'Orbital' Complete Unit - VCE English and EAL

A complete, editable VCE English and EAL teaching unit for Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital.

This 14-lesson sequence supports students to explore the novel’s characters, relationships, ideas, narrative structure, style and perspective before progressing towards sustained analytical writing.

The unit has been developed for VCE English and EAL Reading and Responding to Texts. Lessons provide explicit instruction, regular opportunities for students to respond, and carefully sequenced support for developing interpretations, selecting evidence and constructing an analytical response.

What Is Included

• 14 editable PowerPoint lesson slideshows
• 14 editable student worksheets
• Sample answers for every worksheet
• First-reading questions
• Detailed sample answers for the first-reading questions
• VCAA-style analytical essay topics
• Start Here and licence guide

Across the Unit, Students Explore

• The novel’s six central characters, relationships and vulnerabilities
• Connection, isolation and interdependence among the crew
• Perspective, scale and humanity’s simultaneous insignificance and importance
• Time, mortality, transience and the cycles of human life
• Earth’s beauty, fragility and environmental vulnerability
• Progress, technology and human ambition
• Borders, nationality and the possibility of human unity
• Narrative structure, style and shifting perspective
• Sophisticated interpretations, contentions and analytical arguments
• The selection and explanation of textual evidence
• The planning and construction of an analytical response

Each Lesson Includes

• A learning intention and three success criteria
• A Do Now activity that draws on prior learning
• Clearly timed teaching and learning activities
• Frequent opportunities for students to discuss, interpret and write
• Carefully selected quotations and textual details
• A final reflection or consolidation activity

File Formats

• Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx)
• Microsoft Word (.docx)
• Supplied as one downloadable ZIP file

Important Information

• The novel is not included. Teachers and schools must arrange lawful access to the prescribed text.
• This is a digital product. No physical item will be supplied.
• Listening assessment tasks associated with Orbital are not included in this instant-download package. To protect assessment security, they are available separately to eligible schools through purchase order.
• Use and sharing are subject to the licence selected at purchase.

Choose the licence that matches how the unit will be used. The Individual Teacher Licence is for one teacher and their classes. The English/EAL Faculty Licence — One Campus allows use by English/EAL teachers at one school campus.

Introductory pricing available until 30 September 2026.