Course Description
The Grade 9 ELA course marks the first year of the High School program, laying the foundation for advanced academic thinking and long-term independent learning skills. Students analyze the relationship between form and content in texts and explain how authors develop themes and convey messages. In writing, they learn to construct strong arguments, organize their essays clearly, and adopt a formal academic tone. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to write academic essays supported by specific evidence, present ideas with clarity, and approach texts from an analytical perspective—an essential skill set for excelling in other social sciences and humanities subjects at the high school level.
🔹 Learning Content
1. Text Types
The Grade 9 ELA program introduces students to academically rich texts with strong cultural and socio-historical dimensions. Literary texts include excerpted novels, classic short stories, modern poetry, and classical plays. Informational texts are drawn from critical essays, cross-disciplinary analytical writings, historical speeches, and excerpts from scholarly works. Students also engage with multimedia texts that incorporate data, rhetorical devices, and complex argumentation, enhancing their ability to process information in a modern academic environment.
2. Reading Skills
Grade 9 reading instruction focuses on in-depth analysis of structural and linguistic elements in texts, including evaluating how authors construct arguments, develop themes, and influence readers. Students learn to examine the relationship between form and content, identify rhetorical strategies, and recognize artistic effects in literary works. Reading activities also require connecting texts to historical and social contexts, making intertextual references, and developing the ability to generalize ideas for application in presenting academic insights.
3. Writing Skills
The Grade 9 writing program emphasizes producing compositions with clear theses, well-structured arguments, and evidence grounded in academic sources. Students are guided in creating literary analyses, argumentative essays integrating multiple sources, and informational texts written in an explanatory academic style. Writing tasks require proper citation, evidence analysis, coherent organization, and the use of a formal academic register. Both short and extended writing assignments are designed to strengthen critical thinking, enable students to express personal viewpoints systematically, and meet the academic demands of high school study.
4. Listening & Speaking Skills
Students further develop listening and speaking skills in formal academic contexts. Listening materials include lectures, academic debates, and excerpts from speeches or in-depth interviews, requiring students to analyze information, identify viewpoints, and provide organized responses. Speaking skills are honed through academic presentations supported by cited sources, visual aids, and logically structured arguments. Students are expected to adapt tone, pacing, and delivery to suit both academic and public communication settings.
5. Language
The language component of the Grade 9 program focuses on precision, formality, and application in academic writing and speaking. Students review and expand on advanced grammar structures such as functional phrases, transitional sentences, paragraph cohesion, and complex constructions expressing cause-effect, condition, and comparison. Sentence- and paragraph-level editing activities emphasize coherence, stylistic consistency, and expressive effectiveness. Vocabulary development targets analytical, critical, abstract, and precise language—essential skills for high school and pre-university study.
🔹 Learning Methodology
In the personalized online Grade 9 ELA program, instruction is designed to guide students in developing foundational academic thinking skills for the high school level through deep text analysis, structured argument building, and precise presentation in accordance with academic standards.
The course is organized into thematic units integrating both literary and informational texts, with written and oral assignments that require cited evidence, coherent organization, and a formal tone. Students are expected to apply analytical reading strategies, write responses, take academic notes, and cite sources in order to produce argumentative or text-based analytical writing.
Effective learning in this course requires students to manage their individual progress, use language with accuracy, and maintain logical reasoning in their academic work, thereby establishing a strong foundation for advanced research and scholarly tasks in subsequent grade levels.
Lessons:
