Manor House American School

English Language:

This course is designed to help the students master the art of reading and writing. It consists basically of two parts. Part One: Reading Literature where students interact with literary selections while practicing mastering language arts skills. Part Two: Reading Informational Texts where students interact with authentic real-world texts while practicing mastering the skills. In addition, SAT instruction is also provided for students.In-class work on test taking tips, reviewing sample SAT’s, studying vocabulary intensively, as well as review of grammar skills necessary for all types of writing.

English 12 emphasizes the improvement of communication and critical thinking skills. Work in composition concentrates on improving clarity, coherence, development, and organization. Areas of study include literary works of various genres, vocabulary, and related English topics.

Mathematics: Pre-Calculus This is a preparatory course for students intending to take Calculus in college. Topics covered include differential equations, limits of functions, integration, combinations, and their use in probabilities. The course also covers an extensive study of statistics, measures of central tendency, discrete and continuous random variables and measures of dispersion. Some other covered topics include exponents and logarithms, graphing and computation with complex numbers as well as studies of new topics in advanced algebra and mechanics. Biology: This is a more advanced course that both reviews and sums up the grade10 biology curriculum and focuses on students' creative thinking and problem solving techniques. The course develops the learning processes involving a mastery of fundamental concepts, progressing to the understanding of awareness of the interrelationships of living things, and their environmental adaptation. Most of the work at this highly advanced level depends on scientific literacy as a tool to complete assignments and research projects. Physics: This is a full year, college preparatory course, dealing with problem solving skills and the various fields of physics within the framework of a laboratory based experience. Consequently, any student planning to continue his/her education in the field of science or engineering must take this course. However, this course is NOT intended to exclude students of diverse backgrounds or natural curiosity. This course will be conducted as a high school physics course emphasizing mathematical relationships. This course will require some familiarity with algebra, but will not become an exclusively math oriented class. This science course emphasizes problem solving skills and basic scientific concepts. A unit approach to concept formation is utilized throughout the course. Laboratory activities, demonstrations, group interaction, lecture, and audiovisual aides are the instructional strategies employed. This course will involve the concepts of motion, forces, momentum, electricity, magnetism, light, and atomic theory. Computer Science: The sequence of the curriculum is based on accumulative learning. The sequencing is adequate, taking into consideration that it depends greatly on the previous knowledge of the students. The subject is new to higher grades students and therefore it is important to emphasize on the basics at each stage. With the new generations, this problem will not exist, as they will have enough experience from previous years. The scopes of work offered to students also depend greatly on the previous knowledge that they have. Therefore, the curriculum leaves a space of flexibility to cope with individual classes and in some cases individual students. Computer Science is a subject that changes rapidly, since every now and then there is a new program, modification to an old one, or a new device. Therefore, the curriculum is reviewed and updated constantly, on yearly basis; and some times on term basis. The computer course for grade 12 is designed to make sure that the student has everything they need for their higher education. It must also take into consideration that the students may not all have the previous knowledge of certain programs or information. Hence, the course approaches the basics of the computer science and deepens in to enrich the students with information. Input, output, storage, processing and networking, is given in a good amount of detail and is discussed on a much higher level than grade 10. Practically, the programs w/p spreadsheets, database, presentation and web design are all introduced with a good deal of practicing and some quite challenging tasks. For example, students should be able to choose the required functions for their spreadsheets and to use them correctly. They should produce a properly designed presentation with animation. They should use queries and reports to search a database, and of course to manage the word-processor and keyboarding with ease, not mentioning managing the Internet. ELECTIVES: A - Literature: This course is basically an introduction to different forms of literary genres. Students are introduced to what a play is all about. How it is written, different types of plays and how plays are read. A lot of emphasis is given to dramatic and textual connotations. The plays will be analyzed in terms of language, thematic development, setting and diction and dialogue formation. Plays are written in order to be acted out. How is that possible? Students will take a close look at the functions of stage directions and more. Moreover, students will be exposed to novels and how different they are from short stories and plays. They will textually analyze novels and notice the elements of characterization, setting, and themes, writing style, plot development and more. Furthermore, a detailed look at different styles of poetry will be in the agenda. What is poetry, why is it written the way it is written? The course plans to help students write their own poetic pieces. A selection of poems ranging from American poetry to 18^th and 19^th century romantic poetry, to yet Arabic poems in translation shall be covered with special emphasis to poetic elements like alliteration, allusions, personification and many more. The students will compile their own literary magazine towards the end of the course and write a scene or two from a play they will create themselves. B - Business: Introduction to Business will explore the concepts underlying the business world of today. This course offers a broad overview of modern business organization and operation. Students learn that today's business organizations rely on a variety of systems and subsystems to complete transactions as they adapt to the emerging Information Age. Students examine how businesses are organized to provide a product, a service, an idea, or a combination of these, and are acquainted with activities commonly utilized by most businesses to enable them to meet customers' needs and demands. The course will also introduce issues likely to face the business person of the coming decades in international business, including ethical, societal and environmental concerns surrounding the workplace. C - Psychology: Psychology is the social science concerned with behavioral and mental processes. Psychology deals with environmental, biological, social and individual forces that help describe, explain, predict, and control behavior. This course is a comprehensive introduction to Psychology. It presents a broad survey of basic concepts, issues, theories, classic experiments and new discoveries in the field of Psychology. D - Drama: The student will exercise the ability to communicate creatively. The student will study the basic rules of improvisation, pantomime, voice and diction, and characterization. Drama games will encourage freedom of expression and creativity. Performance of pantomimes, monologues, scene cuttings, and a full-length play will allow the student to demonstrate what has been learned in class. E - Art: The curriculum during these years is based on six areas of experience: drawing, painting, textiles, ceramics, printing and graphics. All the projects at this stage will start from observational drawing, teaching the student to extend, abstract and design into the various crafts. A variety of teaching styles will be used for effective learning according to the personality of the student and the type of work attempted. Initial lessons will be given at the beginning of each project. Work will be discusses and negotiated and the right guidelines given. The work must be individually meaningful to the pupil and the skills and concepts developed must be progressive. Homework will be given in relation to the pupil's project on a regular basis.