Grade 7 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 7 english language arts in the Alberta Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- General Outcome 1: students explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences
- General Outcome 2: students listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically
- General Outcome 3: students manage ideas and information
- General Outcome 4: students enhance the clarity and artistry of communication
- General Outcome 5: students respect, support and collaborate with others
Easy ways to practise english language arts at home
- Read what they are interested in: graphic novels, sports pages, series. Then talk about it.
- Ask for the main idea and one piece of evidence from the text.
- Have them write real messages: a thank-you note, a short review, a note to a relative.
- Read their writing aloud to them; they often spot their own mistakes by ear.
What each unit covers
Close Reading
Reading original stories, arguments and informational passages, then identifying theme and main idea, making inferences, spotting claims and counterarguments, and explaining why an author made certain choices.
Whose Story?
Telling first, second and third person apart, finding the clues, and imagining how a different narrator would change the story.
Literary Devices
Recognizing the tools writers use: figurative language, foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism and the three kinds of irony (verbal, situational and dramatic), plus the parts of a plot.
Tone & Mood
Telling the writer's attitude (tone) apart from the reader's feeling (mood), and seeing how word choice and connotation shape both.
Poetry Lab
Reading short original poems to find rhyme schemes, count stanzas, identify the speaker, recognize forms like haiku, limerick and free verse, and interpret figurative language and theme.
Patterns & Features
Spotting causes and effects, using signal words, and explaining why features like a bibliography, index or clear fonts help readers.
Source Check
Researching responsibly: judging whether a source is trustworthy and current, noticing bias, separating fact from opinion, and giving credit through quotation, paraphrase and citation.
Persuasive Power
Identifying appeals to credibility, emotion and logic; spotting weak reasoning like bandwagon, false cause and slippery slope; and judging which evidence and rebuttals are strongest.
Clauses & Sentences
Finding independent and dependent clauses, naming the four sentence types, and fixing fragments, run-ons and comma splices, the building blocks of varied, clear sentences.
Grammar Gears
Finding the person who receives something (indirect object), words after linking verbs that rename or describe the subject, -ing and -ed describing words (participles), and phrases that tell when, where, how or why.
Modifiers & Parallelism
Revising sentences so describing phrases sit next to what they describe (no misplaced or dangling modifiers) and list items match in form (parallel structure).
Punctuation Power
Using a colon before a quotation, a semicolon with words like however and therefore, and ellipses or dashes to show a pause, an omission or a break.
Semicolons, Colons & Dashes
Using semicolons to join related sentences and separate complex lists, colons to introduce lists and explanations, and dashes to add emphasis or interruptions.
Word Mix-Ups
Choosing correctly between commonly confused words: its/it's, their/there/they're, then/than, lose/loose, who's/whose, affect/effect, accept/except and more.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Alberta report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 7 child with english language arts?
Read what they are interested in: graphic novels, sports pages, series. Then talk about it. Ask for the main idea and one piece of evidence from the text. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
What does my child learn in Grade 7 english language arts in Alberta?
The Alberta Curriculum Grade 7 english language arts units include close reading, whose story?, literary devices, tone & mood, poetry lab, patterns & features.
Free printable Grade 7 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.