Tuesday, December 6, 2022

One Day in the Life of Timo

The day was rather simple; wake up, go to school, and come back home. Timo wakes up and turns around to look at what the time is. As he rubs his eyes to improve his vision, he notices that he wakes up rather late. At 8:17am, Timo quickly rushes to his closet, puts on his clothes, and quickly eats breakfast. By the time he has done his morning routine, he checks the time on his phone and it reads '8:35am'. His first lesson has already started. He thinks about which is the quickest method to get to school. Usually, he would wake up from 6:45am to 7am, which gives him enough time to do his morning routine and start walking to school. The walk takes approximately 25mins. He knows that if he starts walking to school now, he will miss the first biology lesson. Instead, he decides to order a bolt to pick him up and drop him off at school. He opens the app on his phone, places the destination and walks out of the house.

The bolt has arrived. He grabs his bag, lifts it off his shoulder, places it in the car, and goes in the backseat. The driver looks at the destination and understands that he is in a rush to get to school. He asks with a smirk on his face, 'late for class?'. Timo laughs and replies, 'yes, I am rather late for class'. While on the ride to school, he opens his phone and scrolls through TikTok to pass the time. As the car turns a corner, the driver asks, 'are you Russian?'. 'No, I'm not Russian but Estonian'. 'Ah...you have a strong accent so it was hard to tell'. 'Yeah, but I am also English, I come from the UK'. 'Ah an Englishman, I am guessing you study in English, not Estonian?'. 'Yeah I have been studying in English for my whole life and I am not quite fluent in Estonian'. The car approaches the school and Timo grabs his bag, says goodbye and thanks to the driver, and hurries off for his class. 

The school day is over, and he makes his way home. He opens the front door and takes off his winter boots and his heavy winter coat. The bag with his laptop and charger inside had been killing his shoulder throughout the day and is finally able to take it off and relax. He checks Stuudium to see what homework needs to be done. No homework for tomorrow. He goes over some of his notes that he made in school, gets a little bit ahead in chemistry by moving on to the next sub-topic and calls it a day. He is rather hungry, so he gets a burger from the fridge to microwave. After a satisfying meal, he switches the TV on and enjoys the rest of his evening. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

HLE again

 What has been done before:

1) 24 May 2022 double lesson (hopefully you have your notes)

2) PhilpotNew U7 pp 300-304-319 (including two examples with assessors' comments)

3) PhilpotNew p xix + marking scale for HLE: pp xxvii-xxviii

4) 18 May 2022 blog post

5) Tera HLE folder: this is what is there at the moment, most of it since the year 2020 (some more might be added)


6) Today:

https://ibenglishguys.com/higher-level-essay/

(HLE from start to finish)



Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Paper 2 again

NB! See also my 21 Feb 2022 blog post.
Generally, Paper 2 exam essay questions seem to be concentrating on the following:
* Form and Structure
* Personal judgement, often can ask about a “lens” - cultural - feminist - etc.
* Themes or characterization - maybe conflict
* Broad Concept - beliefs - home - etc.

NB! See my 16 May 2022 blog post on assessment of essays.

What makes a text timeless and literary???
timeless = not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion.
literary = having a marked style intended to create a particular emotional effect
Some sample Paper 2 questions:
1) Literature is often said to be timeless. To what extent is this true of two works you have studied?
2) How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different contexts and at different times?

The following could all be significant. Put them in the order of importance for you:
* an original, interesting plot
* well-rounded characters that are not perfect but easy to relate to
* a good conflict to build the story around, a good climax and resolution
* a well-done ending
* interesting use of language
* good use of literary devices and techniques
* being set in an interesting world
* themes of major importance and universal interest discussed
* aesthetic value

Possible reasons brought out by some earlier students (not a definitive list):
* reader being able to relate to the themes (real-life history, human struggle, epic fight good vs evil, existential questions)
* the characters have distinctive voices (characteristic of the time and place)
* life-like characters develop throughout the story (round and dynamic vs flat and static, see: https://prezi.com/c7kkzijg2-fa/characters-round-and-flat-static-vs-dynamic/)
* different elements work together (plot, character development, writing technique, etc)
* the text
               includes several different viewpoints
               is easily readable but not simplistic
               allows multiple interpretations
               gives a good overview of the world the story is set in
               caters for the reader's intellectual, emotional, ethical, and
                                                                       spiritual development
               makes the reader question sth, ask questions
                                                                  and search for answers
               makes the reader think about themselves, their times,
                                                                          their society, etc (familiarity)

Literary criticism
15 types: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/literary-theory-explained
Feminist criticism:  https://www.thoughtco.com/feminist-literary-criticism-3528960#:~:text
Marxist criticism: https://writingcommons.org/section/research/research-methods/textual-methods/literary-criticism/marxist-criticism/#:~:text
Queer theory: https://literariness.org/2019/03/04/queer-theory/
Gay/lesbian studieshttps://literariness.org/2018/11/15/gay-lesbian-studies/

NB! See Literary criticism generic questions (on Tera)

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Abstract issues as possible themes

Two possible Paper 2 questions:
If beauty is a relative term, how do two of the works you have studied explore this idea?
How does a particular term or concept, such as childhood, change in the way it is represented in the texts you have studied?

The following list of abstract issues that might appear in literature was coined by some previous IB students. 

Discuss which of them are present in  Carol Ann Duffy's (CAD) poetry, which in Kate Chopin's (KC) short stories, which in the play "A Doll's House" (ADH), which in "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1D)? How?

Which would you pair for a specific theme in Paper 2? 
NB! If you choose poetry, you have to discuss THREE poems. (IB seems to think 2 is too little.)

Later on we'll be also discussing their occurrence in the other literary texts you can use in Paper 2 (in which you can use literary texts that we have dealt with in class, but not the ones you used for your IO or HLE).
  • (un)employment ADH
  • (un)happiness ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • adolescence CAD, ADH
  • adultery CAD, KC
  • atonement ADH, KC, 1D
  • belief ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • bereavement 
  • betrayal ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • challenge ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • childhood ADH?
  • civilisation  ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • comedy 1D?
  • correspondence 1D. ADH
  • crime KC, ADH
  • devotion ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • discrimination ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • education CAD, ADH, KC
  • experience ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • family ADH, KC, 1D
  • feminism ADH, CAD, KC
  • freedom  ADH, KC, 1D
  • friendship ADH, 1D
  • guilt ADH, KC, 1D
  • hatred ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • help ADH, KC, 1D
  • hope  ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • humour ADH, CAD, KC, 1D?
  • imagination CAD
  • influence ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • intelligence ADH, 1D
  • loss ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • love  ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • loyalty ADH, KC, 1D
  • magic CAD
  • manhood 1D, CAD
  • marriage ADH, KC, CAD
  • mystery ADH, CAD, KC, 1D?
  • obsession ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • pain ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • passion KC, 1D, ADH
  • peace CAD
  • politeness KC
  • politics CAD, 1D
  • power ADH, KC, 1D
  • property KC
  • punishment 1D 
  • race KC
  • regret KC
  • relationships ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • religion 1D
  • rumours / gossip KC
  • satisfaction ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • self-expression CAD, ADH
  • silence 
  • slavery KC, 1D
  • social class KC, 1D
  • social standards ADH, KC
  • stubbornness ADH, CAD, KC, 1D
  • the supernatural
  • torture 1D
  • tradition(s) 
  • war CAD, 1D
  • wealth ADH, KC
  • witchcraft
  • womanhood ADH, CAD, KC
Is there anything you would like to add?

One Day in the Life of I.D. (work in progress)

Quoting Wikipedia: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russian: Один день Ивана Денисовича) is a short novel by the Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir (New World). The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the early 1950s and describes a single day in the life of ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.


Task: Make a list of background issues you need to research to be able to comment on the different contexts of this story.

Writing in second person:
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-writing-in-second-person.html
Deportations from Estonia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_deportations_from_Estonia
Map of Gulag camps:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/4269mb/map_of_gulag_camps_in_the_ussr_which_existed_from/
Gulag history: https://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/living.php.html

In Detailed study questions (on Tera, the doc with "ideas" as the last word, beginning on p6), which one question from each section is the most promising from the viewpoint of discussion rather than just finding facts from the text?

Socialist realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism
https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/literature-other-modern-languages/russian-and-eastern-european-literature/socialist-realism
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/socialist_realism

Revision of tone and mood
Differences and examples: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tone-vs-mood#what-is-tone-in-literature
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/difference-between-tone-and-mood-in-literature.html
Tone and mood words doc on Tera
Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/ewaszolek/mood-and-tone-27156461

Novels that take place in a single day: 
https://electricliterature.com/15-novels-that-take-place-in-a-single-day/

Stalag 17: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_17
Stalag 17 film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKc2GJk2OLQ (2 hrs)

Symbols / Imagery / Allegory in One Day: numbers as new identities; medical ward (cleanliness)
https://www.shmoop.com/ivan-denisovich/symbolism-imagery.html (light; food (esp bread); symbols of religion and polite manners (sharing is caring?); snow, ice, cold; Shukhov's possessions; throat cutting...)

Task: Discuss this list of abstract issues as themes (see relevant blog post)

Task: What makes a text timeless and literary???
timeless = not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion
literary = having a marked style intended to create a particular emotional effect

1970 film on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqG1uwhTX2o (1:45:48)
How to analyse a film: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/film-analysis/

NB! Do not go on before the whole novel has been discussed in detail
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: One Book, One Chicago Spring 2006 (includes quite a lot of background info + some discussion questions): 
https://www.chipublib.org/one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-denisovich-one-book-one-chicago-spring-2006/
Sparknotes: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/denisovich/

Creative task: Day in the life of ...

Monday, October 3, 2022

My Paper 2

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iq7QKBxXEwnWOPl2hjeo6ZUXiZ6JX7iOt4zomb6mUVw/edit?usp=drivesdk

u can leave notes in the file




BOW Robert Capa

Here are some of the collected works of Robert Capa, war and other photgrapher. 

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/robert-capa?all/all/all/all/0

Revision for Paper 1 - some useful links

Political cartoons: https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/analyzing-political-cartoons# https://www.blitznotes.org/ib/eng-langlit-sl/cartoon_conven...