This is a strange and difficult time, with everything that’s going on in the world outside and also managing a new rhythm and way of studying. On this page, I’m going to post some things that might be helpful for finding some calm–bits and pieces of different techniques that may help.
Here is a simple 10-minute meditation with my favorite youtube yoga teacher. Give it a try and comment below on your experience for some extra credit in English class.
It can feel silly doing meditation the first time–and that’s okay! If you find it helpful, it gets easier each time! Set some time aside for yourself, once a day, or once a week. I meditate with a group on Zoom once a week for one hour and have found it helpful in the past two weeks. You could do it alone, or with friends on Zoom or skype –just be sure to launch the video at the same time, or do a “watching party” on Facebook!
Also, comment on/dicuss this question in the comments :
Examine how Boss Finley draws a parallel between himself and Christ during his television rally. How does he use religious doctrine to elevate his status?
REMINDERS–WHAT’S NEXT (everything posted on Pronote until the vacation)
–RDV for a timed OIB comparative essay test this Friday, 15H-16h30. I will email + post an essay topic at 15h and then you must send it back to me (either typed or photo of handwritten response) by 16h30 for full credit.
–The National Theatre in London is posting a performance every Thursday for free. This Thursday, April 2nd at 19H they will post”One Man, Two Guvnors” Featuring a Tony Award-winning performance from James Corden as Francis Henshall in this hilarious West End and Broadway hit. Streaming from 7pm on Thursday 2 April. Available until 9 April.
You (and all OIB lycée students) have been assigned to watch this play and post a “review” on the blog. Take notes on what elements, moments, visual design and staging, you appreciate and use it to write up a paragraph “review” of the performance for end of day next Monday. Feel free to watch with your family!
Think about the use of symbolism so far in the play. Please comment on the post with your thoughts on the significance of on one of the following elements and what they might represent :
* Names – Chance, Heavenly, Princess, Alexandra Del Lago (means of the lake)
* Easter Sunday
* Costumes
Chance: white silk pjs
Princess: Black domino mask
* Music – The lamentation
*Birds – title
“soft urgent cries”
hawking seagulls
* Mirrors –
“Chance rises, pauses a moment a mirror in the fourth wall to run a comb through his slightly thinning blond hair..”.
“The screen’s a very clear mirror.”
* Monsters: “When monster meets monster, one monster has to give way, AND IT WILL NEVER BE ME.”
Take the google forms quiz on Stranger in the Village (use your text and take your time) Stranger in the Village Quiz
Respond to ONE of the options of questions below. Write a well-constructed response using examples and referencing the use of language/rhetorical devices (something like a perfect paragraph). Comment on this post with your response. Throughout the week, comment and respond on each other’s posts (you will be given a sort of “participation” grade for these discussions). Tell people what you like about their argument, respond to their argument, expand their arguments… here is an example of another class blog and what that might look like : https://bresslercomp2.weebly.com/discussion-l13/james-baldwin
Begin reading Act I of Sweet Bird of Youth for next week (google forms quiz will be posted next week)
“Stranger in the Village” Review Questions Directions:
For the question you choose, cite the text to prove your answer and try to identify a literary or rhetorical device employed by Baldwin.
Describe how Baldwin establishes the “dehumanizing” experience of living as a Black man.
What do you think the narrator means when he says “people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them”? Do you feel like your history is trapped in you?
What do you think the narrator means when he says, “there is a great deal of will power involved in… naïveté”?
Baldwin focuses on some of the illusions that propel America, and details the danger of these illusions. What are some illusions and how are they presented by Baldwin in the essay?
Describe the paradox of the existence of the Black man in America that Baldwin closes the essay with, in your own words.
Read “The Stranger in the Village” and annotate it/prepare your thoughts on it. Go to the blog on the morning of the 17 Mars and take the google forms quiz by the end of the day, 17 Mars
Check and participate in ongoing blog discussion which will be updated throughout the week (respond to questions, make mini-arguments, respond to each other)
These questions also led us to make links with other works on the OIB syllabus that we have studied so far.
After, we watched an introduction to James Baldwin and took notes:
For those of you who were not present today, make sure you watch the video and take notes yourselves!
I handed out the next work on our OIB syllabus Stranger in the Village. We read the first page together and discussed the various literary devices put into place by Baldwin (look for: point of view/narration, tone–colloquial, familiar, a closeness to the reader, a journal-like style—, listing, build-up, alliteration, puncutation and rhythm, shifts, diction…).
Please read and annotate the rest of the essay for next TUESDAY, MARCH 17TH. Be ready to digitally comment and discuss the essay.
More updates to come this weekend. Students, please comment/interact below to try out the blog!