ENG 2D1
Students will be encouraged to use computers, drama, creative writing and research as a way of
appreciating the complexities of a work of literature. The selection of this course is subject to
student accomplishment and/or teacher recommendation.
Note: This course fulfils one of the compulsory English requirements.
Course Outline
We begin grade 10 academic English by examining several short fiction, non-fiction, and poetry
pieces from our anthology. We focus largely on character development, character analysis, and
the themes of persecution/prejudice. A character analysis is submitted for evaluation. We also
provide the opportunity to visit the Holocaust Centre in Toronto. We then examine the hero
archetype developed in Greek mythology and works such as Beowulf, where we consider the
language and diction of epic poetry. We do several close analyses of excerpts of the text. We
also examine the ways in which the language furthers the implicit morals and themes of Beowulf.
This examination of character is continued in our study of Macbeth, where we examine
Macbeth’s character to distinguish it from Beowulf’s and to determine the differences between a
heroic and villainous character. There will be reading of questions, creative presentations, and
quotation analysis in this unit. Lord of the Flies is the culminating text, where the students apply
what they have learned about the interpretation of character and theme to seminar presentations.
There are also guided journal responses to the text and quotation analysis. The students enhance
their knowledge of the novel by researching the social and political environment of the time.
The course concludes with a short poetry unit. Poetic analysis is furthered by example and via a
seminar where pairs of students analyze a poem and present their findings to the class. The goal
of all of our presentation preparation is to facilitate the development of confident and thoughtful
presentations.
Throughout the course, there is a regular focus on grammar skills, primarily indirect and direct
objects, verb tenses, clauses and sentence expansion, subject-verb agreement, pronouns, and
antecedents.
The student also reads a novel of his/her choice of at least 200 pages and answers specific
questions relating to his/her personal response and thematic development.
The summative evaluation is comprised of the Lord of the Flies seminars and a final 2-hour
exam.