English resources

Four conventions for speech bubbles are presented with the students showing their understanding by having matching appropriate text to the bubbles.

Students are asked to read a short story and to insert the commas and speech marks required to indicate the direct speech in the story.

The main focus of this task is punctuation. Students will read Janine's email to her new pen pal and insert eight question marks in the correct places.

Students write four questions about an animal they would like to find out about.

Students expand common contractions to their full form, then write the contracted forms of other common two-word phrases.

Students read a letter written to the Board of Trustees, and make it more formal by writing the contractions as full words.

The assessment focus is on students' abilities to identify the details in a text that support a given, main idea.

Students read an extract about gathering water in Sāmoa to find information to fill in a chart. SJ-3-3-1999. Text provided.

Students view a television advertisement, and answer questions about advertising techniques and the effect on the audience.

Students listen to a folktale then recall information from it by answering multiple-choice questions.

Students read an article on parachuting and complete a retrieval chart and answer comprehension questions.

This task assesses students' ability to analyse a text to identify and justify character traits and points of view, including the author's.

A newspaper article on working from home is the stimulus for this resource. The assessment focus is on looking at both sides of an issue, vocabulary and comprehension.

Students draw a strange space creature from an oral description. The assessment focus is on listening to descriptions, recalling details, and following instructions.

Students draw a strange sea creature from an oral description. The assessment focus is on listening to descriptions, recalling details, and following instructions.

Students listen to instructions on where to go when visiting the zoo, then draw the path on a map. The assessment focus is on listening, recalling, and following instructions.

This comprehension task assesses student ability to identify important information to establish the main idea of a transactional text about blushing. SJ-4-1-2006. Text provided.

Students read a poem about air to answer retrieval and inferential questions. SJ-2-2-1999. Text provided.

Students write arguments for and against school rules.

Students read a narrative that is about being different and about group dynamics. Assessment focus: an evaluation of characters and the author's construction of them. (A link to the text is provided. Reading age <8.) SJ-1-4-2005. Text provided.

From visual stimuli and a series of simple statements that describe personal attributes, students identify which person is being described.

Students listen to a narrative about an unusual mouse and then respond to 6 multiple-choice questions.

Students read a short extract on diving and answer five comprehension questions.

The assessment focus is on student ability to identify details that support the main idea of a text, and to identify where the main idea is developed.

Students create a vignette with a focus on writing pieces that are brief, descriptive, and set in one point in time. They should not be concerned with plot. As the emphasis is on quality rather than quantity, students need to show a controlled and elegant skill in writing and use figurative language to 'show' rather than 'tell'.