Class 12 Optional English

Secondary Education Curriculum
2076
Optional English I

Working hrs: 160

1. Introduction

English has been considered to be one of the strongest global common tongue and lingua franca contributing to all spheres of life like; education, communication, business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on. Therefore, it has been given more importance in learning and education. This curriculum for English is intended for the students of grade XI and XII who are interested in studying English literature. An effort has been made to make this curriculum more inclusive covering a wide range of texts written in different varieties of English without compromising its standard.

It aims at exposing students to different literary and non-literary writings with a view to developing their skills of analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, summarizing, evaluating, and assimilating texts. This curriculum comprises history of English literature, introduction to Language and linguistics, fiction and non-fiction on different themes, poetry, drama and introduction to critical perspectives. By encouraging students to undertake wide readings in literary genres and other materials of variegated world ideas, the course intends to expand their horizon of knowledge. The readings acquaint them with the current global issues: women and gender, ecology and environment, information and communication technology, science fiction, linguistics, culture and folklore, law and justice, modernity and development, business, human conditions, and postmodernism and globalization.

This curriculum attempts to bridge the optional English prescribed for Grades IX and X with the major English syllabuses prescribed for tertiary education. The curriculum acknowledges language–literature integrated approach, interdisciplinary approach, and content-based approach. It focuses on more activities of reading with literary and non-literary texts (both intensive and extensive) followed by discussion, sharing and writing to enhance students’ creative and critical abilities. The following outline incorporates course details for both grades – XI and XII.

2. Level-wise competencies

This curriculum aims at developing the following competencies in the learners:

1. To explore the evolution of English Language and literature from Anglo-Saxon period to Postmodern
2. To be acquainted with fundamentals of Language and Linguistics
3. To be familiar with characteristics of folk tales, ancient tales, meta fiction, science fiction, children stories, realistic, contemporary short stories, and the novella
4. To comprehend the essays/non-fiction for intensive and extensive reading on various themes
5. To be familiar with literary devices and identify them used in various literary texts
6. To apply the skills of reading for information, comprehension and pleasure
7. To identify the characteristics of drama
8. To apply the skills of paraphrasing, interpreting, appreciating, analysing, synthesizing and assimilating
9. To employ the basic literary skills of reading; interpretation, critical analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the reading texts across multiple cultural and linguistic traditions, various historical periods and multiple genres
10. To be acquainted with different theoretical perspectives and apply them.

Scope and Sequence of Contents

1. An Introduction to Language and Linguistics( 29 working hrs )

Language Studies: Language Family, Language Change and Language Death
Varieties of Language
Issues and Aspects of Language

• Language and pedagogy
• Multiculturalism
• Multilingualism
• Language Rights
• Translation

2. Prose( 66 working hrs )

(Themes: Science Fiction, Justice and Human Rights, Population and Migration, Love and Marriage, Money, Work and Leisure; Authority and State (power, war, people, politics), Ideals/Values, Diaspora/Acculturation, Transnationalism, Protest / Rebellion/ Freedom, Religion and Morality (Geeta), Dream and Ambition, Sports and Entertainment, Film and Theatre, Language and Education )

Prose
Fiction
a. Short stories (Realism, Naturalism, Surrealism)
b. Ancient Tales
c. Meta fiction
d. Children’s Stories
e. Fantasy

Non-fiction
a. Essays (Narrative, descriptive, argumentative, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, travel account, seminal, classical, modern)
b. Memoir
c. Blog writing
d. Moral values related texts
e. Meta language essay

3. Poetry ( 30 working hrs )

(Themes: Justice and Human rights, Population and Migration, Love and Marriage, Money, Work and Leisure; Authority and State (power, war, people, politics), Ideals/Values, Diaspora/ Acculturation, Transnationalism, Protest /Rebellion/ freedom, Religion and Morality (Geeta), Dream and Ambition, Identity and Alienation)

Poems (Poems by British, American and non-Western poets)
a. Ballads
b. Lyrical poetry
c. Romantic poetry
d. Haiku
e. Free verse and modern poems
f. Sonnet

4. Drama ( 15 working hrs )

A classic play either tragedy or comedy

5. Introduction to Critical Perspectives ( 20 working hrs )

Introduction to Critical Perspectives Different perspectives
a. Gender
b. Class
c. Cultural perspective
d. Textual Reading (formalistic and linguistic)
e. The Marginalized perspectives (Language minority, LGBTI , disability, subaltern, modern/post modern)
f. Ecological Reading