Course outline Grade 8 English 1999-2000 Teacher: Pellegrina Trotta

Semester I / Semester II

Click the Blue Headings for access to Specific Topic Web Pages

War - The Jazz Age - The Depression - American Literature of the 1920's & 30's

'A Farewell to Arms' (Prose - excerpts) Ernest Hemingway

'The Waste Land' (Poetry - excerpts) T. S. Eliot

'The Great Gatsby' (Prose) F.Scott Fitzgerald

'The Waltz', 'Sentiment', 'New York to Detroit', (Short stories ) Dorothy Parker

'Of Mice and Men' (Prose) John Steinbeck

'The Glass Menagerie' (Drama) Tennessee Williams

'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' (Prose - excerpts) Carson McCullers

'To Kill a Mockingbird' (Prose) Harper Lee - in Italian or English

Extension material for whole class or individual enrichment

Biographies - excerpts from:

'Hemingway' - Kenneth Lynn

'F. Scott Fitzgerald' - Arthur Mizener

'Scott Fitzgerald' - Jeffrey Meyers

'John Steinbeck' - Jay Parini

'T. S. Eliot - A Study in Character and Style' - Ronald Bush

'The Modern World - Ten Great Writers' Malcolm Bradbury

Other sources

'All Quiet on the Western Front' - film version

'A Farewell to Arms' - original film version

'The Debutante' - Fitzgerald - short story

'The Great Gatsby' - film version

'Of Mice and Men' - film version by Gary Sinise

'The Grapes of Wrath' John Steinbeck - film version by John Ford, 1940

'The Glass Menagerie' - film version with John Malkovich

'To Kill a Mockingbird' Harper Lee - film version

'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' Carson McCullers - film version with Alan Arkin

'Honky-Tonk Man' - film by Clint Eastwood

'The Sting' - film set in 30's gangster era - with Robert Redford and Paul Newman

Each student will perform a monologue or scene in the dramatic presentation

'Love, dreams and all that jazz........'

Semester 11 (February - June)

'The Merchant of Venice' (drama) W. Shakespeare

Performance of scenes in Venice - March 2000

The Romantics (Poetry)

Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, Keats

Poetry readings at the tomb of Keats and visit to Keats-Shelley museum

Assessment:

Reading Logs - analytical and creative responses to literature

Vocabulary taken from course literature

Grammar usage in oral and written work - proof-reading and editing skills

Performances and drama log book recording the development of each role

'Love, dreams and all that Jazz.....' Grade 8 English Course

Texts & Resources

'A farewell to Arms' Ernest Hemingway

'The Waste Land' T. S. Eliot

'The Hollow Men' T. S. Eliot

'Hemingway' - Biography by Kenneth Lynn

'The Modern World - Ten Great Writers' Malcolm Bradbury

'T. S. Eliot - A Study in Character and Style' Ronald Bush

'The Experience of Literature' (The Waste Land) Lionel Trilling

'Scott Fitzgerald' - Biography by Jeffrey Meyers

'Scott Fitzgerald' - Arthur Mizener

'The Waltz' - short story by Dorothy Parker

'Cousin Larry' - short story by Dorothy Parker

'Just a Little One' - short story by Dorothy Parker

'New York to Detroit' - short story by Dorothy Parker

'Sentiment' - short story by Dorothy Parker

'The Great Gatsby' Scott Fitzgerald

'The Great Gatsby' - film by Jack Clayton

'This Side of Paradise' Scott Fitzgerald

'The Lost Decade' Scott Fitzgerald

'The Crack up' Scott Fitzgerald

'John Steinbeck' - Biography by Jay Parini

'Of Mice and Men' John Steinbeck

'Of Mice and Men' - film with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise

'The Grapes of Wrath' John Steinbeck

'The Grapes of Wrath' - film by John Ford, with Henry Fonda

'The Glass Menagerie' - play by Tennessee Williams

'The Glass Menagerie' - film with Joanne Woodward, John Malkovich

'The Mortgaged Heart' Carson McCullers

'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' Carson McCullers

'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' - film with Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke

'The Ten Year Lunch' Video Documentary on Dorothy Parker

'T. S. Eliot' - Video Documentary by Melvyn Bragg