IB English - the final two presentations... & some advice for the mock orals

Here is the presentation on Punishment, Justice & the Law:

And here is the presentation on Education & Tests:

The best way to revise for the orals is to choose what you consider to be some of the key extracts from Measure for Measure, and practice talking about them aloud (you could record yourself on your phone so that you could listen to it afterwards). Remember the basic structure we have talked about in class:

• Context (brief)
• Overview
• Thesis: why is this extract significant? What does it add to the play? (think in terms of characterisation, themes & its dramatic significance)
• Explore your thesis by looking at how language is used by Shakespeare as a means of developing character, themes & enhancing the drama. Remember that you need to be as specific as you can in your analysis - it's not enough to identify a metaphor, for example, you need to try and analyse how it works and what effect it has.

For some more advice & hints, click here; to see examples of some (very brave) students being filmed practising their commentaries, click here.

A2 LITERATURE - Machiavelli

Many critics consider Iago to be a Machiavellian character. To find out more about Machiavelli and how his theory of power has influenced society, click here.

A2 Comms - cw links

Camille - analyse how shamballa bracelets are sold to the public here; an article on the popularity of the bracelets here.
Mehmed - football is business, not a sport according to Assou-Ekotto: click here; money destroys football, according to one blogger - click here.
Laura & Sophie - how reality tv works -click here; why we like it - click here.
Candace & Priya - hiphop & materialism - click here.
Angel - on KK the brand, click here; on the 'fall' of the K brand - click here
Callum - on Bud & the American man, click here, and here, but scroll down to 'Beer advertisements'.
Cora - the ideology of Disney - click here; and here.
Danielle - celebrity representations of motherhood - click here and here.
Maya - watch this and this. NEW
Rochae - read this, this, this and this. NEW
Thato - one for you NEW
Paige - postcolonial reading of Nicki Minaj for you here NEW
Angel - one for you on KK here NEW
Medina - one for you here NEW
Shaquille - for you, click here, and here, and here. NEW
Robin - for you, click here and here. NEW

A2 LITERATURE- Othello

When Shakespeare was writing Othello, it's hard to imagine that he wasn't influenced by the visit to London of a delegation from Barbary in 1600/01, led by the Barbarian ambassador Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud. Apparently their dress and customs caused quite a stir in London at the time. Below is the official portrait of the ambassador from that visit - is this what Shakespeare imagined when he was creating his protagonist?

Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun,
Moorish Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth (1600-1)

IB English: the significance of Shirley Temple

From page 12 of The Bluest Eye, Claudia explains Pecola & Frieda's fascination with Shirley Temple, a famous child actress who was extremely popular during the Depression in America. In contrast to their adoration, Claudia explains that 'I hated Shirley ... because she danced with Bojangles, who was my friend, my uncle, my daddy...' Bojangles was a famous black entertainer, who featured in a few films alongside Shirley Temple, playing her butler. An example of the type of film sequence Claudia objects to can be seen here:

'The Little Colonel' 1935

IB presentations: Balance, symmetry & antithesis

IB mock oral times

Here are the times for the mock orals:

Monday 6th February

Student:          Prep:          Oral:
Malik              10.30           10.50
Becky             10.40           11.00 
Markus            10.50           11.10
Jess                    11.00              11.20
Julianna          11.10           11.30
Martha            11.30           11.50
Charlotte A     11.40           12.00
Olivia             11.50           12.10
Emma             12.00           12.20
Claudia           12.10           12.30
Melissa            12.20           12.40
Antonia           12.30           12.50
Charlie P         12.40           1.00
Benedikt         12.50           1.10
Ale                  1.00            1.20

Tuesday 7th February
Student:          Prep:          Oral:
Freya              10.15          10.35
Nakul              10.25          10.45

I am still working on rooms! Will post them up here once sorted.

IB group presentations - Substitution & Freedom and Restraint

Here are the first two group presentations for you to listen to as you prepare for the mock orals on Measure for Measure. Well done to everyone - you had some excellent analysis and observations to make about the play.

The first one is on the theme of Subsitution:

The second one is on the theme of Freedom & Restraint:





IB English - example oral commentary

Since the mock oral comentaries are on the near horizon, I thought it would be useful for you to be able to listen again to the example oral commentary that I played you a couple of months ago. The student is talking about 1.1 in Measure for Measure, where the Duke transfers power to Angelo. This was her first go at a recorded oral commentary and when we marked it in class (after you'd got your written pieces back) we agreed it was a level 6.

Remember that you need to aim to talk about the literary detail in the extract provided with confidence, using the right terminology. You are still expected to briefly contextualise the extract, but there is a little less emphasis on context with the new IB English course compared to when this student was taking the course.

A2 LITERATURE - Dr Faustus workbook

This is a decent study pack on Faustus, aimed at A-level students: click here to access it...

IB English

'The Bluest Eye', by Toni Morrison: we are starting our second text in Monday's lesson. In this clip, Toni Morrison explains what shaped her thinking when writing 'The Bluest Eye', which is her first novel:

A2 Comms & Culture - coursework reading

Maya - for you to read about Barbie: click here (the creation of black Barbies), here (what would Barbie look like today?), and here.
Shahina - for you on P Diddy: click here (changing his name); here (sweatshop row) and here.
Steven - one for you on Aston Martin and Englishness: click here.

A2 COMMS - more coursework links

Ashleigh: an article for you on celebrity children, click here; another one here; and on arguing that we should ban celebrities from having babies here.
Danielle: an article on celebrity mothers & the school run here; a good article on celebrity mums here, and one on 'buy a baby' here.
Mehmed: an article for you on WAGs - click here; for an article on naughty footballers, click here, and for an article on greed in football, click here.
Laura: some good articles for you; click here, here, here and here (Reality TV / The Only Way is Essex)
Brodie: some articles on Reading Festival for you here - click here, and here, and here.
Shaquille: some reading for you here on Nike: click here, here, here and listen to this:

Vicky: some reading on Kanye West for you: click here.
Camille: some reading for you on the commodification of spirituality: click here,  here and here.
Candace: some reading for you on hiphop and commodity fetishism: click here, here, here and here.

A2 COMMS & CULTURE

Thanks to those of you who emailed me this afternoon with updates. Here are some more links that might help:


Cora - these ones are for you: here, here, here and here.


Callum - these are for you: here, here and here .


Maya - another one for you from today's Independent newspaper: here.


Candace & Camille, I have emailed you.


For anybody interested, here's an interesting article on race from today's Independent newspaper - worth a read & good for post colonialism: here.

A2 LITERATURE - The making of Dr Faustus

The Royal Exchange Theatre Company explain how they took Dr Faustus from the page to the stage:

This is the version we will be watching on film in April, when we start to revise our texts.

A2 COMMS - coursework

Below are some more links some of you might find useful. If I am supervising your coursework, please can you email me this week (cdignum@rutc.ac.uk) to let me know what progress you have made with your research so that I can get up to speed for when I come back - thanks...

Festival
Notting Hill Carnival - click here and here

Celebrity
Why we all want to be famous - click here
Obsession with celebrity - click here
When we forgive celebrities - click here
Effect of NoW phone hacking scandal on our appetite for celebrity - click here
Media representation of celebrities (Open University) -click here
The worshipping of celebrity - click here
Nicki Minaj analysis - click here

Consumer
Barbie - click here (Maya) and here.
Aston Martin - click here (Steven), here and here.
High heels - click here and here.
Branding people - click here and here.

Remember that you should be spending these first two weeks researching (keep a careful record of all of your secondary sources), and that you should be ready to start your first draft from Monday 16th January.

IB English - Measure for Measure study pack

If you follow the following link (and scroll down to the bottom of the page) you will see a link which will take you to the Almeida study pack for M4M. This not only includes a detailed synopsis of the play, but some interesting interviews with those involved with the production about the relevance of the play today... Click here for the materials - scroll down!

A2 COMMS & CULTURE: COURSEWORK

Festival

If you are looking at Notting Hill Carnival, then there are some brilliant podcasts for you to listen to from The Open University. Click here to listen & get ready to make some crucial notes. The podcasts cover the history of carnival as well as its relationship with multiculturalism.

The Open University also has a whole study unit on the Olympics, which explores how the meanings invested in the Olympics has changed over time and includes a section on the 2012 games. Click here to access the study guide.

Celebrity

*Click here to read an interview about how our obsession with celebrity is changing the way we see politics.
*The dangers of reality television are discussed here - click to read it - by Shiv Malik.
*Read about the history of celebrity here.

Consumer

*Here's an interesting article from The Guardian exploring the links between consumerism and last summer's riots - click here to read it.
*And here's another about 'collaborative consumerism' - click here to read it.
*Consumerism has replaced patriotism and religion, argues Madeleine Bunting in this article - click here to read it.