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Reading and Writing Programs
The key point is to integrate writing into reading. Students need to write about plot, characterization (development of the characters), background, mood, and their own personal reaction. This will help with the SAT.
Just as important is the vocabulary from fiction. It's much better to learn words this way than with long lists. Teachers try to explain a lot of the vocabulary as they are reading together. Students will pick up vocabulary with weekly reading.
That's why it is so important to get them started in grades 7-8. Then they have several years to learn the vocabulary naturally, with no pressure. Also reading out loud helps a lot of students with pronunciationand fluency.Many students cannot read without making pauses after every word or every few words. They know that they do this, and lose confidence in their English. It’s best to improve reading fluency in the middle grades in order to boost their confidence.
Each class is designed as 90 minutes per time per week. Parents and students will receive the class note from teachers. The content will include the learning situation comment and assignment for the week.
Each year 5-7 books will be read depending on the length of the books chosen from the lists below. If students have their own favorite books, they could add them onto the list.
Fiction
Level 1
Hemmingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
Carroll, Alice’s Wonderful Adventures in Wonderland
Tolkien, The Hobbit
Greek and Roman Myths
Solzhenitsyn, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Brothers Grimm fairy tales
Orwell, Animal Farm
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Chesterton, Father Brown Stories
Level 2
Shelley, Frankenstein
Greek and Roman Myths
Twain, Huckleberry Finn
Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Tolkien, The Two Towers
Tolkien, The Return of the King
Austin, Pride and Prejudice
Dostoyevsky, The Underground Man
Gogol, Short stories
Gilgamesh
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Level 3
Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Dickens, Great Expectations
Greek and Roman Myths
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Shakespeare, Richard III
Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
Dostoyevsky, The Idiot
Brave New World
Orwell, 1984
Non-Fiction
Level 2
Caesar, Gallic War
Famous speeches - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
Famous episodes of Greek and Roman history
Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization
Level 3
Hawking, A Brief History of Time
McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy
Frye, The Great Code
Adler, How to Read a Book
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