Nova Scotia · Grade 12
Canadian Literature 12
Nova Scotia’s Grade 12 English course, from Reading to Identity, Diversity, and Voice.
- Units
- 3
- Lessons
- 3
- Skills
- 13
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Nova Scotia Department of Education
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, with its official code.
Unit 1 · 3 skills
Reading
Reading a Range of Canadian Literature
Selecting and reading Canadian literature by interest
I can choose and read Canadian texts that match my interests, across a genuine range.
Official code: 1.1
Experiencing poetry, prose, and drama in Canadian literature
I can read and engage with Canadian poetry, short and long prose, and drama.
Official code: 1.2
Reading Canadian texts in their contexts
I can use geographical, historical, social, and cultural context to understand a Canadian text.
Official code: 1.3
The official wording · 3 outcomes
- 1.1
- select and read a range of Canadian literature including texts that support their special interests
- 1.2
- experience poetry, short and long prose, and drama in Canadian literature
- 1.3
- demonstrate knowledge about the geographical, historical, social, and cultural contexts of literary texts
Key ideas
Canadian literature spans regions, communities, and traditions — choosing widely means reading beyond a single familiar voice.
Selecting texts that support your special interests gives you ownership of your reading and a reason to read closely.
A 'range' means variety of author, region, era, and perspective — not five books that all sound alike.
Each genre asks a different kind of reading: poetry rewards attention to image and sound, prose to narrative and character, drama to voice and staging.
Canadian writers work across all these forms — experiencing the range shows the breadth of the country's literature.
Watch out for
- Choosing only texts that confirm what you already know or like.
- Treating 'Canadian literature' as a single style rather than a range of regional and cultural voices.
- Reading every genre the same way (e.g. skimming a poem for plot).
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 6 skills
Responding
Responding Personally and Critically to Canadian Literature
Exploring personal connections to Canadian literature
I can explore and reflect on my personal connections to a Canadian text.
Official code: 2.1
Articulating and justifying points of view about texts
I can state a point of view about a Canadian text and justify it with evidence.
Official code: 2.2
Examining how responses reflect reader perspectives
I can examine how different readers, from different perspectives, interpret the same Canadian text differently.
Official code: 2.3
Reflecting on what responses reveal about values and attitudes
I can reflect on what my responses to Canadian literature reveal about my own values and attitudes.
Official code: 2.4
Examining how texts reveal and produce values and positions
I can examine how a Canadian text reveals and produces values, identities, and positions.
Official code: 2.5
Describing, discussing, and evaluating texts and genres
I can describe, discuss, and evaluate the language, ideas, and characteristics of Canadian texts and genres.
Official code: 2.6
The official wording · 6 outcomes
- 2.1
- explore and reflect on personal connections to Canadian literature
- 2.2
- articulate and justify points of view about texts
- 2.3
- examine how responses and interpretations reflect different reader perspectives
- 2.4
- reflect on what their own responses reveal about their personal values and attitudes
- 2.5
- examine how texts work to reveal and produce values, identities, and positions
- 2.6
- describe, discuss, and evaluate the language, ideas, and other significant characteristics of a variety of texts and genres
Key ideas
A personal connection links your own experience, place, or identity to something in a Canadian text.
Reflecting on a connection means asking why it moved you, not just noting that it did.
Canadian literature often speaks to shared national and regional experience, which can make connections especially close to home.
A point of view is a claim about the text; justifying it means backing it with specific evidence.
Strong justification quotes or references the text, not just general impressions.
Watch out for
- Reporting a feeling without exploring where it came from.
- Assuming a personal connection is the same as a full interpretation of the text.
- Stating an opinion but never supporting it from the text.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 4 skills
Identity, Diversity, and Voice
Identity, Diversity, and Voice in Canadian Literature
Identifying recurring themes, values, and attitudes
I can identify recurring themes, values, and attitudes across Canadian literature.
Official code: 3.1
Examining the reasons for and effects of point of view
I can examine why an author chose a particular point of view and what effect it creates.
Official code: 3.2
Entering imaginatively into characters' lives
I can enter imaginatively into the lives and situations of characters in Canadian literature.
Official code: 3.3
Examining characters' development and self-understanding
I can examine how characters develop and come to understand themselves in Canadian literature.
Official code: 3.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 3.1
- identify recurring themes, values, and attitudes in texts
- 3.2
- examine the reasons for and effects of a particular point of view
- 3.3
- explore texts by entering imaginatively into the lives and situations of characters
- 3.4
- explore and examine characters’ development and characters’ understanding of themselves
Key ideas
Recurring themes are ideas that surface again and again across texts — survival, belonging, land, identity are common in Canadian writing.
Themes carry values and attitudes: what a body of literature returns to says something about a culture.
Tracing a theme across several Canadian texts reveals shared preoccupations of the country's writers.
Point of view is a deliberate choice — who tells the story shapes what the reader knows and feels.
A first-person Indigenous narrator, an omniscient settler chronicler, or a child's-eye view each produce different effects.
Watch out for
- Treating a one-off topic as a recurring theme.
- Naming a theme without linking it to the values or attitudes it expresses.
- Identifying the point of view but not its effect.
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.
Which course?
Nova Scotia has 2 English courses for Grade 12. Here they are side by side.
- Canadian Literature 12This course3 units · 13 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversReading · Responding · Identity, Diversity, and Voice
- English 12ENG123 units · 34 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversSpeaking and Listening · Reading and Viewing · Writing and Other Ways of Representing
What a university, college or program asks for is theirs to say: check its admission page, and your school’s course guide.
The official curriculum
This page follows Nova Scotia’s own curriculum for Canadian Literature 12.
Study it in MapleMind
MapleMind teaches Canadian Literature 12 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 Canadian Literature 12 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
- 23
- Fillable fields
- 1,097
- Price
- $4.99
Questions about Canadian Literature 12
What is Canadian Literature 12?
Nova Scotia’s Grade 12 English course: 3 units and 13 skills, from Reading to Identity, Diversity, and Voice.
What units are in Canadian Literature 12?
1. Reading, 2. Responding and 3. Identity, Diversity, and Voice.
Is there a provincial exam for Canadian Literature 12?
No. Nova Scotia gives no provincial exam for Canadian Literature 12.
Can MapleMind help with Canadian Literature 12?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Canadian Literature 12, 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 Canadian Literature 12
Practise every skill of Canadian Literature 12 in MapleMind, free with daily limits.
