Semester Review Paper

I have just completed the first semester in the Ron Paul curriculum 6^th grade English course. The first half had a lot of information, it covered some writing principles and the eight parts of speech. One of my favorite things about the grammar section, was that whenever I was studying complicated subjects the teacher would take time to give a coherent and clear definition and/or demonstration. For instance, when I was learning about direct and indirect objects, my course instructor did not say “It is a noun or phrase denoting a thing or person that is the recipient of the action caused by a transitive verb,” instead of a definition as complicated as that he would break it up and explain each part in much detail, he would dissect it and give reliable techniques to identify it in a sentence, sometimes he would reference famous persons to show how great people in history used those same grammar rules. I think that this course uses that style to inspire students. One of my favorite instances in which he did this was when I was being taught the rule that you cannot end a sentence with a preposition, and my teacher quoted Winston Churchill who said, “This is the kind of thing up with which I do not intend to put.” I really like how Churchill argues against that rule by reducing it to an incoherent awkward phrase, what he is really trying to say is that if you always follow that rule to the letter, at some point you are going to come up with something that does not make a drop of sense. That is a cunning and effective way of arguing that can be applied to other topics as well. I think the study of the eight parts of speech has really helped me improve my understanding of sentences. In studying them, I grew more knowledgeable about how a sentence functions, and with all the teaching that I received from it, I was also able to memorize them. This first semester has enhanced my knowledge of grammar and I look forward to learning more about it in the second semester.

            Simultaneously, while learning grammar I was also doing literature studies, as the course is half literature and half grammar. The main point of studying literature was to become a better writer, as being constantly exposed to good writing will more than likely give a definite benefit to students. During this section, I was assigned a book to read, and once I had finished it I would write an essay. While I was studying this, along with a reading assignment, every day I would receive two vocabulary words, I was to right them down, define what part of speech they were and give a short definition, in addition to this I was also supposed to use them in my daily vocabulary. I probably enjoyed the literature section even more than the grammar section, most likely because of the books that they assigned me to read. The reason I liked them so much was because most of them were written by amazing authors, like G.A. Henty and Jules Verne. Another reason would be that most of the books had lots of action and adventure, that is why I liked them so much.

            In this first semester I have learned a great deal of writing principles, grammar, vocabulary, literature, and much more, and the course has helped me become a better reader and writer. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who might have trouble understanding English or who is interested in learning more, as I certainly have seen great improvement.