Last year, I chose to take Ethnic Literature for my senior English class. I heard that this would be the first year that this class was to be offered at Westmont, and I was excited to try something new in terms of English for my last year of high school. The class, taught by Gabriella Hopkins, had units focused on Asian, African, Latino, and many other cultures. I quite enjoyed reading and analyzing literature from authors of different ethnic backgrounds, and learning about the history of cultures around the world at the same time.
I believe that Hopkins was an excellent teacher for this class, stimulating difficult but necessary discussions and doing well in forcing everyone to participate, even those students who don’t normally do so. I also enjoyed the large variety of assignments and assessments, like Socratic Seminars, essays, one-pagers, et cetera. Not to mention, the reading list for this class was exceptional. The books we read were written by authors that are still very much alive, focusing on issues pertinent to current events, and attention-grabbing for students who maybe don’t do all that much reading.
All in all, this was a great class to take my senior year and I highly recommend this class to others who may feel bored with the average English class and the same books that everyone and their mother have read.