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English (US)

The ESA English department fosters three core skills: active reading, critical thinking, and crisp writing. As an Episcopal school, we also endeavor to advance the ethical development of our students, and we consider the English department’s curriculum and teachers as vital components of that mission. Through a wide range of developmentally appropriate fiction and nonfiction reading and writing, students wrestle with moral and ethical questions. Teachers act as guides and facilitators who lead students toward logical and empathetic values in verbal and written expression. The foundation of the English curriculum in the Upper School is canonical texts. The ESA English department believes that great literature is a springboard and portal to timeless and ever-relevant questions of human development and behavior.

Note: Because ESA English teachers select their own readings within the defined scope of the course description, books read in English classes can vary slightly from teacher to teacher and from year to year.

Graduation requirement: English I, II, III, and English IV Literature Sequence

  • English I

    English I is an introduction to the foundations of world literature and to the practice of writing about literature. Although “literature” suggests the written word, written literature evolved out of spoken and sung tales, songs, and epic poems. We explore the roots of the major early written texts in the sacred scripture, mythology, folklore, and songs of ancient civilizations that have so thoroughly influenced the development of English literature. Beginning with the anonymous Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, students explore the Indian epic Ramayana and Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. Students also encounter excerpts from Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Celtic, African, and Amerindian mythology. The year concludes with Shakespeare's exploration of myth and magic, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Three Theban Plays: Antigone - Oedipus the King - Oedipus at Colonus. Class discussion and writing assignments help students draw connections between selected texts and the history, literature, philosophy, and culture of Western civilization. Students continue the efforts begun in Middle School to master a wide-ranging vocabulary. Grammar, rhetoric and composition lessons ensure that students completing the ninth grade possess the ability to produce academic writing that demonstrates not only standard English grammar and mechanics, but also the sensitive use of a wide range of sentence constructions.

  • English I Honors

    Students who choose to take English I Honors complete one independent project each quarter that is designed to give them a “deep dive” into the material by expanding the depth and breadth of their knowledge base.  The projects give students the opportunity to tap into their creativity and strengthen their higher order thinking skills. In the first quarter, students explore the Hebrew Bible as literature by employing the hero’s journey framework to analyze excerpts from Harold Bloom’s Book of J. In the second quarter, students read Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and compose a reflective journal that requires personal introspection, philosophical contemplation, thoughtful writing, and creativity. The third quarter project is a student-created, researched-based anthology on a chosen icon from ancient Greece culminating in an essay that analyzes how the project has changed their understanding of the icon specifically as well as exploring the role Greek mythology plays in contemporary culture. The fourth quarter project requires students to write their own epic and complete realistic authorship tasks such as crafting character books, planning plots, writing monologues, and submitting annotated drafts of a lengthy story.

  • English II

    English II, “An Introduction to British Literature and Composition,” is a study of the major literary periods, topics and themes beginning with the Anglo-Saxon period and ending with the Modern period. In English II, students examine the British Imagination and its influence on the development of literature as we know it today.  Students will focus on the major literary forms, analyze the literary themes and trends, research and compose several papers, speeches, and presentations using representative forms of discourse. Students will be active readers as they analyze and interpret textual detail, establish connections among their observations, and draw logical inferences toward interpretive conclusions.

  • English II Honors

    The core content and objectives of English II are complemented with additional literature, intensive writing and editing, and increased expectations in English II Honors. Students in honors sections of English II read one extra major work per semester that pertains to the course material; for this piece of literature, honor students complete either a critical essay, a presentation, or a creative project. Honors students also spend more time working with analytic methods of writing about literature in preparation for later AP English courses.

  • English III: Survey of American Literature

    This junior-level course introduces students to American literature, beginning with the works of the early settlers and continuing through works published in this century. A companion to the junior-level American history course, Survey of American Literature exposes students to the major American literary movements and asks students to explore the relation between text and historical and cultural context. Students demonstrate their understanding of the material through class discussion and journal entries as well as examinations and frequent expository and critical writing assignments. Literary selections vary from year to year, but all represent major canonical texts as well as works designed to support the department’s goal of promoting intellectual and ethical excellence.

  • AP English Language & Composition

    The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled readers of rhetoric and skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. The AP English Language course provides students with opportunities to write about a variety of subjects and to demonstrate an awareness of audience and purpose in the context of their readings. The overarching objective is to enable students to write effectively and confidently in their college courses across the curriculum and in their professional and personal lives.
     
    The reading list for AP English Language & Composition includes many of the same works read in the English III course, but instruction emphasizes non-fiction and the rhetorical contexts of literature and literary movements. Students read a number of books and articles explicitly about the art of non-fiction writing such as William Zinsser’s classic On Writing Well and Sam Leith’s recent exploration of rhetoric, Words like Loaded Pistols. Students taking this course are required to take the Advanced Placement exam in the spring. Teacher permission is required to register for this course.

  • English IV Literature Sequence

    Students must take at least one English IV course in each semester of the senior year. These capstone courses build on the work ESA students have conducted through their study of world, British, and American literature. Course offerings will vary from year to year and may focus on specific topics, themes, genres, or authors. The goal of the English department is to expose students to a variety of traditions and points of view that will be interesting as well as challenging. Reading lists for the semester-long English IV courses will include prose (nonfiction and fiction), poetry, and drama. Courses will refine and develop the critical thinking and reading skills that stand as the foundation of the ESA English curriculum. Essays and other writing assessments will prepare students for the types of assignments typical in college classes.

    Students will select their course at the beginning of the semester. We will make every effort to match students with their preferred choice, but conflicts may limit options.  

    While AP English Literature and Composition will no longer be offered as a separate course, the English IV Sequence classes will emphasize those writing and critical reading skills relevant to the national Advanced Placement English test given each year in May. Students who wish to sit for the AP Exam may do so if they register through ESA prior to the ordering deadline. The English department will offer three half-day workshops in the spring for students who wish to spend extra time preparing for the AP Literature and Composition exam. 

  • English Lit: Science in Science Fiction

    Science fiction has long been seen as a prophetic medium, exploring the possibilities of our world decades before the science catches up with the literature. In this course, we will examine the science in science fiction, pouring over the science in the literature to explore the true nature of science fiction.

    CORE TEXTS:
    • Short stories by Arthur C. Clark, Ted Chiang, and Philip K. Dick
    • From Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne
    • Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
    • Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton

  • English Lit: Sports in Literature

    In this course we will examine documentary filmmaking, journalism, memoir, biography, history, poetry and fiction about sports. The greatest writing about sports, like all great literature, interrogates the human experience.  In Underworld, Dom DeLillo’s epic baseball novel, a character observes, “The game doesn't change the way you sleep or wash your face or chew your food. It changes nothing but your life."  Looking at a few iconic works, we will explore ways the literature of sports transcends the game to shape our understanding of ourselves, other people, and society.

  • English Lit: The Graphic Novel

    American comics have come a long way since its humble beginnings as a form of entertainment found in sensational newspapers. The medium has since reached a higher level of refinement in the graphic novel and is still undergoing a transformation now. In this course, we will analyze how these unique stories have developed and continue to evolve.

    CORE TEXTS:
    • Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (1994)                      ISBN-13: ‎ 9780060976255
    • The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman (1996)  ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0679406419
    • The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2007)  ISBN-13: 978-0375714832
    • They Called Us Enemy by George Takei et al. (2019) ISBN 13: 978-1603094504
    (Physical books required. No PDF or electronic versions allowed.)

  • AP English Literature

    Though ESA does not offer the AP English Literature and Composition course as of the 2021-2022 academic year, the English IV Sequence all seniors take well prepares them to sit for this exam in May. Students who wish to sit for the AP Exam may do so if they register through ESA prior to the ordering deadline. As the exam date approaches, seniors will be offered additional seminars that speak directly to the AP English Literature & Composition exam structure, rubrics, and strategies to further assist them optimize their performance on the exam.

Our Faculty

  • Photo of Melissa Gates
    Melissa Gates
    English Department Chair and English Teacher
    (337) 365-1416 x333
    Vanderbilt University - Doctorate of Education
    Louisiana - Teacher Certification
    University of Louisiana - Lafayette - M.Ed.
    Northwestern State University - B.A.
    Year Appointed: 2013
  • Photo of Jill Johnstone
    Jill Johnstone
    English Teacher
    Louisiana State University - MLIS
    Texas Christian University - M.A.
    University of Louisiana at Lafayette - B.A.
    Year Appointed: 2025
  • Photo of Scott Jordan
    Scott Jordan
    English Teacher
    (337) 365-1416 x332
    University of Hartford - B.A.
    Year Appointed: 2010
  • Allison Rosen
    Librarian
    (337) 365-1416 x307
    Oxford Brookes University - M.A.
    University of Louisiana at Lafayette - B.A.
    Year Appointed: 2011
  • Photo of Aleya Washington
    Aleya Washington
    English Teacher
    (337) 365-1416 x396
    University of Louisiana - Lafayette - M.A.
    University of Louisiana - Lafayette - B.A.
    Year Appointed: 2021

Episcopal School of Acadiana

Episcopal School of Acadiana is a private coeducational day school for students in grades PK3 through 12. Our mission is to instill in every student the habits of scholarship and honor.

Episcopal School of Acadiana (Lafayette Campus)

PK3 through 5th grade
721 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Lafayette LA, USA 70508
Phone: 337-993-2263

Episcopal School of Acadiana (Cade Campus)

6th through 12th grades
1557 Smede Rd. at Hwy. 92 Broussard, LA, USA 70518
Phone: 337-365-1416
ESA does not discriminate on the basis of physical disability, race, religion, gender, or national or ethnic origin.
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