(2-year course)
Grades: 11–12
Subject Area/Course Credit: English, 1 credit each year
Prerequisite: We recommend that students enrolling in the HL course have a C+ or higher in English 10 or teacher recommendation.
Higher Level literature offers students the opportunity to read a range of literary works, including novels, graphic novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. The texts are drawn from various time periods and places. Over the two years of the course, students will consider the choices that authors make in their works, the place literature has in our world, and the ways in which various forms of literature explore human experience. By the end of the course, Standard Level students will have read thirteen works, with two or three texts being read in the summer between year one and year two. A selection of the course texts are in translation, meaning they are originally written in languages other than English. Students in this course will write regular journal reflections, participate in class discussions, group and individual presentations, and complete written assignments designed to build skills mastery. The formal assessments for this course are comprised of: one oral assessment, one formal essay, and two exam papers, all of which take place at the end of year two.