The key point is to integrate writing into reading. Students need to write about plot, characterization (development of the characters), background, mood, and their own personal reaction. This will help with the SAT.

Just as important is the vocabulary from fiction. It's much better to learn words this way than with long lists. Teachers try to explain a lot of the vocabulary as they are reading together. Students will pick up vocabulary with weekly reading.

That's why it is so important to get them started in grades 7-8. Then they have several years to learn the vocabulary naturally, with no pressure. Also reading out loud helps a lot of students with pronunciationand fluency.Many students cannot read without making pauses after every word or every few words. They know that they do this, and lose confidence in their English. It’s best to improve reading fluency in the middle grades in order to boost their confidence.

Each class is designed as 90 minutes per time per week. Parents and students will receive the class note from teachers. The content will include the learning situation comment and assignment for the week.

Each year 5-7 books will be read depending on the length of the books chosen from the lists below. If students have their own favorite books, they could add them onto the list.

Fiction

Level 1

Hemmingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Carroll, Alice’s Wonderful Adventures in Wonderland

Tolkien, The Hobbit

Greek and Roman Myths

Solzhenitsyn, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Brothers Grimm fairy tales

Orwell, Animal Farm

William Golding, Lord of the Flies

Chesterton, Father Brown Stories

Level 2

Shelley, Frankenstein

Greek and Roman Myths

Twain, Huckleberry Finn

Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Tolkien, The Two Towers

Tolkien, The Return of the King

Austin, Pride and Prejudice

Dostoyevsky, The Underground Man

Gogol, Short stories

Gilgamesh

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

Level 3

Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens, Great Expectations

Greek and Roman Myths

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Shakespeare, Richard III

Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

Brave New World

Orwell, 1984

Non-Fiction

Level 2

Caesar, Gallic War

Famous speeches - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,

Famous episodes of Greek and Roman history

Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization

Level 3

Hawking, A Brief History of Time

McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy

Frye, The Great Code

Adler, How to Read a Book