Havergal's Uncalendar, 2016-2017 Academic Year

GRADE 9 ENG1D – English, Grade 9, Academic

1 CREDIT “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” —Friedrich Nietzsche “The outsider” takes many forms in our society: a freak, a rebel, a joke, a stereotype, a scapegoat, a sore, a scar, a mirror, a truth, a hero, a film about greasers and socs. Why are people in our society relegated to the outside? The Grade 9 English course grapples with this question. You will read, analyse and discuss many genres of literature—short stories, the novel, the essay, poetry, and a Shakespearean play—through the lens of “the outsider.” In this survey course, you will be introduced to all the essentials of writing skills in addition to the wide variety of literature offered. You will also unlock the mystery of the five-paragraph funnel essay, a key skill to see you through your academic career and beyond. You will learn essential techniques of persuasive writing and speaking that will allow you to convince your audience of your powerful argument. You will also receive your very own “poetry toolbox,” chock full of poetic devices; then you will have the opportunity to use the toolbox to build your own forms of poetry such as the simile poem (you will take to the simile poem like a poet to imagery), the sonnet (if we had 14 lines, we could tell you more about the sonnet) and the haiku (why is the number 17 so special?), to name but a few. A variety of media will be used in order to explore in depth, from many angles, a chosen “outsider” from the literature that you have encountered. In a student-centred, discussion-based learning environment, you will work in literature circles, small groups and pairs to investigate why we read stories in all their various forms, and how we connect personally to literature. After all, it is what’s on the inside that counts! 1 CREDIT What is a metaphor? No. Scratch that. Who cares about metaphors? No one. Well, English teachers, I guess. And, possibly, writers—but only the boring ones. Certainly, though, not the teacher. Is this how you feel? In this course, get ready to feel engaged, enchanted and enlightened by the power of metaphor. From blood and guts, fairytale endings to the origins of humanity and what makes a hero, you will travel through a diverse collection of literature together. Do you realize that films, podcasts, paintings, TV shows and photographs are also texts? In this course, you will certainly be reading them. Of course, with incredible reading comes incredible writing. In Grade 10 English, you will discover the tools to master that all-important form you’re constantly called upon to produce: the persuasive essay. Alongside this left-brain work, you will indulge your right-brain selves too. For example, in the Facebook universe we call home, text and image so often work together, producing creative new forms of expression. You too will have opportunities to think beyond the traditional line separating word and picture, using both (and so much more) to share your genius with the world. Speaking of which, you will also get many chances to think, write and talk about what is, for most of us, a favourite subject: ourselves. Prerequisite: ENG1D – English, Grade 9, Academic or ENG1P – English, Grade 9, Applied GRADE 10 ENG2D – English, Grade 10, Academic

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