English 12 Course Outline

Welcome to English 12. This course continues with the skill development to which students were introduced in grade 11. English 12 combines the study of both language and literature and develops skills associated with the Language Arts: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Unlike all previous English courses, final evaluation of achievement is partially determined externally with the English 12 Provincial Exam. Students will be expected to integrate and amalgamate the content and skills learned in the English program and demonstrate their proficiency in numerous ways. Whereas the Research Essay was the focal point for writing in grade 11, the analytical literary composition (essays and paragraphs) will be the major writing focus in grade 12.

Students should expect to study the following genres of literature:
 

  • Short Stories  Key Test: Story and Structure
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  • Novels  (Nineteen-Eighty Four) Key novel
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  • Drama  The Crucible (not required)
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  • Elements of Poetry
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  • Media Studies
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  • Non-Fiction (essays, articles etc...)
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    English 12 grammar includes a refinement of grammar and individualizes students' problems. At this level, grammar is studied in the context of the content being examined, through self-directed lessons from handouts and books such as McGraw Hill Handbook of English. Other related elements to language and grammar will be examined in books such as Writer's Workshop, The Act of Writing and assorted handouts at the teacher's discretion.

    Sentence Building:
     

  • sentence elements (review)
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  • sentence flaws -- focus on run-ons and fragments (review/emphasize)
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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 (review)
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  • squinting modifiers
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  • pronoun reference/agreement (review)
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  • clauses (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 (review)
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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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  • italics, underlining, formatting
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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 (optional, done in gr.11)
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  • footnotes (optional, done in gr.11)
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  • bibliography (optional, done in gr. 11)
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    Paragraph Building:

    NB: Teachers will place significant emphasis on the WRITING PROCESS
     
     

    Vocabulary:(general)
     
     

       Dictionary    encyclopaedia    thesaurus    Synonyms
       Antonyms     Homonyms
    Spelling: ONGOING. Basic rules    		        Roots
      Descriptives    Prefixes    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 ANALYTICAL/PERSUASIVE ESSAY. Teachers may choose to put emphasis on the PROCESS as well as the PRODUCT.

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

    Analytical essays, stories, dialogues, monologues, scripts, editorials, opinion papers, opinion interviews. It is expected that students will develop and demonstrate a sophisticated ability to make critical analyses and judgements. Much of what is studied in the content will be reflected in the work students will complete.

    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, questioning and fielding responses.

    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

    Poetry/Drama:

    (Includes all junior grade terms/items.)
     
     

       allegory     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      dissonance

     

    Evaluation:
     
     
    Term One 30%
    Term Two 30%
    Prov. Exam 40%

    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.