English Composition focuses on the shared parallels among American, Kyrgyz, and Russian frontier culture — how access to large expanses of wild lands shaped the history, philosophy, and thought of each, respective people group from ancient to modern times. Through literature as a gateway to the English Language, students will lean to “think in English”. The selected literary novels explore the connection between frontier tradition and the modern era.
Students will analyze the development of the American nation in the periods of the 1920s, through the novel, The Great Gatsby, and the 1990s through the novel Fight Club. Students will observe problems characters experience due to lack of meaningful connection with their respective traditions. Throughout daily classroom dialogues, students will then debate how to solve these same problems throughout the development of the Kyrgyz nation.
Students will learn how to communicate in the English language through the Western method of Socratic dialogue. Every class will features a series of ideas related to themes, characters, philosophies, and symbols found in the core literary novels and supplemental texts. Students will be expected to engage in an organized, class-wide discussion about the selected ideas in the English language.
Students are discouraged from basic summarization. All forms of summarization, both spoken and written will be strictly penalized. Instead, students must learn how to logically organize and rationally connect abstract ideas together in the English language. The sole mechanism of education is through dialogue. Students who refuse to speak will fail the course and are encouraged to enroll in the summe school option for the semester.
- Teachers: Michael Sartini