Grade 10 English A

Unit Questions

The year’s course comprises 4 major units of work which cover a range of literary genres, including: the novel, drama, poetry

short stories and non-fiction. Each unit is driven through the consideration of a specific concept and a number of essential

question/s. The course develops reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, and also emphasizes the essential MYP

‘Approaches To Learning’ skills. Grammar and usage is developed and addressed in context throughout the course. Students

learn through a variety of activities and are required to produce a number of different written tasks. In addition they are given

numerous opportunities to be creative and innovative. Students are also expected to read fiction and non-fiction both at

home and in association with the core materials.

Unit Title

Unit Questions

CIVILISATION &

SOCIETY

Lord of the Files, William

Golding

What is the use of governments, laws and organized societies? How can the study of literature enable us to understand ourselves and our impulses better?

Description of Sample Activities

Read for factual and inferential meaning; analyse and discuss the main elements of a novel. Create visuals to demonstrate understanding; explore and write about the novel in a variety of genres, including—summary, notes, literary essay, commentary, interior monologue

Dramatise scenes and give oral presentations, and create a research notebook/wiki

Compare the novel and a film adaptation

Unit Title

Unit Questions

POVERTY The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga

What is poverty? How can the study of literature enable us to understand the impact of poverty on the individual?

Description of Sample Activities

Reading, understanding and writing about poverty statistics, including: charts, graphs and tables

Creating explanatory and persuasive multi-media texts

Writing a literary analysis/a comparative essay/a proposal

Unit Title Unit Questions

CONFLICT & TRAGEDY

Macbeth, William Shakespeare

What is Tragedy? How can the study of literature help us understand the nature of tragedy and conflict?

Description of Sample Activities

Write a literary commentary, a dramatic script and a poem. Read and dramatise scenes, and watch/listen and evaluate a variety of dramatic interpretations of the play Create an online notebook about Elizabethan/Jacobean life and theatre, and classical tragedy

Resources

The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga; Between the Assassinations, Arivand Adiga; Film: Slumdog Millionaire

Lord of the Files, William Golding; Macbeth, William Shakespeare; Selected short stories and non-fiction

Selected Poetry, The Romantics; Selected Poetry, William Wordsworth

Criteria

Students are assessed throughout the course using the following criteria:

A: Content (receptive and productive)

To what extent can the student understand and analyze familiar and unseen oral, written and visual texts,

evaluating the effects of the work on an audience? To what extent does the student express an informed and

independent response, demonstrating sensitivity to literary and non-literary texts?

B: Organisation

To what extent does the student employ organisational structures and language-specific conventions to

appropriately serve context and intention? To what extent are ideas and arguments presented in a sustained,

coherent and logical manner, using critical apparatus effectively where necessary?

C: Style and Language Usage

How effectively does the language used communicate the student’s ideas, both oral and written? How effective

and appropriate are vocabulary, idiom and sentence structure? How effective and accurate are grammar, spelling,

punctuation, register and style according to specific context and intention?

Unit Title Unit Questions

MAN & NATURE

Selected Poetry, William

Wordsworth

In our current concern for the environment, have we overlooked the importance of nature and landscape to the human psyche?

Is nature a comfort or a threat?

Description of Sample Activities

Create a notebook/wiki on the Romantic movement in Poetry and Art and the life of Wordsworth Read and analyse a variety of Romantic poetry Write a literary analysis essay

Unit Title

Unit Questions

LIVING & LEARNING A selection of short stories and non-fiction.

How do the changes involved in every journey challenge us to continue creating a workable view of ourselves, others and the world?

Description of Sample Activities

Read, analyse, evaluate a variety of memoirs and personal narratives. Write a personal narrative in poetry and prose. Create a multi-media life-map/photo-story

Study the style and literary/non-literary features of travelogues. Write travelogue based on experience of the Grade Level Trip to Sa Pa.