Course Descriptions

 

The English I course strives to provide an academic cornerstone that will directly influence nearly all disciplines and future endeavors students will encounter. The course explores selected works from a variety of literary genres (drama, poetry, short story, novel, non-fiction), and includes specialty units covering Greek mythology and Shakespeare. Additionally, English I emphasizes building a strong foundation of grammar usage, oral communication, and writing skills. The written and oral communication components of the course cover the following: the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, publishing); content (ideas, organization, support); style (word choice, sentence variety, voice); conventions (grammar/usage, mechanics, format); types of writing (persuasive, business, literary analysis, narrative, reflective, expository); and vocabulary building. Overall, the course introduces the primary literary and communication elements that will be built upon throughout the next three years at Prep and beyond. Prerequisite: none. An honors section is available for students who are placed in honors via teacher commendation and Gonzaga Prep placement exam.

 

The English II course encompasses two primary subject areas: literature and communication. The course’s literature component focuses on literary analysis and critical thinking via texts from international authors.  Students explore various types of literature based on a genre approach that covers plays, short stories, non-fiction, poems, and novels. Students also explore key literary concepts in order to discuss and analyze literary works maturely and precisely. Ultimately, the literature component enables students to understand themselves and their diverse world better. Included in the course’s communication component are composition, grammar, vocabulary, project-based presentations, and speech. Building on the year-long freshman experience, the sophomore communication component focuses on the writing process and the improvement of fundamental communication skills (both oral and written) concerning content, style, and conventions. A hallmark of this course is a research paper. Prerequisite: English I. An honors section is available with teacher recommendation. 

 

The English III course examines American literature through representative writers of specific American Literary movements. Ultimately, the literature component enables students to understand America through different literary contexts and experiences. The course also reinforces and expands on previous study concerning composition, grammar, vocabulary building, project-based assessment, and speech. Writing units challenge students to compose formal essays and literary analyses. A hallmark of this course is a research paper. Prerequisite: English II. An honors section distinct from EWU Eng:170 is available with a teacher recommendation. 

 

This course is an examination of literary approaches in human experience including fiction, poetry, and drama. Our method is a chronological study of the major American literary movements, their philosophies and ways of seeing the world, and the history of which those movements were a part. Students wrestle with American themes: tensions between the individual and society, views of nature and divinity, and the changes over time in American philosophy. Although students are not required to take the companion EWU College in the High School American History class offered in the Junior Year at Gonzaga Prep, they might find taking both in the same year provides a richer experience of American studies. Prerequisite: Honors English II and teacher recommendation, or English II with teacher recommendation and English Department approval.

 

British Literature I is a survey course that centers on students’ reading and analyzing the marquee works of the greatest writers such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Dickens, Brontë, Browning, Tennyson, Hardy, Eliot, Yeats, Joyce, Lessing, and Woolf. The communication component of the course includes composition, grammar, vocabulary building, and speech. Writing units challenge students to compose effective college application essays, formal essays, research papers, technical writing, and literary analysis. Prerequisite: English III 

 

Second semester students will have a choice of English offerings with which to fulfill their English requirement.  The elective choices may vary from year to year. All electives are aligned in units, vocab, grammar, and writing assignments. The biggest difference in courses is based on the literature used to achieve the course outcomes. Current electives offered are as follows:

• The Grotesque: exploring authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Flannery O'Connor, and H.P. Lovecraft or works such as Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
• Meaning and Mystery: exploring literature such as The Alchemist as well as short stories and poetry that focus on exploring concepts such as life, love, reflection, and exploration

 

Advanced Placement English Literature is a senior-level course emphasizing reading and responding to representative selections of prose, drama, and poetry. Because this course is aligned with the requirements of AP English Literature and Composition, there is a particular emphasis on European writers from the 16th century to contemporary times.

 

This college-level course requires careful analysis of literary works, writing in various modes, and frequent and high-quality participation in discussion. Reading, writing, and discussion are of equal value in the learning process, and each is seriously considered in the grading for the course. Prerequisite: AP English III or teacher recommendation and English Department approval.