Curriculum for Excellence ‘Benchmark’

• Uses a range of, familiar and specialist vocabulary and register, and idiom appropriate for the audience and across curricular areas.
• Shows an increasing accuracy in the use of grammar and complex sentence structures.
• Contributes regularly in group discussions or when working collaboratively, taking on different roles to offer relevant ideas, knowledge or opinions with supporting evidence.
• Responds appropriately to the views of others developing or adapting own thinking and language.
• Builds on the contributions of others for example, by asking or answering questions using higher-order thinking skills, clarifying or summarising points, supporting or challenging opinions or ideas.
• Uses register appropriate to purpose and audience.
• Identifies purpose and audience of spoken texts with appropriate justification.
• Gives an accurate account of the main concerns of spoken texts.
• Identifies similarities and differences between texts for example, content, style, and/or language.
• Uses own words and suitable vocabulary, to make and organise notes selecting key information.
• Uses notes to create new texts appropriate to audience that demonstrate understanding of purpose.
• Reviews text to improve accuracy and become more responsible for own learning and improvement.
• Makes evaluative comments which demonstrate understanding of the content, form and/or style of spoken texts.
• Identifies persuasive techniques for example, word choice, emotive language, repetition, rhetorical questions and/or use of statistics.
• Comments on the reliability and relevance/ usefulness of sources.
• Communicates in a clear expressive way in a variety of contexts.
• Presents ideas or sustains a point of view including appropriate detail or evidence.
• Organises thinking and structures talks to present ideas in a coherent way.
• Introduces and concludes talks with some attempt to engage the audience.
• Uses signposts throughout talks to provide a basic structure or argument for example, topic sentences and/or linking phrases.

Activity

Introduction to Literature

Poems:

• Seann Bhoireannach
• An t-Sean Bhean
• Ailean Duinn

Short Stories:

• An Coigreach
• Ann am Bosnia
• Mac an t-Srònaich
• Anns an Eaglais
• Comparative Essays

Literature Essays:

• Theme & writing styles
• Critical Analysis
• Cultural Studies :
• Iolaire memorial
• Gàidhlig in Scotland & Around the world

On-going grammar activities

Curriculum for Excellence ‘Benchmark’

• Reads unfamiliar texts with fluency and expression using appropriate pace and tone, demonstrating understanding.
• Applies all knowledge of language, such as, of context clues, word roots, grammar, punctuation, sentence and text structures to read a range of texts with understanding.
• Applies a range of reading strategies to engage with and interrogate texts for example, skimming, scanning, predicting, clarifying and analysing.
• Selects and uses resources and strategies to check and monitor understanding of unfamiliar specialist and more complex vocabulary.
• Identifies purpose and audience of a range of texts with appropriate justification.
• Gives an accurate account of the main ideas of texts.
• Makes inferences and deductions with appropriate justification.
• Identifies similarities and differences between texts, through asking and answering a range of questions, making appropriate comments about content, style and/or language.
• Identifies features of language and gives an appropriate explanation of the effect they have on the reader for example, word choice, sentence structure, idiom, punctuation, grammar and imagery.
• Responds to a range of close reading questions to demonstrate understanding of texts and knowledge of language.
• Identifies and makes appropriate comments about persuasive language such as word choice, emotive language, repetition, rhetorical questions, use of statistics.
• Comments on reliability and relevance/ usefulness of sources with appropriate justification.
• Makes evaluative comments about structure, characterisation and/or setting with relevant reference to the text.
• Demonstrates understanding of the writer’s theme and can link it to own or others’ experiences.
• Identifies and makes evaluative comments about aspects of the writer’s style, use of language and other features appropriate to genre with supporting evidence.

Curriculum for Excellence ‘Benchmark’

• Applies a range of strategies and resources to spell most words correctly, including unfamiliar and specialist vocabulary.
• Uses more complex punctuation, where appropriate, to convey meaning or in an attempt to enhance writing for example, inverted commas, exclamation marks, question marks, colons, parentheses, ellipses, apostrophes. Punctuation is varied and mainly accurate.
• Writes almost all sentences in a grammatically accurate way as appropriate to the stage of learning to write in a fluent and legible way.
• Uses a variety of sentence structures, varying openings and lengths.
• Uses paragraphs effectively to structure content. Uses linking phrases and topic sentences as appropriate to signpost a basic structure, line of thought or argument.
• Edits and revises writing, following feedback, using targets for improvement to ensure clarity of meaning, technical accuracy and improve on content or language.
• Selects and uses features of layout and presentation, including in digital texts, appropriate for purpose and audience for example, headings, bullet points, text boxes and/or relevant graphics.
• Uses notes and/or other sources to; analyse, evaluate and synthesise ideas and information, inform thinking and support the creation of new texts.
• Selects relevant ideas and information including appropriate supporting detail or evidence.
• Acknowledges and references sources appropriately.
• Organises ideas or information in a coherent way to convey a line of thought.
• Uses appropriate vocabulary including some unfamiliar and specialist vocabulary to make meaning clear and/or to attempt to enhance writing.
• Creates short and extended texts regularly for a range of purposes and audiences.
• Engages and/or influences the reader through use of language, style and tone as appropriate to genre for example, word choice, persuasive language, accuracy of grammar and idiom, imagery, rhetorical devices.
• Uses grammar accurately and corrects errors through proof-reading.
• Organises and structures ideas or information in a coherent way.
• Uses a variety of linking words or phrases.
• Uses topic sentences to introduce the focus of paragraphs where appropriate.
• Uses appropriate tone and specialist vocabulary, grammar and idiom for purpose and audience.