english 2 honors summer assignment

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English 2 honors, foothill high school, english 2 honors, 2024 summer reading assignment.

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English 2 Honors Teacher 

Ms. Subherwal ( [email protected] )

To:      2022-23 English 2 Honors Students

From: FHS English Department

Re:       Summer Reading Assignment

Congratulations on completing freshman year of high school. We have planned a challenging and exciting English 2 Honors class for you next year. You will have a myriad of opportunities to hone your skills in literary and rhetorical analysis, vocabulary, critical thinking, composition and grammar. Your summer assignment is to read the novel, The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho.

We will begin the year with discussion and comprehensive analysis of the novel. Please be prepared to engage with the text on the first day of class. The novel focuses on the significance of the quest or journey in one’s life, the power of dreams, the conflict between fate and destiny, and the interconnectedness of all things.

To facilitate active reading, to encourage meaningful and critical thinking, and to grow accustomed to the rigor in Sophomore Honors English, we recommend that you interact with the text. What does that mean? It means you should choose one significant passage (typically one to two significant paragraphs of the novel) for every 10 pages of the novel (i.e. one passage on page 12, another on page 18, a third on page 29, etc.). You should highlight, annotate and make margin notes of questions and specific themes, symbols, motifs, conflicts, style, characterization, figurative language, purpose, and tone. The expectation is that your annotations will be thorough and high quality.

You should highlight and annotate according to the following criteria: ✓ PINK - symbols & motifs (label them as well) ✓ BLUE - thematic ideas (label them as well) – Some you should consider include:

▪ The interconnectedness of all things ▪ The power of dreams ▪ Fate vs. Destiny ▪ Life as a journey or quest

✓ YELLOW – Imagery ✓ ORANGE - Figurative Language ✓ GREEN – Characterization

You should also draw comparisons and contrasts between the writing style, themes, and ideas presented in the novel. Your ability to synthesize information from multiple sources into a comprehensive analysis will form much of the basis of your writing, thinking, and discourse for the year. Finally, you may purchase copies of the novel from your local bookseller or check them out from the FHS library. If you check out a copy from the library, use Post-it Notes to highlight and annotate the text. Enjoy!

How to study a novel:

Studying on your own requires self-discipline and a carefully thought out plan in order to be effective. Keep the following guidelines in mind while you read The Alchemist this summer. This is meant as a guideline; you need not actually answer each of the questions separately, but prepare to discuss many, if not all of them.

1. You will need to read the novel more than once. Start by reading it quickly for pleasure, then read it slowly and thoroughly. 2. If there are any words you do not understand, look them up in a dictionary. Use this as a learning opportunity to expand your vocabulary. 3. On your second reading, make detailed notes on the characters, conflicts, symbolism and themes in the novel. Further readings will generate new ideas and help you remember details of the plot. 4. Some of the characters will develop as the plot unfolds. How do your responses towards them change during the course of the novel? What type of characterization does the author use? Are the characters static or dynamic; flat or round? Do they have an epiphany during the novel? 5. From whose point-of-view are the events described? How does this point-of-view affect the plot? Does the point-of-view change? If there is a first-person narrator, is he/she reliable? 6. A novel may or may not present events chronologically; there may be flashbacks. The time scheme may be a key to its structure and organization. 7. What types of conflicts are present in the work? What do they reveal about the theme and the author’s purpose? What is the primary conflict? 8. What part does/do the setting/s play in the novel? Are certain events, characters or conflicts associated with particular settings? (Setting is the time and location where the novel takes place.) 9. Are words, images, or incidents repeated so as to give the work a pattern? Do such patterns or motifs help you to understand the novel’s themes? 10. Identify which styles of language are used in the novel. (e.g. prose, poetry, slang, figurative language, colloquialisms, imagery, etc.) How does the author’s diction reveal the tone of the piece? 11. What is the effect of the ending? Is the action completed and closed, or left incomplete and open?  12. Does the novel present a moral and just world? What does this reveal about the author’s purpose? 13. Cite exact sources for all quotations, whether from the text or from critical commentaries. Wherever possible, find all your own examples (textual evidence) from the novel to support your opinions. 14. Always express your ideas in your own words thus, avoiding plagiarism. 15. Remember, there is NO substitute for thoroughly reading the novel and formulating your own thoughtful opinions.

Not only do merely using Cliffs Notes and Spark Notes violate the FHS Academic Honesty Policy, but it also deprives you of the joy of independent reading, discovery, and learning that is vital to your integrity, maturity and academic growth.

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