One to One English Language Arts (ELA) Courses
Reading and writing are foundational skills that shape how we understand the world and express ourselves within it. Yet traditional classroom environments often struggle to meet individual students where they are—some students yearn to dive into complex texts like Shakespeare while others need more time to build confidence with foundational skills. In a one-size-fits-all model, students can easily fall through the cracks.
How Our Online English Language Arts Courses Work
Our online English Language Arts classes are taught by educators with deep experience in literature, writing, and language instruction across private and public schools worldwide. Most hold advanced degrees in English. There are more than one Breadloaf graduates among them!
Full courses generally last 30 weeks with 2 online live sessions per week, plus 3-5 hours of independent reading and writing work (for high schoolers; less for younger students) but can be completely adapted to the learner.
Although each course is designed for the individual learner, some common themes connect all our ELA courses.
We believe:
Reading unlocks everything else. It’s the foundational skill that allows us to learn, work, and navigate daily life.
No one is naturally “bad at reading or writing.” These are skills that develop with the right instruction, practice, and encouragement.
Writing is thinking made visible. The ability to construct a clear, compelling argument in writing is one of the most valuable skills a student can develop—especially in an age when AI can generate text in seconds.
Who Are the Courses For?
We offer ELA courses for any age.
- For primary age learners (grades 3-5) we can build a course that focuses on reading fluency, comprehension strategies, and foundational writing skills like sentence structure and paragraph development.
- For middle schoolers, we design our ELA courses as a bridge to the more sophisticated literary analysis and writing that awaits them in high school. This involves reading diverse texts across genres, developing analytical skills, and strengthening their voice as writers. We also work on vocabulary development and grammar skills that provide essential scaffolding for high school work.
- Our high school online ELA courses immerse students in rich literary texts—from Shakespeare to contemporary voices—while developing their skills as critical readers and writers. Students learn to analyze complex texts, construct evidence-based arguments, and develop their own unique voice on the page. For students who wish—and this is highly recommended for homeschoolers—we also offer AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition, which follow the specific AP guidelines and preparation for the exam.
Why Learn ELA Online?
Learning ELA online in our one-to-one model allows you to pair with the right teacher, whether they live in San Francisco or Singapore. It also allows you to find a quiet place where you can connect directly with a consummate educator who is dedicated to your success as a student and can mentor you on your learning journey. In one-to-one sessions, there’s space for real discussion, for puzzling through difficult passages together, and for receiving personalized feedback on your writing that actually helps you grow.
"There is no friend as loyal as a book."
- Ernest Hemingway
Classes Offered
English Writing Course
This course aims to transform high school students into amazing writers. Led by a seasoned English high school teacher, it focuses heavily on the writing
12th Grade English
This course is an intensive introduction to advanced literary study. It challenges fourth-year high school students to become more independent, insightful readers and more forceful,
Caribbean Literature
This Caribbean Literature course is an invitation to explore a fiercely creative literary tradition shaped by colonialism, revolution, migration, and music. In this one-to-one course,
Why Reading and Writing Matter More Than Ever
We live in an age when AI can write a paper on Hamlet in seconds. But here’s what AI cannot do: it cannot teach you how to truly read—how to notice the subtle shifts in Hamlet’s soliloquies, how to feel the weight of a perfectly chosen word, how to understand what an author is really saying beneath the surface. And while AI can generate arguments, it cannot teach you how to think clearly, how to marshal evidence in service of an idea, or how to develop your own authentic voice as a writer.
The ability to read complex texts with genuine comprehension and to make coherent, compelling arguments in writing are skills that matter more than ever. These are the skills that allow you to think critically, to persuade effectively, to understand others deeply, and to express yourself with clarity and power. These are fundamentally human skills—and they require human instruction, human feedback, and human connection to develop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our ELA courses—just like all our courses—are completely customized to the learner and can be any duration that you would like. A typical full-load ELA course runs about 30 weeks with two hour-long live sessions per week and 3-5 hours of independent reading and writing work (for high schoolers, slightly less for middle schoolers, and a lot less for primary-aged students). This roughly translates into 150-210 hours, well above the standard Carnegie unit.
The key to succeeding in any online class is to develop great study habits and executive function (EF). We call these Tomorrow Skills, and include things like managing your calendar, time-boxing, and other strategies. As a Cicero student you will have access to workshops and our internal Slack group where we work on EF and study habits for independent learners.
English Language Arts is inherently personal. Your experience reading a poem or novel is different from anyone else’s, and your voice as a writer is uniquely yours. One-to-one instruction honors this individuality. It allows your teacher to select texts that match your interests and reading level, to give you detailed feedback on your writing that speaks directly to where you are and where you’re going, and to have genuine literary discussions that can’t happen in a classroom of 30 students. Learning to read and write well requires trust, vulnerability, and personalized attention—and that’s exactly what the Cicero one-to-one model provides.
