Literary texts we'll be working with

Carol Ann Duffy's poetry (Europe, the UK, 20th-21st century; SL/HL)

Kate Chopin's short stories (America, the US, 19th century, SL/HL)

Hendrik Ibsen's play ""A Doll's House" (Europe, Norway, translation, 19th century, SL/HL)

NB! The three above are the ones you can use for the IO.

In your IO, you are not supposed to mention your name or the name of your school. So, start with something like the following:

I'm a Language A English Language and Literature student, and for my Individual Oral today I have chosen the Global Issue of ...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\s novel "Purple Hibiscus" (Africa + America, Nigeria / the US; 21st century, SL/HL)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (Europe, Russia, translation, 20th century, HL/SL?)

Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement" (Europe, the UK, 20th-21st century, HL)

PhilpotNew Task 3.12 rewritten for small groups (do NOT go there unless instructed to do so)

* Read the intro and point a (PhilpotNew p 135 Towards assessment).

* Go to Chapter 8 and read / discuss pp 321-322 (up till the end of Task 8.1).

* Refresh your memory of what is available on the blog in connection with the IO (and where exactly).

* Back to p 135. Read Texts 2.27 and 2.28 quickly, discuss point b, and pick a global issue to concentrate on.

* Annotate both texts, and do point c on your own.

* Instead of point d, share your outlines in your small groups.

* Do points e-j using feedback from your small group members.

* Save everything in your portfolio.

NB! You are not allowed to use the same texts for your real IO that you have used for this kind of practice.

Do NOT go past this line yet!

Analysis of The Diet by Carol Ann Duffy (only to be consulted after you have done PhilpotNew Task 3.12 as fully as possible): https://poemanalysis.com/carol-ann-duffy/the-diet/

Task: consult the online analysis, and add another layer to your annotation of the poem.

A student's analysis of Text 2.28: 

https://sites.psu.edu/rclvandevelde/2013/10/17/unit-two-paper-draft-two/

Beauty and fitness adverts: 

https://flashbak.com/beauty-and-fitness-adverts-the-fine-art-of-preying-on-a-bad-self-image-5469/

Portfolio task: Use Text 2.28 as the text for practice for Paper 1, with this guiding question:

How does this advertisement use written and visual language to ‘speak’ to its reader?

The language of war

This should support PhilpotNew U4.1 and any war-related texts (incl poems by Duffy)

PhilpotNew pp 208-209: full text of The State of Union Address (George W. Bush, 2003):

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-23

Video: https://www.c-span.org/video/?174799-2/2003-state-union-address (the extract in PhilpotNew Text 4.5 is the very beginning of it)

In any case, pay special attention to how words are used to describe war (euphemisms, blunt language, direct statements, hinting, allusion, imagery, metaphors, etc). Look at what type of text it is, and whether the author's choice of vocabulary, sentence patterns,, imagery, etc, is somehow dependent on the genre of the text, who wrote it, when, about which war, etc. Why has the author made such choices?

 A list of war-related vocabulary: https://myvocabulary.com/word-list/war-vocabulary/

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/war

Sensory language: 

Show, don't tell :)

https://studymoose.com/war-poets-and-the-five-senses-essay

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-bhcc-acceleratedenglish/chapter/sensory-details-examples/

Task: do the mindfulness five senses exercise: 

https://medcenterblog.uvmhealth.org/wellness/physical/mindfulness-mindful-monday-exercise/

Creative portfolio task: Write a paragraph about anything that you want to, using sensory language (all the five senses!)

George Carlin video on euphemisms (PhilpotNew p 210):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o1FDWyfvvw (since this is long, leave it as homework)

Related articles (found by class of 2021):

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/the-language-of-war-and-weapons-1.3854 (Niks)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11056757/Why-slang-is-the-language-of-war.html (Nati)

https://soa.illinoisstate.edu/downloads/anthro_theses/russell_sara.pdf

http://www.ugr.es/~jsantana/lies/language_war.htm (Andrei)

https://legionmagazine.com/en/2019/06/euphemisms-acronyms-and-outright-lies-the-language-of-war/ (Kerli)

http://theconversation.com/the-warspeak-permeating-everyday-language-puts-us-all-in-the-trenches-121356 (Marta)

Overview of global issues: 

http://www.worldrevolution.org/projects/globalissuesoverview/overview2/PeaceNew.htm

Turning war into art: https://www.wanderarti.com/turning-war-into-art/ - Is this intertextuality?

Trench art: https://daydreamtourist.com/2015/05/11/trench-art/

More of street art: https://www.streetartbio.com/

An example of a student's art sketchbook:  

https://www.studentartguide.com/featured/war-theme-a-level-art

Task: Start from doing PhilpotNew U4.1 task 1.10 + text 4.7, then move on to curate a class exhibition = BOW of Banksy's war-related pieces of street art. This should be a common document accessible through everyone's portfolio, and each student needs to present one piece of art to class with detailed analysis so that collectively you would have a BOW in which at least half the pieces of art are accompanied with explanations / analyses.

Videos about Banksy: 

Who is Banksy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoe3Nn5vuBg (13:54)

Banksy's street art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSsjC-F9bwk (6:17)

Banksy art hotel in Bethlehem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMS6Ds3qryY

Full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMUJ8zFtcu0 /1:26:10)

Global issues - hopefully helpful

The global issue chosen for consideration should be significant on a wide scale, be transnational in nature, and be an issue that has an impact felt in everyday local contexts. The issue should be clearly evidenced in the extracts or texts chosen. 

See also this (especially what you could do in your portfolio to prepare for your IO): https://www.sevanoland.com/global-issues.html

These lists might be a starting point for thinking about more global issues: https://simplicable.com/en/global-issues
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_global_issues

GI question from a Jennifer on www: Some students want to use “mental health” as their global issue. How can I explain to them that this is not enough?

Suggested answers:

* Mike: That's really more of a topic. Something like "the way society values mental health less than physical health" is a GI. I'd ask them "what do your texts say about mental health?" to guide them towards something more specific.

* Alison: I try to explain it the way that I explain theme. If you just have one or two words, it's a topic. To make it a global issue, put it into a sentence.

* Melissa: What ABOUT mental health? They need to consider a more full statement.

* Kate: I ask them “what about topic”, i.e. “what about mental health” and then rattle off some narrowing factors, such as societal prejudice vs growing acceptance, treatment and support for etc.

* Keone: This is from the EE guide in psychology, it may help: Topics such as eating disorders, dysfunctional behaviours (eg schizophrenia or depression) and forensic

psychology are popular with students. However, they pose a challenge unless students focus their

research question very tightly. These topics are extremely ambitious, requiring far more time and

experience than students generally have at their disposal.

* Tayyaba: Global issue is an umbrella term. They’re required to explore how/ to what extent that GI IS portrayed by authors; meaning they have to prove a point in the commentary (eg…to what extent/ how ignorance/ poverty/male dominance affect/ or control result in ….)

(All the people cited are IB DP teachers.)

Borrowing from PhilpotEducation:

A global issue has three qualities: 

• transnational
• significant
• relevant to local contexts

Many issues meet these three criteria, from 'coming of age' to 'climate change'. The IB has outlined 5 'fields of inquiry' under which global issues should fall. These are broad areas of study and rather abstract in nature.

5 Fields of inquiry

• Culture, identity and community

• Beliefs, values and education

• Politics, power and justice

• Art, creativity and the imagination

• Science, technology and the natural world

Examples of global issues

• The lack of social and economic mobility for the middle class

• The challenges of raising children in a digital age 

• The unrealistic representation of young women by global fashion brands

• The rise of nationalism and xenophobia in an age of globalisation

It helps to think of global issues as themes that appear somewhere on a ladder of abstraction. A 'ladder of abstraction' is a representation of how real-life people and situations connect to abstract ideas. Below is an example of a ladder of abstraction that includes racism. Notice how the words in the list below go from the concrete and specific to the abstract and general. What issue can you realistically explore in a 10-minute oral? 

Ladder of abstraction

CONCRETE > Michael Brown > Ferguson > racial profiling > #blacklivesmatter > racial profiling > racism > discrimination > injustice > ABSTRACT

Blogs

PhilpotNew 1.9 (pp 52-57)

In 9.1, consider (not necessarily in this order): aim, formality, content, audience, layout, special features, language, visuals, personality, links
Difference between web sites and blogs: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/what-is-a-blog-and-how-is-it-different-from-a-website-explained/
Press release: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_release
Diary or journal: https://www.thepencompany.com/blog/diaries/difference-between-diary-and-a-journal/

Characteristics of a good blog: https://firstsiteguide.com/characteristics-of-blog/
Most popular blog types: https://makeawebsitehub.com/popular-blog-types/

Most successful: https://alphainvestors.com/blogging/examples-successful-blogs/

Student blogs: https://www.studential.com/university/student-blogs

Environmental blogs: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/amazing-environmental-blogs.php

Some travel blogs: https://www.bucketlistly.blog/posts/best-backpacking-adventure-blogs

Race issues: https://psychologybenefits.org/race-and-law-enforcement/

https://www.enar-eu.org/Blog

Top Youtube vloggers: https://izea.com/2019/02/06/top-youtube-vloggers/

How to start a vlog: https://filmora.wondershare.com/business/vlogging-tips.html

Humans of New York: https://www.humansofnewyork.com/

Interviews with suicide survivors: https://talkingaboutsuicide.com/the-interviews/

Task: The work on blogs should result in everybody picking a blog they would like to follow because they are interested in the issues the blog covers, which also lend themselves to be treated like BOWs full of Global Issues. You will have to present this blog to your classmates, and write an analysis of it for your portfolio, and prepare 1-2 pages of it so it could be used as Paper 1 practice in class.

https://10web.io/blog/blog-online-magazine-difference/

2 documents in Tera in the How-to folder

Political cartoons BOW

IO, BOWs & GIs: What are they? (Individual Oral, Body of Work, Global Issue - you can consult relevant blog posts)

Political cartoons: work starts now and carries on into both homework and subsequent classwork, and ends up both in your portfolio and presented to class:

* detailed discussion of PhilpotNew U 1.4

* doing the tasks mentioned in my previous blog post on political cartoons

* preparing to curate and present to class a Body of Work (= BOW): a set of about 15 political cartoons by the same author (functioning predominantly in the English language in the English-speaking world or globally) whose work has several Global Issues (= GIs) evident in them.

While presenting, you show the whole set of cartoons to class, tell us about the background to the author, the GIs you have chosen and how they are represented in the author's work, and choose 2 cartoons for looking at in detail in class with concentrating on different aspects, e.g. how symbols have been used, or how words and pictures complement each other, or how the ambience adds to the reception of the cartoons, etc.  You decide which cartoons to concentrate on, and how exactly you do this, and which IB LangLit aims this will help you to achieve.

Global issues?

 Sustainable development goals

Read: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Task: Pick one goal that is close to your heart, and find a body of work that would help you towards understanding how this issue is covered in media. Post it on the blog.

Body of work:  entirety of the creative or academic output produced by a particular individual or unit. --> In IB: a set works of the same genre by the same authorship, preferably (at least partly) thematically connected.

Global issues: https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/979

(See also PhilpotNew Chapter 8: The Individual Oral = IO p 321)