Grade 9: ENL1W | Academic English, Grade 9
English Department
English Course Descriptions
Grades 9 -12
The English curriculum is grounded in the belief that language learning is essential for responsible citizenship and that all students can succeed as language learners. It emphasizes the development of critical literacy, communication, and comprehension skills across various forms of media, while fostering independent, reflective, and culturally aware learners. Recognizing the diverse backgrounds and needs of Ontario students, the curriculum supports differentiated instruction and promotes exposure to a wide range of texts, including works from diverse cultures and historical periods. It encourages student choice in reading and writing to spark engagement and personal growth. Teachers are tasked with explicitly teaching effective strategies to help students become confident communicators and critical thinkers. Overall, the curriculum aims to prepare students for lifelong learning, meaningful participation in society, and personal fulfillment.
In Gr. 11, students take this course as their core English credit. Students focus on content, forms, and style of literary, informational, and graphic texts of First Nations, Métis and Inuit authors in Canada. Students study changes in text and form by Indigenous authors over time. In this course, students will create oral, written, and media texts to explore their own ideas and understanding of identity, self-determination, relationships, and sovereignty while focusing on developing literacy, communication, inquiry, critical and creative thinking skills. The course is intended to prepare students for the compulsory Grade 12 English course.