English Courses
| ENGLISH PATHWAYS* |
Del Mar High School offers the following English Language courses*.
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English I
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| Grade 9; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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A standards-based foundational course for freshmen and is designed to provide an opportunity for students to continue their study of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students will read a variety of literary genres and forms. From paragraphs to essays, writing will be both analytical and creative, with a focus on the writing process. This program emphasizes a variety of critical thinking and language experiences to provide students with strong communication skills and the ability to succeed in and out of the classroom.
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| English I (ICAP) |
| Grade 9; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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A rigorous course with an emphasis on the study of literature and rhetorical analysis. This course is designed to introduce the sophisticated analytical writing, reading, speaking and listening skills necessary for the IB Language and Literature course taught in the junior and senior years.
Prerequisite: Working at grade level with a CST score of Proficient of Advanced and prepared for honors level coursework.
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| English II |
| Grade 10; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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Expanding on the skills developed in English I, this course develops students’ mastery of reading comprehension, analysis of complex texts, and vocabulary development. Students will write for a variety of purposes and audiences in the forms of informative/explanatory, argumentative, and narrative texts. Students will continue to build on their research skills, uses of standard English language grammar and conventions, and speaking and listening techniques. The central thematic focuses on this course are derived from diverse world literature that represent various global heritages and cultures, so that students increase their understanding of individual and cultural experiences. Substantial reading is required and outside reading and writing are expected.
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| English II (ICAP) |
| Grade 10; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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This is the second-year preparatory English course offering for the IB Language and Literature course. This course emphasizes a content of global experience while working on logical organization and written communication, analytical writing as required for IB assessments, oral commentary and presentation.
Prerequisite: Completion of English I ICAP with grade of A or B, or teacher recommendation.
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| English III |
| Grade 11; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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In this course, students read and analyze American literature from a variety of historical, political and cultural perspectives. These literary works include both non-fiction (journals, expository articles, speeches) and fiction (poetry, novels, drama). Students are encouraged to make connections between literature and history while continuing to refine and practice their skills writing argumentative, informative/explanatory, and narrative compositions. Students also learn to formulate an argument, research information, assess the relevance and credibility of a source, cite a variety of sources and format a document. In both oral presentations and written work, students demonstrate their ability to appeal to their audience logically, ethically and emotionally. Outside reading and writing assignments further develop students’ vocabulary and critical thinking.
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| English IV - Expository Reading & Writing |
| Grade 12; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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The goal of Expository Reading and Writing Course is to prepare college-bound seniors for the literacy demands of higher education. Through a sequence of fourteen rigorous instructional modules, students in a yearlong, rhetoric-based course develop advanced proficiencies in expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing. The cornerstone of the course-the assignment template-offers a process for helping students read, comprehend, and respond to non-fiction and literacy texts. Modules also provide students research methods and documentation conventions. Students are expected to increase their awareness of the rhetorical strategies employed by authors and to apply those strategies in their own writing. They read closely to examine the relationship between an author’s argument or theme and his or her audience and purpose, to analyze the impact of structural and rhetorical strategies, and to examine the social, political, and philosophical assumptions that underlie the text. By the end of the course, students will be expected to use this process independently when reading unfamiliar texts and writing in response to them. Course texts include contemporary essays, newspaper and magazine articles, editorials, reports, biographies, memos, assorted public documents, other non-fiction texts. The course materials also include modules on two full-length works (one novel and one work of non-fiction). Written assessments and holistic scoring guides conclude each unit. |
| IB Language & Literature HL + |
| Grade 11-12, Two-Year Term; A-G Requirement - English; UC/CSU Designation - Language (b) |
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This is a two-year course consisting of four parts: Language and Mass Communication, Literature and Critical Study, Language in the Cultural Context and Literature in Context. Students will study and analyze a variety of texts from historical speeches and contemporary mass media to canonical texts with an international focus, such as George Orwell’s 1984 (England), Albert Camus’ The Stranger in translation (French-Algerian), Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (Canada) and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (Nigeria). The course will prepare students for the oral and written IB exams and serve as excellent preparation for rigorous college study. Students who take IB Language and Literature HL and pass the exam with a score of 5 or higher (on a 7 point scale) can earn college credits at UC, CSU, and many private colleges and universities.
+ UC/CSU Honors (Weighted) - Year 1 & 2
Prerequisite: English I and II; Students must demonstrate proficiency in English II or ICAP English II.
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