This course defines what students should understand and be able to do by the end of the grade level. Knowledge acquisition should be the primary purpose of any reading approach.  The systematic building of a wide range of knowledge across domains is a prerequisite to higher literacy. At this grade level, students are building their facility with rhetoric, the craft of using language in writing and speaking, using classic literature, essays, and speeches as mentor texts. 

English Language Arts is not a discrete set of skills, but a rich discipline with meaningful, significant content, the knowledge of which helps all students actively and fully participate in our society.

Standards should not stand alone as a separate focus for instruction but should be combined purposefully.

The texts students read should be meaningful and thought-provoking, preparing them to be informed, civic-minded members of their community.

Curricular content for all subjects must integrate critical-thinking, problem-solving, and workforce-literacy skills; communication, reading, and writing skills; mathematics skills; collaboration skills; contextual and applied-learning skills; technology-literacy skills; information and media-literacy skills; and civic-engagement skills.

Our new Cambridge Lower Secondary English encourages a life-long enthusiasm for reading, writing and spoken communication. Learners develop English skills for different purposes and audiences.

This curriculum is for learners who have English as a first language and can be used in any cultural context.

Learners develop skills and understanding in four areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They will learn how to communicate effectively and respond to a range of information, media and texts to:

• become confident communicators, able to apply all four skills effectively in everyday situations

• see themselves as readers, engaging with a range of texts for information and for pleasure, including texts from different times and cultures

• see themselves as writers, using the written word clearly and creatively for a range of different audiences and purposes.

This curriculum supports an integrated approach to teaching the four skills. With the support available, you can deliver Cambridge Lower Secondary English using a broad range of activities that promote experience, reflection and improvement.

We employ a range of fiction genres, poetry, playscripts and non-fiction texts to provide authentic contexts for skills development.