English — Grade 12 University Preparation

📚 ENG4U: English

Critical reading, essay writing, Shakespearean tragedy, Canadian voices, independent study, media literacy

110 hours · 6 units · Prerequisite: ENG3U (Grade 11 English, University Preparation)

Strand A: Oral Communication Unit 1: Critical Reading Unit 2: The Essay Unit 3: Shakespearean Tragedy Unit 4: Canadian Voices Unit 5: ISU Unit 6: Media Literacy

🎙️ Strand A: Oral Communication

Mandatory cross-cutting skills embedded across all units — active listening, formal speaking, seminar discussion, oral analysis of literature, and public-speaking conventions

📚 Strand A — Ontario 2007 📹 4 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
👂 A1. Listening to Understand
📖 The Art of Active Listening — Harvard Business Review 7:14 ▶
🗣️ A2. Speaking to Communicate
📖 How to Use Rhetoric to Get What You Want — TED-Ed (Camille Langston) 4:30 ▶
📖 Scaffolding Discussion Skills with a Socratic Circle — Edutopia 7:04 ▶
🔄 A3. Reflecting on Skills & Strategies
📖 How to Give a Great Oral Presentation — TEDx 9:21 ▶

Unit 1: Foundations of Critical Reading & Analysis

Literary devices, close reading of short fiction and poetry, theme & motif tracing, annotating texts, paraphrase vs analysis

📚 Strand B: Reading and Literature Studies 📹 4 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
📖 1.1 Literary Devices & Figurative Language
📖 The Art of the Metaphor — TED-Ed (Jane Hirshfield) 4:35 ▶
🔍 1.2 Close Reading of Short Fiction
📖 How and Why We Read — Crash Course Literature #1 (John Green) 7:18 ▶
🎭 1.3 Reading Poetry
📖 Shakespeare's Sonnets — Crash Course Literature 304 (John Green) 11:01 ▶
📖 Before I Got My Eye Put Out — The Poetry of Emily Dickinson — Crash Course Literature #8 11:46 ▶
✍️ 1.4 From Paraphrase to Analysis
📖 Literary Analysis Essay — A Beginner's Guide 10:15 ▶
📊 Unit 1 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Unit 2: The Essay — Process & Forms

The writing process, thesis construction, expository / persuasive / literary-analysis essays, MLA citation, revision and editing

📚 Strand C: Writing 📹 5 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
🧭 2.1 The Writing Process
📖 How to Write a STRONG Thesis Statement — Scribbr 5:23 ▶
📐 2.2 Essay Forms
📖 Compare Argumentative vs Persuasive Writing 4:11 ▶
📖 How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure 9:30 ▶
📖 How to Write an Argumentative Essay — Shmoop 3:34 ▶
📝 2.3 Conventions & Citation
📖 In-Text Citations Made Easy: MLA 9th Edition 7:52 ▶
📊 Unit 2 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Unit 3: Shakespearean Tragedy — Hamlet

Elizabethan context, soliloquy and dramatic conventions, the tragic hero, close reading of key scenes, performance analysis

📚 Strand B + A: Reading & Oral Communication 📹 5 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
🏰 3.1 Elizabethan Context
📖 Hamlet Part 1: Ghosts, Murder, and More Murder — Crash Course Literature 203 11:18 ▶
🗡️ 3.2 The Tragic Hero & Aristotelian Form
📖 Why Tragedies Are Alluring — TED-Ed (David E. Rivas) 5:01 ▶
🎭 3.3 Soliloquy & Character
📖 "To Be or Not To Be" — Soliloquy Analysis (In-Depth) 15:42 ▶
⚔️ 3.4 Themes & Motifs
📖 Hamlet Part 2: Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide — Crash Course Literature 204 12:24 ▶
🎤 3.5 Performance & Adaptation
📖 To Be or Not To Be — 3 Key Ideas (Top Grade Hamlet Analysis) 10:30 ▶
📊 Unit 3 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Unit 4: Canadian Voices in Literature

Canadian short fiction and poetry, Indigenous storytelling, post-colonial perspectives, place and identity in CanLit, Munro / Atwood / King

📚 Strand B + D: Reading & Media 📹 4 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
🍁 4.1 What is "Canadian Literature"?
📖 The Handmaid's Tale Part 1 — Crash Course Literature 403 (John Green) 12:30 ▶
📖 4.2 Alice Munro & the Canadian Short Story
📖 "Boys and Girls" by Alice Munro — Summary, Analysis, Review (CodeX Cantina) 14:20 ▶
🪶 4.3 Indigenous Voices & Thomas King
📖 Thomas King — Making Up Stories Set the Stage for Being an Author 3:48 ▶
📖 Thomas King — How Stories Can Change The World (CBC) 14:38 ▶
🌲 4.4 Atwood and Speculative Canada
📖 Poem Analysis: "The City Planners" by Margaret Atwood 11:42 ▶
📊 Unit 4 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Unit 5: Independent Study Unit (ISU)

Selecting a novel of literary merit, research and synthesis, sustained literary-analysis essay (1500–2000 words), oral defence

📚 Cross-Strand (B + C + A) 📹 4 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
📚 5.1 Choosing a Novel of Literary Merit
📖 The Handmaid's Tale Part 2 — Crash Course Literature 404 (John Green) 13:50 ▶
🔍 5.2 Research & Secondary Sources
📖 How to Create an Annotated Bibliography (MLA) 5:46 ▶
✍️ 5.3 The Sustained Literary-Analysis Essay
📖 Write Perfect Annotations for Your Annotated Bibliography 8:30 ▶
🎤 5.4 ISU Oral Defence
📖 The Perfect Defense: The Oral Defense of a Dissertation 8:22 ▶
📊 Unit 5 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Unit 6: Media Literacy & Critical Analysis

Decoding media texts, news vs opinion, advertising rhetoric, social-media epistemology, creating an original media text

📚 Strand D: Media Studies 📹 4 lessons
📹 Video Lessons
🎬 6.1 Media Forms & Conventions
📖 Introduction to Media Literacy — Crash Course Media Literacy #1 10:11 ▶
📰 6.2 News, Bias, and Source Evaluation
📖 The Dark(er) Side of Media — Crash Course Media Literacy #10 11:34 ▶
📖 Media & the Mind — Crash Course Media Literacy #4 10:51 ▶
📱 6.3 Advertising & Social Media Rhetoric
📖 Influence & Persuasion — Crash Course Media Literacy #6 10:25 ▶
🎨 6.4 Creating an Original Media Text
📖 Online Advertising — Crash Course Media Literacy #7 11:47 ▶
📊 Unit 6 Assessments
🔄 Practice Quiz (AS) 📋 Diagnostic (FOR) ✅ Unit Test (OF)

Course-wide Resources

Curriculum policy document and cumulative final examination covering all four strands.

Curriculum Document Final Exam (3 hr · /100)