Advanced Placement English Language and Composition/ENG 151
Summer Reading and Viewing Program (2014)
To maintain—rather than lose (i.e., the summer effect)—the valuable thinking, reading,
and writing skills that you developed throughout the 2013-2014 school year and to
prepare you for the academic challenges of English 151 and AP English Language and
Composition, specifically the May 2015 AP English Language and Composition exam,
you are instructed to complete a variety of summer reading or viewing assignments.
These assignments reinforce skills that you have previously learned and will apply
throughout the school year, provide research for a number of essays that you will write,
and introduce terms that will help you grow as “skilled readers of prose written in a
variety of contexts” and as “skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes”
(College Board).
All assignments are due the first day of the 2014-2015 school year unless otherwise
noted. These assignments will count as 15% of your quarter one grade. Please note that if
you choose to not complete the summer reading assignments, you will not be eligible for
a quarter one A. Note also that your semester one grade will reflect your summer reading
success or lack thereof. Because late work will not be accepted, avoid waiting until
August to complete the assignments. Follow the planner below or construct one of your
own that better fits your schedule.
I encourage you to enjoy your summer with family and friends as well as devote time to
your continued academic growth. Please contact me at jide@central.k12.mn.us if you
have any questions concerning the assignments.
Have a fun summer! See you in September.
Mrs. Ide
Assignment Overview:
 Read and annotate 3 great American speeches
 Compile a current events portfolio (20 articles and notations)
 View and analyze 3 documentaries
 Read 1 AP-quality nonfiction book and complete 1 essay draft
 Write out flashcards for 50 rhetorical terms
June 9-13
June
Speech 1
Flashcards 1-5
July 1-4
June 16-20
Articles 1-2
Flashcards 6-10
July 7-11
June 23-27
Documentary1
Articles 3-4
Flashcards 11-15
July 14-18
July 21-25
July
Articles 5-6
Flashcards 16-20
Speech 2
Articles 7-8
Flashcards 21-25
Articles 9-10
Flashcards 26-30
August 4-8
August 11-15
August 18-22
August
Speech 3
Articles 15-16
Flashcards 41-45
Articles 17-18
Flashcards 46-50
Documentary 3
Articles 19-20
Documentary 2
August 25-29
Flashcards for bolded
Articles 11-12
terms (optional) 1-26
Flashcards 31-35
Essay
July 28-31
Articles 13-14
Flashcards 36-40
Divide reading of nonfiction text over a few weeks in June, July, or August
Speech Reading and Annotation (up to 30 points)
1. Read 3 great American speeches. Each speech selected should be from a different
decade. You may select speeches from the following websites:
 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html
 http://www.greatamericandocuments.com/speeches/
2. Print out each speech and begin practicing annotation (marking up the text with
notations that will aid your comprehension of the essay). Consider at least ten of
the bulleted items as you read each essay. Keep annotated essays in your AP
Language binder.
 define unknown vocabulary
 make inferences
 note important main points/claims
 note tone/connotatively charged diction
 identify the figurative language/rhetorical strategies in the passage
 identify the function of figurative/rhetorical strategies at work in the
passage
 make personal responses
 ask questions and theorize answers
 make predictions and hypotheses
 note patterns/motifs
 evaluate the author/character’s arguments/claims and challenge these
claims
 make connections outside of the text
 comment on the form/format/structure and shifts in style/structure
 determine point of view
 note universal human behaviors or themes at work in the text
Current Event Portfolio (up to 180 Points)
1. You will create a portfolio of examples and ideas to use as support for a number
of argument essays. To locate these examples or ideas, you are to read 20
reputable newspaper, news magazine or journal articles (The New York Times,
Newsweek, Time, USA Today, The New Yorker, etc.). Articles must relate to
current global, national, and local issues. Entertainment and sports articles will
not count unless the article reflects an issue more significant than an individual
celebrity’s personal problems, signing bonuses, etc.
2. Print each article and then make brief notes applying the SOAPSTone method to
each article. See sample note sheet below and refer to Appendix A for
SOAPSTone information. Keep articles and notes in your AP Language binder.
 MLA Works Cited entry
 Speaker (Author)
 Occasion (Rhetorical Context)
 Audience
 Purpose (Goal)
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Subject (Message)
Tone (Attitude)
Summary of Main Points
Personal Response
Sample (by Denise Ferguson)
MLA CITATION: Begley, Sharon. “How Quickly We Forget.” Newsweek. 7 May 2010: NP. Web.
SPEAKER/AUTHOR: Begley, an environmentalist author
OCCASION: The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
AUDIENCE: American public
PURPOSE: Exposition possibly to chastise those who have grown complacent
SUBJECT: Oil spills and their effects
TONE: Indignantly pessimistic: oil spills have become far too common; American citizens have been
desensitized to the risks of energy production.
MAIN POINTS: 1) The author cited previous oil spills like the Exxon Valdez near Alaska in 1989, but
notes that after a period of public outrage, the public returns to normal life with no changes. 2) Previous
public apathy is shown by the quick return to normalcy after pandemic warning about avian and swine
flu.
RESPONSE: I agree that oil spills and other natural disasters draw public attentions and sympathy for a
time, but that public attention is quickly drawn to the next sensational story without much real action.
Documentary Viewing and Basic Analysis (up to 30 points)
1. View one documentary of your choice each month (June-August).
The following websites link to a multitude of documentaries:
 www.pbs.org (Click on Programs and then on the Frontline icon to
access documentaries.)
 www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/watch-online/
 www.watchdocumentary.org
 Netflix (if you subscribe)
2. Make brief notes on the following items as you watch the documentary. See
sample SOAPSTone notes above and Appendix A for SOAPSTone information.
Keep notes in your AP Language binder.
 MLA Works Cited entry
 Speaker (Author)
 Occasion (Rhetorical Context)
 Audience
 Purpose (Goal)
 Subject (Message)
 Tone (Attitude)
 Summary of main points
 Personal Response
Independent Nonfiction Reading and Essay (up to 25 points)
1. Read one AP-quality, nonfiction book of your choosing.
o Discover popular non-fiction for AP Language students at
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/ap-language-and-composition-reads
2. Keep a reading journal. For every chapter of the book, summarize key concepts or
memorable quotations and passages. Comment on any standout literary or rhetorical
strategies. Finally, provide personal reactions to the content (reflect on the events of the
chapter and include how you would react in a similar situation). Place your reading
journal in your AP English Language and Composition binder. Bring the binder and its
contents to class the first day of class.
3. Respond to the Summer Essay Prompt (A first draft is due no later than the third day of
school). Prompt: Works of nonfiction, whether implicitly or explicitly, present an
argument to the reader and support this argument with different types of evidence and
rhetorical techniques. For your selected summer reading, briefly identify the work’s
central argument. Then, analyze the evidence and techniques the author employs to
support his or her argument. Finally, in the conclusion, evaluate the argument as a whole.
Avoid summarizing the text. Rather, focus on analyzing and evaluating the evidence.
Attempt a two-page response. The essay will be considered a first draft and will be
revised as the school year progresses.
Vocabulary for Summer Essay
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Rhetorical Appeals: logos, ethos, pathos
Rhetorical Modes: narration, description, exposition, argumentation
Rhetorical Devices: See flashcard list.
Literary Devices: See flashcard list.
Style: An evaluation of the sum of choices an author makes in blending diction,
syntax, and rhetorical and literary devices.
Diction: The author’s word choices, especially with regard to their precision and
effectiveness.
Syntax: The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and
sentences. Refer to the rhetorical schemes on flashcard list.
Tone: attitude, point of view
Thesis: Statements that express the author’s opinion, purpose, meaning, or
position.
Genre: Primary genres for AP Language—autobiography, biography, diary,
criticism, essays; and journalistic, political, scientific, and nature writing.
Rhetorical/Literary Devices Flashcards (up to 50 points)
1. For the following terms, make flashcards (term on one side and a brief definition on
the other side). Save room to add examples as the school year progresses.
2. Bolded Terms: These terms have been introduced and studied in Freshman Literature
and Composition, American Literature and Composition, and British Literature and
Composition. Flashcards for these terms are not required but may prove helpful.
*Schemes: Deviation from the ordinary pattern or arrangement of words, letters, sounds
(transference of order).
**Tropes: Deviation from the ordinary and principal meaning of a word
(transference of meaning).
Alliosis*
Alliteration*
Allusion
Amplification
Anadiplosis*
Analogy
Anaphora*
Anapodoton*
Anastrophe*
Anecdote
Antanaclasis**
Antanagoge
Anthimeria**
Antimetabole*
Antithesis*
Aphorism
Aporia**
Apostrophe**
Assonance*
Asyndeton*
Bathos*
Chiasmus*
Climax/Gradatio*
Conceit**
Conduplicatio*
Diacope *
Dirimens Copulatio
Distinctio
Ellipsis*
Enallage*
Enumeration
Epanalepsis *
Epistrophe/Antistrophe*
Epithet**
Erotema**
Exemplum
Expletive
Extended Metaphor**
Force Teaming
Hyperbaton*
Hyperbole**
Hypophora
Hypotaxis
Idiom**
Imagery
Irony**
Isocolon*
Litotes**
Metabasis
Metaphor**
Metonymy**
Motif
Onomatopoeia**
Oxymoron**
Paradox**
Parallelism*
Parataxis
Parenthesis*
Personification**
Pleonasm
Polyptoton*
Polysyndeton*
Praeteritio/Apophasis
Procatalepsis
Pun/Paronomasia**
Repetition
Rhetorical Question/Erotesis**
Scesis Onomaton
Sententia
Simile**
Symbol**
Synedoche**
Synesthesia**
Symploce*
Understatement/Meiosos**
Zeugma**
Appendix A
SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone)
Originally conceived as a method for dissecting the work of professional writers, SOAPSTone provides a concrete
strategy to help students identify and understand the main components of writing, including their own writing.
SOAPSTone provides a series of questions that students must first ask themselves, and then answer, as they begin to
analyze texts and/or plan for their own writing assignments.
S—Speaker
Question: Who is the Speaker?
The individual or collective voice of the text. Whether this voice belongs to a fictional character or to the writers
themselves, students should determine how a writer develops the personality/character/credibility of the speaker or
narrator that will influence the overall meaning of the text. Think about: What assumptions can you make about the
speaker? (e.g. age, gender, emotional state, etc.) What is the speaker’s point of view?
O—Occasion
Question: What is the Occasion?
The context and catalyst that prompted the writing. All writers are influenced by the larger occasion: an environment of
ideas, attitudes, and emotions that swirl around a broad issue. Then there is the immediate occasion: an event or
situation that catches the writer's attention and triggers a response. Think about: What else was going on in the world
when the author was writing?
A-Audience
Question: Who is the Audience?
The group of readers to whom this piece is directed. It may be one person or a specific group. This choice of audience
will affect how and why writers write a particular text. Think about: Who does the author want to be affected by the
text?
P—Purpose
Question: What is the Purpose?
The reason behind the text. Writers need to clearly consider the purpose of their text in order to develop the thesis or
the argument and its logic, or in the case of fiction, to develop a theme. Writers should ask themselves, "What do I
want my audience to think or do as a result of reading my text?"
S—Subject
Question: What is the Subject?
The general topic of the text. What is the speaker literally saying?
T—Tone Question: What is the Tone?
The attitude of the author toward his/her subject. With the written word, tone is created by conscious choices in diction,
syntax, figurative language, imagery and selection of details to extend meaning beyond the literal. Does the speaker
seem sarcastic, aggressive, wistful, pessimistic, hopeful, bitter, reflective, skeptical, etc.?
DIDLS (Diction, Images, Details, Language, Syntax)
The acronym DIDLS is used to help students analyze the tone of a passage. By dissecting argumentative pieces, and
considering their parts, passages should be much easier to comprehend.
D—Diction
I—Images
D—Details
L—Language
S—Syntax
Questions: What words does the author use?
How do these words characterize the passage?
Questions: What images does the author create?
How do these images imbue the piece with sensory input?
Questions: Which details does the author include and omit?
How do these details inform your understanding?
Questions: What type of language doe the author use?
How will this type of language work with the audience the writer has in mind?
Questions: What types of sentences are used?
How are words ordered?
Where are points of emphasis?