• International School of Amsterdam

SSST Literature
Tutorial Support

• September 2/16, 2023

Understanding the course concepts

IDENTITY
CULTURE
CREATIVITY
COMMUNICATION
PERSPECTIVE
TRANSFORMATION
REPRESENTATION
 Determining the global issue
3 A global issue incorporates the following three properties :

 It has significance on a wide/large scale

 It is transnational

 Its impact is felt in everyday local contexts

 (let’s add a 4th one )

 Building the course : The booklist
 explore how the areas of exploration, the assessments
and the Prescribed Reading List need to be considered
together in the creation of the student booklist
 take a first look at the role of the Learner Portfolio in linking
texts to the organizational areas of the course noted
above
 determine challenges such as the availability of texts in
the target language
 look at collaborative models to support booklist creation
 determine the best way in which students can be
supported in producing a viable booklist
 Checking the
Booklist
I have chosen: Notes Yes/No

Nine works

At least four works originally written

in the language A being studied.

At least three works in translation. Works in translation: works originally written in a different
language than the language A being studied.

Works from at least three of the four Literary forms: poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction.
literary forms.

Works which cover at least three Period: century the works were written in.
periods.

Works which cover at least three Places: countries or occasionally regions which the author is
places, and at least two continents. closely associated with, and not the setting of the work.

At least two works for each of the Areas of exploration: Readers, writers and texts;
areas of exploration. Time and space; Intertextuality: Connecting texts.
 Overview
7 The Learner Portfolio

 explore possible ways of structuring the learner portfolio

 clarify the conditions under which the learner portfolio is

developed including supervisor access, minimum number of
entries and language

 promote the link between portfolio work and preparation for

the formal assessments. Is this being done?
 Learner Portfolio
 The learner portfolio is a central element of the language A: literature course, and is
mandatory for all students. It is an individual collection of student work done
throughout the two years of the course.

 The learner portfolio is a place for a student to explore and reflect upon literary texts,
and to establish connections among them and with the areas of exploration and the
central concepts in the subject.

 The learner portfolio is also a space in which students can prepare for assessment.

 The learner portfolio must consist of a diversity of formal and informal responses to the
works studied, which may come in a range of critical and/or creative forms, and in
different media.

 Teachers are free to monitor and set guidelines for the learner portfolios, but students
should be encouraged to shape them in ways that allow them to independently record
their personal development. The type of portfolio the students keep—digital or non-
digital, traditional or multimodal—will be dictated by individual learning preferences.
Students should be allowed to explore different options freely.
 Features of Paper 1

The focus of Paper 1 on literary analysis of an unseen text remains the same, but
several new factors need to be taken into account.

1. Students have 1 hour 15 minutes to write one response.

2. All texts are accompanied by a guiding question and students are

asked to write a “guided literary analysis” on the text. The question is
for guidance only and is intended to help students by focusing their
answer on a particular aspect of the text. This is particularly important
given the reduced time students have to respond to the text.

3. Students should be prepared to write about prose fiction, prose

non-fiction, poetry or drama. Two of these forms will feature in each
paper.
What S, K, U do students need to
develop?

 Outline / planning
 PIE
 Commentary structure
 Embedding quotations
 Phrases
 Link words / connecting devices
 Register
 Referring to “the author”
 Naming devices + explaining their effects
 Language-specific conventions (commentary writing,
structure, quoting, use of comma)
 “Time”
 Assessment of
11
Paper 1
Sample assessments (with examiner comments) in various languages
in the IB Online Resources Centre … (MyIB)
Paper 1:
Tools
• Literary devices
• SCASI
• Literary charts
 Features of Paper 2
The focus of Paper 2 on response to set works in the form of a comparative essay
remains the same but again there are significant new features to take into account.

1. There will be a choice of four questions. These questions will be on general

aspects of literary technique and effect.

2. Questions will not be specific to any particular literary form, and

students may respond using works in any form. However, students will be
expected to refer in their essays to a range of literary features of the works
studied, including those specific to the particular forms of the works chosen.

3. Students will have 1 hour 45 minutes to write their response.

4. Students are required to write about any two works studied (as long as
those are not used in any other assessment). They are advised to have
selected in advance three works to revise for this paper.
 Selecting texts for
14 Paper 2

2. Some literary texts, although

set in a particular place or time,
convey ideas that are universal.
In what ways is this true in two of
the works you have studied?
 Links between Paper 2 and Areas of Exploration
15
“As the syllabus does not bind the Areas of
Exploration to particular assessment components,
there is room for individual decisions to be made by
students about the works for each of their
assessment tasks”.

How can students be supported to exploit the ideas

in the Areas of Exploration in their work on the works
selected for Paper 2 ?
 Links between paper 2 and Areas of Exploration
16
 A sample Paper
2…
Answer one essay question only. You must base your answer on two of the works that you
have studied and compare and contrast these works in response to the question.

1. Discuss how two works you have studied present concepts of good and bad, not as
absolute notions, but as a matter of individual perception.

2. Referring to two works you have studied, discuss how the author has created a
convincing “world”.

3. In what ways do at least two of the works you have studied (in form and/or content)
question or subvert norms, conventions or traditions ?

4. Explore how women are represented as stronger than men in at least two of the works
you have studied.
18
Overview
The individual oral means speaking for 15 minutes focusing on this
prompt:

Examine the ways in which the global issue of your choice is

presented through the content and form of two of the works that you
have studied.
 Overview
19 For the 15-minute individual oral the student must :

 choose two works – one must be a work originally written in the SSST
language and one in translation
 decide on a global issue that is explored in some way in each of
the works
 select an extract from each work that highlights the chosen global
issue
 write the outline on the form that is given to them by the supervisor
 practise *
 Structuring the Individual Oral
20

“Please bear in mind that the oral is as much about the presence of the global issue in the extracts
as it is about its presence in the broader works from which they come. In that sense, students
cannot spend 6’ on an extract. If following a sequential, “part-by-part” structure, SSST students
should perhaps follow this format :
- 1.5’ introduction
- 3’ extract 1
- 3’ work 1
- 3’ extract 2
- 3’ work 2
- 1.5’ conclusion
This is not the only way of organising the oral, and no examiner will be using stopwatches either.
The important thing is that there should be a sense of balance between the four “parts” the
student - SSST or taught - is expected to explore the global issue in : extract 1, work 1, extract 2,
work 2.”