DP essentials
Newspeak
George Orwell's classic 1984 is back in vogue as I write this, in early 2017 - have a look at the blog entries 1984 revisited and 1984 revisited (again). It appears that this re-established popularity...
DP essentials
Language Dos & Don'ts
This page can be used to deal with two fundamental aspects of language : the way that the same words can have different meanings in different parts of the world, and how a language can include significantly...
DP essentials
Semantics and core ideas
. 'Semantics' is a big, burly word, slightly intimidating - and anyway, what does it have to do with the practical business of teaching language? Quite a lot, I would argue, but let's define terms......
DP essentials
Developing language
Oliver Sacks' book Seeing Voices (1989) is a fascinating enquiry into how people who are deaf from birth cope with the world, and in particular, how they develop and handle language. As usual with Sacks'...
DP essentials
Second language imagination
What is the impact of learning a second language? For us teachers of English B, this is a question which we will always have in mind... and by and large we will say that for our students to learn a second...
DP essentials
Bilingual experience
Most English B students cannot be considered bilingual - but most would accept the idea that they would like to be bilingual in English and their first language, and many may end up like that if English...
DP essentials
Charlie's thoughts Free
In the end, knowledge exists because we have a knower, someone to know the knowledge. In that case, the nature of the knowledge must be affected by the nature of the intelligence of the knower - of the...
DP essentials
How to teach TOK
I have regularly said to students who comment that the discussion we're having "sounds like TOK" ... "Well, English B IS TOK !" The reason I say this is because in English B classes we are continually...
Literature
Style
A significant part of the force and authority of The Curious Incident... is that it is written in the real language of real life. The narration is coherently and consistently Christopher's voice - the...
DP essentials
Language Extinction
The text that forms the basis for this page is of value for two particular reasons: (i) it is a scientific article which uses extensive quotation to convey the argument (thus serving as a model for techniques...