Castle Learning Online English, targeted to high school students, now includes a new unit entitled Introduction to Literature with four sections:
- Literary Forms and Techniques reviews the structure of literary works as well as common writing techniques such as flashback, foreshadowing, irony.
- Figurative Language includes questions on imagery and figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, personification, oxymoron and hyperbole, as well as alliteration and onomatopoeia and other literary devices.
- Poetry covers terms specific to this genre.
- Analyzing Critical Lens Quotations is a special section of in-depth multiple-choice questions that assist students
in formulating appropriate interpretations of literary quotations, often the crucial
first step in critical essay-writing tasks involving literature.
Castle Learning Online announces a major update to its course in Elementary English course. Elementary English is targeted towards grades 3, 4 and 5. Highlights of the revision include:
- The addition of 45 new Critical Reading Sets (passages with reading comprehension questions) more than doubles the number of available reading sets at each level and provides greater variety in topics.
- Additional questions in the Critical Reading Skills unit (short reading passages followed by a single multiple-choice question) gives greater coverage of the original six reading skills at all three grade levels.
- A 7th reading skill, Literary Forms and Devices, has been added, with questions in the Critical Reading Skills unit appropriate to all three grade levels.
- The addition of a new unit, Listening Skills, gives students practice in answering a multiple-choice question after listening to a short passage. Students may replay the passage as many times as needed. Note: This feature requires audio software capable of playing MP3 files as well as speakers or headphone. Check your browser software for compatibility. In a computer laboratory setting, the use of headphones is advisable.
- Expansion of the Vocabulary unit includes a new section on Antonyms, plus additional questions on Synonyms at all levels.
- Expansion of the Spelling unit includes a new section on Contractions at all levels.
- The Vocabulary Review now includes many literary terms that can be added to Flash Card sets.
- A new constructed-response activity in Grammar Editing allows students to practice their proofreading and editing skills. Students can edit and save the passage right on the computer. When they are finished, they see a model response along with a detailed explanation of the errors and corrections. Teachers can review student responses, make general comments, and assign a point score.
In order to increase the security on teacher accounts, teachers who sign into an account which does not have a password need to use the school's Default Teacher Password. After signing in, the teacher will be prompted to select a new password. used for subsequent access.
Administrators can modify the Default Teacher Password from the Administrator's Preferences page. Administrators need to inform teachers who have accounts without passwords what their school's Default Teacher Password is set to. It is recommended that the Default Teacher Password be changed periodically.
The number of questions that can be included in a Short Answer assignment has been increased to 100 questions.
In all Vocabulary related activities in Spanish and French, nouns are now displayed with the correct article and gender designation, but alphabetized by the noun itself.
A new unit has been added to the English course, called "Literature: The Crucible". This is another in a series of literature short answer questions that will be added on a continuing basis. Each section in this unit contains questions covering an Act in "The Crucible", including questions for an extended two act version of the play.
To add these questions into an assignment, go to the Add Question page, select the unit named "Literature: The Crucible", select a section for the desired act, then use the Browse and Select option to select the questions that you would like to include in your assignment. The order of the literature questions for a particular act parallels the sequence of events in the act. Thus, the use of randomization is not recommended in assignments with literature questions.
In all Vocabulary related activities in Spanish and French, nouns are now displayed with the correct article and gender designation, but alphabetized by the noun itself.