Expository Reading & Writing Course (ERWC)
The Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) is a a full-year college preparatory English course. The ERWC addresses critical reading and writing problems identified by the CSU English Placement Test Committee and prepares students to meet the expectations of college and university faculty. Course assignments, organized into 14 modules and based mainly on non-fiction texts, emphasize the in-depth study of expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing. The University of California has approved the ERWC for area "b" credit (from the "a-g" requirements), and the Course meets college preparatory requirements for both the UC and CSU systems.
World Literature
World Literature is a standards-based, college preparatory English class designed to provide you with the foundation you need to be able to critically think, read, and write in a variety of modes of discourse. Students will build upon skills already developed throughout previous years of high school, and apply those skills to more sophisticated and challenging texts. Wherever you find yourself after high school—be it a four year university, a community college, the military, or a trade school, we must all be skilled in oral and written communication, and we must be saavy consumers of the information we read. This course focuses on texts by authors from around the globe. Core fiction pieces will be paired with non-fiction texts to create a juxtaposition of ideas and issues that are relevant to today’s world. Reading and writing topics include: stereotypes, social roles, government control vs. individual freedoms, benefits and drawbacks to advancements in technology, tradition vs. new directions, power structures in society, personal responsibility in one’s actions, and the justice system, among others. Students will have an opportunity to take in and critically assess a variety of viewpoints—a skill essential in formulating one’s own educated and fully developed point of view.
Bible as Literature/Contemporary Issues in Literature
This class is comprised of two semester-long courses that are taught over the course of one school year.
Bible as Literature explores selected stories from the Old and New Testaments from a literary standpoint. The course focuses on literary analysis, authors, and parallel themes that have influenced Western civilization since the time of Moses. Literature-based writing assignments refine writing skills.
Contemporary Issues in Literature is designed to encourage students to make connections between literature and contemporary issues. Students will discuss and debate these issues and address modern writers and thinkers in addition to ones from the past. The course will focus on expository writing by teaching students to think through issues in order to support their views. International, national, and local issues will be discussed and analyzed.
AP English Language & Composition
This course trains students to become skilled readers and writers in diverse genres and modes of composition. As stated in the Advanced Placement Course Description for English exams, the AP Language & Composition course’s purpose is “to enable students to read complex texts with understanding and write prose of sufficient richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers.” As the course progresses, students will become aware of their own composition process through self-assessment, peer evaluation, and instructor feedback. These skills will allow the student to read critically and write effectively in different modes in the college classroom and beyond.
AP English Literature & Composition
This course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider a work's structure, style and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.