May 8, 2017
Dear Prospective Student:
Welcome to AP English Language and Composition! Your enrollment in this course indicates your commitment to growth and preparation for college level reading and writing. All universities require a freshmen composition/English course, and your enrollment in this AP class creates an opportunity to prepare and possibly earn the credit while attending high school.
Reading and writing occur daily in AP Lang. To prepare for our first unit of learning, you will need to read one fiction book and two selected speeches. The book must be written by an author from the provided list, and the two speeches are listed in this document (see the section below this paragraph for authors and titles). You may find your fiction book at the library, or you may purchase a copy through Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, among other stores. The speeches are available on the web site http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ in written form, and there may be video or audio recordings.
Read One Fiction Book – Authors for Summer Reading 2017 Sherman Alexie, Isabel Allende, Edwidge Danticat, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Louise Erdrich, Ernest Hemingway, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ha Jin, John Irving, Edward P. Jones, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chang-rae Lee, Vladimir Nobokov, Marilynne Robinson, John Updike, John Edgar Wideman
Read Both Speeches: “The Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel and “The Struggle for Human Rights” by Eleanor Roosevelt
After reading the book and the speeches, please read and complete the attached writing assignments.
For immediate help with the assignment, or if you have questions about the course, I am available before and after school in room A106. You are always welcome to stop by or email. If you have questions or concerns between May 25 and August 16, please feel free to contact me via the district e-mail at [email protected]. I am out of town with AP activities in June and then family events in July, which may cause a delayed response, but I will respond in a timely manner.
I look forward to seeing you in August! Have a great summer and keep reading!
Sincerely,
Anita Gilliland
Mrs. Anita Gilliland AP English Language and Composition Holt High School Encl.
AP English Language and Composition 2017 Summer Reading Assignment
1. Read one fiction book (from the eligible authors) and the speeches by Wiesel and Roosevelt. 2. Complete the following assignments, using the reading selections to collect supporting evidence. A. Reading Notes (annotations) for the Fiction Book: During your reading, please take notes or mark the text (if you own it) to indicate examples of these rhetorical devices: figurative language, narration, description, exposition, conflict, irony, sensory details, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and theme. You must have notes or marked text for the book. a. If you are taking notes, provide quotations directly from the text with MLA parenthetical citations. Do NOT summarize or paraphrase. If you are marking text, underline or highlight and identify the technique in the margins. b. You should have 2-3 examples for at least five of the rhetorical devices (10 minimum). Figurative language examples might be similes, metaphors, hyperboles, or personification. Conflict examples might be internal or external. Irony examples might be situational, dramatic, or verbal. c. Your examples should span the entire text, to indicate a thorough reading and to support a developed essay to be written after August 20. B. Audience Explanation and Summaries for the speeches: a. Write 3-5 sentences explaining the intended audience for each speech. Consider and explain age, education levels, socio-economic levels, gender, nationality, etc. Look for text clues, or find information in the accompanying materials, and then use your own understanding of the text and topic to make an inference. b. Write a one sentence summary for each paragraph of each speech. C. Critical Reading Notes for the speeches ( at least 4 for each speech): While you are reading, take notes or mark the text to identify (and later analyze) these items: evidence such as facts, statistics, anecdotes, expert opinions, examples, laws, government actions, and quotations; main ideas and restatements of ideas; and ethical appeals such as moral, religious, or human conscience references.
3. Bring your notes the second day of school for a special reward. We will use your notes in class during the first three weeks of school to complete activities, write an essay, and create a project.
**What if something happens during the summer and you don’t have everything finished by August 16? Should you change your schedule and drop the class? The answer is NO. While unfinished work can create stress, the summer readings should not eliminate your chance to get college credit the following spring, so stay in the class and work hard. Emergencies happen, people make mistakes, and life is unpredictable, but you deserve the chance to succeed and need to persevere when faced with challenges.