English (Language), Grade 8

Unit 1: Literacy Connections and Applications

Digital and media literacy — building a safe, positive online identity, researching and analyzing media texts, and using digital tools to solve real problems — together with exploring identity, belonging, and the voices of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and other diverse communities.

• Rights, responsibilities, and digital identity
• Staying safe and protecting privacy online
• Researching and spotting misinformation
• Reading and analyzing digital and media texts
• How form, message, and audience connect
• Using digital tools to solve real problems
• Collaborating safely and respectfully online

• Identity and belonging in diverse texts
• Themes in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures

Unit 2: Foundations of Language

The building blocks of language: listening and speaking for different purposes and audiences; reading and spelling complex words through morphology, vocabulary, and fluency; and the sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation conventions introduced at this grade.

• Active listening in discussions
• Listening strategies before, during, and after
• Speaking for purpose and audience
• Non-verbal communication strategies
• Precise word choice when speaking

• Morphology: reading and spelling with word parts
• Building and using vocabulary
• Reading fluently with expression

• Increasingly complex sentences
• Refining grammar across parts of speech
• Refining capitalization and punctuation

Unit 3: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts

Reading as an analyst and critic: knowing how text forms, patterns, visuals, style, and narration create meaning; using comprehension strategies to build and monitor understanding; and thinking critically about devices, inferences, perspectives, bias, cultural elements, and Indigenous voices.

• Reading and comprehending texts
• Analyzing text forms and genres
• Analyzing text patterns and features
• Analyzing visuals and design
• Elements of style in texts
• Narrator's point of view
• Indigenous Storywork through First Nations, Métis, and Inuit texts

• Using prior knowledge
• Purposes for reading and choosing texts
• Making predictions and posing questions
• Monitoring comprehension
• Connecting text ideas to self, texts, and world
• Summarizing and synthesizing
• Reflecting on comprehension strategies

• Literary devices
• Making inferences
• Analyzing texts for ideas and information
• Cultural elements in texts
• Perspectives and bias
• Topics such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
• Influences on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit texts
• Reflecting on critical thinking skills

Unit 4: Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts

Creating texts end to end: planning topic, audience, ideas, sources, and structure; drafting across genres with a clear voice; revising and editing; and producing, publishing, and reflecting on finished work.

• Planning topic, purpose, and audience
• Generating and developing ideas
• Gathering information and citing sources
• Organizing and sequencing content
• Reflecting on planning strategies

• Drafting texts in various genres
• Transcription: cursive and word processing
• Establishing voice in writing
• Point of view, perspective, and bias in own texts
• Revising drafts
• Editing drafts

• Producing final texts
• Publishing and presenting texts
• Reflecting on publishing and presenting