AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION SUMMER READING 2015
ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE THE WEDNESDAY AFTER SCHOOL BEGINS MR. LIMON AND MRS. HUFFAKER E-MAIL:
[email protected] OR
[email protected], Mrs. Huffaker’s WEB PAGE: bhuffaker.weebly.com All AP Language and Composition students must read Language in Thought and Action, Fifth Edition, and five Op/Ed columns by the first Wednesday of the new school year, and write (in PEN in a COLLEGE RULED composition book) the following assignments for each. The focus of the Grade 11 AP course is understanding, analyzing, and writing non-fiction prose. These assignments give you practice in reading and responding editorials and opinions. TO BUY: 1. COLLEGE RULED composition book (the kind with actual stitching in the back) in which to write your assignment. You will continue to use this for your journals during the fall semester if you are in Mrs. Huffaker’s class. 2. Language in Thought and Action, Fifth Edition, by S.I. Hayakawa, & Alan R. Hayakawa, Books are available at Barnes and Noble and should be available at any of the larger bookstores or Amazon. Used copies are fine. Some of last year’s students are willing to sell their copies for $5 each. See Mrs. Huffaker in room 504 for available copies. TO DO: 1. Sign up for an account on Quizlet.com • If you do not have a Quizlet account yet, go to Quizlet.com. • Click sign up in the upper right corner. • Complete the required information 2. Join our class group, go to the following link to join our class: Valencia AP Lang 2015‐16 https://quizlet.com/join/kvN6rAukd 3. Access the sets of questions within that group to start familiarizing yourself with the terms. We have MANY to learn. 4. Read Language in Thought and Action and for each chapter of the 16 chapters, write a half page response in your COLLEGE RULED composition book, explaining what you learned and how you see that aspect of language functioning in your life or the world around you. 5. Copy and respond to 5 Opinion/Editorials from a major newspaper. These must be from the Opinion/Editorial section – NOT News, Entertainment or Sports – see instructions and links on the back of this page. • Clip or copy and paste to a paper to tape into your journal at least 5 editorials or opinion commentaries (not news or sports articles or informational features or reviews of products or blogs) from a reputable newspaper. (See the next page for a list of suggested sources.) • If you are accessing them on-line, be sure to copy the web address and the date on which you downloaded it. If you are cutting them from a hard-copy newspaper, write the date of publication. • You can mix-and-match or follow a single writer. • Learn how to copy and paste without getting all the peripheral junk. – Look for a Print Option, which will give you a copy of just the column. You can cut and paste that copy onto a word or google document that you can manipulate the boundaries so it will fit the pages of your COLLEGE RULED composition book. • Then, using pen, hand-write your responses in your composition book/journal; comment on the aspects of each of the editorials that made you think, and your thoughts about the editorial or the issues – one response per editorial. Each response should be at least ½ page – that is 15 or more lines. (See the next page for a list of issues or characteristics to consider in your response.)
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Newspaper Editorial Reading Assignment The only acceptable editorials will be from the Opinion/Editorial sections – i.e. NOT sports, NOT entertainment, NOT business, etc. – ONLY OP/ED.
Possible sources for the editorial/commentaries: On the home page of Mrs. Huffaker’s website is an html version of this handout from which you can access hyperlinks to each of these sources. • • • •
• • • • • • • • •
General 9 9 9 Diction 9 9 9 9 9 Syntax 9 9 9 9 Devices 9 9 9
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions The Boston Globe http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion The Nation http://www.thenation.com/columns?utm_source=main_nav_columns&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=main_nav_ columns Chicago Sun-Times http://chicago.suntimes.com/category/7/71/opinion/ Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/ The Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/opinion/ Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/opinion/ LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/op-ed/ Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-opinion-commentary.html London Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/
Things to consider when examining prose: What impression does the whole passage make upon you? Its mood and tone? What is the most striking part of the passage? Is this writer neutral or clearly partisan? Are most of the words abstract/concrete? Are there any unfamiliar or unusual words/usages? Does the passage use either first or second person pronouns? Are verbs especially noticeable? Strong? Active? Are adjectives vivid? How about the author’s use of adverbs? Are sentences especially long or short? Are most sentences simple or compound? How about complex? What about the author’s use of prepositional phrases? Does the author use parallel structures? Does the passage use any symbols? Simile? Metaphor? Does the passage have any strong images? Appealing to what senses? What about alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, or other rhetorical devices?
Some questions you might want to think about/comment on: • Do you agree or disagree with the editorial's viewpoints? Why? • Did the editorial make you want to know more about the issue? • What are some of the author's best arguments? • Do you recognize any of the tools you have learned about from the Quizlet.com sets of definitions? • Which arguments or points made by the author do not make sense to you and why? • Is the author using logical or emotional appeals to get you to agree with him or her? • How does this editorial connect with other knowledge that you have from other sources or other editorials on the same subject? • Does this editorial make you think about anything else?
Enjoy the summer! We look forward to meeting you in the fall. Mrs. Huffaker and Mr. Limon
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