AST M Temple, 30Jan09

KS3 English

Year 9 Speaking and Listening Unit – Term 5

‘Non-fiction texts’
This unit has been created to raise the attainment levels of
speaking and listening skills. It is crucial that these skills are
practised regularly during key stage 3 in preparation for GCSE
English. Over the course of this unit, students will use both
listening and responding skills by undertaking largely pair and
group work, in which they will discuss and analyse a range of
non-fiction text types. The piece will be marked with a GCSE grade
for pupils to see how they have developed their skills. Teachers
will also be required to mark this piece for a level; this piece as
well as the other key assessed pieces, will determine the overall TA
level to show progression from KS2-3.

The key assessment foci will be Speaking and Listening AF 2, 3

and 4 (in bold type on unit); however, there will be some lessons
in which some reading and writing skills will also be developed.

Assessment Foci covered in this unit

KEY AFs: Speaking and Listening
AF2: Listen and respond to others, identifying main ideas and
how these are presented.
AF3: Adapt what you say and how you say it according to your
subject, purpose and audience.
AF4: Contribute ideas and suggestions to your group.
Also; AF1: Talk in purposeful and imaginative way to explore ideas
and feelings, using body language and other features.
AF6: Be able to identify different types of spoken language and
why they are used.
Reading
AF3: Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from
texts.
AF5: Explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including
grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level.
Writing
AF1: Write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts.
AF2: Produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader and
purpose.
AF7: Select appropriate and effective vocabulary.

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Overview of lessons

Introductory ideas: Importance of Speaking and Listening

1. In groups, students are to brainstorm situations in which
people need to communicate effectively e.g. arranging a time
to meet a friend; job interview. Use sugar paper for this. (SL
AF4)
2. Take feedback from groups and write on flip chart to use
again in later lessons.
3. What does it mean to talk well? What does it mean to listen
well? Card sort activity with list of statements for each
question. Half of the class to focus on talking; half on
listening. Teacher to pass statements to pupils to place in a
hierarchy to decide which skill is most important. (They are
all important! But students will use S and L skills to try to
make a decision) Then, if possible, one person from each pair
to move to opposite side to share ideas e.g. Student who has
focused on speaking skills to sit with listening skills student.
Share ideas between pairs. (SL AF 2 and 4)
4. Students are then given or could choose two different
situations to explore how a person would need to adjust how
they speak e.g. one formal, one informal situation. Ideas
generated in first task of flip chart could be used for this.
Take feedback. (SL AF4)
5. Students are to choose one of the situations to then write a
short role play to then practise speaking in role. (WR AF2
and 7) Teacher to choose pair to perform in front of the class.
6. Students who watch and listen are to use GCSE criteria to
evaluate the performance and suggest strengths and areas
for development. This would be useful enlarged on A3 sheet
for students to share one between two, to then use at other
times over the GCSE course. (SL AF3)
Development: group discussion and analysis of different text types
1. Teacher led brainstorming exercise on board: what is the
purpose of reading non-fiction texts as well as literature
based texts? E.g. understand how writers present fact and
opinion; presenting viewpoints; learning about topical issues
etc. (SL AF4)
Information texts
1. Students to work in pairs analysing a headline. Use different
headlines around the room so that pupils are not all
focusing on the same one. (5 or 6 required.) Question:
What do you think the article is going to be about? Then give
pupils the picture from the same article and students are to
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further discuss their conclusions about the topic of the

article. (SL AF2 and 4; R AF3 and 5)
2. Now give the class an entire article (one only) to analyse
further. Choose article according to ability of the group and
also with regards to sensitive students about certain topics.
3. Teacher to show list of ‘ingredients’ of what to analyse – on
flip chart to use again e.g. purpose, audience, rhetorical
devices etc. These could be generated by students depending
on ability of group. This will need differentiating for lower
groups – choose fewer devices. Number the devices on the flip
chart/ large sugar paper so that each pair has a different
focus for five mins at a time. Then students to move onto
next one on the list. Repeat two to three times to ensure that
students have covered a few devices. (SL AF 2 and 4; R AF 3
and 5)
4. Then choose pairs to feedback ideas by inviting them to the
front to annotate article on screen/OHT. (SL AF 3)
Persuasive texts
1. Language of advertising: students to work in pairs to match
definitions with the correct language term e.g. headline,
picture, copy etc. Again use less for lower groups. Explore
any that students found difficult to work out the meaning.
(SL AF2)
2. Students to suggest ways in which they could find and
analyse each of these devices in a text e.g. what is the
headline; where is it; size; colour; meanings; position etc.
Teacher to write list of what to analyse on board. (SL AF4)
3. Hand out an advertisement for the class to analyse and
annotate. Teacher to distribute one focus per pair e.g. slogan
or copy or image etc. Students are to explore how this has
been used by referring to the above suggestions e.g. where is
it; what size is it; language used etc. After five minutes,
students are to choose another device. Repeat two or three
times. (R AF3 and 5)
4. Teacher to take feedback from a selection of pairs to then
annotate copy on screen/OHT. (SL AF2)
5. Groups of 4 to then write, design and create an
advertisement for a new product; focusing on persuasive
techniques. Teacher to suggest a few ideas to the class e.g.
chocolate teapot; square wheel etc. (SL AF2 and 4; W AF1, 2
and 7)
6. Each pair is then to practise how they would present their
new product to the class focusing closely on presenting skills
e.g., voice; eye contact; body language etc. (SL AF1 and AF3)
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7. Teacher to select pair to present their new product to the

class. Other students to use GCSE criteria (different focus
from last time – drama focused) once more to suggest
strengths and areas to develop. (SL AF1 and AF3)
Assessment task
1. Teacher to raise the profile and importance of this piece by
explaining to students that in 3 or 4 lessons, they will be
assessed for group discussion of a non-fiction text. Students
could write the date of the assessment in their planner and
the teacher could hand an A5 piece of paper to each student
to stick in their planner or exercise book, explaining the
task, the AFs and how they will be graded with a GCSE
grade for S and L. Students may want to bring in a non-
fiction text themselves to analyse and discuss.
2. Show students a few different clips of students discussing,
arguing, describing etc from the GCSE moderation DVD. Use
the GCSE grade criteria again for students to now suggest a
grade for each student and why. (SL AF6)
3. Now remind students of the ways to analyse texts and what
for e.g. pictures, headlines, persuasive language etc. Could
use previous suggestions on flip charts.
4. Groups of 3 or 4 students to then begin discussing the
effectiveness of a non-fiction text, either their own or one
from the teacher. Stick onto a large piece of sugar paper to
analyse. It could be an article, leaflet or advertisement, even
a webpage. This will be a practice for their assessment day,
although the students should be aware that the teacher is
making notes on good practice throughout the week. The
students may need a lesson and a half to practise, then the
teacher could assess on the date agreed earlier. (SL AF2, 3
and 4)
5. Students are to reflect on their practice discussion by
looking at the AFs again and the grade criteria, suggesting
ways they could improve. Use the self-assessment sheet.
6. Once the assessment is complete and the teacher has made
enough notes on each student, the final grade is given to the
students on the GCSE S and L sheet, so that they can see
their first grade and first piece of coursework.

7. For staff to understand a little more about the process for

students, each student is given a reflection sheet, A5 paper,
in which they are asked three questions: Feelings about the
unit? Have I developed my speaking skills? Have I developed
my listening skills? Use a ‘Likert’ scale, 1-5 with different
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face emotions linked to each to make it quick and simple for

the students to complete. A student or teacher could collate
all of the classes’ information and prepare feedback for a
faculty meeting as a way of reviewing the unit.

Resources required:-
 Flip chart pad and teacher white board
 Large sugar paper and marker pens for pupils
 Card sort – prioritise statements: talking well; listening well
 Exercise books or paper
 GCSE grade criteria enlarged onto A3 (to be used again)
 5 or 6 headlines on A4 paper and the accompanying picture
from the same article on separate A4 paper
 An article for students to analyse as a class – one between
two; and on projector for students to annotate on screen
 List of ‘ingredients’ on sugar paper or flip chart, numbered –
devices used in articles
 Matching exercise: advertising jargon and meanings on A4
sheet
 Persuasive text/advertisement, one between two and the
same on screen
 Sheet: creating an advertisement (see possible resources
from AST)
 Assessment task made clear on an A5 piece of paper
 DVD: GCSE S and L moderation
 A selection of non-fiction texts for the assessment task
 Self-assessment sheet with AFs, grades and target box to
reflect on their skills half way
 GCSE S and L record forms – one per pupil
 Student reflection sheet with ‘Likert’ scale