(no subject)

[elvenpiratelady]

I'm so glad the IB oral commentaries are over - over for those who did them today at least, the people on wednesday still have theirs to go. I'm very, very glad that I wasn't on wednesday.

For the non-IBs, Oral commentaries go like thus:

1. Pick three texts (in our case, Macbeth, Jane Eyre and Sylvia Plath poems)

2. Study the three texts over the course of a term.

3. Pick passages/poems from the texts.

4. Students study these passages for main concerns, imagery patterns, how it relates to the text as a whole, etc, etc. We ended up with seven passages, but here's the catch - you don't know which passage you'll actually be talking about until you open the envelope you pick on the day. You then get twenty minutes to annotate/plan/prepare, and then you speak an oral that should go for twelve minutes. And then the teacher asks you questions for a further three minutes.

Erk.

Anyway, I don't think mine went too badly. I got Tulips by Sylvia Plath, which is hard in that there's so much to analyse. I eventually went for tone and imagery patterns, although I was a bit thrown by the question at the end about rhythm in the poem, seeing as I hadn't looked at that at all... *sheepish*

But it's over now, and in the meantime I've got a lovely shiny Doctor icon. *points* And I hope that a new layout will follow soon.

Onwards to Death of a Salesman, and then to exams!

Comments

[breo-saighit.livejournal.com]

Ehehehe, oral commentaries. I threw a fit and refused to study (it's a long story). Luckily I got a MacBeth passage and did pretty well (I think...).

Thing is, from what we were told and what we heard around the place, I don't think you're actually meant to be told what passages you might be getting. According to IBO rules. So instead of telling us, 'Study this one, it'll be one of the passages on for the oral!' it was more of a, 'This...is a very important passage *wink wink nod nod*.' But then, those teachers did have a tendency to dismiss some of the IBO rules as merely 'guidelines' (I somehow don't think they'd have looked too kindly on our history teacher entertaining us with stories of the essays from overseas she was marking).

Anyways, good luck with the rest! Especially with not falling asleep or wanting to bludgeon yourself with something when studying Death of a Salesman. Yeah, I hated that play. Lots.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

Oh... we weren't meant to know in advance? Because they came right out and told us. *shrug* Oh well, we've done the commentaries and I refuse to do another.

Dammit, I wanted Macdeath! We studied Raven and Banners, and I really wanted banners, although I wouldn't have minded 'sleep no more' (even though that wasn't one of the passages...)

Is Salesman really horrible? I can't think that it can be any worse than Madame Bovary...

[(Anonymous)]

I think that's what we were told regarding the IBO's rules...but the teachers have been telling people since the dawn of time, so I don't think it's a rule anyone really follows =P

Oh, we didn't do Madame Bovary...so I couldn't compare. I think it was just me that really hated it, a few of my friends quite liked it, so you never know! You may enjoy it :D

[breo-saighit.livejournal.com]

What do you MEAN I wasn't logged in! Gah eljay.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

I did skim read it in the summer holidays, and it just seems really boring, especially compared with Streetcar. But of course Salesman doesn't have Stanley in it, so eh.

[breo-saighit.livejournal.com]

And there's probably very little chance Marlon Brando would have played the character of Willy Loman. And taken his shirt off.

*heaves huge sigh*

How did such a spunkylicious young man turn into such a fat old man? What a waste!

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Ohh, another person who hated Death of a Salesman! YES! XD Sorry, I just hated that play so very, very much. I wanted to stab Willy Loman in the eye with a blunt flute all the way through it.

[breo-saighit.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Finally! There should be more people who hate it because, let's face it, with a protagonist that makes you want to bash your (or his) head in, the play isn't off to a very good start. With a really boring plot with really boring other characters, the play doesn't have a very good middle. The only good bit is the end because it's the point at which you stop suffering.

[kunenk.livejournal.com]

...at least poems are easier to find symbolism and stuff (or whatever it was I was supposed to be talking about) to talk about than in The Name of the Rose.
Yay for it being over! *bounces*
And yes, that is a nice icon. :D Nicely amusing.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

That is true... it was just a really thick, dense poem.

Am I really naieve, or is The Name of the Rose a film?

[kunenk.livejournal.com]

*hits self for lack respondage* Film and (thick) book.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun to me, but then again, I'm insane. XD Congrats on getting through it, though!

And good luck with Death of a Salesman. It was the bane of my existence for a semester. Your teacher's probably not as bad as mine was, though.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

It was all right, in the end. But I've debated for three years, so I saw it as more of an advised topic debate than anything else.

Luckily, we're only studying Salesman for the rest of the term... and my class has learnt not to listen to our teacher. :P