English
A central premise of the English Department curriculum is the Quaker belief in seeking "that of God in everyone." Our diversified reading lists, our focus on classroom discussion, and our approach to the teaching of writing all stem from the belief that expanding the imagination makes students better able to empathize with people from different cultures, time periods, and social classes, while giving them greater insight into themselves. Students cultivate their own voices in personal and creative writing, and they hone their analytical powers through extensive practice in critical writing. Writing in a variety of forms continues throughout the four-year program, but the emphasis on analytical thinking and writing increases in the latter two years to prepare students for college.
In all four years, students read literature from several genres including drama, the novel, short stories, and poetry.
Advanced ESL Literature and Composition
The course is taken in conjunction with Advanced ESL Structure and Vocabulary. In preparation for the transition to mainstream English, the course emphasizes analysis of advanced literary texts and critical essay writing. Vocabulary development, reading, and academic speaking skills are also emphasized. The student-centered approach includes peer review of written work and stresses the importance of a process approach to writing, including revision of all essays. Readings may include short stories, novellas, novels, and non-fiction essays. Students write a number of critical essays, and other assignments that might include journal writing and preparation of oral presentations.
Advanced ESL Structure and Vocabulary
The course is taken in conjunction with Advanced ESL Literature and Composition. The course emphasizes the mastery of advanced vocabulary and grammar, as well as reading and writing skills and preparation for the TOEFL exam. In preparation for the transition to mainstream English, students work both collaboratively and independently on oral presentations and other activities. Readings consist of short expository texts appropriate to advanced ESL students. Homework can take up to one hour each night and consists of reading comprehension exercises, summary writing, grammar, and vocabulary work.
Freshman Literature and Composition
This course centers on the theme of characters on journeys. Of particular interest are those who are undergoing the transition from youth to maturity. Students examine the various ways in which young people in literature negotiate this transition, weighing dependence and independence, family and friends, duty and passion, self-possession and love. They also explore these tensions in their own writing. Works studied in all sections of this course are J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, and selected short stories. Other authors recently studied are Golding, Hughes, Potok, Shaw, Steinbeck, Twain, Wiesel, and Wright. The English Department participates with other departments in introducing important foundational skills for reading and writing across the curriculum. The English writing curriculum develops further, as it emerges from the reading, and introduces the students to a variety of expository forms, including descriptive, narrative, reminiscent, and personal essays. Students compile a portfolio of their work at the end of the year. The course also covers a core group of topics in grammar and mechanics, culminating in test on these topics taken by all freshmen.
Sophomore Literature and Composition
The relationships among individuals, family, and society in literature are explored in this course, varying across time and place. Students reflect on their own lives through journals and draw meaningful connections between their experiences and those of the characters they encounter. Among the authors recently studied are Brontë, Calvino, Euripides, Hurston, Kingsolver, O’Brien, Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Wilde. Special attention is given to the genre of poetry.
The department continues its focus on foundational skills in the sophomore year by expanding the attention to more complex rhetorical forms. The English curriculum focuses on language even more than theme in the study of literature and exposition.
Students examine more closely how authors convey meaning as well as how they, as developing writers themselves, make language choices in constructing meaning. As the year progresses, the course moves from personal, reflective forms to more formal, abstract types of writing such as the persuasive essay and the critical essay. The key features of the critical essay—thesis statement, topic sentences, evidence, and interpretation—are introduced in an intensive unit on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Students develop the art of public speaking through informal and formal oral presentations. The course also covers advanced topics in grammar and mechanics, culminating in a test on these topics taken by all sophomores.
Prerequisite: Freshman Literature and Composition
Sophomore Literature and Composition—Focus on Structure
The relationships among individuals, family, and society in literature are explored in this course, varying across time and place. Students reflect on their own lives through journals and draw meaningful connections between their experiences and those of the characters they encounter. Authors recently studied include Angelou, Euripides, King, Kingsolver, Letts, MacLeish, Poe, Sedaris, Shakespeare, Shaw, Sophocles, and Wright.
The department continues its focus on foundational skills in the sophomore year by expanding the attention to more complex rhetorical forms. The English curriculum focuses on language even more than theme in the study of literature and exposition.
This course is designed for sophomores who need additional work on mechanics and organization in writing. Significant class time is devoted to writing. Particular attention is given to effective structure in writing at all levels—sentence, paragraph, and essay. Students are also taught study skills and strategies for improving their reading comprehension. The small size of the class allows for more individualized instruction.
Prerequisite: Freshman Literature and Composition
Advanced Sophomore Literature and Composition
The Advanced Sophomore Literature and Composition course covers much of the same content as Sophomore Literature and Composition. Additional works read in this course are typically from earlier time periods and employ complex syntax and challenging vocabulary, such as the poetry of William Blake and John Donne or the prose of William Faulkner. Students in this course develop an understanding of rhetoric and how writers and speakers make use of rhetorical strategies in their work. The course examines how writers and speakers manipulate the relationship between form and content. Students are required to write in a variety of forms, including the personal essay, persuasive essay and synthesis essay. In addition, students write their own poetry and deliver a formal speech. Many students take the AP Language and Composition test in May.
Prerequisites: A- or better in the third term of Freshman Literature and Composition, teacher recommendation, and a placement test
Foundations of Literary Analysis
Students who have successfully completed the school's English as a Second Language (ESL) sequence (or who test out of the ESL program upon admission) take Foundations of Literary Analysis as an introduction to mainstream English courses at George School. The course begins with the study of short stories to continue to improve students' reading fluency. As the year progresses, the focus shifts to longer and more challenging reading. Authors can include Baldwin, Salinger, Shakespeare, and Wharton. Daily reading quizzes are the norm. Students are encouraged to take an active role in class discussions. Journal entries help to polish students' writing skills as they develop their critical skills in longer papers. This class also includes grammar review and acquisition of vocabulary.
Prerequisites: Advanced ESL Literature and Composition, or placement test
American Literature
Works by authors representing a variety of time periods and cultural perspectives within the American experience are considered in this course. The primary focus is on tracing trends—from the idealistic thinking represented by the transcendental writers through the social realism examined by the writers of the early twentieth-century, to the disillusionment inherent in the works of contemporary authors. Among the authors recently studied are Alexie, Cather, Currey, Dickinson, Ellison, Emerson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hughes, Knowles, Miller, Morrison, Mukherjee, Poe, Thoreau, Twain, Wilson, and Walker. Writing instruction in American Literature centers almost exclusively on critical analysis in preparation for college. The Culminating Paper for the year requires each student to select a novel from an approved list and write an extended comparative essay relating this work to several others studied as part of the shared curriculum. This paper is required of all juniors. It can also serve as the Extended Essay for students who are IB diploma candidates.
Prerequisite: Any one of the three Sophomore Literature and Composition courses or Foundations of Literary Analysis
IB English HL 1—American Literature
This is the first in a fast paced two-year sequence of the higher-level IB English curriculum. The first two terms cover American Literature as described above, and the third term is devoted to several works of world literature that fulfill a portion of the IB requirements. This course includes preparation for the formal oral commentary done in the senior year. Students should only select this course if they are committed to the two-year sequence. Students need to achieve at least a B to continue with IB HL 2 in the senior year. The Culminating Paper for the year requires each student to select a novel from an approved list and write an extended comparative essay relating this work to several others studied as part of the shared curriculum. This paper is required of all juniors. It can also serve as the Extended Essay for students who are IB diploma candidates.
Prerequisite: Sophomore Literature and Composition (B+) or Foundations of Literary Analysis (B+)
IB English HL 1—Advanced American Literature
The content of this course parallels the content of American Literature: IB Focus. Additional works read are from earlier time periods and employ complex syntax and difficult vocabulary. Excellent reading comprehension and attention to detail are assumed, as is the ability to formulate complex and nuanced interpretations of the literature independently, to question and challenge the interpretations of others, and to move quickly to abstractions. The course is conducted as a seminar, requiring students to assume responsibility for facilitating discussion in addition to participating regularly. Students must prepare written reflections on each reading assignment in preparation for discussion. Essays typically range from 5 to 8 pages in length, and major projects are broad in scope, often requiring the student to synthesize ideas from several works. The Culminating Paper for the year requires each student to select a novel from an approved list and write an extended comparative essay relating this work to several others studied as part of the shared curriculum. This paper is required of all juniors. It can also serve as the Extended Essay for students who are IB diploma candidates.
Prerequisites: Advanced Sophomore Literature and Composition or the combination of Sophomore Literature and Composition (B+), teacher recommendation, and a placement test
IB English SL—World Literature
Classic and contemporary world texts are examined through literature, essays, and film in this course, as students learn to evaluate secondary sources and engage in deeper readings of the texts. Such treatment prepares them for the complexity and rigors of college analysis. Students explore thematic connections that run through classic and modern works in spite of their differing cultural traditions. Among the authors recently studied are Achebe, Atwood, Camus, Carver, Conrad, Esquivel, Kafka, O’Connor, Olen Butler, Orwell, Shakespeare, and Sophocles. Students are expected to think independently, do close readings, and articulate their interpretations maturely and thoughtfully. Major assignments include oral presentations, critical commentaries, and essays that develop the analytical skills acquired in the junior year.
Prerequisite: Any one of the three American Literature courses
IB English HL 2—World Literature
Two versions of this course are offered. The titles are "IB English HL 2: World Literature" and "IB English HL 2: World Literature – Writer’s Focus." Both courses fulfill the expectations of the IB curriculum and prepare students for both the IB and AP exams. In both versions of the course, students are expected to formulate complex and nuanced interpretations of literature independently and to question and challenge the interpretations of others. Excellent reading comprehension and attention to detail are assumed, as is the ability to move quickly to abstractions. Among the authors recently studied are Achebe, Allende, Chaucer, Conrad, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Marquez, the Romantic poets, Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Voltaire.
The Writer’s Focus version of the course considers literature with a view towards developing a more fully articulated understanding of the art and the craft of writing poetry, drama, and prose fiction. In addition to literary discussion, Writer's Focus classes features workshop-style critiquing sessions. Participants in the Writer's Focus class should be committed creative writers who are comfortable having their work read aloud and critiqued by peers.
Prerequisite: IB HL 1: Advanced American Literature, or IB HL 1: American Literature (B), or American Literature (B+) along with teacher recommendation and a placement test