Blue - Speaking to Inspire Action

Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

Year 9 English:

• Use interaction skills to present and discuss an idea and to influence and engage an audience by selecting persuasive language, varying voice tone, pitch, and pace, and using elements such as music and sound effects (ACELY1811).
• Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features (ACELY1746).
• Review and edit students’ own and others’ texts to improve clarity and control over content, organisation, paragraphing, sentence structure, vocabulary and audio/visual features (ACELY1747).
• Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for aesthetic and playful purposes (ACELY1741).

Syllabus outcomes: EN5-1A, EN5-2A, EN5-3B

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability

Relevant parts of Year 9 English achievement standards: Students analyse the ways that text structures can be manipulated for effect. They analyse and explain how images, vocabulary choices and language features distinguish the work of individual authors. Students select evidence from texts to analyse and explain how language choices and conventions are used to influence an audience. They listen for ways texts position an audience. Students understand how to use a variety of language features to create different levels of meaning. They demonstrate how manipulating language features and images can create innovative texts. Students create texts that respond to issues, interpreting and integrating ideas from other texts. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, comparing and evaluating responses to ideas and issues. Students edit for effect, selecting vocabulary and grammar that contribute to the precision and persuasiveness of texts and using accurate spelling and punctuation.

Unit of work: Blue The Film – English – Year 9&10

Time required: 120 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – facilitate class discussion and assess student work.

• Student Worksheet – one per student
• Device capable of presenting a website to the class
• Persuasive Language Factsheet
• Rhetorical Devices Factsheet
• Brace Map Template

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Digital literacy
• Global citizenship
• Problem solving
• Social skills

Blue is a feature documentary film charting the drastic decline in the health of our oceans. With more than half of all marine life lost and the expansion of the industrialization of the seas, the film sets out the challenges we are facing and the opportunities for positive change. Blue changes the way we think about our liquid world and inspires the audience to action. Find out how to screen or download the film here. Along with the film is an ambitious global campaign to create advocacy and behaviour change through the #oceanguardian movement. To become an ocean guardian, see the website.