Beaconhouse Newlands, Lahore

MOCK-ELL MARCH 2024

IB Middle Years
Language and Literature

Grade: 10

Criteria: A B C D

Total: 80 points

Authors: Nida

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Analyzing

This task contains questions 1 a to 1 e.

Questions 1a to 1 d focus on the key concept of communication. You will be asked to
demonstrate your understanding of text 1 and 2 by answering a number of analytical questions.

Question 1e focuses on the key concept of connections. You will be asked to compare and
contrast text 1 and text 2.

The criteria assessed are A (Analysing) and B (Organizing).

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Text A
A Mild Attack of Locusts by Doris Lessing.

This excerpt describes the morning after a devastating locust attack on a South African farm;
Margaret, a farmer's wife who grew up in the city, her father-in-law, Stephen, and her
husband, Richard survey the locust damaged landscape and watch the locusts depart.

Margaret slept badly, in the bed beside Richard, who was sleeping like the dead. In the morning,
she woke to yellow sunshine lying across the bed—clear sunshine, with an occasional blotch of
shadow moving over it. She went to the window. Old Stephen was ahead of her. There he stood,
outside, gazing down over the bush. And she gazed, astounded—and entranced, much against her
will. For it looked as if every tree, every bush, all the earth, were lit with pale ames. The locusts
were fanning their wings to free them of the night dews. There was a shimmer of red-tinged gold
light everywhere.
She went out to join the old man, stepping carefully among the insects. The two stood and
watched. Overhead the sky was blue—blue and clear.
“Pretty,” said old Stephen with satisfaction.
Well, thought Margaret, we may be ruined, we may be bankrupt, but not everyone has seen a
locust army fanning their wings at dawn.
Over the slopes in the distance, a faint red smear showed in the sky. It thickened and spread.
“There they go,” said old Stephen. “There goes the main army, off south.”
And now, from the trees, from the earth all around them, the locusts were taking wing. They were
like small aircraft maneuvering for the takeoff as they tried their wings to see if they were dry
enough. Off they went. A reddish-brown steam was rising off the miles of bush, off the farmlands
—the earth. Again the sunlight darkened.
And as the clotted branches lifted, the weight on them lightening, there was nothing left but the
black spines of branches and tree trunks. No green—nothing. All morning they watched, the three
of them—Richard having nally got up—as the brown crust thinned and broke and dissolved,
ying up to mass with the main army, now a brownish-red smear in the southern sky. The lands,
which had been lmed with the green of the new, tender mealie plants, were stark and bare. A
devastated landscape—no green, no green anywhere.
By midday, the reddish cloud had gone. Only an occasional locust opped down. On the ground
lay the corpses and the wounded. The African laborers were sweeping them up with branches
and collecting them in tins.
“Ever eaten sun-dried locust, Margaret?” asked old Stephen. “That time twenty years ago when I
went broke, I lived on mealie meal and dried locusts for three months. They aren’t bad at all—
rather like smoked sh, if you come to think of it.”
But Margaret preferred not even to think of it.
After the midday meal, the men went off to the lands. Everything was to be replanted. With a bit
of luck, another swarm would not come travelling down just this way. But they hoped it would
rain very soon, to spring some new grass, because the cattle would die otherwise; there was not
a blade of grass left on the farm. As for Margaret, she was trying to get used to the idea of three
or four years of locusts. Locusts were going to be like the weather from now on—always

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imminent. She felt like a survivor after a war; if this devastated and mangled countryside was not
ruin—well, what then was ruin?
But the men ate their supper with good appetites.
“It could have been worse” was what they said. “It could be much worse.”

Content type: Video

Text B: A lesson on Resilience by The Learning Lab

This item includes interactive content. Please refer to the digital version of this assessment to view
this item.

Timing recommendation for question parts 1a to 1d: 15 minutes.

These question parts are assessed according to criterion A (Analyzing).

They are worth 10 marks.

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Q 1.1 Comment on the use of colour in the opening of the excerpt. A2

Markscheme

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Q 1.2 Explain the effect of the line, A3
Well, thought Margaret, we may be ruined, we may be bankrupt, but not
everyone has seen a locust army fanning their wings at dawn.

Markscheme

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Q 1.3 Describe the purpose of the toys used in the lm. A2

Markscheme

Q 1.4 Analyse the effect of a technique used in the lm. A3

Markscheme

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 Timing recommendation: 35 minutes.

This question part is assessed according to criteria A (Analysing) and B (Organizing).

This question part is worth 20 marks (A-10 marks and B - 10 marks).

Q 1.5 Text 1 and 2. A 10

B 10
Compare and contrast how the concept of resilience is explored in the texts.

(Approximately 350 words)

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Producing Literary text

This task focusses on the key concept of creativity.

You will see 2 images. You will be asked to create a piece of writing using one of the images.

The criteria being assessed are C (Producing text) and D (Using Language).

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Content type: Image

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Q 2.1 Using one of the images, create a scene in a science ction story in which a character C 10
discovers an object's power. D 10

You may consider using the following: purpose, characterization, setting, mood, point
of view.

Specify the image you are using before you start.

(Approximately 350 words)

Markscheme

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Producing non literary text

This task focusses on the key concept of perspective.

You will be asked to create a piece of non-literary writing in relation to the global context
Orientation in space and time, exploration: Natural and human landscapes and resources.

The criteria being assessed are B (Organizing), C (Producing text) and D (Using Language).

Q 3.1 Create a speech for your school assembly on how conservation of resources is B 10
crucial not only for the well-being of your present community but also in the context C 10
of challenges and opportunities for the future generations. D 10

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