ENGLISH 1 CURRICULUM

Our English 1 curriculum follows the Engage New York curriculum, an MCPS vetted curriculum. 

English 1 Primary Texts: 

Quarter 1: Short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell

Ranier Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. We read "Letter 1" and "Letter 7."

Black Swan Green  by  David Mitchell

Quarter 2: Romeo and Juliet

Quarter 3: Sugar Changed the World

Quarter 4:  Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (not an Engage NY text but is approved by OPI, MCPS, and IEFA)

IB ENGLISH

This two-year course is separated into three areas of exploration: 

Readers, writers and texts (Oct.- Jan.)

• Literary work: Henrik Ibsen’s The Doll’s House (free choice)
• Non- literary: Liza Donnelly cartoons OR artist Barbara Kruger
• Literary work: Louise Erdrich’s The Round House  (English Prescribed Reading List)
• Non- literary work: Native News articles about Montana reservations; Stolen: The Search for Jermain

Time and space (February- May)

• Literary text: William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (English PRL)
• Non-literary text: fake news- power, post truth and alternative facts.
• Non- literary text: "I, too, sing America": 5 Significant Michelle Obama Speeches

By the end of Year 1, students will have drafted two HL essays.

Time and space: (Sept.- Oct. Year 2)

• Literary Text: Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Text in translation)
• Non- literary text: Movements for social change (Nike advertisements) 

Intertextuality: connecting texts (Nov.- Apr.)

• Literary text: Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen (Text in translation)
• Non- literary text: Garden of Words (Japanese Film)
• Literary text: Essays from Maya Angelou (English PRL)
• Non- literary text: TBD OR Evolution of language-”You can’t say that!”

By the end of Year 2, students will have submitted an HL essay, an Individual Oral, and will prepare for Paper 1 and Paper 2 (exams).