Courses

Nova Scotia · Grade 7

English Language Arts 7

Nova Scotia’s Grade 7 English course, from Culture and Communication to Analysing Accuracy and Bias.

Learn thisPractice test
Units
6
Lessons
6
Skills
28
Provincial exam
None
Official curriculum
Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Unit by unit

Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.

Unit 1 · 4 skills

Culture and Communication

Culture in Communication Forms

  • Investigating how forms express culture and identity

    I can investigate how a communication form expresses a culture and identity.

    1.1

    Learn itPractice testActivities

  • Comparing voices within a culture

    I can compare different voices and perspectives from within one culture.

    1.2

    Learn itPractice testActivities

  • Comprehending cultural expression through creators' choices

    I can comprehend a cultural expression by studying the creator's choices.

    1.3

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  • Investigating how forms vary across cultures

    I can investigate how communication forms vary or stay the same across cultures.

    1.4

    Learn itPractice testActivities
The official wording · 4 outcomes
1.1
Investigate ways in which communication forms are an expression of culture and identity
1.2
Compare a range of voices and perspectives from within a culture
1.3
Comprehend cultural expressions using speakers’/writers’/producers’ choices
1.4
Investigate how communication forms vary or look the same across cultures

Key ideas

  1. A communication form (a story, song, image, or video) can carry the values, history, and identity of the community that made it.

  2. Investigating means gathering evidence from the form itself, not just guessing about the culture behind it.

  3. A single culture contains many voices — elders and youth, different regions, different experiences.

  4. Comparing voices means noticing where perspectives within a community agree and where they differ.

  5. Speakers, writers, and producers make choices — words, images, music, structure — that shape a cultural expression's meaning.

Watch out for

  • Assuming a form has no cultural meaning because it looks ordinary.
  • Describing a culture from stereotype instead of from evidence in the form.
  • Treating a whole culture as having one single perspective.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 2 · 5 skills

Planning Responses

Planning Personal and Critical Responses

The official wording · 5 outcomes
2.1
Compare the characteristics of personal and critical responses
2.2
Question personal and critical interpretations of perceived messages from a variety of communication forms
2.3
Investigate how ideas for personal and critical responses can be developed
2.4
Investigate the relationship between audience and purpose, and the chosen communication form
2.5
Analyse how supporting details support ideas and responses

Key ideas

  1. A personal response shares your reaction and connection; a critical response analyzes the text using evidence.

  2. Comparing the two helps you pick the right response for the task.

  3. A perceived message is what you think a form is saying — but your first interpretation may not be the only one.

  4. Questioning your interpretation ('Is that really the message? What else could it mean?') makes a stronger response.

  5. Ideas for a response can be developed by rereading, connecting to experience, asking questions, or talking it through.

Watch out for

  • Thinking a personal response cannot use any evidence.
  • Confusing a critical response with just an opinion.
  • Treating a first impression as the only correct interpretation.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 3 · 5 skills

Creating Communication Forms

Creating for Audiences and Purposes

The official wording · 5 outcomes
3.1
Investigate how ideas can be developed when creating oral, written and visual communication forms
3.2
Apply writing, design, and research processes
3.3
Select a communication form that responds to an audience and purpose
3.4
Apply revision, editing, and proof-reading strategies appropriate to a range of communication forms
3.5
Analyse processes for publishing and sharing chosen communication forms

Key ideas

  1. Ideas keep developing while you create — a draft, a sketch, or a rehearsal surfaces new ideas.

  2. Investigating how to develop ideas mid-creation helps a piece grow beyond its first plan.

  3. Creating draws on processes: writing (plan-draft-revise), design (layout and visuals), and research (gathering information).

  4. Applying the right process for the form makes the work go smoothly.

  5. Selecting a form means choosing on purpose — a poster, a speech, a video — based on who it is for and why.

Watch out for

  • Believing all ideas must be fixed before you begin creating.
  • Refusing to change an idea once drafting starts.
  • Skipping research and inventing facts.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 4 · 6 skills

Speaking and Writing Strategies

Strategies for Effective Communication

The official wording · 6 outcomes
4.1
Evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies in relation to audience and purpose
4.2
Investigate how language use can impact communication
4.3
Investigate how accuracy, reliability, validity, and bias are used to influence personal communication
4.4
Investigate how accuracy, reliability, validity, and bias are used to influence personal communication
4.5
Select organizational structures and devices for intended audience and purpose
4.6
Apply conventions for intended audience and purpose

Key ideas

  1. A communication strategy (a hook, an example, a tone) is effective only in relation to a particular audience and purpose.

  2. Evaluating means judging whether the strategy actually achieved its goal for that audience.

  3. Word choice, tone, and formality all change how a message is received.

  4. Investigating language impact means testing how a different word or tone shifts the meaning or feeling.

  5. Accuracy is whether information is correct; reliability is whether the source can be trusted over time.

Watch out for

  • Calling a strategy 'good' without checking it against audience and purpose.
  • Assuming a strategy that worked once works everywhere.
  • Thinking word choice does not affect meaning.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 5 · 4 skills

Comprehending

Comprehending with Strategies

The official wording · 4 outcomes
5.1
Apply active listening strategies for comprehending meaning in a range of communication forms
5.2
Investigate how reading and viewing strategies are used in comprehension
5.3
Analyse how communication forms influence comprehension
5.4
Reflect on how perspectives influence comprehension of communication forms

Key ideas

  1. Active listening means focusing, noting key points, and asking questions — not just hearing.

  2. These strategies work across forms: a discussion, a podcast, a presentation.

  3. Strategies like predicting, questioning, and visualizing help you comprehend print and visual texts.

  4. Investigating how a strategy works helps you choose the right one for a text.

  5. The same idea in a video, an article, or a podcast is comprehended differently because of the form.

Watch out for

  • Thinking listening is passive.
  • Waiting to react instead of tracking meaning as you listen.
  • Reading or viewing with no strategy at all.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

Unit 6 · 4 skills

Analysing Accuracy and Bias

Weighing Sources and Information

The official wording · 4 outcomes
6.1
Select reliable sources
6.2
Compare the accuracy of information from a variety of sources
6.3
Apply strategies for choosing valid information from a range of communication forms
6.4
Investigate how bias influences the message of communication forms

Key ideas

  1. A reliable source is one you can trust — it has expertise, evidence, and a track record.

  2. Selecting reliable sources means checking who made a source and why before using it.

  3. Different sources can report the same event with different accuracy.

  4. Comparing accuracy means cross-checking facts and noticing where sources disagree.

  5. Valid information is well-supported and relevant to your question.

Watch out for

  • Treating the first search result as reliable.
  • Judging reliability by how the source looks.
  • Assuming all sources are equally accurate.

Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit

The official curriculum

This page follows Nova Scotia’s own curriculum for English Language Arts 7.

English Language Arts 7Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development · curriculum.novascotia.ca · Read August 1, 2026

Study it in MapleMind

MapleMind teaches English Language Arts 7 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.

Citizenship 9 in the MapleMind app on a tablet: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their starsCitizenship 9 in the MapleMind app on a phone: its units, Unit 2 open, and the skills done so far with their stars
Pictured: Citizenship 9, another Nova Scotia course, partway through Unit 2.

Practise it

Course Companion

Your year in one workbook

A fun way to keep English Language Arts 7 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
33
Fillable fields
1,469
Price
$4.99
See the Course Companion

Questions about English Language Arts 7

What is English Language Arts 7?

Nova Scotia’s Grade 7 English course: 6 units and 28 skills, from Culture and Communication to Analysing Accuracy and Bias.

What units are in English Language Arts 7?

1. Culture and Communication, 2. Planning Responses, 3. Creating Communication Forms, 4. Speaking and Writing Strategies, 5. Comprehending and 6. Analysing Accuracy and Bias.

Is there a provincial exam for English Language Arts 7?

No. Nova Scotia gives no provincial exam for English Language Arts 7.

What comes after English Language Arts 7?

English Language Arts 8.

Can MapleMind help with English Language Arts 7?

Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of English Language Arts 7, 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.

Before this course

After this course

Get ready for English Language Arts 7

Practise every skill of English Language Arts 7 in MapleMind, free with daily limits.