Welcome to English

Welcome to the English Department at The British International School, Abu Dhabi. We pride ourselves on delivering an engaging and enriching curriculum that fosters a love of language and literature in your child. Our primary aim is to empower students with strong communication skills, enabling them to articulate their thoughts effectively and express themselves with clarity and confidence. Alongside this, we focus heavily on developing key reading and writing skills throughout all of our units. These are further developed with library lessons, and the embedding of literacy skills within lessons each week. English is, by nature, a skills-based curriculum where we focus on developing these core skills over time; skills that will ultimately help students be successful in English and other subjects in school. 

In addition, we also believe in the transformative power of literature to broaden horizons, encourage empathy, and inspire critical thinking. Our lessons are designed to develop a deep appreciation for diverse cultures and perspectives through the study of various literary works. This will help to develop a lifelong love of reading in our students, and we actively encourage everyone in our community to read as often as possible. Ultimately, our department is guided by the belief that a strong foundation in English is essential for future success in all aspects of life.

Our current learning

I

Curriculum Overview

In Term two, students’ study in English is titled ‘Global Literature’ and in half term 3, students will look at a variety of texts from different authors that explore a plethora of places around the world. This unit follows seamlessly from the previous study of The Bone Sparrow and how identity is formed through a sense of place in the world around us. Students will experience a rich selection of fiction extracts and poetry and this will hopefully inspire them to read one of the novels in full! Some examples are The Count of Monte Cristo and Life Of Pi. This unit will see students analyse poetry for the first time and will begin the foundations of key poetic terminology that will be utilized and built upon in future years, again looking at poets such as Grace Nichols and Seamus Heaney and how our place in the world is important and what messages can we send through this. The unit will then culminate in a creative writing piece of work where students will showcase their understanding of how writers have used descriptive techniques in the extracts studied and how they can take inspiration and emulate the same techniques in their own piece of writing. Following the February break, students take their understanding of poetry further with a study of a collection of poems associated with climate change and how we, as the UAE expects, respects and honours the places in which we live. These poems will expose students to the power that literature holds in not only English but in the wider world and into the sciences. These poems will be taught alongside extracts of non-fiction and how this is utilized to showcase how we need to care for the world around us and begin to answer questions on how writers persuade us to think differently about topics. Students will then use these to write examples of rhetoric and build on their ability to communicate their ideas in a mature and sophisticated manner.

New Starters

All new starters, and all of our students, are required to have the following.  

1. A device as per 'Bring Your Own Device' school policy. This will be used for a variety of literary research activities.
2. A reading book - students are expected to carry their own reading book with them at all times.
3. An active imagination and creative mindsight.
4. A positive and enthusiastic attitude to all English lessons

Resources List

Recommended reading and core textbooks required for this subject.

These are the most common websites that can support learning in English:

Software List

You will need to make sure the following software is installed on your device as it will be used within this subject.

Ensure you have all the necessary Office 365 apps downloaded. 

• Microsoft Word
• Powerpoint
• Teams
• Onenote
• Outlook

Meet the Team