Year 7/8
English
Suggested duration: Two lessons
Summary
In this writing unit, students will learn how to write an informative brochure, using information from The Little Red Yellow Black Book, about the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The writing task is fully explained and includes a helpful scaffold that enables students to prepare, step-by-step, for this and other informative writing tasks.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have made and continue to make major contributions in all fields of endeavours. From sport, literature, music, performing arts and media, Indigenous Australians bring a distinctive cultural perspective to contemporary and traditional forms of performance, art and expression (The Little Red Yellow Black Book, p. 84).
Learning outcomes
- Students will gain an understanding of devices used to strengthen texts
- Students will demonstrate the use of the language devices to present information about the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
| General capabilities | Cross-curriculum priorities |
|---|---|
| Literacy | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures |
| Critical and creative thinking | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures Organising ideas: 1, 5 Intercultural understanding |
Australian curriculum content descriptions
Year 7 English
- Understand that the coherence of more complex texts relies on devices that signal text structure and guide readers, for example overviews, initial and concluding paragraphs and topic sentences, indexes or site maps or breadcrumb trails for online texts (ACELA1763)
Year 8 English
- Understand how cohesion in texts is improved by strengthening the internal structure of paragraphs through the use of examples, quotations and substantiation of claims (ACELA1766)
- Understand how coherence is created in complex texts through devices like lexical cohesion, ellipsis, grammatical theme and text connectives (ACELA1809)
Provisions for differentiation
Learning support
Students with learning difficulties may find it helpful to discuss their impressions of the material with a partner, then have a scribe note down their oral response for their reference later on when they attempt the Worksheet activities.
Extension
Students could develop a digitally produced version of their final design.
Resources
- A4 paper
- Double-sided copies of the Worksheets (PDF) - one per student.
- Five or six colour brochures of different sizes and layouts - DL tri-fold, A5 bi-fold and so on
- The Little Red Yellow Black Book - An introduction to Indigenous Australia (4th edition), `Our Achievements`, Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, Canberra, 2018.
For teachers
Ensure that the guidance notes included in The Little Red Yellow Black Book teacher resource have been considered.
Vocabulary
- Achievements
- Cultural perspectives
- Endeavours
Preparation: Make double-sided copies of the Worksheets - one per student. Collect five or six colour brochures of different sizes and layouts - DL tri-fold, A5 bi-fold and so on.
Lesson one
Step 1.
Write the General Features below on the whiteboard. Explain the general features, purposes and language features that informative brochures often share. Direct students to copy the notes into their notebooks or English workbooks.
General features
- a main heading
- sub-headings
- short blocks of information
- content organised in a logical sequence
- facts and details that are highly relevant to the topic
- supporting descriptions
- dot point lists
- a variety of typefaces in multiple sizes
- visual features such as photographs, drawings, graphic organisers, diagrams, tables, charts and maps
Purposes of informative brochures
- An informative brochure may educate people about a particular topic.
- An informative brochure may present a simple introduction to a complex topic.
- An informative brochure may be promoting a particular organisation, person or cause.
- An informative brochure may be aimed at raising awareness about a social issue.
- An informative brochure may contain advertising material.
- An informative brochure may show or tell people how to do something.
Language features of an informative brochure
- simple sentences (sometimes not written as complete sentences but in dot points or shortened form)
- short paragraphs
- concise language created through the use of short phrases and precise choices in wording
- precise and often specialised vocabulary
- adjectives to describe features or attributes of the topic or subject
- picture captions
- presentation of information in a highly organised structure
- presentation of facts and details using concrete language rather than figurative expressions
Step 2.
Distribute the sample brochures and point out and discuss some of the features listed above as the brochures are passed around the class.
Step 3.
Have the students form small groups of 3 or 4 and discuss one of the sample brochures. Ask them to look to see how many of the General Features and the Language Features are present in the brochure, according to the lists they have written down in their notebooks.
Lesson two
Step 1.
Distribute the Worksheets (PDF) and explain the instructions. This is to be an entirely handwritten task.
Model a completed brochure and point out the use of language devices.
Step 2.
Ensure that students have access to the notes from their work in the previous lesson. Ask students to read pages 83-108 of The Little Red Yellow Black Book. As a class discuss the key points from the reading and discuss the type of information that could/should be included in an informative brochure. Students should then review the scaffolding points on the worksheet and develop the text for their informative brochure.
Step 3.
Ask the students to rough out a visual layout in which they would like to present the informative text they developed in the previous lesson. Teachers should provide feedback on the draft layout before students complete their final brochure. Emphasise the fact that students will be using hand-drawn images and diagrams, not printed or digital ones.
Step 4.
Assign the remainder of the lesson for students to work on their text and drawings.
Step 5.
Set a deadline for the completion of the Informative Brochure.
Assessment ideas
- Rubric for brochure using content descriptors