Intermediate English B

Intermediate Language Skills B

Intermediate Language Skills B is the second in a sequence of courses for middle school students (grades 6—8). The program helps develop students’ written and oral communication skills, and is designed to give students the essential building blocks for expressing their own ideas in standard English.

Composition

Students continue to practice writing essays in various genres. After analyzing the conventional five-paragraph essay structure, they move on to learn the form and structure of a variety of essays, including: essays of definition, cause-and-effect essays, and research papers. In writing each essay, students go through a process of planning, organizing, and revising. They learn to examine their own writing with a critical eye, paying attention to ideas, organization, structure, style, and correctness. Throughout the course, students write in response to prompts similar to those they will encounter on standardized tests.

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics addresses grammatical topics, with reinforcement activities in sentence analysis, sentence structure, and proper punctuation. Students analyze syntax and diagram sentences in order to understand how words, phrases, and clauses function in relation to each other. Frequent exercises and regular practice help students absorb the rules so they can confidently apply them in their own writing.

Vocabulary

The Intermediate English B Vocabulary program builds knowledge of Greek and Latin words that form the roots of many English words, especially the polysyllabic terms that sometimes cause students to stumble. Throughout this program, students will define and use words with Greek and Latin roots, and use word origins and derivations to determine the meaning of new words, as they increase their own vocabularies and develop valuable test-taking skills.

Intermediate Literature B
Students will read short stories, poetry, drama, novels, essays, and informative articles. The course sharpens reading comprehension skills, engages readers in literary analysis, and offers a variety of literature to suit diverse tastes.

Intermediate Literature B takes students on a voyage of imaginative exploration through many beloved classics as well as some less-familiar works. Through classic stories, plays, and poems, many of which highlight exemplary virtues, students develop reading and literary analysis skills while considering important human issues and challenging ideas. Students come to appreciate the writer’s craft as they consider the feelings, thoughts, and ideas of characters, and make connections between literature and life. Students also learn to read for information in nonfiction texts.


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Standard Curriculum Items

• Classics for Young Readers, Vol. 7
• Classics for Young Readers, Vol. 7: An Audio Companion
• BK English Language Handbook, Grade 7, Barrett Kendall Publishing
• Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Book B, Educator’s Publishing Service
• The Iliad and The Odyssey: Stories from Homer’s Epics (an anthology from K12)
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• City by David Macaulay
• Julius Caesar (Shakespeare for Young Readers adaptation)
• Keyboarding CD
• Word Processing book

Novels

This program allows students to read any three novels of their choice from a selection of award-winning works by renowned authors, from a variety of genres: fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and mystery. (Novels are not part of the standard materials, but are readily available at the library or for purchase in bookstores or online.)

These novels are listed in order of increasing difficulty as measured by the Lexile scale, a system that measures reading difficulty by sentence length and vocabulary (see www.lexile.com). Lexile ratings roughly correspond to grade levels as indicated below.

Approximate Grade Level Lexile Range
6 850—1050
7 950—1075

Lexile levels are only one means of assessing whether a work is appropriate for your student. When selecting a novel, keep in mind that the lexile rating does not measure subject matter or themes in the work.

Title and Author Lexile

• From the Mixed Up Files … by E.L. Konigbsurg 700
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 740
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 740
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton 750
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare 760
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech 770
• War Comes to Willie Freeman by Christopher and Lincoln Collier 770
• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes 840
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor 860
• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein 860
• Dragonwings by Laurence Yep 870
• Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson 880
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson 910
• The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper 920
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor 920
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis 950
• White Fang by Jack London 970
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell 1000
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 1030
• Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle 1090
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt 1100
• Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman 1170
• War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells 1170
• Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss 1260
• The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford 1320

Total lessons: 180

Lesson time: 60 minutes

You might choose to split the lessons into smaller segments and provide breaks for your student as needed. The K12 online lesson tracking system allows you to pick up wherever you left off in any given lesson.