GRADE 11/12 ENGLISH - LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITIONR

Java Python GRADE 11/12 ENGLISH - LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION (WRITING)

SUMMER READING AND WRITING ASSIGNMENT

TASK 1

1. Read the book "Night" by Elie Weisel. (Copies are in the library; a digital pdf and an audiobook version are also available here:  

https://scls-my.sharepoint.cn/personal/kevin_salveson_scls-sh_org/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?share=EvbVnyzoIFxHpM-fMuTt4PcBkx5HSOyE4h-G1iTpBDVr5w&e=f5xPye

2. Answer the short essay questions about the book (found below). They cover the first four chapters as well as ask about your general impressions of the text.

TASK 2

Below, see also the "free reading" task. You must complete both tasks (due day 1 of class).

HOW?

Hand-write your answers in a notebook that will be used as your main "English Notes and Reflections" notebook throughout the school year.

The bigger the notebook (A4 size), the better. Smaller notebooks are ok "in a pinch" but they limit what you can do on a single page.

Essay Questions for Night by Elie Wiesel

DIRECTIONS:  From the essay questions below, choose and answer four (4) of them.  Write at least 400 words per response.

You must cite specific examples from the story to support your answers. Supply at least one quote from the text for each answer. Be sure to put the words in quotations to show that the words are from the text or audio.

You should use parenthetical citations to show where you took your examples. The parenthetical citations should look like this: "word word word" (Wiesel pg. 9).  

Or, if you are drawing from the audiobook version: "quote quote quote"  (Weisel, Chapter 3 - 5:10).

If a question has to be answered in terms of how you feel about something, write more than "I don’t like it."  You need to analyze why you don't and discuss the morality of the question.

One-paragraph responses will not earn full credit. Attempt longer more thoughtful responses which span multiple paragraphs in the format of a 4 paragraph essay if you can.  

Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence mechanics will count for the final grade. (We will discuss writing criteria and rubrics when class begins in September, but you've been in school long enough to know what counts as good writing. Impress me).

Make sure to have the novel’s title in italics each time you mention it. For example: "In the novel Night, there are several significant events that occur during the night-time."

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. At the beginning of the book, the Jews refuse to face or believe the possible danger. Give at least two examples.  Why do you think that was the case that they ignored clear warnings? Is it human nature to tell ourselves stories (or delusional lies) in which we are heroes who overcome hardship? Is it good or bad that humans often function this way?

2. Give at least two examples of times that Wiesel mentions the beauty of nature in contrast to what is going on in the book. Why do you think he does that?  How does this literary technique contribute to the powerful emotional impact the book has on the reader?

3. The Nazis (including Minister of Propaganda Josef Goebbels) were masters of "Dehumanization". That is a process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than "things" in the minds of Germans and soldiers. (Or, if they were considered anything, they were something evil to be feared and defended against). Research this technique and describe some of the ways in which the Germans did this during World War 2 in order to program the average German and allow their crimes to take place.

4. Step by step, the Germans (and complicit Hungarian police) pushed the Jewish people in the book to give up their freedoms little by little. This "normalization" of oppression seemed to the Jews to be ok because each step was small or barely acceptable. Compare what goes on in the book to the modern day response that some nations have imposed on their citizens due to Covid.  Are they similar or different? Discuss.

5. If you were a Jew in Hungary at the time of the story, would you have tried to forget your old life and escape, or perhaps fight back against what was going on?  Or, do you think you would have gone along with the situation? Describe what you think would probably have been the case for you and your fate at the time of World War 2.

6. After Eliezer’s father was beaten by a Kapo (named Idek), Elie says: "I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed not against the Kapo but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." Discuss what the last line signifies. Discuss how the drive to survive essentially turned many people into selfish humans who would do anything including betray family or friends.

Offer your opinion as if you are trying to prove something about human nature. Support your ideas with good step-by-step logic.

7. The relationship of Weisel and his father is one of the main drives to survive in the book. Again and again, it is family and the relationship with his dad which inspire Weisel to not give up.  (Unfortunately, spoiler alert, only a week before he escapes the prison his father finally dies).  Provide several quotes that prove this.

8. One major theme of the book is how Weisel loses his religious faith.  Find quotes from the book that provide evidence that this theme is developed by Weisel quite deliberately.  Or, use the quote below and discuss how and why Weisel might have decided to make this a main thematic thrust of his book.

“…Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes…”  (Weisel, Chapter 3, pg 34)

9. One chilling story in Chapter 4 involves a kid who was killed for spilling soup. Detail what happens and then explain the author’s meaning when he says that (after the event), "the soup tasted better than ever" (Weisel, pg. 63) but at the same time at the end of the chapter, "the soup tasted of corpses" (Weisel, pg. 65).

10.  Write 6 of your own essay questions that you think would push a student to write thoughtfully about the book, its events, its characters, and the history of Nazi Germany.

II. FREE READING TASK

For your second summer assignment, you are being asked to read English topics of your choice for an average of 2 hours each week. Again, keep a hand-written reading journal in a notebook you will use for all your G11 English work.

That means read every week for 5 weeks (about 10 hours of reading total) and finish writing 5 Journal Entries.  Use the prompts below for what to write about.

DUE: the first day of class next fall!

Read When? Weekly. Read English about 2 hours each week. Try for at least 30 minutes each time in order to strengthen your brain's 'focus muscle'.

Read Who or What? You may read anything you like, but there are a few requirements. The texts must be written in English. Also, the texts must be interesting to YOU!

What kind? The texts can be any type of fiction (novels, plays, short stories). They can be any genre you like (mystery, sports, sci-fi, romance, entertainment, drama, young adult, action, humor, bio, children's books, etc).

Or they can even be nonfiction texts (news, blogs, magazines, websites, etc). It's up to you. Find something you like to read about.

What format? Any (physical books, ebook, comics, newspapers, magazines, webpages, etc).

How? Keep a "reading diary" or journal.  Use the prompts below for what to write about. 

In what way? You will write "reflectively" (that means you will try and really think about what you read and possibly apply it to your own life).

A reflection is something you see in the mirror.  When you hold a mirror up to your reading (and yourself when you are reading), what do you see or understand? Basically, this just means you should describe things you read about carefully and then think ab GRADE 11/12 ENGLISH - LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITIONR out them deeply when you write about them. A reflective person is someone who isn't senseless like a zombie, but sensitive like a real human being. Let's see how well you can do working at the near-college level.

See some of the examples below if you are not sure what a journal or diary looks like:
www.thoughtco.com/how-to-keep-a-reading-log-or-book-journal-739793
www.theunreadshelf.com/blog/bookjournal

Each journal entry should:

• include the date of the journal entry

• respond to one of the prompts from the PROMPT LIST (see below)

• be at least three paragraphs in length 200 words minimum).

• include a topic sentence that answers the prompt.

• include a logical step-by-step organization to the way you express your thoughts and opinions.     Build an 'argument' about what you read.

• include details and examples from the text to support and explain your thoughts.

The first journal entry MUST respond to prompt #1. After that, you may choose to respond to any of the prompts, but you may only respond to a prompt ONCE; you cannot use the same prompt more than once.

How will your grade be calculated? Each journal entry will be judged according to the Standards listed at the end of this document.  

Your ability to meet a standard is based both on your starting point (and the expectations we have for you based on where you are as a student right now) as well as an 'objective' standard. That means: your ability to produce work that is equal to most kids your age around the world.

GRADING SCALE

Using the point system of 0-100% that you are familiar with, several writing and reading comprehension standards will be assessed:

0-59%: You are unable to meet the standards that most kids your age can meet in terms of your reading and writing skills. (This estimate may also involve taking into account where you are in your English skills development right now; we will look for signs of effort and progress over time). Mostly this is about identifying who puts in effort that is 'weak sauce'.

60-78%: You are sometimes able to demonstrate an overall skill level that most kids your age can demonstrate. However, your ability to do so is inconsistent and needs more practice.

79-89%: Your English skills (reading and writing, according to the standards found below) are (far more often than not) at a level that matches what most kids your age can do. This is where most students should be at, so this is what you have to target as your minimum expectation. You may have a lapse of focus and coherence here and there, but it doesn't doom you.

90% - 95%: Your English skills are above what most kids your age can do. (It's very hard to earn this).

96-100%: Practically perfect in every way (as Mary Poppins once put it). You go above and beyond, your insights are spectacular and often deep, your words are lyrical, poetic, and impactful. You critical thinking and reading comprehension skills means nothing escapes you and you are able to cite nuances in the text that others miss.

POINTS:

To give you a general idea based on what you are familiar with, most journal entries will earn a maximum of 20 points. Journal entries written about shorter texts such as a news article, short story, or poem, etc. will only be worth 5 points, so you may have read two things and do two short paragraphs in order to earn 10 points.

RUBRIC - POINTS PER ENTRY

20-18 points
This is exceptional work or close to it. Your response is organized and focused on the chosen prompt. Your answers are insightful and backed up with multiple, effective, and carefully chosen details and evidence.

14-17 points per journal entry
Good work. Your response is mostly organized and focused on the chosen prompt. Your answers are backed up with evidence. However, you could have provided more detail, or the evidence could have been more thoughtfully chosen.

10-13 points
You attempted to deal with the chosen prompt but were either unfocused, disorganized, or not well prepared. Your answers needed more depth and/or more effective textual evidence.

5-9 points
You clearly didn't read anything all the way through. You didn't make more than a small attempt to discuss it. You were not focused on the chosen topic. Maybe you didn't understand what you read, or didn't try to. You made no or little attempt to back up your answers with evidence from the text. Your response does not resemble an honest attempt at completing the assignment.

PROMPT LIST

REMEMBER, you may only respond to a prompt ONCE; you cannot use the same prompt more than once.

1. REQUIRED. Discuss your past experiences with reading books, your current or past reading habits, some reading goals you might have for yourself this summer, and how you might hope your reading experiences and habits might change during the summer.

2. Choose a detail from one of the texts that you’ve been reading and explain why you think the author chose to include that detail. How does it make their writing effective, touching, or worthwhile?

3. Choose a section from your text and discuss how that section helps develop a theme or central idea that the author is exploring. (A theme is a "moral lesson" or "insight into human nature".  It's not just the topic of the book). Explain how you think your author feels about that theme or central idea. Why do you think that?

4. Discuss something that you learned in your reading this week (anything you didn't know before).

5. Summarize what you've read this week WITHOUT sharing your opinion.

6. If you could write a letter to the author, a character, or a person from your text, what would you tell them and why?

7. What three adjectives would you use to describe something from your reading this week (a person/character, a place/setting, an event)? EXPLAIN WHY.

8. If you could change something about the text, what would you change and why would you make that change?

9. Which person, character, or author is your favorite (or least favorite) and why?

10. If a person, character, or author from your reading this week was to be listening to music during a certain moment or event from the text, what songs or albums do you think they would be listening to and why do you think that?

11. If you were to create a song playlist for a specific event or moment from your text, what songs would you choose and why? Would you put them in a certain order?

12. If you were to make a movie inspired by your text, which famous actors would you cast to play the main characters or people and explain why they would be a good choice.

13. Discuss a section from your text where you feel like the author's language or word choice was particularly effective and explain why you think it has that effect.

14. Where do you think the author may have gotten the ideas or what topics/things might they have researched when preparing to write the text? Explain why you think that.

15. Choose an event or moment and discuss why you think the author chose to write the text to include that moment. Could the author have included that moment in a different part of the text? How do you think that could change the overall meaning of the text?

16. Discuss a section of the text where you felt a strong emotional reaction and explain why.

17. How is a character/person, or the author similar to you, someone you know, or another character/person or author that you're familiar with?

18.Discuss a new word that you learned from your text this week: what did you think it meant when you first read the word and why did you think that? How did you figure out what the word actually means? Does the word sound or appear similar to any other words you already know? Why do you think the author chose to use that word instead of another word with the same or similar meaning? (*This prompt only counts for 5 points even if it’s about a book!)

19. I DO NOT LIKE THIS!

 If you begin reading something and you do not like it, you can write a reflection about why you didn't like it. Be sure to be specific and include details to explain your thinking. (This prompt only counts for 5 points even if it’s about a book)