English in Upper School 4
US4 English is designed to ensure students are prepared fully for high school. The focus is on mastery of the essential skills of inference and deduction and critical analysis. In the first semester, students read and respond to a wide range of American literature. Students are encouraged to make connections between prosaists, poets, and lyricists who reflect America’s rich culture and diversity including Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Pat Mora, Claudia Rankine, Emily Dickenson, Ashley M. Jones, Robert Frost, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Beyoncé Knowles. Students consider the extent to which these writers hold mirrors or windows to them as readers and citizens. In the second semester, students read a range of literature from around the world including "Romeo and Juliet." In addition to analyzing Shakespeare’s language, structure, and form, students explore the play’s context, universal themes, and determine its relevance to today.
Students will:
- Read fluently, and with good understanding, a wide range of texts from across place and time, including literature and literary non-fiction as well as other writing such as reviews and journalism.
- Read in depth, critically and evaluatively and make comparisons between texts.
- Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
- Summarize and synthesize information or ideas from texts.
- Use knowledge gained from wide reading to inform and improve their own writing.
- Write effectively and coherently using Standard English appropriately.
- Use grammar correctly and punctuate and spell accurately.
- Acquire and apply a wide vocabulary, alongside a knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology, and linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
- Listen to and understand spoken language and use spoken Standard English effectively.
- Cultivate the habit of reading widely and often for pleasure.
