Oxford MyEnglish Year 8 Australian Curriculum sample lesson plan

Lesson plan Part B Organising words and ideas Unit 11 Colons and semicolons Pages 54–57

Learning intentions

Australian Curriculum links

In this lesson, students will: • learn that colons and semicolons are punctuation marks that connect two parts of a sentence • understand the different rules for the use of colons and semicolons.

Level: 8 Strand: Language Sub-strand: Language for expressing and developing ideas Content description: Understand and use punctuation conventions including semicolons and dashes to extend ideas and support meaning (AC9E8LA09)

Success criteria By the end of this lesson, students should be able to: • explain when semicolons and colons should be used • use semicolons and colons appropriately when writing sentences.

Text extracts included in Unit 11 Novel The Giver by Lois Lowry (Collins, 1994, p. 7)

Things to know before you start teaching this lesson © Oxford University Press 2023 Oxford MyEnglish 7–10 Australian Curriculum 3E Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342197 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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• Recommended total teaching time for Unit 11 is 30 minutes. Students may require an additional 15–20 minutes to complete homework tasks.

• Colons and semicolons are punctuation marks that can help give writing clarity and structure.

• Both colons and semicolons are used to connect two parts of a sentence, but are used in slightly different ways.

• Students in Year 8 should already understand how to use commas, full stops, exclamation marks and question marks, but may not be familiar with colons and semicolons.

Lesson 11: Colons and semicolons STARTER ACTIVITY 5 mins

Introducing colons and semicolons • Draw a colon and a semicolon on the board.

• Ask the students to tell you what these marks are called individually (you may need to provide them with the answer). Invite them to also come up with the collective term for these marks (i.e. punctuation marks).

• Explain that these marks are used to connect two separate parts of a sentence.

• Challenge students to find a sentence that uses either of these marks. They can search on the internet, look at online newspapers, read over a school newsletter or bulletin or look through their class text. Write some of the suggested sentences on the board.

• Based on the sentences, ask the class if they can figure out when colons and semicolons should be used in sentences.

© Oxford University Press 2023 Oxford MyEnglish 7–10 Australian Curriculum 3E Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342197 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

Support/ Extension

Support Students can be provided with a specific text with a chapter or page reference to assist them in finding a colon or semicolon.

Resources Any reading material, such as class texts, online newspapers or school publications.

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MAIN ACTIVITIES 25 mins

Activity 1: In Focus activity • As a class, read the Unit 11 introduction box.

• Complete activities 11.1 and 11.2 in the student workbook and review answers as a class.

• Complete activity 11.3 as a whole-class activity: - Begin by writing the uncorrected text on the board.

- Write the twelve missing punctuation marks from the box on p. 55 onto 12 separate sticky notes.

- Distribute the sticky notes to some of the students and invite them to come up and place the punctuation mark in the correct spot on the board.

- Once the class is happy that they have correctly placed all of the punctuation marks, have them write out the corrected paragraph in their workbooks.

Support/ Extension Support For activity 11.3, students who struggle to use punctuation marks correctly can be paired with another student. They can also be given straightforward punctuation marks such as the question mark or exclamation mark.

Resources Workbook Unit 11 Colons and semicolons: In Focus, pp. 54–55 Sticky notes

Extend One or two capable students can be designated the ‘class experts’ who give advice to the other students about where to place their punctuation sticky notes for activity 11.3.

25 mins

OR Activity 2: Punctuation ‘memory’

© Oxford University Press 2023 Oxford MyEnglish 7–10 Australian Curriculum 3E Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342197 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

Index cards

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• Students work in pairs for this activity.

• Ask students to individually write a paragraph of eight sentences. This can be on a topic of their choice, or it can relate to a class text or a recent school event. Ask them to include two sentences with colons, two with semicolons, one with a comma, one with a question mark, one with an exclamation mark and one with no punctuation except for a full stop.

• Once students have written their paragraph, ask them to write each sentence onto index cards. They should then combine these cards with their partner’s cards, shuffle them and lay them out face down.

• Students can then play ‘Memory’ with these cards, turning two over at a time. If the two cards have the same punctuation mark, the student who has turned them over can keep them. Otherwise they are turned back over.

• Students can take turns until all of the cards are matched and they have a winner. If time allows, students can change partners and try again.

TOTAL 30 mins

HOMEWORK 15 mins

In Context activity • Complete activity 11.4 in the student workbook.

© Oxford University Press 2023 Oxford MyEnglish 7–10 Australian Curriculum 3E Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342197 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

Support/ Extension

Resources

Extend Complete the Unit 11 quiz on the obook pro.

Workbook Unit 11 Colons and semicolons: In Context, 4

pp. 56–57 obook pro Unit 11 quiz

SUPPORT AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES USING INTER-YEAR LINKS Oxford MyEnglish allows you to assign content and resources on any topic you are teaching from any year level. These are known as inter-year links. Inter-year links cater to mixed-ability classrooms by allowing you to assign work from any year level based on student need. For example: • if there are students in your Year 8 class who require additional scaffolding or support to use punctuation, including colons and semicolons, you can assign them content and resources from the Support or Year 7 inter-year links • if there are students in your Year 8 class who would benefit from extending their knowledge and understanding of how to use punctuation, including colons and semicolons, you can assign them content and resources from the Year 9 or 10 inter-year links.

The graphic below shows all the linked units relating to colons and semicolons that you can choose from.

© Oxford University Press 2023 Oxford MyEnglish 7–10 Australian Curriculum 3E Teacher obook pro ISBN 9780190342197 Permission has been granted for this page to be photocopied within the purchasing institution only.

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