English Language and Literature
English A: Language and Literature (also called Lang Lit) is one of my Standard Level IB subjects. In it, we analyse all sorts of texts, ranging from photographs to films to literature to social media posts, and connects them to global issues.
I chose it because English is my first language and so I felt it fitting to do a Language A in it, and I was particularly interested in the Language part, which UWCSEA East only offers in English. I chose Language and Literature not only because I want to analyse a variety of text types, not only literature, but I believe it will help me understand the types of texts that I see more often than novels. Compared to the 12 or so books I read per year, I probably see hundreds of advertisements, many social media posts, political speeches, and newspaper headlines – all carefully crafted with a certain aim. Therefore I feel like I can the experience in this class more in my daily life. And yet it is great that I still get to analyse Literature too – which I think is a great way by which we can reflect more about our own lives.
3 Gordon Parks photographs
Gordon Parks was an American artistic polymath who was active as a photographer during the 1950s. In 1955, he was asked by Life Magazine to document racial tensions and segregation in Alabama, USA. At the time, Alabama segregated people of colour (namely black people)...
Comparison of 2 Langston Hughes poems
I will be discussing the Global Issue of Politics, Power, and Justice, particularly how the poems "Let America be America Again" and "Harlem (Dream Deferred)" convey the long-term emotional impacts of oppression and unmet cultural dreams in America. Both texts were...
Reflection on IO Essay
What I did well Nuanced analysis of some things Researching the cultural context of references such as Bible quotes Key Take-aways on how to improve What to do instead / Details Conventions of essay writing No first person Don’t use simple connectives like...
The Great Gatsby and the motif of the green dock light
Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is set in 1920s New York, USA, in the semi-fictional neighbourhoods of West and East egg. This is when the Western part of the mainland (now called California) had just finished being colonised by European settlers and...
Practice Mini IO Recording and Self-Assessment
Here is the audio recording of my mini IO on Wire by Paul Nash. My table-mate, who can be heard asking me a question in the recording, assessed me on the class rubric like so: I then used the IB rubric and assessed myself like so: I only spoke for 3 minutes 30 minutes...
Comparison of Hannah Höch and Paul Nash’s Artistic Responses to the World-War One Era Cultural Changes in Europe
This post and the outline for it can also be read in google doc form here. Cut With The Kitchen Knife Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany by Hannah Höch (1920) The Menin Road by Paul Nash (1919) Cut With the Kitchen Knife Through the Last...
Abduction by Hannah Höch – Through 2 Global Issues
This post can also be read in this google doc. Abduction by Hannah Hoch Culture, Identity, and Community “Abduction” by Hannah Hoch can be thought of as a piece challenging colonialist white supremacist views. This is mostly because of the choice of photo in the...
Representation and Identity: “In A Parallel Universe” by Eli Rezkallah
For the last few weeks in English Language and Literature, we have been exploring advertisements in the context of identity. Building on that, we have been Eli Rezkallah's collection In A Parallel Universe, which parodies 1950s advertisements featuring women. You can...
Mini Automatic advertisement analysis
This is the introduction and 2 body paragraphs of an analysis we did of this advertisement, focusing on the idea of women's representation in advertising. This text is an advertisement published by the car company BMW Mini in around 1971. The audience may appear at...
Moms Demand Action’s Anti-Gun campaign and American Culture
In this poster, the Moms Demand Action group confronts the viewer with the claim that assault rifles pose a great direct threat to American children, and should be banned. Attention drawn to the children When one sees this image for the first time, it is highly likely...