Some wise advice about commentary?

April 15, 2019
At least from my point of view, what Robert Scholes had to say about close reading contains some good reminders. I think we all recognize the New Critical roots of the these IB assessments, both oral and written. And though I suspect not too many of us deliver ‘the’...

More (Yes) on Writing Commentaries

March 27, 2019
One of the best guides to commentary I have ever seen was produced by Theo Dombroski, then of the UWC Pearson College. I am going to provide you with three of his good hints about commentary with the hope they will give you some help when you face this exercise. These...

Migration as the Subject of Literary Art

March 22, 2019
Whether in your current courses in Language and Literature, or looking forward to the upcoming Individual Oral of the revised course (first examinations 2021), it certainly appears that a matter which touches our lives and those of our students all around the world is...

Better and Better Essays #3

March 15, 2019
From a practicing journalist, one who has been through the IB Literature course (with an IB outcome of 7), three final hints to improve your essays. If you put into practice not only these, but the suggestions in the two previous ‘Better and Better Essays,’ you are...

Better and Better Essays(#2)

February 22, 2019
‘Sculpting’ your paragraphs so that a reader really wants to hear what you have to say. Yes, it’s the examiner’s job to read whatever you write, but why not make that an inviting task?  It’s probably true that when you see great blocks of...