8TH Grade Language Arts

Language Arts 800 continues to build on the sequential development and integration of communication skills in four major areas—reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It most specifically focuses on deepening and furthering students’ understanding in the following ways:

• Reading–reinforces reading comprehension skills by teaching students how to analyze propaganda and other forms of writing, including biographies, autobiographies, formal essays, and informal essays; shows students how to make denotative, symbolic, and connotative readings of a text; introduces both Old English and Middle English languages and literature to develop students’ understanding of English language formation and development; prepares students for the higher level literary comprehension skills required in the upper grades.
• Writing–develops students’ understanding of sentence structure, providing hands-on experience with conjunctions, transitions, clauses, and common sentence errors; teaches language histories and etymologies to help students build on knowledge of word structures, including topics like prefixes, roots, and suffixes; expands on students’ vocabulary and spelling skills; gives students the opportunity to develop their abilities in writing business letters, friendly letters, informal essays, and basic literature analyses.
• Speaking–offers students experience in delivering oral reports; teaches skills that enable students to become effective speakers and communicators, weaving these skills together throughout the course.
• Listening–teaches effective listening comprehension skills, weaving these together throughout the lessons; builds upon students’ study skills, as well as helping them become reliable and efficient note takers.