English 11 Course Outline

Welcome to English 11. This course continues with the skill development to which students were introduced in the junior grades. As with all English courses, English 11 combines the study of both language and literature and develops skills associated with the Language Arts: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Unlike the junior grades, English 11 is the entrance to the Graduation Program: as such, there is a higher expectation placed on the quality, length and sophistication of students' work.

Students should expect to study the following genres of literature:
 

  • Short Stories (Tigers of the Snow)
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  • Poetry (Theme and Image I)
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  • Novels (Key Novel: Lord of the Flies)
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  • Media (Film and other sources/types)
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  • Drama (Key play: Macbeth)
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  • Non-Fiction (essays, articles, etc...)
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    English 11 grammar study includes a refinement of grammar studied in the junior grades. Diagnostic exams are given and students' grammatical needs are individualized. The following elements of grammar will be studied:

    Sentence Building:
     
     

  • sentence elements (review)
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  • sentence flaws -- focus on run-ons and fragments
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  • parts of speech -- (review in relation to function)
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  • choosing modifiers (review)
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  • placing modifiers (review)
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  • dangling/misplaced modifiers
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  • squinting modifiers
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  • pronoun reference/agreement (review)
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  • clauses -- noun, adverb, adjective (review)
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  • phrases -- infinitive, participial, gerundial (review)
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  • verbals -- infinitives, participles, gerunds (review)
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  • active and passive voice (review and focus)
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  • loose & periodic sentences (review and focus)
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  • direct and indirect speech
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    Usage:
     
     

  • subject-verb agreement (review)
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  • parallelism
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  • pronouns: subject/object usage/class/type
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  • using proper diction
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    Mechanics:
     

  • colon -- salutations, time, ratio, volume, page, number, magazine (review)
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  • semi-colon -- complete use of (review)
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  • Standard English
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  • quotation marks -- literature, enclosed speech in quotation, setting words apart for specific reasons
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  • quotation marks -- relevant to research essay
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  • bibliography
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  • footnotes
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    Paragraph Building:
     
     

  • making the main idea clear: avoids distracting detail, varies topic sentence
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  • topic sentences in various positions
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  • narrative paragraphs
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  • descriptive paragraphs
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  • expository paragraphs (interpreting a short story)
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  • persuasive paragraphs
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  • transitions (focal point)
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  • multi-paragrarph composition (intro, body, conclusion, transitions)
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  • five paragraph essay format (review and fine-tune)
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  • combining time order and place order -- time switches, place switches (review)
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  • order of importance (review)
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  • classification (review)
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  • comparing//contrasting (review)
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  • cause and effect (review)
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  • combining patterns: simple listing (review)
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  • editing and proofreading
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  • using examples/exemplars to demonstrate points -- in literature; in research
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    NB: Teachers will place significant emphasis on the WRITING PROCESS
     

    Vocabulary:(general):
     
     

       Dictionary    encyclopedia    thesaurus    Synonyms
       Antonyms    Homonyms Spelling: ONGOING. Basic rules   Descriptives
       Prefixes     Roots    Suffixes    Connotation
      denotation
     
     

    Vocabulary items are ONGOING. At this level it is expected that students work towards building a more sophisticated vocabulary.
     

    Reading:

    At Dover Bay, continuous emphasis will be made on the following reading strategies:

    Ongoing development of these reading strategies will be made through the study of literature and skill lessons designed to make students accomplished readers.
     

    Writing:

    The KEY writing assignments which students will be required to demonstrate proficiency will be the multi-paragraph composition, paragraphs of the various types. FOCUS WILL BE MADE ON THE RESEARCH ESSAY. Teachers may choose to put greater emphasis on the PROCESS than on the PRODUCT.

    The general writing formats of grade 11 are as follows:(Note: not all of these styles
    will be covered by all teachers):

    Analytical essays, stories, dialogues, monologues, scripts, editorials, opinion papers, opinion interviews. Teachers may, at their discretion, assign larger assignments.

    Oral reports: Formal, expanded class presentation. Emphasis will be placed on voice, content, knowledge of topic, interactions and audience consideration.

    Literature

    Students will study various forms of literature which range from prose (both fiction and non-fiction) to poetry. Students will learn the following literary terms:

    Prose:

    Elements of Fiction:

    (Stories/Novels)--include all junior grade terms/items
     
     

        allusion     dynamic character       static character
         flat character     round character       character foil
      character as  confidant     nemesis    surrealism
               satire          allegory        symbolism

    Poetry/Drama:

    (Includes all junior grade terms/items.)
     
     

     allegory (intro)    allusion     analogy    apostrophe
       assonance    cacophony    catharsis   closed form
        conceit   connotation   consonance  couplet (heroic)
        elegy (intro)   epic (intro)    euphony      lyric
       metonymy      ode   open form     parody
        pathos  sonnet (Italian)    synecdoche     stanza types (quatrains etc..)

     

    Evaluation:
     
     
    Term One 35%
    Term Two 35%
    Final (Comp) 15%
    Final (Exam) 15%

    As part of the ongoing and authentic assessment, Performance Standards from the Ministry of Education, will be employed along with other strategies and methods of evaluation.