VCE English: 

Unit 1
AoS 1 – Reading & Exploring Texts
TEXT: Extinction, Hannie Rayson

On completion of this unit the student should be able to make personal connections with, and
explore the vocabulary, text structures, language features and ideas in, a text.

Key knowledge

 inferential reading and viewing strategies

 ideas, concerns and tensions in a text
 vocabulary, text structures and language features in a text
 personal and analytical writing in response to a text
 small group and whole class discussion, including ways of developing constructive and collaborative
interactions and building on the ideas of others
 the conventions of discussion and debate
 the conventions of syntax, punctuation and spelling of Standard Australian English.

Key skills

 develop strategies for inferential reading and viewing

 consider and explore:

 ideas, concerns and tensions presented in a text

 characters, settings and plot, and point of view and voice
 how vocabulary, text structures and language features create meaning

 engage productively in small group and class discussion, including listening to others
 develop, share and clarify ideas with peers and teachers employing appropriate strategies for discussion
and debate
 plan and develop personal and analytical writing about a text, including the use of appropriate
metalanguage to discuss vocabulary, text structures and language features
 use textual evidence, where appropriate, to support writing
 use appropriate strategies to review and edit writing
 apply the conventions of syntax, punctuation and spelling of Standard Australian English.

Essential Learning Activities:

The tasks you are expected to do which ARE the evidence that you have achieved an Outcome. It is
the work you are required to do in class, and it is the work you are required to complete in your own
time. 
It is important you complete ALL the ELAs as if you do not submit these tasks you will not meet the
requirements of the Outcome. The SAC is further evidence of your learning and application of the Key
Knowledge and Skills thus providing you with a grade and ranking within the class.
You need to demonstrate all the Key Knowledge and Skills of the Area of Study in-order to satisfy the
requirements of the course, not all Key Knowledge and Skills can be exhibited in a SAC task.

School Assessed Course-work — SAC:

To write clearly constructed piece of prose in response to a given topic where you use
metalanguage and textual evidence to support your analysis of the text.
Extinction, Hannie Rayson

Form: Play / Drama

Play is different from other literary genres. As a student, you generally encounter play in its
print form, whilst the text is written to be performed in front of an audience. The conventions
that govern the way play is constructed are centred, not on the print (although you will be
referring to the script and using the script as evidence) but on the performance.

Answer the following:

1. When you see a play:
a) How can you distinguish the audience from the actors?
b) What devices are used to help the audience focus their attention on the actors?
c) How do the actors convey the story?
d) What effects are used to help the audience become involved / invested in the
story?
e) How long does a performance usually last? Why?
f) How does the audience know when the play is finished?
g) Why is it that we often leave a play deeply affected when we all know that none
of what we saw was real?

Purpose:

Much like novels, a play is often used to explore universal themes and aspects of the human
condition.

For a play named “Extinction” what do you predict the play will explore and why would this
be relevant for us?

Playwrights (the author of the play) must make language choices in order to present a story in
an engaging way so as to meet its purpose. Playwrights make decisions about the narrative
structure, characterisation and setting, and choose language structure and features that help to
convey their story effectively. As a play is created to be performed, the playwright pays
particular attention to what can be seen and heard (aural imagery is a significant aspect of
play).

Close reading:

Just like with the study of a novel, the opening of the text is very important.

2. Let’s look at how the play ‘Extinction’ opens:

a) Which characters are introduced in this scene? What do we learn about them? How are they
connected?
b) What is the setting of this scene? What does this suggest is to follow?
c) Make a list of the words, events, ideas your find intriguing or challenging.
d) Why do you think the scene was written this way? What makes it compelling?