MYP Learning English as a Secondary Language

English Department at Oasis International School of Maadi

C5 Ph 5 Proficient Level
Academic year (2021-2022)

Unit 1: The World of Literature (Pre-diploma course)

Statement of Inquiry: Writers voice their personal and cultural expressions through creative stylistic
choices to reach different audiences.

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Key concept: Creativity
Creativity is the process of generating novel ideas and considering existing ideas from new perspectives. Creativity includes the
ability to recognize the value of ideas when developing innovative responses to problems; it may be evident in process as well as
outcomes, products or solutions. In MYP language and literature, it is the process of synthesizing ideas with language that is a
vehicle for creativity. It is the result of interaction and reflection, whether with the self or the wider community. This process is
difficult to define and difficult to evaluate. It rests, however, on an appreciation of the process with which the individual engages,
and the impact of the final product on the audience.

Related concept: Stylistic choices/ Voice

Global context: Personal and Cultural Expression

How do we express ourselves?
This GC inquires into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which
we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

In this unit we will…

● Find out how writers express themselves through writing by focusing on the novella Animal Farm (1948)
● Explore the techniques for analysing the ways in which writers create different effects
● Understand key literary elements and how to write a literary analysis
● Writing a creative piece using vall the literary techniques and devices learned throughout this unit

Guiding questions for this unit

- Factual Questions: What different types of literary genres exist? What are the characteristics of different genres? Why do
writers write and what tools do they use to convey their ideas?
Conceptual Questions: How do writers convey their message? How do the purpose and target audience of a piece of writing
influence the structure, style and use of language? What can literature teach us about ways of living, thinking and being?
- Debatable Questions: Should gender and ethnic background matter while analyzing poetry/novel? Do writing skills help us

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 contribute anything to a community? Can a writer’s work be used to effect change?

Approaches to Learning focus (ATL)

● Communication skills: negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
In order for students to analyse and draw conclusions from information, main ideas and supporting details the students
must negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers.

● Transfer skills: Make connections between subject groups and disciplines

In order for students to engage in rehearsed and unrehearsed exchanges to share ideas on a range of topics of personal and
global significance, the students must make connections between subject groups and disciplines.

IB Learner Profile
Reflective: We can develop our skills by giving thoughtful consideration to our own learning, ideas and experience. We will reflect on
our work when we assess our own writing and that of others.

Vision of the online learning model

Online teaching differs radically from face-to-face teaching and thus must not consider the Zoom sessions to equate on-ground
classes. Hence, we believe that students should complete the majority of the work independently, by incorporating as many media
as possible, and that the Zoom sessions should be a platform where students come to talk. Therefore, teacher talking time should be
kept at a minimum during Zoom sessions and students should be prompted into discussion, for instance, by a short visual or a 3-5
minute recap of the week by the teacher. Interesting and simple questions should be posed at the very beginning in order to incite
discussion and give students the necessary space and time to develop their speaking skills. Students are encouraged to be
autonomous, inquisitive and organized in order to successfully complete this course.

Vision of differentiation in teaching and learning

We tailor our lesson plans to engage with a multitude of intelligences and learning styles so that all students feel comfortable and
encouraged to explore their full potential.

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 Objectives for C5 students to meet by the end of the year

● Getting familiar with multimodal texts and different text types

● Listening exercises in order to further develop listening skills: Students should be able to demonstrate an
understanding of the information and ideas in an oral text in a variety of ways.
● Critical thinking, reflection, analysis and logical reasoning: Students need help with critical thinking as many are
unable to demonstrate reflective, independent thinking, analyze facts, see the logical connection between ideas
and form their own judgments. Students are generally challenged in this area.
● Making inferences: Students find it difficult to articulate how we went from point A to point B. For example,
students would be unable to explain how a plastic bag when released in the environment ends up creating pollution
and contributes to global warming. As such, they know of the premise and the conclusion but their reasoning falls
short in laying out the process/way we go from point A to point B.
○ We must devise exercises in logical reasoning and ‘going from point A to point B to point C to conclusion’.
● Speaking skills: Students should develop their speaking skills
○ Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on- one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on diverse topics, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
○ Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance,
premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
● Text understanding and interpretation: students demonstrate a limited ability to understand the text being dealt
with, and that obstructs their interpretative abilities. We must focus on reading and comprehension of texts, in
addition to its interpretation. As such, we will study texts that are less factual, and rely on literary techniques that
convey a point indirectly. We shall cover literary devices in Unit , however, I believe students must engage with
more literary works in order to build their interpretative skills, and be able to independently identify and explain
the hidden meaning of a work.
○ Students should be capable of reading text of 800–900 words and answer questions about main ideas and
supporting details, conventions, makes inferences and develops a personal response to the text.
○ Students should be capable of identifying, understanding, and interpreting the author's point of view,
messages, and purpose for text and visual aids used.
○ Students should be able to analyze personal and cultural expressions.

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 ● Writing: Students need some help with basic paragraphing and essay structure so that they can order their ideas in
a logical, convincing and cohesive manner. Effective structuring is crucial in order to produce the required academic
writing. Students should be able to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
○ Explain the function of verbals (gerunds, participles, infinitives) in general and their function in particular
sentences (practice). E – Name literary devices. Imagery (practice), Tone and mood, Metaphor/simile,
Symbolism, Personification/ hyperbole, Genre, Characterization, Plot and setting, Onomatopoeia,
Foreshadowing, Flashback, Themes. G - Acquire and accurately use unit vocabulary (master).
● Grammar: Students need a solid foundation in basic grammar rules to eliminate challenges with spelling, tenses,
subject-verb agreement, punctuation, types of sentences, run-on sentences and fragment sentences. This will make
it easier to improve both spoken and written communication skills. Students need to distinguish between the
register and style appropriate to different situations.
○ Use relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why)
○ Explain the function of verbals (gerunds, participles, infinitives) in general and their function in particular
sentences
● Command terms to pay attention to this year: Evaluate, outline, use, examine, synthesize, summarize, justify, organize

Overview of the unit

● Animal Farm by George Orwell
● Literary elements: plot, characters, setting, motifs, symbolism, tone/mood..
● Stylistic devices: metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron, alliteration, imagery..
● Text types: blogs, cartoons, comics, fiction, memoir, campaigns, magazines, newspapers..
● ATL skill 1: Communication skills - Negotiate ideas and knowledge with peers and teachers
● ATL skill 2: Transfer skills - Make connections between subject groups and disciplines
● Vocabulary activity
● Oral presentations (GRASPS)
● Reflection activity
● Methodology workshop on text understanding & interpretation // activity on poetry
● Writing: literary analysis

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 ● Grammar worksheet

Unit 1 timeline
● Week 1
● Week 2
● Week 3
● Week 4
● Week 5
● Week 6
● Week 7
● Week 8
● Week 9
● Week 10
● Week 11
● Week 12
● Week 13

Unit 1 (13 weeks)

Assessment criteria

New plan Week 1 (Sept.12 -16)

a. Ice breaker- sent you an email with some suggestions, just in case
b. Introduction to the course (ppt) (B)
c. Introducing Unit 1: SOI, Key concepts
d. Brainstorming on your creative pic collage and ask them questions to
make explicit link with global context
CrA practice and note taking

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 e. Introducing the novel
Background information on the writer, the context and the novel itself (B)
i. https://www.slideshare.net/lramirezcruz/animal-farm-pp-teacher

Original plan Week 1(Sept.12 -16)

a. Ice breaker
b. Introduction to the course (ppt) (B)
c. Introducing Unit 1: SOI, Key concepts, etc (ppt) collage
d. Make explicit link with global context
i. Reading texts and making connections (L)
e. Introducing the novel
i. Background information on the writer, the context (B)
f. Homework: Review Animal Farm, and be well acquainted with the characters, themes and allegory of
the story. We will be closely working on chapter 1 and 2 in the coming week.

Week 2 (Sept.19-23)
Objectives:
1. Students will be able to develop ATL skill communication: negotiating ideas.
2. To understand the context when this novel was written.
3. Emphasis on student learning style preferences.

a. RESEARCH: Work in stations

b. SPEAKING: Discuss your findings
c. WRITING: Putting things together and create a final product
d. THINKING: Fill in the reflection worksheet as each group presents.
e. ATL-Communication: negotiating ideas

Home work: Read chapter 1 & 2 and underline key events. Write your short summary for each chapter.

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Previous planned: A Work in stations
i. Worksheet 1 Complete this worksheet apart from the last question. Do not answer the last question.
2. Discussion question: Do you feel the story is more or less powerful for its use of animals as the main characters?
Give reasons for your answer.
3. Characters of Animal Farm activity (Writing bio description, get pictures, create a poster)
4. Literary element: Theme (Mindmap and reference parts in the text)
5. Writing: Describe the development of Napoleon’s character and behavior as the story progresses. How inevitable
do you think it is? 300-400 word count.
6. ATL-Communication: roundtable discussion with guided questions

Home work: Read chapter 1 & 2 and underline key events. Write your short summary for each chapter.

i. Original plan Reading & comprehension

1. Worksheet 1 Complete this worksheet apart from the last question. Do not answer the
last question.

g. Discussion question: Do you feel the story is more or less powerful for its use of animals as the
main characters? Give reasons for your answer.
h. Characters of Animal Farm activity (Writing bio description, get pictures, create a poster)
i. Literary element: Theme (Mindmap and reference parts in the text)
j. Writing: Describe the development of Napoleon’s character and behavior as the story progresses.
How inevitable do you think it is? 300-400 word count.
k. ATL-Communication: roundtable discussion with guided questions

2. Week 3 (Sept.26-30th)
a. Chapter 3 & 4

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 i. Reading & comprehension
1. Complete this worksheet
2. In your copybooks, answer questions 8 and 9 on page 116 in your copy of the book
Animal Farm.
b. Vocabulary activity (L)
c. Visualising a story: Maycomb activity to implicitly teach literary devices.
i. Students read a passage and are asked to draw a picture. This is to explore how literature
comes to life through certain authorial choices and stylistic devices.
d. Literary element: Symbolism/allegory (Draw the symbols and write a short analysis)
i. Explicit teaching of allegory as part of stylistic devices

e. Methodology workshop CLOSE READING SKILLS identifying, understanding, summarizing,

prioritizing information, picking keywords (Based on Animal Farm)
f. Application of skill: present students with unseen text and have them annotate, identify, understand,
summarize, prioritize information, etc.

3. Week 4 (Oct.3-7)
a. Chapter 5 & 6
i. Reading & comprehension
1. Complete this worksheet
2. Answer question 18 on page.117 in your copy of the book Animal Farm.
ii. Speaking
1. In what ways do you see the relationship between animals changing?
2. What factors ensure that Napoleon remains the animal’s leader?
3. Discuss how decisions about the building of the windmill reveal the changing
relationships between the animals.
b. Making connections with other subjects and the global context

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 i. Look again at the poem in chapter 8. Discuss the meaning of each line of the poem. What is its
purpose? What kind of person (or pig!) has a poem about himself written on a wall in a public
place?
ii. Research real-life instances of this.
c. Activity on Literary devices
d. Methodology workshop ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION (based on animal farm)
e. Application of skill
f. Writing: Which of these animals leads a happier life, do you think? Choose one pair.
i. Mollie or Boxer
ii. Snowball or Squealer
g. ATL skill: Transfer skill (Individuals and Society)

4. Week 5 (Oct.10-14)
a. Chapter 7 & 8
i. Reading & comprehension
1. Complete this worksheet
ii. Speaking
b. Listening: podcast?
c. Debate (Speaking): Is it possible for a society to ever be completely democratic? Justify your answer
with reference to past and present social groups that you are familiar with.

5. Week 6 (Oct.17-21)
a. Chapter 9 & 10
i. Reading & comprehension
1. Exercise 22, 23 p.118 in your copy of the book Animal Farm.
ii. Speaking
1. Exercise 24 p.118 in your copy of the book Animal Farm.
b. Methodology workshop PRESENTATION SKILLS AND PUBLIC SPEAKING
i. Students perform scenes from Animal Farm / role-play

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 ii. How to create a power point presentation
1. Build on old knowledge
2. Present key features
3. Don’t add a lot of text in the slide

6. Week 7 (Nov.1-5)
a. Grammar
b. Activity on text types
c. Movie & reflection
d. Presentation

7. Week 8 (Nov.7-11)
a. Movie & reflection
b. GRASPS

8. Week 9 (Nov.14-18)
Assessment

9. Week 10 (Nov.21-25)
Assessment

10. Week 11 (Nov.28-Dec.5)

11. Week 12 (Dec. 8-Dec.12)
12. Week 13 (Dec.15- Dec.19)

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Week 1
Look at the pictures below. What do you think they all have in common? How do you think they connect to our unit 1: the World of
Literature if at all? Can you relate these images to the global context of our unit?

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In pairs, look at this diagram of our first unit and come up with three questions you believe
will be addressed throughout the unit. Write them in your copybook and share them with
the class.

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A quote for a thought:

The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature, since this is an education in how to picture
and understand human situations. Iris Murdoch- Irish and British novelist and philosopher.

Some questions on the visual on George Orwell

watch from 00:00 to 4:28 & from 08:09 to 10:17

1. Where did George Orwell grow up?

2. Why did George Orwell write?
3. Why did he despise the intellectuals?
4. What does authoritarian mean?
5. What does snigger mean?

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6. What are two very important historical events witnessed by the “intellectuals”, as mentioned in the
visual?
7. Who are ‘Ordinary people’? Can you think of another term that signifies ordinary people?

WEEK 2
Instructions:

PART 1:

Students choose one station and work according to given instructions for 40 minutes.
Then discuss for 20 minutes with your team the answers you've put together.
Final product- 25 minutes putting things together depending on what the activity requires
Students work in the respective digital textbook created by the teacher.

Please note that teachers have provided you with a few resources. However, we strongly encourage
you to have access to more resources of your own.

Reminder: For better time management and team spirit, divide tasks among each other.

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 Individual tasks are mandatory; so is taking notes in your English copybooks.

PART 2:

Present among class. Each group has 8 minutes to present well.

Please note: You will take notes after each presentation and answer the reflection sheet 3-2-1 for
each group. Teacher will follow up and assist you in case of difficulties.

3-2-1
Procedure
1. After you engage with each group’s presentation, list the following details in your English journals or on separate

paper:

1. Three things that you have learned.

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2. Two questions that you still have.
3. One aspect of the presentation that they enjoyed.

Reading station :

What are the qualities of a good leader? Relate this to Animal farm.
After reading this article, share with your colleagues your findings.
Resource: https://time.com/5713400/10-lessons-history-great-leaders/

Teacher instruction

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A-Who is George Orwell?
Resource: https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell
B-What relevance has literature had in our modern world?
Resource: https://bygeorgebooks.com/2020/02/21/the-importance-of-literature-in-2020/
C- Use 1 cover of the different published versions of Animal Farm.
Resource: Read Animal Farm: How the covers have changed through the decades.
Resource: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/august/animal-farm-george-orwell-75-covers-
design-history.html

Personal opinion and discussion station

What dissatisfies people regarding how a country is run? Provide specific historical examples in a
mind map.
Why and how are governments overthrown? Provide specific historical examples in a mind map.
Relate this to Animal farm.

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Visual station:
What do we need to know about the Russian revolution? Prepare bullet points and explain to your
colleagues.Relate this to Animal farm.
Resource:
https://www.slideshare.net/middletons1/russian-revolution-animal-farm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q1IPXxC_q4 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ZZ55ZvBe07U

Research station:

Capitalism vs communism. For this task we advise you to create a Venn diagram to facilitate the
understanding of your colleagues. Relate this to Animal farm.

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Next for personal reading etc:
An introduction to Animal Farm
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/an-introduction-to-animal-farm
Why literature matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpE8TiN8HyY
The full movie- animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXkicQRl6vg&t=3405s
On George Orwell and Animal Farm
https://www.slideshare.net/rakeshrajdev11/animal-farm-6899634

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 Expanding on the SOI

Making connections with the course concept and the global context, teacher talking time :

The study of the past, whether material or immaterial, includes an investigation of

events, personal experiences, testimonies, books, etc. Such a study enables us to reflect

on the genesis of ideas and the context in which they have developed, and hence the

reasons for their creation.

People, writers in specific, have penned down these moments in history. Some writers have

chosen to write about these moments in a very factual and straightforward way by relying on

evidence and in an attempt to recount a story closest to reality as possible. Others have

decided that the best way to write about the past is through a more artistic and creative

manner, where imagination intermingles with facts to yield a more effective outcome. These

writers rely on a number of creative decisions like style, imagery, theme, setting and tone to

craft their story.

Discussion questions:
● What do you think is the purpose of writers when they write?

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 ● How do you best convey your message?
● Does the message tell us about the writer?
● What can literature teach us about ways of living, thinking and being?

Vocabulary
Make sure you know the definition of the words in bold.

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