Our comprehensive and interactive English Language Arts classes will bring the subject to life. Students who have a hard time writing or picking up a book will be guided through an engaging learning process—a process that makes writing and reading less intimidating and relatable. A combination of writing, reading comprehension, syntax, grammar, and vocabulary will be studied in-depth and throughout the course of the year. Classical short stories, speeches, and poetry will also be analyzed.
ELA Services
Writing
Writing practice requires the majority of our time and effort. Our teachers explain the goals and objectives before starting the writing process. We then begin to brainstorm ideas, organize our points on an outline, and write a “class essay” in which every student contributes directly to the piece. Once the modeling process is complete, students will have the confidence and freedom to compose their own essays. Our goal is to write two essays every month: a class essay and an individual essay.
Reading
From William Shakespeare to Malcolm Gladwell, students will be exposed to an array of classical and contemporary authors with different styles from multiple genres. By diversifying our reading material and raising the level of complexity, students will learn how to comprehend sophisticated texts and respond to critical questions.
Syntax
Before writing essays, before writing paragraphs, students need to learn how to formulate sentences. Andalusia teaches students how to compose professions style sentences—the kind of sentences that can bring prose to life.
Grammar
Taking an old-school approach, at times, can be advantageous. Students will learn to identify parts of speech and diagram sentences. And we don’t just identify “adjectives” and “transitive verbs”, rather, we break down their function and purpose so students are trained to make logical connections.
Poetry
Perhaps the most distinct aspect of our curriculum (which seems to be a lost art in most schools) is our focus on poetry. Our students aim to memorize at least five classic American/British poems a year from renown authors—including Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, William Blake, and William Shakespeare. Moreover, we take great pride in analyzing several aspects of the poem: the themes, poetic devices, and vocabulary are investigated.