English Courses

English 11B offers practice in creative writing at an intermediate level. The course builds on the skills developed in English 11A. Assignments include fiction, poetry, and play writing, using materials drawn from individual's own work and selected texts. Students will write, read, and respond to texts in a workshop setting.

English 11C is a course that offers practice in creative writing at an advanced level. It builds on the skills developed in English 11A/B including fiction, poetry, and play writing, using materials drawn from individual's own work and selected texts. In addition, the course focuses on revision of one's work with the intent to submit for publication.

This class offers practice in writing fiction at an intermediate level. Builds on the skills developed in English 12A by requiring greater use of description, detail, character development, consistent point of view, and logical plotting that avoids cliche. Focus on developing themes that create intellectual or emotional resonance. Expectation of sentence structure, grammar, and format accuracy. Develop internal and external sources for stories and novels; analysis and criticism of published work. Requires submission for publication at the end of the semester.

Practice in writing poetry at an intermediate level. Builds on skills developed in English 13A. 13B requires: greater and more integrated use of trope, image, and metaphor; more extensive development of themes, including across different poems; more nuanced eye towards personal revision and workshop critique of classmates’ poems; deeper integration of materials drawn from published poetry and individual's own work for analysis and criticism with a focus on techniques of revision.

Readings of the sonnets and representative comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances of William Shakespeare, with attention to the early, middle and late phases of his art and to the historical time period in which he lived. Consideration of recurring themes in his works, along with the political and cultural contexts that shaped these ideas and attitudes. Examination of Shakespeare’s global legacy and diverse adaptations of his plays.

Introduction to Black-American writers in fiction, poetry, drama, and the essay, beginning with the historical texts of the slave trade, and continuing to the present. Emphasis on the 20th and 21st-century writers' growth and development in relation to their historical and cultural context. Offers a broader view of World and American History through the lens of the Black writer's journey from capture in West Africa, enslavement in America, and the fight for liberation. Examines issues of Black identity and how that identity has been expressed through various forms of literature. Explores how the Black writer has used literature and specific literary devices to inspire change, radical thought, and challenge white supremacy.

This course is an introduction to Mexican American and Latinx Literature in the United States. The Mexican American and Latinx literary movement, particularly in California, is growing at a phenomenal rate, pushing the creative and intellectual boundaries within American Literature. In the course, we will cover a range of genres, including short stories, novels, poetry, memoirs, essays, and plays. Although Mexican American and Latinx authors have been contributing to American literature since the sixteenth century, the bulk of our attention will be paid to the Mexican American and Latinx literary movements that began in the 1950’s and extend through the present day. Students will analyze the literary works within the context of socio-economic, political, and historical movements; additionally, students will learn about the unique history, thematic concerns, and genre-bending styles of Mexican American and Latinx writers.

Introduction to literary works of fiction, poetry, drama and the essay that reflect and explore the diversity of Asian-American experiences as well as divisions within Asian-American communities. Class explores literary expressions of cultural pride and identity, as well as reflections on racism, stereotypes, “perpetual foreigner syndrome,” the model minority myth, and internalized oppression. Course texts also explore loneliness and loss of “home,” identity confusion, generation gaps, acculturation … and the challenge of creating community and retaining culture in America. Analysis of literature in the context of the historical growth of Asian-American identities with a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries.

Introduction to novels, poems, plays, and essays about queer people, i.e., members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning) community. Analysis of this literature in the context of the LGBTQ social and political movements of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and evolving societal attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. Themes include coming out, developing a sense of queer pride and community, combating discrimination and anti-queer violence, maintaining family ties with sometimes supportive, sometimes hostile relatives, surviving the nearly universal queer childhood experience of bullying, struggling against internalized homophobia/transphobia and reductive stereotypes, understanding the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, and other identities, and sustaining queer relationships in a heteronormative society.

Explores the literature of the Holocaust through readings in a variety of genres including memoir, essays, fiction, poetry, and film. Historically and culturally contextualizes the literature and examines the implications of writing which attempts to represent the Nazi genocide against the Jews.

Non-credit course in which students will practice academic reading, critical thinking, and writing expected in credit classes or degree-applicable classes. Students will practice metacognitive strategies that will prepare them for success in a transfer-level English course. This is the first 9-week course in a two-course sequence. Students completing both English 201A and 201B will earn a Certificate of Competency in Preparation for English Composition. The course is free to students and repeatable until mastery of the skills is met. Strongly Recommended: Informed Course Selection Tool (ICST).

Non-credit course in which students will practice academic reading, critical thinking, and writing expected in credit classes or degree applicable classes. Students will build on the metacognitive skills from 201A and practice more advanced reading and writing strategies that will prepare them for success in a transfer-level English course. This is the second 9-week course in a two-course sequence but may also be taken as a stand alone course. Students completing both English 201A and 201B will earn a Certificate of Competency in Preparation for English Composition. The course is free to students and repeatable until mastery of the skills is met. Strongly Recommended: Informed Course Selection Tool (ICST)

This noncredit course provides whole group, small group, laboratory, and individualized support with writing and reading assignments. Students meet regularly with an English 215 instructor during one of three open hours, as well as with WRAC tutors and WRAC English/ESL instructors, on a customized learning plan. Students will improve their academic reading skills, and/or their composition or sentence-level writing skills. This course is free and students may repeat this course until mastery of the skills is met. This course is intended to assist and prepare students to be successful in college-level credit coursework.