Literature
Playing the Enemy
Playing the Enemy John Carlin (2008) is a complex but accessible book which combines journalism, history, and the narrative 'hook' of a good novel. It is also a genuinely inspiring book because it is...
Blog
#romeo&juliet Free
I spend quite a lot of time advising teachers about their students' suggestions for Extended Essays. I came across the following proposal the other day : How would Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet be different...
Building a programme
Mixed EngB classes
In workshops, I meet teachers from all over the world, and we talk about their classes. From this, it is apparent to me that the standard English B class is ... non-standard. Most people have groups of...
Blog
Intellectual Vacuity Test Free
The bizarre use of language in politics continues to boggle my mind. I recall an article written by Simon Hoggart, long-time parliamentary sketch writer for The Guardian, in which he revealed his professional...
Building a programme
Unit planning practice
The page Unit planning theory set out to explore the concept of unit plans, and to define the terms used in the IB's concept. But what does this mean in practice? And more significantly, how does one...
Building a programme
Adapting to English B
Most people come to English B with experience in teaching English through other courses, aimed at other qualifications. This can result in some or all of the following mind-traps : > believing that the...
Literature
Factual background
Researching real-life parallels to the story of Room raises a number of interesting issues. 1. The significance of factual background If it is hard to find any real-life case which precisely parallels...
Literature
Empathy 2
Empathy is not just a matter of understanding people we like. Its greatest use, perhaps, is in helping us to understand people who are unfamiliar to us, and whom we may even hate or despise. It is surely...
Literature
Empathy 1
Empathy is a fundamental human skill in all sorts of areas of life. It is of particular significance in Room because the first person narrator is only five years old. This means that he has a limited...
Literature
Clues & inference 2
In Clues & inference 1, we looked at how the child's eye view is handled in Room. The novel makes a steady progress from the very constricted world of the room/prison itself, to the much wider outside...