2022-2023: Syllabus and Course Introduction

LITERATURE SYLLABUS 2023

 

SAINT-DENIS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

 

BACCALAURÉAT FRANÇAIS, OPTION INTERNATIONALE (OIB) AMÉRICAINE

SYLLABUS FOR THE LANGUAGE/LITERATURE EXAMINATION

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

A total of ten texts will be studied for the examination reflecting diversity in ethnic background and gender.  Six texts (core) will be studied in common by all candidates.  The remaining texts will be chosen freely by individual sections/schools.  The Tempest will be the in-depth (oral) text studied in common by all schools.  The remaining two in-depth texts will be chosen freely by each section/school from the novel and poetry category.

 

The following are the texts:

 

  1. One Shakespeare play: The Tempest  ** (CORE)  (specify edition)
  2. Two 19th-/20th-/21st-century English-language works of prose fiction:
  3. a) The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood  (CORE; American)**
  4. b) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  5. Two English-language playwrights:

a.) Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (CORE; American)

b.) Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams 

 

  1. Two English-language poets:

                                          a.) Core Poetry: A selection of 8 poems (CORE; American) : 

Adriene Rich

Twenty-One Love poems: III, VII, XVII

 Snapshots of a Daughter-in-law: 1 

Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

I felt a funeral in my brain

I’m wife

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

      b.) A selection of 8 poems by Robert Frost (specify titles)**:                 An Unstamped Letter, Birches, Reluctance, Stopping by Woods, The Road Not Taken, The Tuft of Flowers, The Wood Pile, To Earthward 

  1. Two Works of World Literature (which may be in translation):
  1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (CORE
  2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez  

 

  1. One English-language non-fiction work:

a)Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

updated November 2018 ** works in-depth (for oral examination)

 

A BRIEF EXPLANATION

 

The literature syllabus includes 10 works of literature, written in English or translated into English, in the American tradition of teaching American English and World Literature. 

 

Candidates’ knowledge of this syllabus is assessed by a 4-hour written examination comprising essay topics as well as a prose passage and a poem on which the candidate may choose to write a commentary. 

 

In addition, there is a 30-minute oral examination consisting of an oral commentary on taken from one of the three in-depth works, followed by a general discussion between the candidate and the

examiner of the remaining works.

 

You will be graded on the following skills:

 

U Your understanding of the text/ideas on the text and your ability to have deep and 

original thoughts and interpretations.

S Your ability to explore texts to identify and appreciate style / literary features and show how they contribute to a deeper meaning.

L Your knowledge of the syllabus works as a whole and your ability to make thematic and stylistic links and connections across texts.

A The ability to use well-chosen evidence to argue and prove your interpretations with clarity, coherence, fluidity through a persuasive structure (both orally and in writing).

F Your ability to speak and write clearly using fluency and sophistication.

 

Examples from the written examination:

 

  1. How far and in what ways do the endings of two works you have studied offer a sense of closure? Refer to two works on your OIB syllabus.
  2. Discuss how two writers on your OIB program use climactic moments to emphasize key ideas in

their works.

3.Characters in literature are sometimes presented as unable to accommodate themselves to changes,

either in themselves, in their family, or in their societies.  Explore how two or three authors deal with

this subject. (NOTE :  ONLY TWO WORKS SHOULD BE USED.)

  1. Have tragedies you have read presented a glimmer of hope ?  Discuss in terms of two tragedies.
  2. Justice, whether human or divine, is often a subject treated by authors.  Discuss in terms of two

works you have read.

6.Most literary works show evolution in a character due to various causes.   How do two writers you

have studied deal with the theme of transformation ?

  1. Often the point of view of the narrator casts its own perspective upon the events in a work of

literature. Discuss how the literary device of point of view influences the reader in two works you have studied in the OIB program.

  1. Works of literature can be a protest against the injustice done to women in patriarchal societies. Discuss, referring to two works you have studied.

 

Deroulement of the Oral Examination

 

Candidates are given a passage by the examiner of not more than 40 lines from one of their three works in depth:  The Tempest, The Handmaid’s Tale or Robert Frost poems. 

     This passage is prepared in a room with other students where ID cards and convocations are checked.  No personal notes, cell phones or dictionaries are available. The student prepares the first half of the oral, situating the passage in the work as a whole, analyzing it thematically and stylistically and linking it to two other works on the syllabus.

     After 30 minutes the examiner takes the candidate to the exam room where the student is invited to read a part of the passage and to speak for at least 10 minutes uninterrupted.  If the student encounters difficulties of any sort, the examiner will help out with questions.  After 10 minutes of commentary, the candidate should move on to making stylistic and thematic links with two other works on the syllabus. 

       In the second half of the oral, the examiner asks questions about other works on the syllabus, often following the lead given by the student. All three works in depth must be touched on and ideally another 3 to 5 works. Since this is a literature exam, students are awarded extra points if they spontaneously speak about style without prompting from the examiner.

Letter To Self Assignment Sheet

 

Essay questions

2. As humans we create the story of who we are and then act in accordance with that story. Yet our narratives can be based on misinformation, misinterpretation, or even deliberate lies. Explore the effects of a character’s self-created story in two works you have studied in the OIB program.

3. Many literary works depict an important social occasion – a wedding, dinner, funeral, party, etc. Choose two works you have read in Première or Terminale OIB, and discuss how particular social occasions are related to theme.

4. Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore said: “We read the world wrong and say it deceives us.” How might this statement be illustrated by two works on your OIB syllabus?

Thelmina’s Love in the Time of Cholera Review Sheet

Love in the Time of Cholera

Biography 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a Colombian author. He’s usually associated with “magic realism”, a feature used in many of his books. His most famous book is One Hundred Years of Solitude.

 

Characters (red characters are not the most important ones but could be fancy to mention during an oral)

Florentino Ariza: protagonist, manipulative man who loves Fermina and has many sexual relationships with other women, he sometimes gets paid to write love letters for others

Fermina Daza/Urbino: Florentino’s love interest, a fierce girl then housewife who marries Dr Urbino and fears aging

Dr Juneval Urbino: Fermina’s spouse, an older man who loves Fermina and asked her dad to marry her, has an affair with a prostitute when he’s old because he wants to spice up his life, dies as he falls from a ladder

Aunt Escolastica: Fermina’s aunt, she acts as a motherly figure and takes care of Fermina as a teenager, she encourages Florentino and Fermina’s affair as she taught her niece that love is something which has many rules of appropriate behavior but sometimes should go against these same rules

Lorenzo Daza: Fermina’s father, disapproves of Fermina’s love affair and sends her away to forget Florentino, he marries her to Urbino for money and escapes town after many rumors on him being a thief

Florentino’s mother: Florentino’s mother and confident, only person he tells his love for Fermina to, turns senile and dies

Fermina’s cousin: Fermina’s confident, encourages her to have a relationship with Florentino

America: one of Florentino’s affair, a 14 y.o. girl Florentino is in charge of 

Leona Cassiani: only black woman in the play, also the only woman Florentino doesn’t succeed in to seducing, she takes care of Florentino in his old age and works in the same company as him

Rosalba: a pregnant woman who sleeps with Florentino on a boat and takes his virginity 

Jeremiah de Saint Amour kills himself because he fears aging

 

Summary (LITTOC is a book wrote in reconstruction, but here I’ve organized it)

Florentino is in love with Fermina. He plays her violin to seduce her from afar and transmits her love letters during her classes with Escolastica. She falls in love with him and Florentino then gets the courage to ask her to wed. Her father discovers the love letters and takes her on a trip with her to forget the teenager. She then comes back years later and rejects Florentino. Florentino remains sad and keeps watching Fermina from afar her whole life. She, on the other hand, marries Dr Urbino whom her father wanted her to wed because of his wealth. They both go on a cruise in Europe where she loses her virginity. She lives a pleasant and happy life and has many kids. Florentino encounters many women and has many affairs which end in disaster as most of his partners are married (also, he kind of acts like a pervert and manipulative man who destroys lives). As he wants to be worthy of Fermina, he works hard and achieves a successful career. 

Dr Urbino starts aging and has a brief affair as he wants to change his habits. However, Fermina discovers it because of his smell, therefore Urbino has to admit everything and begs her to forgive him. Dr Urbino then dies as he tries to get back his bird who tried to flee. Fermina grieves and Florentino starts appearing back in her life. He asks her to join her on a cruise and finally live the life they’ve always wanted. She finally accepts and they both get on the boat. They finally have sex as elderly people and are able to fall in love once again. The boat then can’t land as cholera is infesting cities and the cruise seems to be endless.

 

Themes

Love, aging, manipulation and death

 

Main stylistic devices

-magic realism 

-diction of decay

-epistolary

-symbolism

-allegory

 

Quotes (underlined stuff is what to memorize)

 

. “Fermina Daza bathed her husband just as if he were a new born childAging comparison, binary opposition

 

. “he dared to explore her withered neck with his fingertips…her hips with their decaying bones, her thighs with their aging veins.” Aging diction of decay, surprising pejorative description of the loved one 

 

. “There was no greater glory than to die for loveDeath Foreshadowing, hyperbole

 

.“Nothing resembles a person as much as the way he dies.”  Death hyperbole, mournful tone, assertive

 

. I’ve remained a virgin for you.Love metaphor for his heart and feelings, deeper meaning what Florentino says to Fermina on the cruise

 

. “Only God knows how much I loved you.” Love Religious diction, divine state, lack of communication Urbino’s last words

 

. “The heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good.Manipulation personnification, moral diction, blinding love

 

. Don’t fall into my little trap” Manipulation Metaphor, euphemism Marquez

 

.”My heart has more rooms than a whorehouse.”  Florentino’s anger and perception of himself Metaphor, comparison

 

. “The world is divided into those who can shit and those who cannot

 Advice from an elder colloquial tone, disturbing imagery, binary opposition

 

 

https://create.kahoot.it/share/love-in-the-time-of-cholera-quizz/4734e3f6-6b7d-4506-a2ca-14ec13f3dbd1