COURSE DESCRIPTION: ENGLISH AND READING
(Gateway Academic Program – Summer Camp 2012)
LIST OF MAJOR TOPICS FOR THE EIGHT-WEEK SEESION
1. Parts of Speech
1.1. Nouns
1.2. Pronouns
1.3. Verbs
1.4. Adverbs
1.5. Adjectives
1.6. Conjunctions
1.7. Prepositions
1.8. Verbals
2. Four Basic Types of English Sentences
2.1. Simple
2.2. Compound
2.3. Complex
2.4. Compound-complex
3. Active versus Passive Voice in Writing
4. Punctuation
4.1. Period
4.2. Comma
4.3. Quotation Marks
4.4. Question Mark
4.5. Parenthesis
4.6. Dash
4.7. Exclamation Point
5. Capitalization
6. Combining the four types of sentences into unified paragraphs with topic sentences, supporting details, etc.
7. Combining related paragraphs into “mini-essays”
8. Vocabulary
8.1. Roots
8.2. Prefixes
8.3. Suffixes
8.4. Negative words
8.5. Positive words
8.6. Synonym vs. Antonyms
8.7. 100 STEM words
8.8. 100 PSAT words
8.9. 100 SAT words
9. Advertisement
10. Signal Words in Sentences and paragraphs
11. Type of Paragraphs and Their Key Signal Words
11.1. Comparison – contrast
11.2. Cause – effect
11.3. Sequence
11.4. Definition
11.5. Classification
11.6. Process
11.7. Enumeration
11.8. Transition
11.9. Conclusion
11.10. Introduction
12. Types of writing
12.1. Newspapers
12.2. Advertisements
12.3. Classics
12.4. Non-fiction, e.g., history, biology, politics, sports, etc.
12.5. Fiction, e.g., stories, novels, poetry, drama, etc.
12.6. Propaganda
13. Outlining
13.1. Numeric
13.2. Traditional English
13.3. Legal
14. Use of References
15. Fill-in-the blanks for vocabulary practice and logical analysis
16. Rearranging scrambled paragraphs into a logical order
17. Keeping a journal or diary of the summer’s activities in which to practice the new and “refreshed” English and reading skills
18. Some advice and counsel on writing style and opportunities to practice
19. Other skills as needed
20. Practice, practice, practice
