Alberta · Grade 8
English Language Arts 8
Alberta’s Grade 8 English course, from Reading and Comprehension to Writing Craft and Conventions.
- Units
- 5
- Lessons
- 10
- Skills
- 20
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Alberta Education
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.
Unit 1 · 4 skills
Reading and Comprehension
Reading Strategies
Paraphrasing main ideas and details
I can paraphrase the main ideas and supporting details of a text in my own words.
Skill 1.1
Using reference cues
I can use cues in reference materials to find information efficiently.
Skill 1.2
Using prior knowledge to interpret
I can use what I already know to interpret new ideas and information.
Skill 1.3
Extending Your Thinking
Exchanging ideas to broaden perspective
I can exchange ideas and opinions with others to clarify my understanding and broaden my perspective.
Skill 1.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 1.1
- Use comprehension strategies enhance understanding by paraphrasing main ideas and supporting details, and by rereading and discussing relevant passages
- 1.2
- Use textual cues identify and use visual and textual cues in reference materials, such as catalogues, databases, web sites
- 1.3
- Use prior knowledge use strategies to supplement and extend prior knowledge and experiences when interpreting new ideas and information
- 1.4
- Combine ideas exchange ideas and opinions to clarify understanding and to broaden personal perspectives
Key ideas
Paraphrasing means restating an idea in your own words while keeping its meaning — it proves you understood, not just copied.
Exchanging ideas means both sharing your view AND genuinely taking in others’ — the goal is a clearer, broader understanding.
A good paraphrase keeps the main idea and key details but changes the wording and structure.
Hearing a different perspective can confirm, complicate or improve your own.
Reference materials (databases, web sites, catalogues) use cues — search fields, categories, headings — that point you to what you need.
Watch out for
- Swapping a few synonyms and calling it a paraphrase (still too close to the original).
- Treating a discussion as a contest to win rather than a way to understand.
- Leaving out the main idea while keeping only a minor detail.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 5 skills
Responding to and Analyzing Texts
Responding to Texts
Interpreting character choices and motives
I can interpret a character’s choices and motives and connect them to people I know.
Skill 2.1
How techniques create effect
I can explain how techniques like word choice and framing create effect.
Skill 2.2
Forms and Literary Elements
Matching form to purpose
I can explain why a text’s form or genre fits its purpose and audience.
Skill 2.3
Telling theme from topic
I can distinguish a text’s theme from its topic or main idea.
Skill 2.4
Texts and Culture
How texts reflect cultures and periods
I can compare how texts reflect elements of cultures or periods in history.
Skill 2.5
The official wording · 5 outcomes
- 2.1
- Construct meaning from texts interpret the choices and motives of characters portrayed in oral, print and other media texts, and examine how they relate to self and others
- 2.2
- Appreciate the artistry of texts discuss how techniques, such as word choice, balance, camera angles, line and framing, communicate meaning and enhance effects
- 2.3
- Understand forms and genres discuss how the choice of form or genre of oral, print and other media texts is appropriate to purpose and audience
- 2.4
- Understand techniques and elements distinguish theme from topic or main idea in oral, print and other media texts
- 2.5
- Relate texts to culture compare ways in which oral, print and other media texts reflect specific elements of cultures or periods in history
Key ideas
A motive is the reason behind a choice; interpreting it means asking "why would they do that?" and finding evidence.
The form or genre of a text (report, poem, ad, story) is chosen to suit its purpose and audience.
Texts carry the values, customs and concerns of the culture or time period that produced them.
Characters’ choices often mirror real people, which is how stories help us understand ourselves and others.
Comparing forms shows which is more useful for a given goal.
Watch out for
- Summarizing what a character did instead of interpreting why.
- Thinking form is just decoration rather than chosen for purpose.
- Making broad stereotypes instead of pointing to specifics in the text.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 2 skills
Creating Texts
Writing Original Texts
Generating ideas from issues
I can generate ideas for a text from issues I meet in texts and in my own life.
Skill 3.1
Structuring with main and minor characters
I can structure a text with both main and minor characters in a fitting form.
Skill 3.2
The official wording · 2 outcomes
- 3.1
- Generate ideas create oral, print and other media texts related to issues encountered in texts and in own life
- 3.2
- Structure texts create oral, print and other media texts with both main and minor characters
Key ideas
Strong writing ideas often come from real issues — a problem or question raised by a text or by your own experience.
Starting from an issue gives a text something to say.
Main characters carry the story; minor characters support, contrast or move the plot.
Choosing a form (story, script, comic) that fits your purpose shapes how the characters come across.
Watch out for
- Thinking you must invent something with no connection to real issues.
- Picking a topic with no issue or point behind it.
- Adding minor characters who do nothing for the story.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 4 · 4 skills
Research and Information
Planning and Finding Information
Focusing a topic and tracing arguments
I can focus a topic, choose a fitting form, and trace an argument.
Skill 4.1
Evaluating sources
I can develop and use criteria to judge a source’s usefulness, currency and reliability.
Skill 4.2
Organizing and Citing
Organizing to show relationships
I can organize information to show a comparison, chronology, or cause-effect relationship.
Skill 4.3
Note-making and referencing sources
I can make point-form notes summarizing key ideas and reference my sources.
Skill 4.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 4.1
- Focus attention experiment with several ways to focus a topic, and select a form appropriate to audience and purpose
- 4.2
- Evaluate sources develop and use criteria for evaluating the usefulness, currency and reliability of information
- 4.3
- Organize information organize ideas and information creatively, as well as logically, to develop a comparison or chronology, or to show a cause-effect relationship
- 4.4
- Record information make notes in point form, summarizing major ideas and supporting details; reference sources
Key ideas
Focusing a topic means narrowing it to something specific enough to research and matching it to a form and audience.
How you organize information reveals a relationship: comparison (how things are alike/different), chronology (order in time), cause-effect (why something happened).
Tracing an argument means following how an author builds and supports their opinion.
The right structure fits your purpose and makes patterns clear.
Criteria — usefulness, currency (how recent), reliability (who made it, how they know) — let you judge a source fairly.
Watch out for
- Leaving a topic so broad it can’t be researched.
- Listing facts with no organizing relationship.
- Confusing the argument with a single fact from the text.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 5 · 5 skills
Writing Craft and Conventions
Revising and Word Choice
Revising for emphasis and variety
I can revise to emphasize important ideas and add sentence variety.
Skill 5.1
How language changes
I can explain how new words and expressions enter the language.
Skill 5.2
Grammar and Punctuation
Modifiers and sentence variety
I can use modifiers and a variety of sentence structures to clarify and enhance my writing.
Skill 5.3
Hyphens, semicolons and dashes
I can use hyphens correctly and recognize semicolons and dashes.
Skill 5.4
A system for spelling
I can use a systematic approach to study and remember tricky spellings.
Skill 5.5
The official wording · 5 outcomes
- 5.1
- Revise and edit revise by adding words and phrases that emphasize important ideas or create dominant impressions
- 5.2
- Expand knowledge of language explore and explain ways that new words, phrases and manners of expression enter the language
- 5.3
- Attend to grammar and usage use words and phrases to modify, clarify and enhance ideas and descriptions in own writing
- 5.4
- Attend to capitalization and punctuation use hyphens to break words at the end of lines, and to make a new word from two related words
- 5.5
- Attend to spelling develop a systematic and effective approach to studying and remembering the correct spelling of key words
Key ideas
Revising can ADD words and phrases that emphasize key ideas or create a dominant impression.
Words and phrases that modify (adjectives, adverbs, phrases) add detail and clarity.
Varying sentence length and structure keeps writing from sounding flat.
Using simple, compound and complex sentences gives writing rhythm and shows how ideas relate.
Language changes over time — new words and expressions enter through popular culture, technology, other languages and events.
Watch out for
- Thinking revision only cuts, never adds for emphasis.
- Writing only simple sentences, making prose choppy.
- Writing every sentence the same length and structure.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Plan the term
Pick your term and the days you study. Each unit gets its share of the weeks and comes back a week later for a review. The last two weeks go over the whole course.
The official curriculum
This page follows Alberta’s own curriculum for English Language Arts 8.
Study it in MapleMind
MapleMind teaches English Language Arts 8 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.
Course Companion
Your year in one workbook
A fun way to keep English Language Arts 8 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.
- Pages
- 31
- Fillable fields
- 1,310
- Price
- $4.99
Questions about English Language Arts 8
What is English Language Arts 8?
Alberta’s Grade 8 English course: 5 units and 20 skills, from Reading and Comprehension to Writing Craft and Conventions.
What units are in English Language Arts 8?
1. Reading and Comprehension, 2. Responding to and Analyzing Texts, 3. Creating Texts, 4. Research and Information and 5. Writing Craft and Conventions.
Is there a provincial exam for English Language Arts 8?
No. Alberta gives no provincial exam for English Language Arts 8.
What comes after English Language Arts 8?
English Language Arts 9.
Can MapleMind help with English Language Arts 8?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of English Language Arts 8, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.
Get ready for English Language Arts 8
Practise every skill of English Language Arts 8 in MapleMind, free with daily limits.
