ACARA v9 Task (Age 12): Public Noticeboards & City of God/City of Man — Latinate vs Saxon Language (Ally McBeal Style)

1) Task — presented in Ally McBeal speak (student age 12)

Okay, picture this: me, standing in front of the community noticeboard — its like a little stage where everyone whispers their messages. Some notes look like they just stepped out of a Latin history book (big words, velvet sentences). Others are plain and punchy, like someone shouting across the playground (short Anglo-Saxon words). Remember Saint Augustines idea of two cities: the City of God and the City of Man? Well pretend those are two ways people write and live in a town. So lets play: what words name the cities, and how do we live between them?

Learning intentions

• Understand how tone and word choice (Latinate vs Saxon vocabulary) affect meaning and audience.
• Explore Augustine's City of God/City of Man as a way to think about public life and civic spaces.
• Create persuasive, clear noticeboard texts for a community audience and reflect on language choices.
• Relate writing choices to civic ideas from Legal Studies and Urban Planning: who decides what belongs on public noticeboards, and why language matters in public policy.

ACARA v9 alignment (broad)

This task develops English skills (text purpose, audience, vocabulary, comparative language), Legal Studies ideas (rights, rules for public spaces and community voice) and Urban Planning/Public Policy thinking (how public spaces and messages shape community life). Teachers can map specific ACARA v9 descriptors to: language choices for audience, analysing texts, communicating ideas, and civic participation outcomes.

Activity steps (student-friendly)

1. Look at local noticeboards (real or photos online). Jot what kinds of language you see.
2. Write two short noticeboard posts (each 40-60 words): one in Latinate style (longer, formal words), one in Saxon style (short, everyday words). Keep them about the same topic (e.g., a neighbourhood meeting, lost pet, or volunteer clean-up).
3. Label each: Which one feels like the City of God (formal, ideal, classical)? Which feels like the City of Man (everyday, practical)? Why?
4. Create a single final notice (60-90 words) that mixes both styles for your real audience — think who will read the board. Be clear, fair and inviting.
5. Write a short reflection (100 words): Which words helped people understand and act? Which words might exclude readers? How should public notices balance the two  and who decides?

Assessment criteria (what Ill look for)

• Audience awareness: text suits people who use a community noticeboard.
• Language control: clear contrast between Latinate and Saxon choices and an effective blended final notice.
• Civic understanding: reflection connects language to community life and decision-making.
• Presentation: neat, readable notice with correct spelling and punctuation.

Scaffolds and extensions

For support: provide word lists (Latinate vs Saxon) and sentence starters. Extension: design a small public policy poster explaining noticeboard rules or hold a mock community meeting to decide which notices can go up and why.

2) Teacher / Parent homeschool report feedback (approx. 500 words)

During this unit your child explored how language shapes public life by creating community noticeboard messages and reflecting on Augustines idea of two cities: the City of God (formal, idealising language) and the City of Man (plain, practical language). They demonstrated thoughtful engagement with both creative and civic elements of the task.

Strengths: Your child showed strong audience awareness. The two contrasting drafts (Latinate and Saxon) were clearly different in tone and vocabulary, demonstrating an understanding that word choice changes how a message is received. Their blended final notice showed developing skill in selecting language for clarity and inclusiveness: choosing short, action-focused verbs while keeping one or two formal words to add respect. The written reflection connected these choices to civic ideas — they recognised that formal language can sound authoritative but may feel distant, while plain language is accessible but sometimes lacks gravity. This shows emerging critical thinking across English, Legal Studies and Urban Planning ideas.

Areas for growth: Continue to build precision in vocabulary. When using Latinate words, encourage your child to check whether a simpler synonym might communicate more clearly to all readers. Work on sentence variety and paragraph structure in reflections; sometimes ideas were strong but could be ordered more clearly. Also, deepen the civic connection by discussing who controls public noticeboards in the local community: what rules exist, how fairness is decided, and where disagreements might occur. Practising short research tasks on local council rules or community guidelines will strengthen these links.

Next steps and strategies: 1) Editing practice  have your child read notices aloud and replace one formal word with a plain alternative; discuss the effect. 2) Vocabulary building  create a two-column journal of Latinate/Saxon words with examples. 3) Civic link-up  if possible, review a real noticeboard together and talk about how language could be changed to include more people. 4) Presentation skills  guide your child to design a notice that is readable from a distance: large heading, short sentences, clear action line (who, what, when, where, why).

Overall, your child is making very good progress in using language deliberately and in beginning to connect literary choices with real-world civic contexts. They are developing both creative voice and a responsible civic perspective. With targeted practice on clarity, structure and deeper research into local rules, they will strengthen their ability to write for community audiences and participate confidently in public conversations.

If you would like, I can provide a checklist for editing notices, a two-column word list template, and a short research worksheet on local noticeboard rules to do at home.