The Language A program is a pre-university course in literature.

Literature is concerned with our conceptions, interpretations and experiences of the world. The study of literature, therefore, can be seen as a study of all the complex pursuits, anxieties, joys and fears that human beings are exposed to in the daily business of living. It enables an exploration of one of the more enduring fields of human creativity and artistic ingenuity, and provides immense opportunities for encouraging independent, original, critical and clear thinking. It also promotes a healthy respect for the imagination and a perceptive approach to the understanding and interpretation of literary works. The discussion of literature is itself an art which requires the clear expression of ideas both orally and in writing.

The Language A1 program encourages students to see literary works as products of art and their authors craftsmen whose methods of production can be analyzed in a variety of ways and on a number of levels. This is achieved through the emphasis placed on exploring the means used by different authors to convey subjects in the works studied.

The study of World Literature is important to IB students because of its global perspective. it can play a strong role in promoting a 'world spirit' through the unique opportunities it offers for the appreciation of the various ways in which cultures influence and shape the experiences of life common to all humanity.

The World Literature element of the Language A1 program is envisaged as having the potential to enrich the international awareness of IB students and to develop in them the attitudes of tolerance, empathy and genuine respect for perspectives different from their own.
(IBO, "IB Language A1")

Fall 2010:

A Doll's House (WL),

Master Harold and the Boys (Language A1),

Death of a Salesman (Language A1),

Poetry of Dylan Thomas and Robert Browning (Language A1)

(Assessment: IOP)



Spring 2011:
(Completely World Literature),

House of the Spirits,

From Sleep Unbound,

So Long a Letter,

(Assessment: World Lit. paper)

Fall 2009: (Detailed Study) The poetry of John Donne, W.B. Yeats, and Shakespeare, Hamlet, Things Fall Apart, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, (Assessment: IOC)
Spring 2010: (Genre Study) 1984, Heart of Darkness, Flannery O'Connor's short stories, (WL) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Assessment: Final Exam)

An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.

The MYP focuses on the development of an independent thinker who is conscious of his/her civic duties and responsibilities and is also respectful and well aware of different cultures and perspectives.

Miramar High School
Shikira Chang