online safety, spotting misinformation and judging sources
Unit 6
Language & Style
How word choice shapes feeling (connotation and denotation), how English changes and borrows words, formal and informal register, concise and varied sentences, and devices such as anaphora and rhetorical questions.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 4 · word choice, style and register
Unit 7
Grammar & Style
Semicolons, colons, dashes, commas and apostrophes, subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, misplaced modifiers, run-ons and fragments, and choosing a formal or informal register.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 4 · sentence structure, grammar and punctuation
Unit 8
Revise & Edit
Making sentences more concise, choosing transitions, fixing unclear pronouns and tense shifts, catching errors a spell-checker misses, and Canadian spelling such as colour, centre, practise and licence.
Learning outcome: General Outcome 4 · revising for clarity and editing for spelling and conventions
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