English Department

We believe that language is a gift of God.  It comes from a God who communicates with us through His creation, His written authoritative Word, and the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.  We want our students, who are God's image bearers, to learn to take delight in and make wise use of this marvelous gift.  We want them to appreciate the potential power and beauty of language as they read, write, listen, and speak.  Since language, like other gifts from God, can be abused and debased by sinful human beings, we want our students to be challenged to use language as God intended:  to convey truth, beauty, and love.

We believe that language is given to us to enrich our lives through the expression of thoughts, beliefs, and experiences--through both oral and written communication.  It is essential that our students learn to read, listen and watch perceptively and discerningly.  Learning to do so will give them greater understanding of and appreciation for not only God's own Word but also the writings of human authors. 

Our students must study literature to grow in understanding themselves, other human beings, and the world God has placed them in.  This study will also help our students become culturally literate as they discover Christianity's enormous influence on Western literature.

Our students must also learn to speak and write both clearly and gracefully.  We believe that by developing their speaking and writing skills, our students will learn about the power of language and the responsibility in wielding it.  It is our aim to teach them to write coherent, well-constructed sentences, paragraphs and essays.  We also want to encourage them to develop whatever creative writing skills they may possess. 

We want the English program to reflect Illiana's Christian philosophy as well as its high academic and ethical standards.  We believe that the study of English is a significant component in our students' training and preparation for whatever role of service they may pursue.   Thus, our overall objectives include the development of critical thinking skills, the improvement of both oral and written comprehension, and the development of fluency in expressing and communicating ideas.

As English teachers, we ourselves will make every effort to model a love for language and learning, and we will work to be effective writers and speakers ourselves.  We especially want our students--with their variety of potential and abilities--to have ample practice to become effective readers, writers, listeners and speakers.

During their four years at Illiana, all students are required to take courses equivalent to 1 credit per year.  Freshmen take 111 and 112, sophomores take 121 and 122, juniors taken 131 and 132, or 133 and 134.  Seniors take 141 and 142.  Seniors who are considering attending a 4-year college and students interested in AP English are encouraged to take Honors English 3.