Course Descriptions

English 1A Written Communications

This course is a transfer-level, college freshman English composition course comparable to those courses offered by the state university systems.

English 1B Written Communications

This course is designed to require the writing of a substantial number of problem-solving essays. The course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills and the practice and application of these skills through close analysis of culturally diverse literature. The analysis is based on practice in reading, discussing, and writing.

English 1D Critical Composition

This course is designed for students who wish to transfer to a four-year college or university. The course emphasizes the development of critical thinking skills through instruction in essay writing by focusing on the principles of logic and developing the abilities to analyze, to criticize, and to reach reasoned conclusions. Critical thinking is refined by close reading of prose to distinguish fact from value judgment and knowledge from mere opinion. Students are required to write between 6000 and 8000 words divided among several essay assignments.

English 15 Selected Topics

This course is designed to offer specialized topics related to the teaching of critical reading and writing skills. Specific topics appear in the semester schedule of courses.

English 26 Composition Laboratory

This course is designed to provide special writing topics for students who would benefit from additional writing experience in adjunct with English 1A. Problems in critical thinking, style, mood and tone are addressed as well as mechanical skills.

English 27 Rapid Reading

This course is designed for students who wish to assure themselves of reading ability that will meet the demands of college and the professions.

English 30 The Film as Literature

This course serves as an introduction to film art. We study the elements of filmmaking and how they are fitted together to produce the finished film. We also consider why one film is better than another and learn to assess the relative merits of films. The discussion portion is based largely on the students' written answers to questions about the film they have seen. Each week a film will be shown on a large screen in the West Forum. I choose films based on my interests in the Golden Age of the Studio Era and in film noir. Films change somewhat from semester to semester, but in the past have included Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, Criss Cross, The Little Foxes, Mildred Pierce, Out of the Past, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Touch of Evil, and The Searchers.

Presentation: Lecture-discussion.
Requirements: Two papers, one on a film seen in class, the other on a film seen out of class; two book reports; a midterm and a final exam.
Text: Phillips, Film: An Introduction

English 32A Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32B Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32C Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student, at a beginning level, who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32D Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student, at an intermediate level, who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32E Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student, at an advanced level, who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32F Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student, at an experienced level, who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32G Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32H Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32I Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 32J Seminar in Communications

This course is designed for the student who is qualified to work as a content area tutor. Emphasis in training is placed on study skills, learning styles, problem-solving, tutoring techniques and methods, interpersonal relationships, and content analysis.

English 33A Advanced Learning Skills

This course is an advanced learning skills course designed to improve students’ college-level vocabulary by word study, use of context clues, learning Greek and Latin roots, and affixes and structural analysis.

English 33B Advanced Learning Skills

This course is an advanced, accelerated course designed to help students improve spelling skills through the study of phonetic, historic, and linguistic patterns of the English language.

English 33G Human Learning and Thinking Skills

This course is a combination of theory and training. The basic theories that contribute to a model of the learning process are presented simultaneously with the training. The training portion of the course is designed to teach students how to learn more effectively. The training includes development of logical thinking, visual thinking, and mapping.

English 33H Memory and Cognitive Training

This course is designed to expand the students’ ability to use the cognitive functions of both sides of the brain to actively orchestrate their own learning process.

English 34 The Rock Lyric as Literature

The Rock Lyric as Literature is a course in practical literary criticism. What this means is that the tools of poetic analysis are applied to lyrics from rock and roll’s fifty-year history, with special attention paid to social and historical backgrounds. Here is what some graduates have to say:

•"I would recommend this course to a friend. I learned not only to listen to music, but also to hear the words."
•"The best features of the course were the group projects (getting familiar with the class), the detailed information given by the instructor, and the freedom of speech allowed."
•"Music is one of my favorite things, so I appreciated the fact that we discussed it in depth. I got to hear other people’s points of view. And as nervous as I was at first, I really enjoyed the presentations, both getting and receiving."
•"I was able to delve into the weird kind of music I listen to, and to do a report on it. Also, the class as a whole was fun, and it gave me a lot of insight into the origins of rock and roll."
•"I liked the fact that everyone was a part of each class. People were able to sometimes even debate issues. This was how much of the material was learned, through group discussion. I liked the approach to the course. Weekly journal entries kept everyone up to pace, and the presentations also helped people to learn more about rock and roll, U.S. history, and ourselves."
•"As a result of the journal entries, Szatmary’s book is one of the few textbooks that I read in their entirety while at Delta."

English 35 Chicano Literature

This course explores the writings of Chicano or Mexican-American writers (America’s Best Kept Secret) through poetry, short story, film, and the novel. Freedom of interpretation is stressed and class discussion lively. A must for ANY student who appreciates good, thought-provoking literature. Works are powerful, beautiful, sensitive, proud, defiant, and reveal the joys, struggles, and pains of this enduring culture. However, be prepared to write a series of demanding short essays which explore the readings. The instructor helps you to become more confident in writing and in learning to express your own ideas.

This class transfers as one of the Humanities requirements. No Spanish is required. Be brave: This class is NOT only for Chicanos. Students claim: “A refreshing course”; “Informative, challenging and most of all inspiring”; “Demands a lot of hard work…don’t be disappointed with [marks on] your essays…ask questions and get involved”; “Similar to Chicano History class”; “Even if you don’t like poetry you like the class”; “Opens student to world that is the heritage of the Chicano”; “The artistic side of Chicanos at full strength!”; “Fascinating look into Chicano history and culture."

English 36 Selected Topics

This course is designed to permit the study of a topic in the field of literature that is not covered in other literature courses.

English 36A Selected Topics: American Literature of the 1960s

This course is a survey of American literature from the decade of the 1960s, including a comprehensive exposure to prose, poetry, and fiction as well as a basic understanding of the cultural, social, and artistic trends of the period. Special emphasis is placed on theme, imagery, and character development.

English 37 Women in Literature

Women in Literature is a study of women in literature with an emphasis on female archetypes in short fiction, drama, and poetry.

In the second half of the twentieth century the literary world experienced a virtual renaissance of writing by women, especially writing by women of color. Many out-of-print texts by women were republished by the Feminist Press and other publishing houses, and stories long ignored and/or forgotten like those of writers Zora Neale Hurston and Harriet Jacobs re-emerged on the literary scene to the benefit of readers all over the world.

English 37 is designed to introduce students to various significant literary works where women are central, from classic literature such as Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale" in The Canterbury Tales to modern stories such as Hisaye Yamamoto's "Seventeen Syllables" and Toni Morrison's Beloved. With its emphasis on contemporary literature and in writing by women, this course examines the changing role of women in culture, literature, and in the world. The focus is on in-depth reading, writing short papers and class discussion.

English 38 Mythology

This introductory course requires a reading and discussion of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology and will provide a background for students to understand the allusions, forms, and content of reoccurring themes in modern literature and to recognize the continued influence of mythological motifs on our fundamental customs, traditional beliefs, and values.

Presentation: Lecture/discussion
Requirements: Two in-class essays, two out-of-class, documented essays, and a final examination

English 39 Introduction to Folklore

Many people do not know what folklore is. However, folklore is EVERYWHERE around us, and it affects us in many ways. It is more important than people might think. U. C. Berkeley folklore professor Dr. Alan Dundes says that the first thing a people do when they develop written language is write down their folklore. In fact, many of the world’s great literary works have utilized aspects of folklore including plots, themes, characters, symbols, and language.

Folklore is a group’s traditionally learned customs such as legends, myths, folktales, proverbs, games, songs, dances, superstitions, jokes, folk speech, cures, and more. Folklore often reflects people’s unspoken values, fears, and beliefs. We can have fun learning some interesting things about ourselves and about others by studying folklore. Many aspects of our popular culture and even our art culture are actually influenced by or borrowed from the various genres of folklore. It is fascinating to learn how much we owe to our folklore.

After joining the class, many folklore students are amazed when they realize that so many things around them are folklore, and then they find themselves saying to friends, "Hey, that’s folklore!"

English 40A Contemporary Novel

This course is designed to acquaint students with themes from the contemporary novel. Join us for reading and discussing some of the best modern novels. You can explore these works for their literary merit and discover how literature can provide insights into the lives we lead.

English 40B Current Literature - Short Story and Drama

Get ready for the best and most current selections of short fiction and drama! Our reading for the first part of the semester will be from short stories published in contemporary journals and anthologies. The stories cover a wide range of human experience, from a story by Alice Dark which investigates the idea of whether animals have souls to Keith Banner’s love story about two people who are “disabled” (both literally and physically) and Raymond Carver’s story about a recovering alcoholic who stops for a moment to regain control of his life.

The plays that we will read are sometimes funny and sometimes highly dramatic. A few border on the absurd. Marco Polo Sings a Solo by John Guare is set in 1999 on an iceberg off the coast of Norway. The central character is making a movie about Marco Polo, while his wife engages in an affair with a statesman who has found a cure for cancer. And the plot gets more and more complicated as it goes along! Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson is loosely based on the famous blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey who, like many African-Americans of her day, was exploited by white recording entrepreneurs. These two plays are just a sampling of what’s in store.

We’ll be doing some reading, lots of discussion, and maybe a little storytelling of our own.

English 42A Survey of American Literature

Text: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 5th ed., Vol. 1
Papers: Two short papers or, with permission of the instructor, one research paper
Tests: Three essay exams

This course is a survey of American literature beginning with the writings of the English immigrants in the 17th century and concluding with the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Many genres of literature are included: diaries, letters, short stories, novels. and poetry. Many authors are studied; some, more extensively, among which are Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and Whitman. The authors’ works are studied chronologically, along with carefully written prefaces by the editors of the Norton Anthology, making it possible for the students to enhance their knowledge of history while studying the literature.

English 42B American Literature

American Literature is a survey of American Literature from 1865 on, beginning with the writings of the American Realists and concluding with contemporary short fiction by women and writers of color. The online sections emphasize student skill development in critical reading and writing from sociohistorical, psychoanalytical, and formalist standpoints. Here are comments from student graduates of the online sections of this course:

•"Wonderful literature and demanding course which challenges people about themselves and applies learning to real life situations. To me that is what learning should be about."
•"I found the lecture material and the high degree of personal feedback to be the best aspects of this course."
•"My favorite part about this course was being force-fed works and authors I would not have discovered on my own and the personalized responses I received on my work. And the opportunity to see firsthand the work of fellow students."
•"This course provides beneficial instruction for the kind of student who is housebound; lives in East Jesus where there is no college option; is neurotically shy; is scheduling challenged; can't drive; is agoraphobic; you name it."

English 43C World Literature I

This course is designed as a survey course of World Literature in translation beginning with the earliest extant texts in Mesopotamia and extending through the seventeenth century.

English 43D World Literature II

This course is designed as a survey of World Literature in translation beginning with the eighteenth century and extending through the first part of the twenty-first century.

English 44A, 44B Creative Writing: Short Story

Required text:
WRITING FICTION: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 5th edition, by Janet Burroway
Various optional texts will be recommended, depending on individual student areas of interest, such as:
THE ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives, by Lajos Egri.
THE ART OF FICTION: Notes On Craft For Young Writers by John Gardner. (good for old writers too *:)
THE WEEKEND NOVELIST, by Robert Ray
IF YOU WANT TO WRITE: A Book About Art, Independence, And Spirit, by Brenda Ueland.
WRITING DOWN THE BONES, by Natalie Goldberg.
STEERING THE CRAFT, by Ursula LeGuin.
A STORY IS A PROMISE, by Bill Johnson.

This course is designed to help students develop abilities to write effective narratives, depending on audience and purpose. In addition, the course aims at building skills in creating an online writing community that balances felt support and gentle challenge for its members. Over the first few weeks of the semester, class members will form into small groups based on shared writing interests.

Grades will be based on:
1--participating in online discussions and workshops for reader response to stories in progress
2--writing original “story starts” early in the semester and building on one of these by the process of revision and polishing as the final project
3--completing a personally useful midterm project on an individual interest, such as research for a story, research into marketing stories, research into writing methods used by an admired author, etc.

Communications between the instructor and students will be primarily by way of lectures and writing exercises posted as web pages and in extensive online threaded discussions, as well as by frequent emails when needed for clarification and support.

English 44C Creative Writing: Poetry

English 44C is a workshop course that investigates through daily practice the uses, forms, and themes of poetry. More than that—or perhaps because of that—Creative Writing: Poetry is a class about how our use of language reveals what it means to be human. Here is what some graduates have to say:

•"I love that it was open for our poetry to be read every day. There were times when that was hard for me. But I learned a lot about myself and others during this time of day. Hearing other people’s poetry and getting to know them became inspiring."
•"The best part of this course was the enthusiasm! It’s wonderful to be in a class where everyone wants to be there."
•"This class has made me more aware of how people like to hear what I have to say. I don’t back down when I want to get a point across. I don’t worry if someone is not going to like what I say. At the same time, I listen and take other opinions or ideas for what they are: their own thoughts and opinions."
•"I feel that the best features of this course were not only the variety of people, but the freedom to express myself openly and comfortably as well."
•"I loved the bond between the class members."

English 44D Creative Writing: Play and Screen Writing

This course is offered to students seriously interested in writing stage plays or screenplays. Emphasis is placed on the study of the craft of writing for the stage or screen; the artistry employed by successful, established, published authors; and constructive group criticism of manuscripts submitted by members of the class. Emphasis is on plot, character, dialogue, and format.

English 45 The Reading of Shakespeare

Texts: Signet paperback editions of the plays
Papers: Two short papers or, with permission of the instructor, one research paper
Tests: Three essay exams

"The Reading of Shakespeare" includes nine or ten Shakespeare plays--tragedies, histories and comedies. These plays are read, discussed, and sometimes shown in video. A few of the plays are viewed in sections or acts only, and some are viewed in complete form.

There is discussion of the poetry and of scansion. The basic approach is to introduce the student to the variety in Shakespeare's drama, both in the plots and in the characters, with an emphasis on the poetry that makes the dramas especially memorable.

English 46A Survey of English Literature

This is the essential course (along with Eng. 46B) for a major or minor in English. Taken together, the two courses provide a thorough look at the whole historical sweep of English Literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the twentieth century. English 46A begins with Beowulf, circa the eighth century, and concludes with Boswell at the end of the eighteenth century. In between we look at such writers and pieces as Chaucer, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Swift, Pope, Johnson, and Gray. Along with the literature, some attention will be paid to social, cultural, and historical trends. This course is normally offered in the fall semester.

Presentation: Lecture-discussion.
Requirements: Four in-class written examinations.
Texts: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume I, seventh edition.
Robert M. Adams, The Land and Literature of England: A Historical Account.

English 46B Survey of English Literature

This course is a continuation of English 46A, and surveys the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods in the literature of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Beginning with Blake and concluding with Heaney, along the way we look at such writers as Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Tennyson, Arnold, both Brownings, Carlyle, Cardinal Newman, Wilde, Hopkins, Hardy, Housman, Owen,Yeats, and Auden. Social, cultural, and historical trends will also be considered. This course is normally offered in the spring semester.

Presentation: Lecture-discussion.
Requirements: Four in-class written examinations.
Texts: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume II, seventh edition.
Robert M. Adams, The Land and Literature of England: A Historical Account.

English 47 The Bible as Literature

Required Textbooks:
The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha (Oxford World's Classics), Eds. Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, Oxford University Press
How to Read the Bible as Literature and Get More Out of It, Leland Ryken, Zondervan Publishing House

Students will read and analyze literature in the Authorized King James Version in the context of its development and history, looking for those literary qualities that account for the Bible's unique influence on Western literature. The course material will be learned by way of lectures, videos, and small group collaborative projects; learning will be evaluated by quizzes, project reports, and a midterm and final essay exam. In addition, each student will select one work of more contemporary Western literature and explore its connections to Biblical literature. Such works as The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitator by G. Flaubert, The Red Tent, by A. Diamant, Barabbas by P. Lagerkvist, or The Lottery by S. Jackson are examples. A list of suggested literary works will be provided, or students may offer their own choices for approval by the instructor.

Why take this class? The world’s bestseller and widely distributed gratis as well, the Bible offers the broadest anthology of literary forms and ideas in the Western world. Themes from ancient beliefs recounted in the Babylonian Enuma Elish and Gilgamesh myths can be seen woven into the creation and flood stories of the Biblical Genesis. Principles of both political and spiritual liberation so central to thoughtful discourse today can be traced to the Bible’s Exodus, while the philosophical question we still ask about why bad things happen to good people arises early in the drama of Job. Conflict among neighboring states is presented in the stories of Isaiah, in which we find the notion of beating swords into plowshares, certainly a key idea in Western culture. The transformation of God himself is seen in the stories of the New Testament, from the stern and patriarchal Yahweh into the gentle hero-figure Jesus, while the book of Revelations offers the apocalyptic vision of a universe going out with a bang.

The Judeo-Christian Bible is our language’s single richest resource, with far-reaching impact on our speech, ideas, customs, and literature; it is the common heritage of us all, a model of effective literary strategies such as hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism, allegory, and personification. Literary works from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales through Shakespeare’s Othello, Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible are interpreted more fully after reading the Bible as literature. To study the Bible is preparation to better understand other literature, to appreciate the beauty and power of the word, and to see more deeply into the human condition itself.

English 50H Special Studies

This course is open to students qualified to do advanced work in the field. The course includes research, directed reading, fieldwork, or other advanced study, and the course may be repeated for a maximum of 4 units.

English 52 From Story to Screen

This course is designed to assist students to explore and identify the changes that occur when a story becomes a movie. Students read short stories, novels, and plays, corresponding movie scripts, and watch movies, analyzing the differences among the three. Students also adapt portions of stories into movie scripts.

English 53 Freelance Writing

This course is designed to assist students in pursuing the development and publication of original writings. These may consist of fiction and non-fiction, including magazine and newspaper articles, short stories, poems, novels, plays, musicals, screenplays, television scripts, and photojournalism.

English 55 Reading Plays: Critical Approaches

This course is designed to assist students in examining drama as a literary genre. Students read plays, identify components intrinsic to them, and analyze these according to various critical approaches.

English 57 Children’s Literature

English 57 is a course designed for those who wish to explore quality literature written for children. In this course students will read, analyze, and discuss a variety of genres and formats including picture storybooks, traditional tales, historical fiction, modern fantasy, poetry, and contemporary realistic fiction.

English 58 Young Adult Literature

This course is a survey of both classic and modern works of literature written about and for young adults (ages 12-18). Students read, analyze, and evaluate a diversity of works and explore the various genres and issues relevant to young adults.

English 60 Practical English Grammar

This course is designed to prepare the student with a knowledge of the grammar and mechanics of the English language. Emphasis is placed on developing accurate grammar and usage and on building varied, precise vocabularies for writing proficiency.

English 70 Basic Writing Skills I

This course is for students needing skill development in writing sentences and paragraphs. Emphasis is placed on writing clearly and correctly for given purpose. Units earned in this course do not count toward the associate degree.

English 71 Practical Grammar

This course is a lecture and demonstration course dealing with grammar and mechanics of the English language. The course is designed for students who plan to enroll or who are enrolled in English 1A or for any students who desire to improve their knowledge of the structure and usage of English.

English 72 Technical Writing

This course is for technical and industrial students and stresses those skills as required for communicating technical informational in a clear, precise manner.

English 73A Writing Laboratory

This course is designed to provide individualized writing practice in the paragraph and short essay for students of English 70C or for those with basic weaknesses in their written English or with limited English proficiency. The student’s level of performance is determined and instruction starts at that point. Units earned in this course do not count toward the associate degree.

English 73B Writing Laboratory

This course is designed to provide individualized writing practice in the academic essay commonly used in colleges today, including the descriptive, expository, narrative and argumentative modes and the descriptive-critical review. Units earned in this course do not count toward the associate degree.

English 79 Preparatory English

This course is designed to prepare students to enter college level English composition. The emphasis in the course is on writing well-developed paragraphs in an organized essay and reviewing grammar and usage. This course satisfies the English requirement for the associate degree.

English 79L Preparatory English

This course is designed to combine preparatory English and a Laboratory component to reinforce writing skills by giving students practice in mastering the essay. Students receive individual tutoring to reinforce principles of grammar and composition that have been introduced through lecture.

English 87 Basic Writing Skills II

This course is designed to prepare students for English 79. Emphasis is placed on writing and editing of paragraphs and brief essays based on readings. Units earned in this course do not count toward the associate degree.