IB SL ENGLISH COMMENTARY - LAST MINUTE

Below is a list of last minute points I hope will help you improve your performance next week.

• Use your time thoughtfully between now and the commentary by
• Reading over the checklist handout given out last week. There is an updated version of this already posted on this blog.
• Continue reading and re-reading extracts from the novel and the play. Use the checklist to identify relevant points.

• It's really important to base your entire commentary on the extract you have been given.
• After your introduction analyse the key language features and their effects - this is the most important priority. Then selectively make connections between the quotation you've been discussing and broader issues in the checklist.
• Analysing the extract will lead naturally onto broader discussion of issues such as themes etc.

The old world - this is a reference to Europe. society determined by class and birth. The discovery of America in the 1492 brought about new possiblities for weath creation and exploitation of native people and the land.  the Dutch in the 16th century.

Click here for a link to the Gatsby commentary we looked at on Monday. Listen to it carefully with the mark scheme open and consider for yourself what grade is appropriate. I may have been too enthusiastic about the mark awarded to this commentary.

Click here for a link to an Othello commentary. This one is highly analytical and probably a higher level commentary. Note how much this commentary is dominated by close detail on the extract. There are no quick references to context or broader thematic references.

Stick to analysing the extract.