High School English
The purpose of the Grades 9-12 English program is to take students
from three different streams at the Grade 9 level and help them to
continue the development and enhancement of their English language
skills through a graduated program of study in English language and
literature.
Our program, which is built around the four main skill
areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, involves students
in language learning through engagement with a variety of literary and
non-literary texts and aims to help them to develop and refine their
skills in visual or media literacy and in critical thinking. Our aim
is for our students to attain a high level of proficiency as users of
the English language and as critical thinkers as indicated below:
Curriculum details 9-12
The 9-12 English Department is a lively, collaborative and collegial
team. Within the framework of the Turkish Ministry of Education,
students sit three common exams per semester. Therefore, meeting the
unit objectives for each Year (Grade) level is crucial. While this
requirement may seem restrictive at first glance, teachers are able to
reach objectives, employing their own teaching styles. Classrooms and
offices are shared by the teachers, averaging five teachers per office.
Each Year (Grade) level has a level leader who helps teachers to
implement the unit objectives as well as to conduct weekly grade level
meetings.
9th Year (Grade) -7 periods of 40 minute a week
In the 9th Year (Grade) programme we teach a body of students who
have come together from our own elementary school, having passed an
entrance exam, as well as students recruited from outside who are very
bright but undertook an intensive one-year English study program.
Therefore, while the curriculum is literature-centered, it is still
considered, to an extent, to be an EFL environment. The units studied
in this year are The Giver, Stand By Me (film study), An Inspector Calls and poetry. As a supplement, we use Oxford’s Masterclass.
Additionally, we have an independent reading program where students are
given one class period a week to read a book of their choice.
10th Year (Grade) - 8 periods a week.
During this year the students are prepared for the rigorous and demanding IB curriculum. Students are taken through the units Romeo and Juliet, The Catcher in the Rye, as well as units on poetry and media. The 10th Year (Grade) classes also study Oxford’s Masterclass and follow the independent reading program.
11th Year (Grade) - 5 periods a week
This is the first year of the IB programme. Even though all students
will not be enrolled in the IB course, they will follow the same
curriculum. The units studied are Death of a Salesman, 1984, Angela’s Ashes, poetry and a unit on media studies.
12th Year (Grade) - 5 periods a week
In the second year of the IB program, students will study Macbeth, Things Fall Apart, Global Issues, The Mission (film study) and poetry.