Welcome to LCA English and Communications. Over the next two years you will build real pieces of communication: scripts, covers, journal entries, advertisements, spoken pieces and more.
Today you set up the two things that hold all of that work: your Communication Portfolio and your Reflective Journal. You will also write a short Course Brief naming the anchor text your class agrees (the one novel, short story collection or graphic novel you will all read together later this year) and three goals of your own.
Today's must-finish: folder, journal, and Course Brief filed in the folder.
This course runs across four modules and two years. You complete Key Assignments (KAs) your teacher verifies, an oral examination, and a written examination. Your journal and portfolio travel with you the whole way; by the end they hold two years of your work.
This is a map of the two years: you will come back to it, you do not have to learn it off.
| When | What you finish |
|---|---|
| Module 1, today | Portfolio folder, Reflective Journal, Course Brief |
| Module 1, next lesson | KA1: first identity journal entry |
| Modules 2 to 4 | Further KAs across research, media, advertising, film and personal writing |
| End of the course | Oral exam practice; every KA for the four modules, banked and ready |
Do these three things now. Your teacher will check each one before you write the Course Brief.
| What to do | Done when |
|---|---|
| 1. Create the folder | A named folder exists (digital at school, or paper with your books). Example name: LCA English Portfolio plus your initials. |
| 2. Start the journal | A document or notebook called Reflective Journal sits inside the folder, first page left blank for a title page. The first full entry comes next lesson. |
| 3. Record the anchor text (the book the class will read together) | The title the class agrees is written in your notes, ready for the Course Brief. |
Get the folder and journal done first while devices and materials are open. Then the class agrees the anchor title together. Write down whatever title the room settles on.
You’re writing a Course Brief of about 80 to 180 words in the activity below.
When you’re done, copy it into your Communication Portfolio folder as m1_l1_course_brief_AB, with your own initials in place of AB.
This Course Brief is your first real piece of written communication for the portfolio; it is not a Key Assignment. KA1 is the identity journal entry next lesson.
If your folder is on paper, write the brief out on a sheet with the same name at the top and file it. Your teacher checks the filed copy before you leave.
Your Course Brief
Talk this through with the person beside you, or sit with it quietly. Talk only today: nothing goes in the Reflective Journal until the KA1 identity entry next lesson.
- Which of your three goals feels most like you, and which one might be harder to keep?
- What do you want future-you to notice when you open this journal at the end of Year 2?
Today you saw how the two years of English and Communications fit together, set up your Communication Portfolio and Reflective Journal, agreed the class anchor text, and wrote a Course Brief with three personal goals. That brief belongs in your portfolio folder as the first piece of evidence on the shelf.
Next time you will write the first real journal entry: the one that becomes KA1.
Want to take it further? Add a one-line title page to your journal naming who you are at the start of LCA.
That was a sample lesson from LCA English & Communications
Every lesson in the course is ready to teach like this one. See what else comes with it, and how to order it.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2026. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.